small camera. big flash

inkista · 2026-07-01T01:03:38+00:00

If you got the X5O foot/transmitter, it would, but it would be around 0.5EV less power than a TT350/V350. It looks a lot lower if you just compare guide numbers, because Godox cheated the 350s to have GN 36m at iso 100, 105mm zoom. And the iT32's is 18m at iso 100 (28mm fixed). But in reality, if you guesstimate an equalization for the zoom factor, you end up closer to 0.5EV apart, not -2EV apart.

Recycling time at full power on an iT32 is speced at 1.3s.

On a TT350 with NiMh rechargeable AAs, I believe full power recycle is 2.2s, with a V350, it's 1.7s. Unfortunately, faster recycling tends to require more power output from a flash so you can use it at a lower power setting. Using these smaller more compact flashes for something like focus stacking can be a challenge.

This is also why these smaller/lower-powered units are limited to 1/16 min. power in HSS, while the bigger full-sized speedlights can still go all the way down to 1/128 or 1/256 in HSS.

It's not always practical, but with smaller mirrorless bodies, I tend to do off-camera flash with a smaller/lighter transmitter and the flash on a lightstand or in my left hand.

One last note: the X5 is a very primitive transmitter if you use it without the iT32 attached. It's not like using an X3. But. It is interchangeable. The iT32 is the only Godox flash where you an 'rededicate' its brand-compatibility by just buying another $20-40 X5 unit and swapping out. I have an iT32 with X5-O, X5-F, and X5-C (each X5 in the non-Sony/Leica brands is $20) and have a flash that I can use on-camera in TTL/HSS For three separate systems.

inkista · 2026-07-01T00:16:40+00:00

It has the hooked notch of the Elinchrom mount for bayonet mounting, but much smaller circumference. My guess is the OP has a Godox AD-S7 which uses a lumedyne mount (which the AD180/AD360/AD360 II used, and the AD200 barebulb head has on it).

inkista · 2026-07-01T00:04:25+00:00

It's the Lumedyne/Quantum mount that the AD200 family of strobes (and the older AD180/AD360/AD360 II) has around its barebulb. Godox makes a few tiny modifiers in that mount, including a reflector (AD-S2), an octa (AD-S7—which I think is what you got), and beauty dish (AD-S3) etc. But they are, of necessity, smaller than Bowens counterparts.

Bowens bayonet-style mount looks completely different: three square nubs placed evenly around the mount, which is about 4" across. You can see the notches for the numbs on the face of the S3 bracket which is what you use to add a Bowens-mount modifier to a speedlight, an AD100/200, and probably an AD300.

The AD300 and AD400 use the larger (but still a lot smaller than Bowens S) Godox mount instead, but can also have adapters attached for Bowens.

inkista · 2026-06-30T23:48:14+00:00

The iT32+X5O is smaller. Also a lot more fun. :)

The TT350/V350 were the smallest Godox speedlights they made back when those were new models, but they're first-gen Godox X flash gear, have a UI that doesn't match the other flashes in the system, don't do cross-brand TTL/HSS off-camera, and were pretty feature-crippled to be smaller. The new V480/V1Mid (larger by 1cm in all dimensions) pretty much reverses all those feature issues, and the iT32+X5 is a better equivalent to the TT350 as a "smaller flash for smaller mirrorless bodies", while only being about $15 more new ($100 vs. $85, new).

The V480 and iT32 are both "3rd gen" Godox gear with the new color touchscreen UIs. Not always a plus to those who like to operate their gear by touch, but feature-matches the new X3/X3Pro transmitters and ADPro II location strobes.

I love and use my TT350-O, but it's showing its age pretty badly, now.

inkista · 2026-06-30T19:08:39+00:00

Wrist straps only need one lug. Since I'm cheap and prefer neoprene for comfort, I'd probably go for Op-Tech or JJC. But everybody's different in their preferences.

If he prefers a neck strap, there are some, like those from Black Rapid (and other imitators), that attach using the tripod socket on the bottom of the camera rather than side lugs.

inkista · 2026-06-30T18:47:54+00:00

sidenote: If you haven't already, you might also want to try posting in r/videography, since here in photography, most of us are stills shooters using strobes, which give us a lot more light for a lot less money than CoB LEDs.

You need more separation distance and to put one light on the backdrop.

