Third party flash: Phottix Mitros for Nikon with Phottix Odins or Godox Ving V860n?

donaldejose

About the same price. So which is better?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2x-Godox-VING-V860N-Lithium-ion-Wireless-E-TTL-Flash-w-FT-16S-Kit-for-Nikon-F967-/291193887609?pt=Digital_Camera_Flashes&hash=item43cc821b79

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Phottix-Mitros-Plus-TTL-With-Built-in-Odin-Transmitter-Odin-Receiver-For-NIKON-/360975981749?pt=Digital_Camera_Flashes&hash=item540bd85cb5

[Deleted User]

Not the same price Donald, the Godox are 2 flashes.

The Godox has a dedicated trigger system, Working radio frequency: 433Mhz (old system). When you already have other flashes, you need (hard to find) triggers to put them in your remote system.

I have the YN-622N Yongnuo system and asked on the lighting forum:

--- Can you use the Yongnuo YN-622N with this? Triggered by the Yongnuo YN-622N-TX on the camera and the possibility to adjust all the functions, I-TTL, HSS and manual input, direct from the camera. --
Anser: In theory, yes, but as with any new flash/trigger combination there may be bugs.

It seems that I can use these with my other flashes and it should also work with Odins then.

The Godox for Nikon is just announced.

The Nikon versions Yongnuo's flashes also work with the Nikon CLS system, in that case no need for triggers at all, but I prefer radio triggers with the commander on the camera.

http://flashhavoc.com/yongnuo-yn-622n-tx-for-nikon-now-available/

Bokeh_Hunter

I have the Mitros -(built in Odin) and they are great! It is a SB-900/910 equivalent in power and features (CLS). Top notch. I have the Odin system with separate units for the flashes and will not get them built into the flashes. I have gone that route in case I move to different triggers. The Mitros flashes really are built well. I just can't say enough how good they are.

I saw the exact same add for the Godox VING V860N. After doing a ton of searching, I found they are actually about 1/2 the power of the SB-900/910. As secondary/highlight/rim light/shaping units they would be probably fairly good. You would want a sb910 equiv for your main light more than likely. Reviews of the Trigger system are quite good. They also work with Wistro 180 & 360 system (which are 2x & 3x the power of sb 900/910) and would be a good step into that system in the future if you wanted.

[Deleted User]

Oh, another thing, the Debao SU-800.

http://www.eachshot.com/product/debao-su-800-nikon-wireless-speedlight-commander-trigger/?gclid=CKfe1o_7kMACFdLKtAode38ALA

Comes with a very clear Chinese manual (grin).
There is an English manual for download now.

Bokeh_Hunter

Never seen that one before @Ton. Nice find. I have a SU-800 and using the IR to control flashes is just not my thing. McNally and others make it look real simple, but I still have yet to be able to fire anything inside a soft-box or a flash that is behind me with any consistency. It is much easier to use a Sb-900/910 than a SU-800 in my book. If you are just doing macro type of work or where your flashes are always in-front of you though, it works great for that.

@donaldejose - What type of shooting are you wanting to fulfill with additional flashes?

donaldejose

I have Nikon SB-910, 700 and 600 speedlights and use the Nikon CLS system but was thinking about getting some flash units with built in radio control when I want to not worry about a line of sight to control the off camera flashes. Basically, I want the option to use monolights, cool LED constant lights, Nikon's normal CLS and radio controlled flashes. So I was attracted to the idea of a radio trigger built into the flash unit which allows you to adjust the output of the flashes from behind the camera. I want to be able to switch from 2 to 1 and 3 to 1 lighting ratios in each of the flash units (main light on the right for a shot and then main light on the left for the next shot adjusted from camera position) through radio control. It seemed to me the new Godox and the new Mitros might work for this application. I think there are also radio triggers I could use with my current Nikon speedlights.

[Deleted User]

@Bokeh_Hunter This thing seems to be better then the Nikon SU-800, $ 87.- (free shipment) on several E-bay shops. You can rotate it 130 degrees !!!, that can help a lot. Think I 'am going to buy one, my Yongnuo flashes has CLS build in and they work good with the menu settings from the camera in commander mode, but a SU-800 is better.

Oh and an AF assist for my D600 is always a good thing (also on the Nikon SU-800)

Bokeh_Hunter

@donaldejose - The Odin system is very good and what I use. For that you need flashes that are compatible with Nikon CLS. In that case the Phottix would be better. Then the next question is what radio controls you want to use.
•Choices are, if you want iTTL/CLS or just manual trigger only. ( iTTL/CLS I'll assume this and skip through all the options, but it is important to know there are many, many different specs for each brand's system.)
•If you want iTTL then you have to ask if you want High speed sync (HSS) or be limited to a slower speed. (Not all systems are equal, some sync at 1/60th, 1/160th, 1/200th, 1/250th, and so on. Something to always check.)
•Now the question is do you want the option to remotely controol each flash independently (switch them to manual controol and set each power from your camera.) which is to mimic CLS or not.

