My 600EX-RT Review

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Archive 2012 · My 600EX-RT Review

Tony Hoffer
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p.1 #1 · My 600EX-RT Review

For a while I wasn't sure if I should pull the trigger on the 600EX-RT's or not. I just couldn't find reviews/information for the things that were most relevant to me as a wedding photographer. So, I assembled my thoughts on those things and put together a 600EX-RT and ST-E3 review and range test...

You can see it all here: http://hofferphotography.com/2012/05/01/canon-600ex-rt-review-with-canon-st-e3/

If you only want to know what I thought, here's the conclusion:

I know for a lot of you, the real questions are this: "How is the range?", "Can I shoot how I like to?" and "Is it worth the money?". The videos above should help you answer the first two questions and will probably help you answer the third. Before I give my recommendation let me say that I almost never think that buying camera gear is a bad decision. It holds it's value so well that it's a very small risk purchase.

With that said (and if you can afford it), I wholeheartedly recommend the 600EX-RT. I want to be clear that I don't think it's perfect. In fact I started this review with that sentence. If you shoot portraits with a 800mm lens, you might not have the range you need. If you hate velcro, your life didn't get any easier with this flash. But if your name is Tony Hoffer or you are fed up with years of wires and flash gadgets, the 600EX-RT is quite an impressive beast. If I worked for Canon, I'd probably strip away a ton of the extra gizmos and make a receiver only version of the 600EX-RT and sell a million more. But for what it is, I love it and I think I'll probably own them for a long time!

Hopefully the review helps someone!

May 01, 2012 at 10:55 PM

Mark_L
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p.1 #2 · My 600EX-RT Review

I wish nikon would do this. PWs flex system is great once it is running (on nikon at least!) but remembering to power stuff up in the right order, making sure the test flash fired etc. is a pain working quickly under pressure and I'd rather have a solid largely idiotproof integrated system.

May 01, 2012 at 11:10 PM

MarcAnthony
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p.1 #3 · My 600EX-RT Review

How do you use an on-camera flash and the ST-E3 at the same time?

May 01, 2012 at 11:17 PM

silliboi
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p.1 #4 · My 600EX-RT Review

Tony, which button do you press to turn off/on the on camera flash? I normally go through the camera menu settings to disable it. that button will greatly help. thx!

May 01, 2012 at 11:19 PM

Tony Hoffer
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p.1 #5 · My 600EX-RT Review

MarcAnthony wrote:
How do you use an on-camera flash and the ST-E3 at the same time?

You don't.

May 01, 2012 at 11:27 PM

Tony Hoffer
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p.1 #6 · My 600EX-RT Review

silliboi wrote:
Tony, which button do you press to turn off/on the on camera flash? I normally go through the camera menu settings to disable it. that button will greatly help. thx!

Press Menu 2 on the flash then it's the first button. After doing it once you don't need to press the menu button anymore.

May 01, 2012 at 11:28 PM

TTLKurtis
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p.1 #7 · My 600EX-RT Review

Hey Tony, out of curiosity have you ever considered Nikon flashes with the Nikon Flex system? Works perfectly (unlike Canon flashes and PW Flex Canon versions), and as a matter of fact I have a friend who is actually using Nikon flashes and Nikon PW Flex with Canon bodies. She is thrilled with the reliability now (and you can use an SB-900 or 910 as master on-camera and control three groups independently, as you can also do with the PW AC3 Zone Controller).

Obviously you're not about to buy that stuff now that you have something you're pretty happy with, just thought I'd throw it out there. I never figured that the Nikon stuff would work in conjunction w/ Canon bodies but apparently it does quite well.

May 01, 2012 at 11:44 PM

amonline
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p.1 #8 · My 600EX-RT Review

Tony, I came to the forum to PM you about the 600's and found this. Thanks for taking the time to post the review. It answered my questions.

May 01, 2012 at 11:49 PM

ai3x
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p.1 #9 · My 600EX-RT Review

TTLKurtis wrote:
Hey Tony, out of curiosity have you ever considered Nikon flashes with the Nikon Flex system? Works perfectly (unlike Canon flashes and PW Flex Canon versions), and as a matter of fact I have a friend who is actually using Nikon flashes and Nikon PW Flex with Canon bodies. She is thrilled with the reliability now (and you can use an SB-900 or 910 as master on-camera and control three groups independently, as you can also do with the PW AC3 Zone Controller).

Obviously you're not about to buy that stuff now that you have something you're pretty happy with, just thought I'd throw it out there. I never figured that the Nikon stuff would work in conjunction w/ Canon bodies but apparently it does quite well.

Seriously? How does she use it? What about the different pin configs? I've used my Nikon Flex's to trigger canon Flexes but never mixed and matched in a camera setup...

May 01, 2012 at 11:50 PM

hardlyboring
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p.1 #10 · My 600EX-RT Review

I have a feeling I would still prefer my cybercyncs....
Nice review though.

May 02, 2012 at 01:12 AM

sboerup
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p.1 #11 · My 600EX-RT Review

Wow, two cameras firing at different power levels is pretty legit...does it affect recycle times much?

May 02, 2012 at 04:35 AM

jprezant
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p.1 #12 · My 600EX-RT Review

watch the video with Google Beta Audio Translation (captions) turned on for a good time.