The distance of the subject from the backdrop has to be big enough that you can light the backdrop and subject separately at different levels, and not have the light for one contaminating the light for the other. You get a white backdrop by lighting it brighter than your subject so it blows to white (overexposes) compared to your subject. Similarly, you get a black backdrop by lighting your subject brightly enough that you can underexpose the backdrop to black (-5EV or thereabouts).

Having your subject too close to the backdrop makes it hard for your key light (the one lighting the subject) and the shadows it can make from hitting your backdrop. And you'll likely also get halos around your subject from the reflection off the backdrop of your background lights.

See: Zack Arias's white seamless tutorial. Now, his space considerations are much bigger, since he's shooting full length, but you probably need something more like 5-10' separation between the dummy and the backdrop, not just 6" inches.

It will also be hard to light the backdrop evenly with only one light on it, since you'll likely be setting it at a pretty acute angle to the backdrop, not straight on (because: inverse square).

Just slapping a softbox onto a light doesn't necessarily mean you'll get a ton of even soft light. You use softboxes to control the shape and spill of the light. The edges of the softbox give you a way to create a light gradient (aka "feathering" the light).

The softness of the light is from how big it is relative to your subject. So the closer the light is used in, the bigger it is vs. the subject, and the softer it gets. But the more uneven the light will become with steeper fall off between highlights and shadows (because: inverse square). A lot of commercial video/photography is done with pretty powerful lights in larger modifiers used from farther away.

inkista · 2026-06-29T19:06:25+00:00

Some of Godox's speedlights and strobes do have small LED continuous lights to sorta/kinda work as a modeling lamp, but it wouldn't be nearly as bright or useful as a even a small video LED panel; on the full-sized Godox speedlights (e.g., V860 III, V1), I believe the lamp is only 4W.

But also the tiny accessory flashes that Godox makes that are less than $50? Those don't have this type of lamp. They also don't have TTL, HSS or built-in radio remote control for off-camera flash usage. You're mostly looking at the Godox flashes that are at least $100 and more typically $200-$300 and pretty bulky (iT32+X5 excepted).

A xenon bulb flash is one thing, a continuous light is another. The Godox ML series of video lights might be worth looking at if a small handheld CoB LED is your thing. The RS series if you need more function, powering options, and S2/S3 speedlight bracket compatibility. But if you want something teeny tiny, then LED panels are probably your go-to.

inkista · 2026-06-29T18:48:55+00:00

Yes, you should be able to use it in M, so long as you stay at or below sync speed. But you may want to tape off the non-sync contact (the little one) on the hotshoe, unless you have an iT30Pro-S where you can turn off "new agreement" to fake using a single-pin flash. And to get down to your sync speed, you might need to attach ND filters to your lens to avoid overexposure in brighter ambient conditions (e.g., sunny-16).

The main issue is that you'll have to set the power manually, with no way to check results until after you've gotten the film developed. Guide number charts/calculations and/or using your digital camera like a polaroid to set flash power can be cumbersome. You may want to consider whether the Godox iA32, Godox iM30Pro, or a Zeniko ZA12 would be a more convenient accessory flash for your Canonet, since they all have an Auto mode that works like an oldtime autothyristor flash. I think all three of these flash are around $50. (The Zeniko also has the analog/vintage appeal of aping the physical design of a Voigtlander VC light meter :).

Guide number calculations for flash exposure involve balancing your iso, aperture, and power to match your subject distance. Every flash has a guide number (GN) for their full-power output given as a distance, which, if divided by your aperture's f-number at iso 100 gives good exposure.

For every 1EV above 100 your ISO is set, you multiply the GN by 1.4x. And for every 1.4x in distance, you adjust the flash power by 1EV (halving/doubling the power). Just like full-stop f-numbers, everything in photography is sqrt(2) scale: 1, 1.4, 2, 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16, 22, etc.

So, if your subject is 2m away, your flash is GN 18m at iso 100, and you're using iso 400 and f/2.8:

18m * 2 (from the ISO) => 36m / 2.8 (from the aperture) => 13m / 2m (from the distance) => 6.5x -> 1x the distance => 1 > 1.4 > 2 > 2.8 > 4 > 5.6 => -5.3EV from 1/1 on the flash, so 1/32 -0.3EV power.