After all of that and if you decide that you want everything (iTTL, CLS, HSS,) the good news is that almost all the triggers out there have been eliminated and there are only 5 major ones left.
Options:
Pocket wizards are the standard, but expensive.
Phottix Odin - what I use and without a doubt only 2nd to pocket wizards. (What I use)
YONGNUO – YN560-TX - brand new and untested.
PIXEL KING is another company and they have a new one released as well.
Radio popper has some options as well but the "whole shebang" version is very new as well.

CACTUS – V6 - Is a product that controls your flashes in manual mode CLS, has HSS (High Speed Sync), SCS (Second Curtain Sync) but does not have iTTL. They are cheap at $55 a unit and reviews have all been positive if you keep the shutter speed to 1/250th and down. Some have had great experiences with HSS and some have not. It sounds like so initial testing to make sure you have the units delay set correctly or something.

Personally I think the Odin system is the easiest to pick up and to use. The user control is a bit slow and requires more button pushes than I like, but it works perfect 99% of the time. I rarely have anything go wonky or not fire.

I keep threatening to pick up some Cactus V6s as I use manual settings quite a bit when I have full controol over the environment. But TTL comes in real handy when you need it.

Bokeh_Hunter

For my usual (use everything/banker headshot) set-up (what I can use to overpower most ambient light), (all with Odins)
I'll put 2 or 3 sb900s in a large 48" octa box (group a) (Faster recycle times when shooting lower power)
A Mitros (Group from a back angle up high to hit the hair and define the back edges of the shoulders.
A reflector opposite of the Octa box (or I may add a 24" softbox depending on ambient light.) (Group C)
I'll usually add a reflector front and below to light under the chins/ or I will put a speed light in a Orbis ring flash at the camera. (Group D)
I usually use a Strato II trigger to fire a sb600 at the background. I set this flash on manual and just fire it with the trigger.
Mix/match/replace with reflectors.

Power levels.
A) 1/4-1/1 power
1/16-1/2 power
C 1/16-1/2 power
D 1/4-1/1 power

From this basic set-up I can always get a shot, and modify like crazy to achieve many looks. I wish I could post some samples but all the shots I have, are owned by the companies who hired me.

donaldejose

TTJ: much thanks - exactly the information I was looking for.

Bokeh_Hunter

Sorry I didn't address using Mono/continuous lighting at all. I have been playing with that and it is a work in progress. Especially when mixing flash with it. For the young kid/baby work I get, I really want to move to that direction but I do most of those at people's houses and I generally have to overpower evening window light when it is the strongest in the house. Flash is fairly easy, but startles many kids and continuous light requires a lot of power (think in the range of 10,000+ Lumens just to get close. (I'm being nit picky and don't want to raise my ISO above 400 for the shots. Most videos you see on the net, the people are in a dark studio and are at 400-800iso.) I have been looking at some very high powered LED work/parking lot lights but just haven't pulled the trigger on them yet. CFLs may still be the way to go on those. I have been testing some and what I can tell for sure is, find the ones that are in the range of 4000k-5500k temperature range for sure. Once above 6000k or below 3000k the color becomes very difficult to reign in even in raw. Nikon's cameras must not like 6000k+ temps as that really becomes problematic. I just get some bad color shifting in the shadows and when you bring them back, it can look like someone shot us with a green paint ball gun. My garage on the other hand loves the 2x 6000k 10,000+ Lumen bulbs I put in there. (equiv would be about 2 x 500w incandescent bulbs.) At night, one would think I have a small nuclear reactor powering my lights in there. For that they are great!

donaldejose

I have a set of these on order to try as portable continuous lights.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/lumablast-led-lumablast-duo-led-panels

18,000 lumens.

My thought was they may make good portable continuous lighting units. I have the DUO units on order so I can adjust the Kelvin to warm up the image a bit if I want to.

I have the fotodiox pro LED-100WA units and they are ok but under powered, you have to use high ISO, to shoot at moderate f-stops. They are too heavy to be portable. I am going to replace them with the 200 watt units.

http://www.fotodioxpro.com/fotodiox-pro-led-100wa-studio-led-kit-with-48-ez-pro-softboxes-set-of-2x-high-intensity-led-studio-lights.html

http://www.fotodioxpro.com/fotodiox-pro-led-200wa-studio-led-kit-with-48-ez-pro-softboxes-set-of-2x-high-intensity-led-studio-lights.html

I would recommend anyone interested to just go right to the 200WA units.

I have lightweight cheap Adorama monolights which are light enough to be portable and powerful enough to use at low ISO and moderate f-stop.

http://www.adorama.com/FPLFBF160.html

I found bowen adaptors to mount on front of the monolights so I can use pop-up bowen softboxes.

Works, but you are still hauling around a heavy suitcase full of stuff when you include stands and backdrop. I want lighter weight. The lumablasts may work if they will have enough power to use at low ISO and moderate f-stop so they can possibly eliminate the softbox and monolight.

We will see.

Looks like the odin system will be the best to use with speedlights.

Bokeh_Hunter

They look good! A bit pricey but 18,000 Lumens is big! 2 of them at that level, you can supplement mid-day daylight. I had not seen many near that level. I bet they are using the LED chips I was seeing out of the "work/parking lot" lights I was looking at. You will have to let us know what you think when you get them.