An open letter to Canon regarding the Canon RT system

To whom it may concern at Canon Inc.,

I am writing this email to express my disappointment with the Canon RT system, particularly the Canon Speedlite 600EX-RT & ST-E3 RT units.

Recently I just purchased a pair of Canon Speedlite 600EX-RT & one ST-E3 RT for my lighting equipment to complement a pair of my Canon 5D mark III & several Canon L lenses.
Prior to that, I was using Speedlite 580EXII, 580EX, 430EX & Phottix Odin radio trigger for most of my off-camera flash photography work.

Just FYI, I decided to sell the above equipment, particularly the Phottix Odin system, to purchase the Canon RT system. Because I thought that using the new Canon RT system with simplified Canon system will help my photography productivity, especially when using off-camera flash.

I found that 600EX-RT & ST-E3 RT system failed to meet my expectations. While there are many improvements compared to the previous generation Speedlite, I found that the Canon RT system has so many limitation that makes it inferior compared to the competitor products, such as Phottix Odin radio trigger system I was using before.

Below are the two major limitations on the Canon RT system that I am really frustrated about:

1. Lack of wireless 2nd curtain sync.
This feature should be easy to be implemented into the Canon RT system. But I am very surprised that Canon decided not to implement 2nd curtain sync in wireless mode. The competitor's products such as Phottix Odin have this feature. I find that the 2nd curtain sync is a very important feature, especially on my photography work. Why would Canon not include this feature, is beyond a common sense & it is unforgivable.

2. Lack of slave zoom control from the transmitter.
Again, this is a feature that the competitor's products like Phottix Odin managed to execute perfectly. Phottix Odin allows the user to change the zoom setting of the slave units from the transmitter.
By having the ability to set the zoom setting of the slave units directly from the transmitter, the user do not required to walk around & manually change the zoom setting on each flash unit. This process will make the photography work much more time-efficient.

I have invested so much money on the Canon DSLR & equipments. I was always happy using the Canon DSLR, but this is the first time I have ever felt that Canon has chosen to become arrogant & give the customer an inferior product / system. Even though I am currently still using pair of my 600EX-RT & ST-E3 RT system for my photography works, I am highly considering to go back to the Phottix Odin system, due to the two major limitations on the Canon RT system I stated above.

However, I still have a little bit of faith in Canon RT system. The Canon RT system has a very great potential if Canon can remove the two major limitations above.

I sincerely hope, or rather HIGHLY DEMAND, that Canon would release a firmware upgrade for the 600EX-RT & ST-E3 RT to add these features:

1. Add wireless 2nd curtain sync.
2. Add slave zoom control in the transmitter unit.

If somehow Canon failed to deliver the firmware updates containing the features above, I am definitely going to GET RID of my Canon RT system and go back to the competitor's product, the Phottix Odin.

Yours sincerely,


A Canon user from Australia

virsago_mk2 wrote in post #15566346
To whom it may concern at Canon Inc.,

I am writing this email to express my disappointment with the Canon RT system, particularly the Canon Speedlite 600EX-RT & ST-E3 RT units.

Recently I just purchased a pair of Canon Speedlite 600EX-RT & one ST-E3 RT for my lighting equipment to complement a pair of my Canon 5D mark III & several Canon L lenses.
Prior to that, I was using Speedlite 580EXII, 580EX, 430EX & Phottix Odin radio trigger for most of my off-camera flash photography work.

Just FYI, I decided to sell the above equipment, particularly the Phottix Odin system, to purchase the Canon RT system. Because I thought that using the new Canon RT system with simplified Canon system will help my photography productivity, especially when using off-camera flash.

I found that 600EX-RT & ST-E3 RT system failed to meet my expectations. While there are many improvements compared to the previous generation Speedlite, I found that the Canon RT system has so many limitation that makes it inferior compared to the competitor products, such as Phottix Odin radio trigger system I was using before.

Below are the two major limitations on the Canon RT system that I am really frustrated about:

1. Lack of wireless 2nd curtain sync.
This feature should be easy to be implemented into the Canon RT system. But I am very surprised that Canon decided not to implement 2nd curtain sync in wireless mode. The competitor's products such as Phottix Odin have this feature. I find that the 2nd curtain sync is a very important feature, especially on my photography work. Why would Canon not include this feature, is beyond a common sense & it is unforgivable.

2. Lack of slave zoom control from the transmitter.
Again, this is a feature that the competitor's products like Phottix Odin managed to execute perfectly. Phottix Odin allows the user to change the zoom setting of the slave units from the transmitter.
By having the ability to set the zoom setting of the slave units directly from the transmitter, the user do not required to walk around & manually change the zoom setting on each flash unit. This process will make the photography work much more time-efficient.