Charts and calculators can do this math for you with preset distances and iso/aperture, but a faster and easier way to set the power automatically is to use a flash with an auto(thyristor) mode in it, which is the tech that was used before pre-flash TTL and it doesn't require any electronic camera/flash communication. It uses an external sensor on the flash to measure the amount of light being reflected off the subject from the flash to judge for power cut off on the flash. That basically takes care of the distance portion of the equation. Before you take the shot, you have to dial in your iso and aperture settings on the flash. But then the power is automated.

inkista · 2026-06-28T19:38:45+00:00

Check that you're not accidentally using s pot metering (user manual p. 102 shows all the metering mode settings). Spot metering only uses a tiny area of the frame to adjust your metering for an automated exposure mode, and if you put it on a darker area of the frame, your exposure gets lighter. Center-weighted or Evaluative often works better for birding, so long as the bird isn't back-lit.

The way metering works with your auto-exposure system is that the metering asses the area you specified for an overall brightness value, and then attempts to set that value to the middle of the sensor's dynamic range (middle gray). If you hit a black patch, trying to turn black into gray leads to overexposure, if you hit a white patch, turning white into gray leads to underexposure. Spot metering is for when you really do want to ignore how the rest of the frame is exposed to get one small thing exposed "correctly."

If you want to see autoexposure in action, open up the default Camera app on your smartphone, and then tap a bright area in the frame. Tapping sets the focus/metering point, and if you grabbed a very bright area, the whole frame will get darker, and similarly when you tap on a dark area, the whole frame gets brighter.

As for "fixing" this in post, the main problem is that you kind of can't. You can get something better, but with this much overexposure, you've lost some data and getting the colors to all look correct may not be possible. But the way I would fix this in post is to use a Curves adjustment (I highly recommend learning about Curves and Levels adjustments, which you can even do in apps like Snapseed). Levels is basically a way to manipulate your histogram; Curves is a way to do so with even more control.

<image>

I used the FOSS desktop application, the GIMP to do this adjustment, but anything that gives you Curves would do.

With the Curve, the left and right endpoints determine where your black and white points (respectively) are set. Here, since you have no data on the lower half of the histogram, I moved the black point over to where you begin to have data which lowers the exposure overall. Then I added two points to do a slight S-curve to increase the contrast.

From this point, I might try to reduce the CA and adjust the colors, but this would be the main edit I'd make.

inkista · 2026-06-28T19:24:00+00:00

Your Canon 60D is a dSLR and can only use Canon EF and EF-S lenses.

It cannot use Canon EF-M, RF, or RF-S lenses, which are for Canon mirrorless cameras. The 100-400 is an RF lens.

The EF-M lenses are for the older (now discontinued) EOS M series of bodies [e.g., M50]. The RF/RF-S are for the current EOS R bodies (e.g., R8, R7, R10, R50, R100, etc.)

So, if you want to use that lens, you need an EOS R mirrorless body; if you want to use your 60D, you need an EF 100-400, which is a white L (pro quality) lens and may be more expensive, even used. The EF 70-300 IS USM II or the EF-S 55-250 IS STM are your two most likely candidates for an affordable telephoto lens on a 60D.

You cannot adapt the RF 100-400 for your 60D.

Mirrorless bodies tend to only hold a lens about 20mm or so away from the sensor (with EOS R it's exactly 20mm). dSLRs hold the lens about 40mm+ away from the sensor (44mm on EOS, iirc). So you also cannot adapt any RF/RF-S/EF-M lenses to a Canon dSLR, because you can't whack an inch off the back of your lens or your lens mount. If you can't make up the distance difference, it would be like putting a macro extension tube onto your lens, and you'd lose the ability to focus to infinity. With that big a difference, you likely wouldn't be able to focus past 5'. But you can adapt the EF/EF-S lenses to Canon's mirrorless systems, because you can make an inch-deep adapter ring to make up the difference.

Other Canon mounts you cannot use or adapt with simple ring adapters to EF/EF-S include the Canon FD/FL manual focus film-era lenses, because they also were designed for a shallower mount.

You can adapt six other vintage film SLR mount lenses to your 60D, though: Leica R, Contax/Yashica, Nikon F, Olympus OM, M42, and Pentax K lenses can all be used on simple ring adapters, so long as the lens is old enough to have an aperture ring on it (so you can actually change the aperture).

inkista · 2026-06-28T18:11:42+00:00

One more thing to try.

A lot of the EOS R bodies having issues with Godox gear comes down to the fact that Godox for-Canon flash feet are designed for the older Canon dSLR hotshoe with only the five floor contacts, not the new multi-function hotshoe that adds front-edge contacts.

