Review: Phottix Cleon II Wire/Wireless Remote Control Set

posted Wednesday, 11 March 2009, 20:26 (+0800), by Martin

Phottix Cleon II

Intro

I recently reviewed the Phottix Cleon wireless remote, which was released by Phottix in February 2008. Since that time, Phottix have not been resting on their laurels, but were busy designing a new and improved version.

A new model, the Phottix Cleon II, was released earlier this year, in January 2009. It provides a number of improvements and enhancements since the Cleon.

Thanks to HK Supplies for providing a Phottix Cleon II C8 for review purposes.

This Review: Differences between Cleon and Cleon II Only

Most of the functionality of the Phottix Cleon II is the same as that of the Phottix Cleon. Having recently reviewed the Cleon, rather than duplicating much of the information from the Cleon review in this Cleon II review, please refer to my earlier review of the Cleon.

Overview of the Cleon II

The size and shape of the Cleon II transmitter and remote are identical to the previous model, the Cleon. However, there are a number of differences in the functionality of the Cleon II.

The back of the Cleon II transmitter indicates the model is "WXD-189", and this review looks at the C8 model of the Phottix Cleon II wireless remote, which comes with a cable that has an N3 connector to suit Canon 20D/30D/40D/50D/5D/1D cameras. I'm testing it on a Canon 50D body.

components: receiver, transmitter, camera cable, battery, wrist strap and clip

One of the immediately obvious differences between the Cleon and the Cleon II is the fact that the Cleon II does not have the receiver cable hard-wired into the receiver. Instead, one end of the receiver has a 3.5mm stereo plug, which goes into a corresponding 3.5mm stereo socket on the receiver.

Cleon II packaging

This allows Phottix to manufacture a single model of receiver, and just provide different cables to suit different model cameras (this approach has also been taken with the Phottix Nikos digital timer remote).

I'll be taking a closer look at other differences between the Cleon and Cleon II in subsequent parts of this review.

A quick search on eBay indicates the Phottix Cleon II typically retails for about AUD$56 (approx USD$36), which is about AUD$10 more than the previous model Cleon.

Update: Phottix are now selling the Cleon II via their recently launched their online store.

Features and Specifications

Specifications (as listed on the packaging):

Name of Product	Transmitter	Receiver
Power	12V / 23A	3V / CR2
Life of Battery	up to 3 years	20,000 Times
Smart Code System	16 000 000 combination codes
Range	100m (320ft) without obstacles
Monitor Light	Two color LEDs	Two color LEDs
Frequency	433 MHz

Differences Between Cleon and Cleon II

To summarise the differences between Cleon and Cleon II, I've listed them in a table. Note that this table does not include functionality that exists in the Cleon and in the Cleon II; it only lists the differences between the two models.

Name of Product	Cleon	Cleon II
release date	February 2008	January 2009
frequency	315 MHz	433 MHz
number of channels	16 (set with DIP switches)	16,000,000 (preset in transmitter)
transmitter-camera cable	hard-wired into transmitter	removable with 2.5mm plug
transmitter antenna length	75 mm	125 mm
2S switch	configured on receiver	configured on transmitter
multiple frames option	none	configured on transmitter
receiver power switch	4-position slide switch	hold down on switch for 3 seconds
terminate wireless bulb mode	half-press on transmitter	half-press or full press on transmitter

Synchronising the Transmitter and Receiver

The Cleon II supports 16,000,000 different channels, and I found that I had to synchronise the receiver and transmitter before they would communicate. Once this synchronisation operation has been completed, it shouldn't be necessary to re-synchronise each time you use the Cleon II.

receiver

transmitter

To check if the transmitter and receiver are synchronised, turn on the receiver. Holding down the "set/power" button on the receiver for approximately three seconds will turn it on, and the red LED on the left hand side of the receiver should turn on.
Move the mode switch on the transmitter to "S/B" and hit the shutter button on the transmitter. If no LEDs light up on the receiver, then you'll need to synchronise them using the procedure described below.

receiver, showing two status LEDs and socket for camera cable

To synchronise the receiver to the transmitter:

turn receiver on by holding down "set/power" button for ~3 seconds until right hand side LED turns on
press "set/power" button on receiver 5 times until LED on left hand side flashes red
press shutter button on transmitter
LED on left hand side of receiver should turn off

Now that the synchronisation has been completed, half-depressing the shutter button on the transmitter should result in the LED on the left hand side of the receiver going green, and a full press of the button should result in this LED going red.

Note that multiple receivers can be programmed to respond to a single transmitter, allowing you to trigger multiple cameras with a single transmitter.

After removing the receiver's battery for several minutes, I re-installed it, and confirmed that the receiver was still synchronised to the transmitter, so it appears that the synchronisation is a once-off exercise that won't need to be repeated (unless you want to synchronise the receiver to a different transmitter).

Using the Cleon II

As with the original Cleon, the receiver can be used as a dumb wired remote, using the shutter button on the receiver. Moving the receiver mode switch to "Hold" allows it to be used for long bulb-mode exposures without having to hold the shutter button down.
Note that there is no need to power on the receiver when using it as a wired remote.

using the receiver as a wired remote

When using the Cleon II in wireless mode, the plastic hotshoe connector can be used to mount the receiver on your camera's hotshoe, either facing forwards or backwards.

receiver mounted on the camera hotshoe

The receiver's mode switch needs to be set to "On", the receiver powered on (by holding the "set/power" switch down for three seconds until the power-on LED lights up), and the transmitter can then be used to trigger the receiver.

using the Cleon II wirelessly

The transmitter's mode switch allows three different modes to be selected:

S/B - single exposures or bulb mode (hold transmitter button down for 3 seconds to lock the shutter open in bulb mode)
2S - single exposures with a 2 second delay
multiple exposures - when triggered by transmitter, receiver will take 5 exposures

Cleon II is Better Than Cleon Because...

After having reviewed and compared the Cleon and Cleon II, I believe the Cleon II is definitely an improvement over the Cleon, for the following reasons:

auto code setting with 16,000,000 possibilities, no DIP switches required
no unnecessary power-off switch on transmitter
receiver cable is not hard-wired into receiver
2S (2 second delay) mode is now selected on transmitter, not receiver
5 frame setting on transmitter
transmitter antenna is longer, and should provide a longer range
wireless bulb mode can be terminated with half-press or full press on transmitter

transmitter with antenna fully extended

Regarding the last item in the list above, with the Cleon, a half-press on the transmitter button is required to terminate bulb mode. This is not particularly intuitive, and a full press on the transmitter button has no effect.

However, with the Cleon II, either a full-press or a half-press on the transmitter button will terminate bulb mode, and this is a bit user-friendlier.

Verdict

There's still no way to hang the receiver from your tripod if your camera's hotshoe is occupied with a flash or a flash trigger. However, that can be fairly easily rectified by drilling a small hole in the receiver case to attach a small lanyard, or tying something to the hotshoe adaptor on the receiver.

The Phottix Cleon II has numerous improvements over its predecessor, the Cleon, so if you are intending to purchase a Cleon, be sure to order the Cleon II, rather than the superseded Cleon.

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