Hähnel Modus 60RT
A fully-featured, pro-grade wireless RF flashgun kit – for less than half the price of the Canon own-brand equivalent
A pro-grade flashgun kit for half the price – is there a catch?
The new Hähnel Modus 600RT flashgun looks very similar to Canon’s rangetopping Speedlite 600EX II-RT (£540/$480). It’s almost identical in terms of its features, control panel layout, size and weight. However, there are three major differences, one being that the Hähnel is much cheaper to buy. On its own, the Hähnel flashgun costs just £230/$300, but that excludes the Viper RF transmitter, which is included in the ‘Wireless Kit’ reviewed here, and is very much worth having. There’s also a ‘Pro Kit’ (£450/$585), which adds an extra flashgun for versatile dual-flash lighting setups.
Like Canon’s 600EX II-RT, the Hähnel flashgun has a built-in RF transceiver, enabling it to work in wireless RF master/slave modes. However, it goes beyond the Canon’s range of 30m to offer a full 100m. The addition of the Viper hotshoe- mounted trigger, with its on-board controls and LCD display, enables you to use the flashgun off-camera in RF wireless mode. To do this with the Canon flashgun, you’d need to buy an additional ST-E3-RT trigger (£240/$285) or a second flashgun (a 600EX II-RT or a 430EX III-RT).
The final big difference is that the flashgun is powered by a rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack, instead of four AA batteries. This gives far greater stamina, up to 550 full-power flashes between recharging; and recycling speeds that are about twice as fast as with the Canon, at 1.5 seconds after a full-power flash and just 0.7 seconds after a half-power flash.
For most other features, the Hähnel goes toe to toe with Canon’s flagship flashgun. It has a motorized zoom head with a 20-200mm range (effective focal length), with a
flip-down 14mm wide-angle diffuser and pull-out catchlight/ bounce card. It has the same maximum power rating of Gn 60 at the 200mm zoom setting, and a full complement of advanced flash modes, including high-speed sync, rear curtain and programmable strobe (with multi-flash support during a single exposure).
The only minus points are that the Hähnel lacks the Canon’s weather-seals, and there’s no locking mechanism for the bounce and swivel head. There’s also no firm click step between the bounce positions of -7 and zero degrees. On the plus side, you do get a full range of bounce angles between -7 and 90 degrees, and complete 360-degree swivel rotation.
Performance
In operation the Hähnel performs flawlessly, firing from the hotshoe and in off-camera mode with the RF wireless Viper transmitter. You’ll need optional Viper receivers (£60/$80 each) to enable Canon or other makes of flashgun to join the RF wireless party, but optical master/slave operation works straight out of the box with Canon cameras and flashguns that support this more basic mode of wireless linking. TTL flash metering is very accurate and entirely consistent, and the flashgun lives up to the company’s claims for impressive power output.