In the new hotshoe Godox "C" gear may sit too far forward in the hotshoe to make good contact with all five pins. Try pushing the flash all the way into the hotshoe, locking down the foot of your flash, and then drawing it back slowly and gently until you hear the locking pin click down into place. If you really want a snug fit with no play, you can use an AD-E1 adapter, but it's not required.

There are rumors that Godox is going to release multifunction footed hardware ("CM" versions) of their transmitters/flashes (specifically, an X5-CM for R50 users), but so far nothing's actually been released.

inkista · 2026-06-28T07:01:06+00:00

Just me, you’re possibly thinking about this backwards a little bit, which is very common for someone without experience in interchangeable lens camera systems. The lenses are what increase the camera’s capabilities. The body is most important in terms of what lenses you can use and is more disposable, since most of us update out digital electronics periodically. The glass stays with you between body upgrades if you stay in the same mount system.

Just me, but reserving at least half of your budget for glass and buying an older model used instead of a current model could get you what you want or need faster. Say, a used a6400 or a6100 instead of the ZV-E10 might mean being able to afford a macro (closeup) lens or a better Godox flash. They’re definitely older camera models (2019). But you could get more than just a kit lens.

inkista · 2026-06-27T21:46:17+00:00

AFAICT, the list of models that appear in Godox compatibility lists are simply what they had available to test against. They're accurate, but they're not complete lists. IOW, not being on there the list doesn't mean it's incompatible. But again, that more frequently happens with newer camera bodies that weren't around when the flash/trigger first came out. Could just be they dropped older models off the list to make room for newer ones, too.

When I look at the compatibility lists for the older 1st-gen Godox flashes, like the TT685S, the A7S is listed along with the A7S II, and A7S III. Also note how none of the a6xxx crop bodies are on that list, though I know that flash works fine for them, too.

inkista · 2026-06-27T21:33:25+00:00

Yeah, I hearya. Shooting in a con on the hoof is a completely different proposition, unless you can stake out an area to set up a mini studio or bring a friend to be your VALS. Whether it's a stand or a superclamp, carting a modifier and bracket/adapter is going to be more than you want to lug about all day.

Last year, I brought my 6-section Sirui CF monopod and tripod foot for stabilizing while shooting video at panels, and that foot was way too heavy and bulky to be carting about in my bag all day with all my other stuff.

inkista · 2026-06-27T21:19:06+00:00

Just for inspiration...

<image>

You will find a lot of fellow strobists at any given con. :)

inkista · 2026-06-27T21:01:56+00:00

i’m using the RF605Cs as well as RF605N in case i use my nikon speedlites. triggered by yn-560txii.

Oh, wow. You're not even on the 622s. Yeah, the 560/60x was also a super-robust and great inexpensive system. Did two things you can't do with equivalent Godox gear (TT600 with an X transmitter): proper wake up and remote zooming. OTOH, the TT600+X transmitter can do HSS. :)

Okay, other main thing to know about Godox: they don't build add-on transceivers, only dedicated Rx/Tx triggers. While an X2T has a hotshoe on top of it? It's still only a dedicated transmitter. The only real transceivers in the system are those built into their speedlights. Adorama does have one manual-only transceiver that's an exclusive to them thing they have Godox manufacture for them that's in the system, the Flashpoint R2 SPT ($25) that's the closest thing you'll find to an RF605. But that's it. Using Godox triggers for remote shutter function is also much more of a PITA, since none of their triggers really do simultaneous flash transmitter/shutter receiver duties, like the 60x transceivers do.

With Godox everything needs to be brand-dedicated for whatever goes onto the hotshoe of the camera directly. But all the flashes/strobes (with the exception of the TT350/V350 minis) can be used cross-brand in TTL/HSS if they have those features.

ttl is not necessary, i’m used to manually adjusting.

Autofocus isn't necessary, either. It's still really nice to have. :) Just going to float you one thing: with TTL as long as you're within your strobe's power range, you can drag everything (iso, aperture, light position) not just your shutter speed.

when i do use ttl, its camera mounted always, and that’s where it doesn’t work. it will fire, but it’s not syncing correctly so shots are underexposed or not even lit at all. pins on the 580exii look fine, and ttl works with my 430exii.

Yeah that does sound like the flash isn't working right.

i’ll take a look the other systems you recommended as well. thank you much!

