Lighting

How the Canon ST-E3-RT Differs From PocketWizard Flex + Mini and Phottix Odins

Chris Gampat
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03/03/2012
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Last Updated on 05/31/2012 by Chris Gampat

Canon recently announced their new ST-E3-RT radio trigger and therefore also announced their entry into the radio transmission game in the strobist world. Now, PocketWizard Flex and Minis have been the darlings of many strobists: and rightfully so. They’re consistent, provide TTL metering and are super reliable. However, I’ve been a user of the Phottix Odins for many months now. And to be honest, I can’t imagine myself with anything else.

But when Canon announced the ST-E3-RT (or ste3rt), I was a bit confused about the differences in the triggers. Here’s an explanation for you all.

Comparison Chart

Update: Canon’s 600 EX RT Flashes DO work with high speed Sync with the  1DmkIV  cameras as long as you have the most recent Firmware upgrade 1.1.1 in your camera.

The ST-E3-RT- More Info

The ST-E3-RT has a two way radio communication system. At the moment of writing this article, it is only meant to be used with Canon’s 600 EX RT flash with a built in radio communication device. It cannot trigger older flashes and it is only possible of communication through radio vs infrared TTL. It can control 15 different flashes in up to five groups at 98.4 feet away.

The biggest achievement is the fact that you won’t need external receivers at all now with it if you choose to only go with Canon’s flashes. All you’ll need to do is mount the flash in its stand and then place it on a light stand.

Plus high speed sync is capable from it, but only with the new 1D x and 5D Mk III. On the plus side, it does have stroboscopic functionality: something that you’ll otherwise need a Multi-Max or TTL cord to do.

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canon flex mini odin phottix pocketwizard radio st-e3-rt ste3rt trigger
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Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.