Nissin, the flash manufacturer, has announced its own flash radio triggering standard. The Nissin Air System (NAS) will include the Di700A Air flash, the Air Commander 1 and a separate NAS receiver, supporting wireless TTL and manual control.
Previously leaked on their web site, the Nissin Air System is now official and set to launch in March 2015. It will support Nikon, Canon and (in summer) Sony TTL protocols. Compared to camera makers’ own optical transmission systems, NAS will have longer range and be more reliable outdoors and in bright lighting conditions.
The system is much like radio standards from Canon, Yongnuo and Phottix.
- There is a flash, the Di700A, which includes many of the features from the original Nissin Di700 with the addition of a built-in radio transceiver. Unlike the Di700, however, which is a flagship flash, the Di700A will be only be able to act as a slave – not a master. It competes with the likes of the Canon 600EX-RT and Phottix Mitros+, but comes in at a lower price by swapping in an LED interface for the LCD one, and not including master radio mode.
- The Air Commander 1 is a dedicated master unit that sits on the camera and sends out 2.4GHz radio signals. As the Di700A lacks master mode, this is the only way to trigger and control your NAS-Ready devices. This is the counterpart to the Canon ST-E3-RT, Yongnuo YN-622-TX or Phottix Odin TCU.
- Then there is the Nissin Air System receiver, which is to be released in “Winter 2015”. This will let you add non-NAS flashes to the system, so you can add your existing speedlights to the setup. This is like the YNE3-RX, an Odin receiver, or nothing yet seen from Canon.
The Nissin Di700A features an LED “idiot lights”-style control panel with a simple adjustment dial. The unit offers most of the features you would come to expect from a medium-to-high-end flash, including TTL and manual power control, a tilt/swivel head, high-speed sync (1/8000 second), second curtain sync support and an electronic zoom head (24-200mm).
The Air Commander 1, which has a similar LED control panel, will be able to control a mixture of all variants (Canon, Nikon and Sony) of Di700A flashes, so photographers who use different brand cameras can share flashes and triggers. Three independent groups are supported, and you can control as many flashes as you like at once. The Commander also has an autofocus-assist lamp on the front. However, at the moment there is no master-capable NAS flash, so photographers may have to do without on-camera flash and use only remote lighting until such a product is announced.
The Nissin Di700A has a suggested selling price of $238, while the Air Commander 1 is billed at $75. A discounted pre-order kit, containing one of each, will be $258. All three are set for release for Canon E-TTL and Nikon i-TTL in March 2015 and for Sony TTL in “Summer 2015”. The NAS-Ready Receiver, just a concept at this stage, has a tentative release date of “Winter 2015”. The system will go on display at the CP+2015 trade show in Tokyo on 12th-15th February 2015.
For more information, visit the Nissin web site.
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