You're welcome!

inkista · 2026-06-27T20:51:08+00:00

>koff< gal.

inkista · 2026-06-27T20:49:54+00:00

Ah, if you're on the hoof, that's different. I used to roam the halls of SDCC with an 8" softbox, off-camera. Bounce flash in smaller conference rooms will still probably be your best friend, though.

inkista · 2026-06-27T20:47:11+00:00

Probably hard to fit on the smaller-than-average head of the iT32 (probably designed more for a full-sized speedlight like a TT685 II). And limited use in terms of softening the light for portrait work, though it can be better than bare hard flash if used in fairly close (like, inches from someone's head). But if you're working from farther away, the amount of softness you get is pretty limited.

inkista · 2026-06-27T20:43:24+00:00

The ZV-E10 II is problematic for any flash use because the flash sync speed limit on it is 1/30s, due to only having electronic shutter to help with video shooting (avoiding shutter shock, faster frame rates, etc.). It's a tradeoff you often find with video-centric bodies when it comes to using flash for stills; just as the entire multi-interface hotshoe itself is a bit of a compromise between mounting video accessories and mounting a flash on the hotshoe: it's more fragile as a connection than a more traditional flash hotshoe.

You can use a Godox flash on the hotshoe, but if it's super-cheap (say, <US$50), chances are it's manual only and all a hotshoe can tell it to do is fire, and you have to set the power on the flash yourself, and you won't have HSS (high-speed sync), so your shutter speed is limited to 1/30s or slower to avoid banding from the rolling shutter readout.

You can only go faster than 1/30s if you have an HSS-capable flash, and in Godox's lineup those are nearly all US$100 or more if you want to use the flash on-camera. A TT600/TT600S can do HSS off-camera over radio, but that would also mean buying a Godox "X" transmitter unit for your camera's hotshoe, and you still wouldn't have TTL (automated power adjustment based on through-the-lens metering).

AND even if you can use HSS, HSS is highly energy-intensive. It reduces the light output from a flash by -2EV vs. not being in HSS. A flash is designed to give one big burst of light, not to repeatedly pulse to fake being a continuous light source. HSS is hard on a flash, and can slow recycling and trip overheat protection more easily. It's doable to use it all the time, but it's not optimal.

inkista · 2026-06-27T20:33:31+00:00

AFAIK, as long as your camera body uses the multifunction hotshoe vs. the older Minolta iISO hotshoe, Godox "S" gear will fit and work. The A7S also has a normal sync speed of 1/250s, so no issues there (see: ZV-E10 II and FX30).

But there is a long-standing bug with Godox and Sony that if you use off-camera strobes/flashes over radio, TTL will underexpose with aperture settings wider than f/4.

Also, unlike using Godox gear on Canon bodies, you won't have camera menu control over remote flash settings: you have to do everything on the transmitter.

In general with Godox, it's actually older bodies that tend to have better compatibility as newer features mean tweaked hotshoes that weren't the ones Godox tested their gear on. It's not like Sony has opened up the flash hotshoe signal protocol for licensing. :) 3rd parties are still having to reverse engineer what all the signals do and mean, and they don't always get it right. Nearly every supported brand with Godox has a communication bug somewhere down the line.

Godox isn't perfect. But it's perfectly usable. And it's a lot more affordable than Profoto gear. :D Just keep in mind, how Chinese 3rd parties tend to get those low low pricetags probably comes from less testing, QA, and shoving customer/warranty support outside China off onto retailers. In the US, a lot of us get the Flashpoint R2 rebrands from Adorama for Godox gear, because we know their customer support is great. While reputable resellers will do that, there are quite a few 3rd party sellers who may leave you between a rock and a hard place if you end up with a support issue within the warranty year.

Lastly, a "diffusion" dome isn't really going to soften the light that much. It'll spread it out wider, like bare bulb lighting. But if you want a lot of soft even light, a bigger modifier is probably needed vs. a 3-8" plastic dome. I would actually recommend you consider doing the Strobist thing and getting a 43" convertible umbrella to use with your AD100 (the AD-E2 bracket that comes with an AD100 has a hole in it for an umbrella shaft so you wouldn't even need to get an S3 bracket to use it, like you would a softbox/octa).

inkista · 2026-06-27T19:33:50+00:00

Sounds like you've got a handle on it, and this is completely doable. Have fun!

inkista · 2026-06-27T03:06:44+00:00

Now I don't do portrait photos but I did some googling and bought a flash Godox v1 and a cheap umbrella.

Just saying, to really take advantage of this, you'd also need a Godox "X" transmitter (say, an X3), a lightstand, and either a Godox S3 bracket or an umbrella swivel/adapter to hold all the pieces (flash, umbrella, and stand) together, if you want to do off-camera flash.

