I'm looking for a wireless flash trigger for my Canon 5DII & 580exII flash.
Anyone have any experience with Phottix Odin Wireless TTL Flash Trigger for Canon? It looks good for the money and the reviews are positive.
Try the search function. It works pretty well. Many questions have been asked and answered many times already. Use different variables to find what you're looking for.
Don't have any experience with Odin, but can offer some general advice you may find helpful over the long haul.
When flash is moved off axis it increases the contrast of what is illuminates because things like the folds in a dark suit or the shadows of a black cat that the light was hitting when near the axis isn't there anymore, except for whatever happens to bounce off the walls and ceiling. So while it might seem moving your existing flash off the camera is the solution to your lighting problems, it actually creates a new one; the need for a fill source.
Bouncing a single flash off the ceiling or spliting it up and forward like StoFen and Lightsphere caps are ways to create a "key" modeling direction and "fill" to lighten the shadows with one source. The problem with bouncing is lack of control over both the pattern or the lighting ratio (tone of the shadows and mood of the lighting). Bounced shots tend to be as bland as an overcast day.
Using a single flash and reflector is also an option, but not a very practical one. It's easy to use a reflector outdoors where light comes from all directions but indoors with a speedlight 45° to the side of the camera it's physically impossible to position a reflector where it can: 1) catch the light of the flash; 2) bounce it from in front of the face so it reaches down into the creases on the face and into the mouth and teeth, and; 3) keep it out of the photo. You'll hear many suggest using one light as an easier way to grasp lighting patterns, which is true, but it will not teach you how to use fill effectively. It's a bit like learning to play the piano with only one hand.
So sooner or later you'll likely conclude you need a second flash and kit would be prudent to factor that cost into your equipment budget and perhaps consider an alterative you haven't considered because you are focused on moving your single flash off camera. I've owned a pair of 580ex flashes since 2005 and have used them very successfully without any radio triggers.
Optical signalling gets a bad rap. I used it for 30+ years with manual Vivitar flashes before the Canon flashes. There is a range limitation but if using two flashes in a key over fill configuration most shooting situations fall well within the 50' indoor and 25' outdoor ranges because the flash power doesn't extend much further. 90% of my dual flash shots are taken from 8-10ft. The other limitation is the need for the slave sensor, which is the smaller gray lens, to be pointed back at the Master and not blocked, which is simply a matter of pointing the base of the slave flash at the camera and then swiveling the head towards the subject, and not blocking the sensor with a modifer.
The advantage budgetwise is that for the same cost as a set of TTL radio triggers to have radio control over a one light solution you can buy a 430exII or used 5x0ex flash and have a two light solution using the bulit-in optical triggering. You may find that works OK for you as it does for me and save yourself the cost of the radio triggers. Worst case you buy the radio triggers, which you are ready to do now anyway but are still ahead of the game because you'll be using them to control a two-flash key:fill lighting system.
I have been using them for over a year, and for several days they are serving in a photo station outside for the nectar-feeding NZ Tui bird. Battery use is excellent in standby, except for the 50D battery.
More frugal than archaic as I see it. Why spend $300 on Radio triggers until you find you actually need them? IMHO the money is better spent creating a two flash solution vs. moving one off camera.
For people shots flat light might be boring but it's not unflattering. But when a flash is moved to the side and creates dark distracting shadow on the face that is unflattering, hence the need for fill from somewhere to lighten the shadows. One of the most flattering strategies for single flash shots is move the light straight up over the lens (e.g. with a flash bracket) which mimics the downward angle of natural light, but doesn't create the distracting sideways shadow on the nose. The nose and other shadows fall straight down mostly out of sight. It's a technique wedding photographers who wind up taking a lot of single flash photos of people discovered about 50 years ago but brackets gave away to bouncing which was more convenient when flashes with tilting heads were developed.
I'd use radio triggers if I found I needed them and in fact bought Pocket Wizards on the same order as my pair of 580ex only to find I really didn't need them for my speedlights. But one can't learn that until you buy a second Canon flash and try the system. Unless the slave is hidden in a SB or used 100' away the optical system works OK 90% of the time.
I agree with Chuck completely on the purchase of the second Canon speedlite it might have some limitations but the Canon system is much more effective than you think once you get a hang of it plus you get freedom with the second flash which will make your OCF less limiting to just one light.
I also have a pair of triggers but almost always tend to use the Canon system (580ex paired with 430ex) key + fill.
Cheers!
I agree the money would be btter off spent on a second flash. I don't do a ton of flash work, but I have been increasing the amount and reading learning a lot. Now, as long as i have time for a test shot or two, I shoot manual flash. ETTL is nice at times, an the canon optical system works find for a wide variety of set ups. When I finally did buy triggers, I saved a boatload b/c I bought non-ettl types.
I use a 580EXII on camera with a Lumiquest proIII soft box attachment as my front fill, a 550EX as my key light with or without a Lumiquest LTP softbox and a flexfill reflector on the opposite side of the key light to lighten the shadows. I usually keep the on camera speedlight stopped down a stop or a half to soften the light without removing the dramatic effect when not using a soft box on the key light or shut the on camera flash off to emphasize it. Takes a bit of trial and error to get used to this and I have to card the key light off when moving it more to the side to avoid flare, but when I'm doing a location portrait it lightens my load and saves me having to pay an assistant for the lower paying jobs.
