A single transmitter can be used to trigger multiple receivers, if the receivers are configured to use the same channel. In other words, you can use a single transmitter to trigger multiple cameras, if each camera is connected to a Cleon receiver on the same channel. 

The camera cable connected to the Cleon receiver is hard-wired into the receiver, and cannot be removed from the receiver. 

The Cleon receiver has a plastic hotshoe connector on its base, and this allows you to attach the receiver onto the camera's hotshoe for convenience, rather than leaving it dangling from the cable. There are no electrical contacts in the hotshoe connector on the Cleon receiver; it's purely a physical connection to hold the receiver. 

The receiver's mode switch allows various modes to be selected, including:

• Off - turns the RF receiver off, but receiver can still be used as a wired remote
• On - turns the RF receiver on, and the transmitter can be used to trigger the camera shutter
• 2S - turns the RF receiver on, and adds a 2 second lag when the transmitter triggers it
• B - long exposures in bulb mode when used as a wired remote

When the mode switch on the receiver is set to "On", the LED on the left hand side periodically flashes green, to indicate it's ready for operation. With the mode switch set to "2S", the LED on the right hand side of the receiver periodically flashes red.

Fully depressing the button on the transmitter causes the status LED on the transmitter to go red, and the LED on the right hand side of the receiver also goes red as the camera's shutter is triggered.



The Cleon also supports bulb mode wirelessly, without requiring you to hold the transmitter button down to keep the camera shutter open.

To use the Cleon's wireless bulb mode, your camera needs to be configured in bulb mode. To open the camera's shutter, hold the transmitter button down for about 4 seconds. During this time, the transmitter's LED will be red, and will then turn off after 4 seconds. Once the transmitter's LED has turned off, you can release the transmitter button, and the receiver will hold the camera shutter open. The LED on the left hand side of the receiver will remain red while it holds the shutter open.

To release the shutter, half-press the button on the transmitter, and the red LED on the receiver should turn off as it releases the camera's shutter.


The Phottix Cleon provides a cheap and compact wireless remote shutter release, and also offers the flexibility of being able to be used as a wired shutter release. A wireless shutter release allows the camera's shutter to easily be triggered from a greater distance from the camera (upto 100m).

The Cleon is well-constructed, and during my testing, it performed flawlessly, with no false triggering occurring during testing (although I all my testing was over short distances).

The receiver's plastic hotshoe provides a convenient mechanism to mount the receiver on the camera's hotshoe. However, if you have a flash or a flash trigger mounted on the hotshoe, you cannot mount the Cleon receiver. Having a lug for attaching a small strap to the receiver would be useful in these situations, as you could then hang the receiver from your tripod.

I'm not sure why the transmitter requires a power switch, as I don't believe the circuitry is active unless the shutter button is being depressed. However, the power switch ensures the battery will not be drained if the shutter button on the transmitter is accidentally depressed in your camera bag.

I have found the convenience of a wireless shutter release to be handy, even in situations where I'm close to the camera. Sunrise and sunset photo shoots often see my camera mounted on a tripod, taking photos as the lighting conditions change. The wireless shutter release allows me to easily trigger the camera's shutter without having to walk upto the camera and tripod, and use a wired shutter release.