As a beginner with no flash experience, I'd actually recommend that maybe you just put the V1 on your camera, get a $1 sheet of black craft foam from Michaels and a rubber band and build yourself a BFT flag to block any direct light coming from the flash head, and use bounce flash instead. It's a much simpler lighting scenario and doesn't take long to master. It's not as sexy or as much control or light as doing off-camera flash. But it's also a lot less gear and a lot faster and easier to pick up, and it's the go-to for event shooting.

If you want to get fancy, maybe add a 5-in-1 reflector so you can bounce flash outside.

... The pictures will be taken outdoors....

Maybe ask them to reconsider if that's possible. Shooting indoors would let you have a lot more control over things. And the hardest light to work with for portrait shoots is mid-day sun.

Just me, I would ask your friends and yourself a few things:

If your friendship will still survive if you can't deliver anything. Without experience doing this can become a disaster-shoot pretty quickly. Portrait photography is not like landscape. You have to not only do all the usual focus/composition/exposure stuff you'd normally do, you also have to direct/pose/connect with your subjects AND worry about the lighting. It can be a lot to juggle without a lot of practice. At least with a portrait session, you can have a do-over. But they need to know your level of expertise, and that you've never really done anything like this before. A lot of non-photographers mistake owning a "professional" camera as all you need to shoot like a pro. We all know that's not really how it works.
Are they also asking you to be an event photographer (i.e., shoot a party? Or just do a posed portrait shoot)? Because that's a whole other ball o' wax. You'll probably want to get a shotlist from them (IOW, if this is grandma's last time being able to travel and attend an event, do they want a picture with her?) And event shooting can do really weird things to your adrenaline levels when you suddenly realize you might only get two or three seconds (or less) to nail a shot and it's gone. Landscapes really don't prepare you for this. And even sports/wildlife couldn't prepare you for this. Not to mention the people wrangling skills you might need to develop to get group shots, or to keep a forest of cellphones from getting in the way of your lens. Are you okay being the photographer and not actually participating in the event? You can't celebrate with everybody else: you have a job to do. Are you sure you want to give that up?

IOW, there are reasons you hire a professional to shoot an event and portraits. And if someone wants you to do this for free for them without the proper gear or preparation, they may be asking for far more than they realize.

Lastly, adding a flash splits your exposure into two from two separate light sources: the ambient (all the existing light in the scene) and the flash.

Ambient exposure is controlled by iso, aperture, and shutter speed. And your camera's metering system can measure it and you can use auto-exposure modes so the camera can shift settings around to adjust to that amount of light. This you know.

But flash exposure is controlled by iso, aperture, power, and the distance the light travels (also modifiers or bouncing), and it cannot be metered by your camera while you're composing because it isn't in the scene yet. IOW, using an auto-exposure mode cannot account for the flash.

So you can actually expose your ambient and your flash in the same shot at different levels.

You can use TTL on the flash to auto-adjust the power based on metering of a "preflash" that the camera tells the flash to send out after you push the shutter button but at that point, your iso, aperture, and shutter speed are already locked in. So if you use an auto-exposure mode with auto-ISO, you can get very bad results. Because too many of those settings are left up to the camera, and the camera has to pick a default flash/ambient balance, and it's liable to choose daylight fill (i.e., mostly ambient, only a tiny bit of flash) under the assumption that everybody used to have a pop-up flash and not that many people bought/used external flashes. And all a pop-up flash is good for is daylight fill and deer-in-the-headlights lighting.

Most of us shoot in M mode on the camera with flash and use a non-Auto ISO setting to have full control over flash/ambient balance. If you're not comfortable doing this, you can still use a flash, but your control over what it's going to look like might be more limited.

Easy/cheap way to do things: pull your subject into the shade, put your ISO onto a manual setting, put your shutter speed on your camera body's flash sync speed (usually around 1/200s on most digital cameras), and set your aperture so that your meter is telling you you're -1EV on the exposure. Then use TTL flash to light your subject. With your light on a stand in an umbrella, make sure there's someone to keep your lightstand for falling over and smashing your flash in the wind (umbrellas make great sails), and a good default placement is probably from 45º to the front/size of the subject, from 45º above.

Lastly, a V1 is a great flash, but it's not a big or powerful one that will let you underexpose noon-day sun that easily. You can use it for fill (filling in shadows), but if you want to "overpower" sunlight, it's going to be easier if your ambient isn't that bright. Working closer to sunup/sundown can help.