May 02, 2012 at 06:15 AM

jprezant
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p.1 #13 · My 600EX-RT Review

my favorite line so far: "uh...you personally doomed"

May 02, 2012 at 06:16 AM

Trailboy
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p.1 #14 · My 600EX-RT Review

Interesting review.

They are on my wants list, but the launch price of them in the UK is £680 compared to about £380 equivalent dollars, so they have to settle down a fair bit first.

TTLKurtis wrote:
Hey Tony, out of curiosity have you ever considered Nikon flashes with the Nikon Flex system? Works perfectly (unlike Canon flashes and PW Flex Canon versions),

Why would your prefer a third party system that does not have the best reputation for reliability over an integrated complete Canon system that offers more features and appears to be rock solid and is cheaper?

I think Nikon engineers are on the drawing board very quickly to catch up with the many Canon system advantages over the Nikon old technology optical. Though I think if they were going to launch any time soon, they would not have launched the updated 900/910 recently, so I think Nikon users might have a wait.

Edited on May 02, 2012 at 09:41 AM · View previous versions

May 02, 2012 at 08:00 AM

evertdoorn
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p.1 #15 · My 600EX-RT Review

Bought 2 600's last week. I got a nice deal on them and the cost aren't too bad compared to high end speedlites + PW's. In fact, it's even a bit better.

System works flawless so far. No hassle with separate radio units, and ease of use and reliability is great. Used them on a shoot yesterday and that went really well. I agree with Tony's conclusion about the gel holder; pretty much useless in it's current form.

May 02, 2012 at 08:31 AM

TTLKurtis
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p.1 #16 · My 600EX-RT Review

Trailboy wrote:
Interesting review.

They are on my wants list, but the launch price of them in the UK is £680 compared to about £380 equivalent dollars, so they have to settle down a fair bit first.

TTLKurtis wrote:
Hey Tony, out of curiosity have you ever considered Nikon flashes with the Nikon Flex system? Works perfectly (unlike Canon flashes and PW Flex Canon versions),

Why would your prefer a third party system that does not have the best reputation for reliability over an integrated complete Canon system that offers more features and appears to be rock solid and is cheaper?

I think Nikon engineers are on the drawing board very quickly to catch up with the many Canon system advantages over the Nikon old technology optical. Though I think if they were going to launch any time soon, they would not have launched the updated 900/910 recently, so I think Nikon users might have a wait.

Ummmm, PocketWizard is THE golden standard... Yes, their flex system blows on canon but that's because of the Canon flashes' high levels of interference. With Nikon flashes it is rock solid I've been using it for over a year now and I had used the canon version for over a year as well and there is no comparison.

May 02, 2012 at 02:49 PM

sic0048
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p.1 #17 · My 600EX-RT Review

I'm a Nikon shooter, but I definitely see the attraction to the Canon system. Having everything built into the flash and commander unit is very nice. No other equipment to carry around with other batteries, no extra bulk on top of the camera (ie a separate commander and trigger unit), and full control over the system is very nice. The price seems to be reasonable too. While it isn't enough to make me switch to Canon, I hope Nikon will adopt a similar system.

May 02, 2012 at 02:50 PM

deepbluejh
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p.1 #18 · My 600EX-RT Review

IMO, range isn't of much concern for what we do. So long as a trigger can reliably fire to 100' or so, most of us are in good shape.

That said, I've all but given up on ETTL triggers. The cost and complexity of such a system for me outweighs the benefit. For on-location lighting and portraiture, flash doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to be close enough. With some practice and skill, you can very often get manual flash close enough very quickly. For a tiny fraction of the cost, manual triggers are extremely compelling - especially given their simplicity.

That said, if I had $2000 to burn on a flash system, these would definitely be worth a look.

May 02, 2012 at 03:03 PM

deepbluejh
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p.1 #19 · My 600EX-RT Review

TTLKurtis wrote:

Ummmm, PocketWizard is THE golden standard... Yes, their flex system blows on canon but that's because of the Canon flashes' high levels of interference. With Nikon flashes it is rock solid I've been using it for over a year now and I had used the canon version for over a year as well and there is no comparison.

Not to derail the thread here, but PW's lack of testing and R&D with these triggers on Canon flashes is inexcusable. I don't use the triggers and have no plans to buy them, but this product as greatly tarnished PocketWizard's brand.

May 02, 2012 at 03:08 PM

4honor
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p.1 #20 · My 600EX-RT Review

deepbluejh wrote:
IMO, range isn't of much concern for what we do. So long as a trigger can reliably fire to 100' or so, most of us are in good shape.

That said, I've all but given up on ETTL triggers. The cost and complexity of such a system for me outweighs the benefit. For on-location lighting and portraiture, flash doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to be close enough. With some practice and skill, you can very often get manual flash close enough very quickly. For a tiny fraction of the cost, manual triggers are extremely compelling - especially given their simplicity.

That said, if I had $2000 to burn on a flash system, these would definitely be worth a look.

I am in the same boat. I guess it just depends on how you shoot. For me, it doesn't take much time to just walk over and change the light power...

May 02, 2012 at 04:29 PM

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