Gang-of-Two on-axis Canon 550Ex Speedlites with Single Phottix Odin TTL (ETTL & remote manual) Radio Trigger

An identical twin pair of Canon 550Ex Speedlites, connected by 2 Ishoot brand dual ETTL cords, to a single Phottix Odin TTL & Remotely adjusted M radio receiver ...

 

This (or the small board version - see more recent) has become my default setup for use on-axis with a medium size white reflective brolly.

 

It's nice to have nearly an extra stop* to play with. If I don't need the power, it keeps the re-cycle time short - becomes shorter still if I plug in two Pixel battery packs. And 2 on-axis Speedlites fill a reflective brolly better than one ever could. This large board can take two, three or four 550Ex Speedlites ganged together to run from a single Odin Rx. Bear in mind that the brightest illumination is now slightly below the umbrella shaft, matching the angle that the speedlite's fresnel lenses are above it. This setup also does very well as a (rather large) ring-flash. You just need to set it up directly behind the camera/tripod on axis. It's best to use Live-view and, if ETTL is in the mix, it's essential to use a viewfinder eye-piece cover! It provides delicious on-axis fill and can be as subtle as you like.

 

The two identical Canon 550Exs behave as one and are controlled from the Phottix Odin TCU in the camera's hot-shoe. The single Odin Radio Rx unit can be set to any of the 3 groups. Power control is remotely set; either dial in FEC on the camera (global) or on the Odin TCU (group specific) under ETTL - or - adjust the Manual power fraction settings, again from the TCU in the camera's hot-shoe. In my hands, this sort of setup did not work with Canon 580ExIIs and it did not work with the Yn brand of 'dual' cord(s) either. Also this was with the 'on-release' firmware for Phottix Odins (but see below). But it does work perfectly as described from both my 7D & my 20D.

 

SCS and HSS are supported too.

 

Edit: 24-08-12: This still works with 2 550Exs and firmware version 1.2 - can you tell, I'm rather pleased?

 

 

A note on cost:

550Ex X 2 (£130 X 2 = £260), Odin Rx X1 (£129): Total £389

.. or ..

Canon 600Ex-RT X 2 (£ 679 X 2): Total £1,358

Edit: The Canon RT kit has become fractionally cheaper after launch. But it still doesn't offer SCS and it still doesn't mingle nicely with non-Canon flash stuff.

 

*It's not quite an extra stop. This is because the Speedlite heads are splayed slightly, with the zoom setting at 24mm, giving noticeably better coverage within a white bounce umbrella, than a single Speedlite will deliver (I don't like omnibounce diffusors particularly). So you get a little less than a stop more, but very much prettier shadow transitions.

 

Edit: 2-8-13: This post refers to the original hardware version 'Odin for Canon'. I updated to firmware v1.2 c August 2012. It seems that Phottix migrated to hardware type 'Odin 1.5 for Canon' some time ago, without telling anyone!

 

Edit: 20-09-13: With the Mitros+ (Mitros Plus) just announced, I guess a pair of those could be used without the Dual cords & external Odin Rx. Similar functionality and beans at about X3 the cost - but tempting!

Done