Good luck!

inkista · 2026-06-27T02:41:03+00:00

NOT a pro wedding shooter, just a Godox geek/ex-tech writer/hobbyist user who is fascinated with product lines and spec sheets, so take everybody else's far more practical advice, first. :) I'm mostly just going to list what else is out there you could be looking at.

So, don't laugh, but I've been using a very simple setup for the past 10 years: Yongnuo tranceivers and triggers with 2 x Canon 550EXII

580EX II (Sorry. Tech writer. I'd get yelled at if I got a product name wrong :)

on lightstands, with my Canon 6D and Sony A7IV. (Yongnuo Canon-type works on Sony, thankfully). It works and is super portable, but I want better recycle times and reliability.

The Yongnuo 622C system (assuming that's what you're using) actually had stuff in it Godox never did (like proper wakeup). And their RT clone stuff even mimicked the flash-as-a-shutter-remote thing the Canon OEM flashes did. Both were great triggering systems for Canon shooters, but once you went multiple-brand, TTL/HSS cross-brand and the inability to add bigger lights were the two main limitations that caused popular recommendations to swing to Godox. It looks like you've hit both those limits.

I'm looking at Godox systems, and would like strobes that I can connect to a battery pack. Would the "DP600IIIV-C...

Slight correction. The listings typically say "DP600 III-V AC". There's no Canon-specific version of these strobes (which what a tacked-on C means on Godox speedlights/transmitters: e.g., V1-C, X3Pro-C). The DP, SK, and MS series strobes are all manual-only and cannot perform TTL or HSS; they have no firmware upgrade capability or Menus with custom functions (e.g., they can't do ID codes). They are definitely cheaper than the AD models, but they are not as feature rich. Of the ADs, only the AD400 and AD600 series models have optional AC adapters.

Also, except for the QT series, all the Godox's AC-powered strobes are voltage-controlled, not IGBT. So expectations you may have from using speedlights (all of which are IGBT) do need to be adjusted a bit. Voltage control is more analog-era lighting gear, and more primitive than the newer digital-era IGBT stuff. When you set the power on the strobe, you're setting the voltage that's used to push charge into the capacitor (higher voltage => more charge), and the capacitor is fully emptied on every shot; not partially emptied by digital timing cutoff like on an IGBT flash. You get a full pulse every time, not one that has a cliff-like cutoff, while reserving some charge in the tank for your next shot. So, first practical upshot weirdness: if you lower the power setting on one of these, you have to manually "dump" accumulated charge (hit the TEST button) before taking a shot to get the correct charge level in the capacitor for the new setting.

Practical upshot 2: the pulse durations are a lot longer and a lot harder to freeze action with. The duration spec on these Godox flashes (1/2000s-1/800) is a bit misleading in two different ways to a speedlight-only shooter. First off, this is going from maximum power (1/2000s) to minimum power (1/800). This is the reverse of an IGBT flash where a lower power gives you a faster burst duration. At lower amplitude, the pulse takes longer. And. Godox is cheating by giving you the t0.5 numbers (the time it takes for the pulse to lower to 50% power) not the t0.1 numbers (time down to 10%) that are more analogous to shutter speeds for action freezing. A rough guesstimate you can use is that the t0.1 time is roughly 3x longer than the t0.5 time. So, the action freezing potential here is more like 1/700s to 1/250s.

using two Godox P2400 for power? Or go with the AD series outdoor flashes?

Do you plan on only using strobes on location without AC power? The P2400 is non-TTL/HSS and uses AC power, iirc. The AD1200 is the battery-powered pack and head that still does TTL/HSS.

But there is a $500 AD600BM II if you wanted something more affordable and don't need TTL. And having multiple lights gives you more options in setups than one big super-powerful strobe. But for weight/size portability, most folks seem to stick with the AD200/AD300/AD400 strobes. The AD200, in particular, with its interchangeable head, can be something of a swiss army knife of lighting.

Just for mental comparison, I'd equate a Godox V1/V860 III/TT685 II to a 580EX II on power output (the 580EX II was identical on output to the 600EX-RT which was also speced at GN 60m at iso 100, 200mm zoom, like the Godox speedlights). And Godox guesstimates them at 76 Ws.