I have invested so much money on the Canon DSLR & equipments. I was always happy using the Canon DSLR, but this is the first time I have ever felt that Canon has chosen to become arrogant & give the customer an inferior product / system. Even though I am currently still using pair of my 600EX-RT & ST-E3 RT system for my photography works, I am highly considering to go back to the Phottix Odin system, due to the two major limitations on the Canon RT system I stated above.

However, I still have a little bit of faith in Canon RT system. The Canon RT system has a very great potential if Canon can remove the two major limitations above.

I sincerely hope, or rather HIGHLY DEMAND, that Canon would release a firmware upgrade for the 600EX-RT & ST-E3 RT to add these features:

1. Add wireless 2nd curtain sync.
2. Add slave zoom control in the transmitter unit.

If somehow Canon failed to deliver the firmware updates containing the features above, I am definitely going to GET RID of my Canon RT system and go back to the competitor's product, the Phottix Odin.

Yours sincerely,


A Canon user from Australia

interesting points but I'm not sure Canon looks at this forum (or any other)

Canon's RT system does not support wireless 2nd curtain sync??

That is lame.

Osiriz wrote in post #15567066
Canon's RT system does not support wireless 2nd curtain sync??

That is lame.

No it does not, no matter what camera you own. And Canon obviously doesn't listen to its customers nor does it realize it's competition. They have their heads up their Fing asses. I know Nikon will release a RF flash system that will do all the things Canon can't seem to understand, including making a 35+ MP camera. I'm so close to pulling the trigger on selling my entire Canon kit and simply going Nikon it's scary.

If Canon doesn't fix their idiot flash system and offer a higher MP camera with their next camera updates, I'm pretty done with them. I'll give them a couple more years, then I'm moving to a "pro" system. It's called Nikon. Really unhappy how Canon is leaving it's customers in the raw like they have with the Flash thing. I bought 3 "L" lens, a 5D, and a 1DS MKIII from Canon expecting that after dropping nearly 20K on their products that my only 4 year old 8, 000 USD camera would be compatible with a new RF flash system. Really pissed at them. It's not like Odin is a bigger company with more resources to make the flash system work with older cameras.

I'll see how Nikon treats its customers in the next couple of years, when they come out with an RF flash system. If they can produce a flash system that does what the Canon system does not, including backward compatibility with older cameras, I'm pretty much a Nikon customer from there on. I mean I'm not wasting anymore money on Canon gear that is obsolete or incompatible with newer equipment in 3 years. That's ridiculous.

I did not realise that, it does sound like a glaring omission.

Just out of interest, why did you switch to the Canon if the Phottix one you previously had did these things? Are there other features where the Canon is better?

magwai wrote in post #15949415
I did not realise that, it does sound like a glaring omission.

Just out of interest, why did you switch to the Canon if the Phottix one you previously had did these things? Are there other features where the Canon is better?

The Odin system does everything ti says it can do, but I do get misfires in specific situations, such as 25+m when a flash is behind an object, and sometimes out of nowhere. It's totally useable, but it still has it's problems. One thing the Canon system does, from what I've read, is fire every time, but it's limited, by the Canon manual to 30m. It also consolidates your receivers into the flash itself. However, battery life is substantially lower with the new Canon system also.

The Odin system will trigger at incredible distances. When I have line of sight, I have triggered over 80m reliably, relatively speaking. The manual says 90m.

If the Canon system was, indeed, more reliable, and I'm not so sure it is, than the Odins, and if it could give me a normal sync speed with my 1DS MKIII, I "may" be able to do without the 2nd curtain in exchange for the consolidation of receivers, but that would be pushing it. 2nd curtain just gives you a lot more possibilities when you want a long shutter speed, but you need to stop action. There is also the problem that the Canon system will not talk with my 5D, whereas the Odin system works perfectly with it. So I would also give up a backup system when using flash is I were to move to the Canon system.

I won't upgrade because I like to mix my speedlights with strobes. If there was a Canon wireless receiver that I could hook on an Elinchrom, I would be all about it. But there isn't so I see no benefit to upgrading.

Thomas Campbell wrote in post #15950096
I won't upgrade because I like to mix my speedlights with strobes. If there was a Canon wireless receiver that I could hook on an Elinchrom, I would be all about it. But there isn't so I see no benefit to upgrading.

Thomas, yes that is another limitation, for sure. And with the Odin system you can mix 3rd party flash guns also.

pocket wizards AC3 with speedlights makes it so fast to control output for 3 lights at the top of my camera plus with strobes as thomas mentioned makes 600's a no go for me.