I am a big fan of using a cable release on a camera to make sure you aren’t introducing any camera shake into the image. Phottix has recently released their Cleon Wireless Remotes and being a user of the previous model for almost two years now, I was really looking forward to seeing what they did with the new designs.

Summary

With modern DSLR’s, these cable releases have become electronic triggers with the remotes being able to perform all kinds of additional functions. More often than not, all I need is just a simple push-button remote to fire my camera and so I have used a Phottix Wireless Remote for almost two years now. In fact, the only reason it wasn’t featured in recent photo shoot tutorials is because the battery in the transmitter is dead and I have been too lazy to go buy a replacement.

Fortunately, Phottix has come to the rescue and come out with an all-new wireless remote, saving me the hassle of buying a simple battery.The Cleon I and Cleon II are newer wireless remotes to replace the original one. We need to see if the new systems are better than the original.

Features

The Cleon I and II are very similar with the primary differences (more on this later) being that the Cleon II has a 2 second delay timer built in and the Cleon II uses the same receiver for each camera with interchangeable cables for the specific camera you are using. The Cleon I had the camera cable hardwired to the receiver.

Specifications

	Transmitter	Receiver
Power	12v	3v
Battery Life	~ 3 Years	20,000 cycles
Channels	Smart Code System with 16,000,000 codes
Range	100m (320ft) unobstructed
Monitor Lights	Two Color LED	Two Color LEDs
Frequency	433 Mhz

Differences between Cleon I and II

As I said there are some other differences between the Cleon I and Cleon II, the following chart will outline all of the differences between the two models.

	Cleon I	Cleon II
Frequency	315Mhz	433Mhz
Channels	16 (Dip Switches)	16,000,000 Smart Code System
Receiver / Camera Connection	Hard wired cable	Removable cable w/2.5mm plug
Transmitter Antenna Length	75mm	125mm
2 Second Delay	On Receiver	On Transmitter
5 Frame Burst	Not Available	On Transmitter
Receiver Power Switch	4-position slide switch	Push switch for 3 seconds
Exit bulb mode	1/2 Press on transmitter	1/2 or Full Press on transmitter

Setup

The Cleon II should be ready to go right out of the box which mine was. If you need to synchronize the transmitter and receiver you just need to follow these simple steps:

To synchronize the receiver to the transmitter:

• turn receiver on by holding down “set/power” button for ~3 seconds until RHS 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

Usage

As much as I have liked having a wireless remote for the past two years, more often than not I was using it within a foot of the camera. With the Cleon remotes, the receiver can be used as a wired remote. The nice part about this configuration is that the receiver does not have to be turned on for the wired function to work. For me, I will use it in the wired configuration quite a bit which should significantly improve the battery life.

To use the wireless mode you hold down the set/power button on the receiver for three seconds to turn it on. On the receiver, move the slide switch to the desired position:

• S/B – single exposures or bulb mode (hold transmitter button down for 3 seconds to lock the shutter open in bulb mode)
• 2S – single exposure with about 2 second delay
• multiple exposures – Automatically takes 5 exposures

Once set, push the button 1/2 way to focus and all the way to take the picture. It doesn’t get much easier than that.

Results

The Cleon system simply works great. At about $36 its hard to beat the price for a wired and wireless remote system. It doesn’t have some of the features of higher end remote like interval settings, longer delay settings, and time lapse, but that’s not what it is designed for. The only negative thing I have to say at all is that I simply could not get the advertised range out of it. The best I could get was about 120 feet. Now granted, I have never needed to be 120 feet from my camera when taking a picture and if that would have been the advertised range I would have accepted it. However, since the claimed range is around 300 feet, I am going to drop the final score down in the ratings for that. Otherwise the system is flawless and I would highly recommend it.

Score Card

Features	5.0
Setup	5.0
Usage	3.0
Results	5.0
Price	5.0
Overall	4.5

Phottix Website: http://phottix.net

Popularity: 7%

Related posts:

1. Phottix Wireless Remote Control Review
2. Cactus Wireless Remote Shutter Release
3. Phottix Battery Grip for Canon EOS 350D/400D/XT/XTi
4. Using the PocketWizard ControlTL Wireless Flash Triggers
5. PocketWizard announces ETTL compatible wireless control system

Tags: cable releases, cleon, Phottix, wireless remotes