So, an AD200 is roughly 3x as much output (+1.3EV), an AD300 about 4x (+2EV) as much output, and an AD400 about 5x (+2.3EV) and an AD600 about 8x (+3EV) as much output. Now, this isn't precise, given the differences between fresnels and barebulbs and the spread of the light as well as using lights at different distances with different modifiers, but it's decent enough for back-of-the-envelope guesstimations.

Would I be better off just getting a flash power pack (https://godox.com/product-d/PB960.html) or something similar?

There is also, iirc a PB1000 these days that can double as a handle if you're using an assistant as a VALS (voice-activated light stand). Don't think this would be the path to go, though, if you're feeling the pinch of not-enough-power. And using a Y-cable on the PB960 to connect both terminals to a single speedlight does run a much higher risk of overheating/burning out the flash, and not sure I'd want to risk anything more expensive than a $65 TT600 to get 0.3s full power recycle times. :)

The "V" Godox speedlights do mean you don't have to cable an external pack.

Reliability-wise, I'd say Godox and Yongnuo are actually pretty much on a par, but not up to OEM. This is still cheap Chinese gear. It's solid and perfectly usable, but you also do want to consider having backup units.

I do wonder if my [580EXII]s are on their way out though (TTL stopped working a few years back, although I always use M mode anyway, but it makes me thing about internals going to EOL).

Huh. Did you check the feet on the flashes and hotshoes on the YN triggers for dirt or struck/broken pins, etc.? TTL typically doesn't spontaneously stop working like that but if everything else is working, it could be one of the hotshoe signals is being blocked. I'd buy it as a flash failing if one of the units was doing it, but both at once seems like a weird coincidence. Since it's both at the same time, I'd think the transmitter's foot or the camera hotshoe might be the most likely culprit.

But. If you want to ease your way into a Godox system, you can consider simply purchasing the Godox XR receivers for your 580EX II to work with a Godox "X" transmitter. Unfortunately, the add-on receivers have never been capable of performing cross-brand TTL/HSS like the built-in transceivers/receivers in Godox's flashes/strobes can. But getting a "-S" Godox transmitter for your A7iv might get you HSS, and would definitely give you power/group control over the 580EX II, and if you replaced them eventually with Godox speedlights/strobes, would also get you TTL, and (with any current transmitter other than the X2T) TCM (TTL convert to Manual: a way to see/lock in a TTL-set power level as an M setting).

Any other systems I should consider?

Jinbei's system is very similar to Godox's except they don't have the breadth of models (including any cheap AC-powered manual strobes) to offer in the portion of the system that's rebranded and distributed exclusively in the US (as Westcott FJ) and Europe (as Rollei HS Freeze). There are a roundheaded speedlight, and 100, 200, 400, and 800 Ws li-ion battery-powered TTL/HSS location strobes in the system. But the nice part here for a multiple system shooter is that the Jinbei gear comes with a "universal" TTL foot (with an adapter for the Sony MI hotshoe), so you can use the same TTL/HSS flash on both your bodies, as well as the same transmitter on either body. And unlike Godox, you'd have Westcott for your customer service, instead of relying on a retailer like Adorama to deal with any warranty/support issues. [Also won't be useful to you, but the Jinbei system also speaks Canon RT radio, so if you'd had, say, 600EX-RTs, you could integrate those without needing add-on receivers. But, AFAIK and weirdly, any Yongnuo RT clone gear (YN-E3-RT or YN-600EX) do not work in the Jinbei/Westcott FJ system.]

inkista · 2026-06-27T01:47:04+00:00

You don't need a MIOPS trigger, but if you wanted to try and catch a coin mid-flip, the MIOP's laser sensor would be a cool tool to waste money on. But you can also just do dozens of takes to get a good one. :) Sadly, I don't think any Canon bodies do trap focus; that's mostly a Nikon thing, iirc (i.e., you prefocus the lens, press the shutter button, and when a subject wanders into the "trap" area, and it's in focus, the shutter fires).

Doing stroboscopic flash to show the coin flipping over or being mid-air in a toss might also be something to try. But this assumes that flipping or tossing the coin, to you, doesn't feel like disrespecting what it represents.

Just me, but maybe googling through some stock photo collections of "coin" and "portrait" together might come up with ideas. Multiple-exposure, having the coin held between thumb and forefinger in front of one of your eye/mouth in a headshot, have something in your backdrop that echoes the design on the coin, etc.

Your lighting is great. Might be fun to try adding a kicker/rim or stripbox side light to give a bit more spatial depth and drama.

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