I’m not the guy that likes to go out and spend tons of money on all the newest gear all the time. I like to buy quality cars and drive them for 10 years. I like to buy really quality gear and use it for a long time. So I didn’t relish switching flash systems to Godox earlier this year. It felt like it was too good to be true and it felt like my system worked so I didn’t really need to spend more money to fix it.
- It wasn’t too good to be true. It was too good AND true!
- It was probably the best money I’ve spent/saved on gear in years!
Before I go on, I need to thank my friend (and really great photographer) Eli Turner for texting me one day about these (and then texting me another 100 times about all my questions). Game changer!
I like lighting. I am at home in really amazing light and we do really well in really shitty-light™. We carry a lot of gear and are comfortable with knowing when to use it in different situations. We don’t subscribe to the idea some photographers have that there is “a” way to light a certain event – every single one is different and needs different tools so we carry everything we might need.
I am fortunate to always have 2nd photographers with me and assistants to help with lighting and gear (at weddings). Those assistants not only get all of this stuff in and out but are key to letting the 2 of us just worry about shooting while they get stuff set up. It’s a luxury but something I don’t want to be without and with the gear we travelled with, it was definitely needed.
For years, I have been happy that it all fit neatly in a rolling bag which seemed to make life easy. Sure, it weighed 40lbs. and we had to have a checklist when packing b.c. of every single piece and it really made an assistant necessary. But it worked.
We had a combination of Nikon and Alien Bee gear to cover everything from small to big. We used Nikon speed lights most of the time. The big Alien Bees came out every weekend for family formals and often if we needed to overpower the sun for something creative or in big venues for a first dance and reception. We used Pocket Wizard radio remotes. We had 2 full sets of dumb remotes (PlusX) and smart remotes (TT1 & TT5). The Plus X remotes just worked every single time. We never had a problem with them. However, we couldn’t change the power on any of our flashes so we would have to do that manually. We had the TT5 because they gave us the flexibility to trigger the Nikons and Alien Bees and change the power on the run.
Actually, the TT1 and TT5 gave us that flexibility WHEN they worked. Anyone who has used them know the frustration of them working during setup and then just not working. When they worked, you believed in God and the world was good. When they didn’t for some unknown reason, you wanted to hurl them off the building and go on a scorched earth campaign! This is why we carried 2 sets, why we had to make the sophie’s choice between the 2 each weekend and why we tried to live a good life and prayed to God often that they would work.
Then comes the text message that changed everything:
We made the switch to all Godox in September and haven’t looked back. I have been talking with a lot of other photographers about it and they seemed as skeptical as me and had a ton of questions so I am hoping this is a good place to clear it all up.
Why I switched: PRICE / PORTABILITY / PERFORMANCE
PERFORMANCE:
I don’t care if it’s smaller or if it’s cheaper. If it doesn’t work, don’t talk to me about it. That is the amazing thing about the Godox system – it just works!! All of the flashes have built-in radio remotes and they all work on the same system. They just always work. I had 1 problem and switched channels and it worked perfectly.
I had flashes set up in the front for family formals at St. Sophia’s in Washington, DC (a huge concrete and marble cathedral). I walked all the way down the aisle, outside across a small park and across a street (approximately 275 feet away through concrete and everything else). Flashes at the front of the church fired every single time.
If you have dealt with Pocket Wizards, you know how key this is!
Also, I don’t have dumb remotes anymore. I can have that same performance of it always working and the luxury of changing power at all times to all flashes.
PRICE:
This says it all. I spent $4380 on the gear I used to carry and replaced it for $1232. For 28% of the price, I got a better system!
PORTABILITY:
OLD: 40 lbs. / Required another bag / Required an assistant / Required careful packing for all pieces
NEW: 8 lbs. / Fits in existing bags / 7 things to pack vs. 31
Here is the list of what we switched to. Note that these are the Godox brand and that the strobes are the Nikon version (you will just buy the version for your system). These flashes are also sold as Flashpoint, CheetahLight or Neewer. What’s the difference you ask? I think it’s just the name so if you prefer something that starts with the letter F, knock yourself out!
- 3x Godox V860IIN Speedlights / Currently $179 each at B&H / (get the C for Canon, S for Sony…)
- 2x Godox AD200 / Currently $299 each at B&H / (not camera specific)
- 2x Godox XT32N / Currently $46 each at B&H / (get the C for Canon, S for Sony…)
PROS:
- $3148 cheaper
- 32 lbs. lighter
- Always works
- AD200 at full power = 4 V860 speedlights. When we would put up the Alien Bees for family formals, it was overkill but nice to be able to recycle quickly. We were using them at 1/16th or 1/32nd power so the AD200 works perfectly in a much smaller package. The AD200 isn’t as powerful but we are still able to run them at a fraction of the power to get fast recycle.
- Smaller – everything can be carried easily and you can have the extra power
- Everything works on the same remotes – no more having one system to control your Nikon or Canon flashes and another to control bigger lights. You can use them all together and mix and match at the same time.
- V860 replaces your current Nikon or Canon flashes at a fraction of the cost and does everything the same including TTL and high speed sync.
- No more AA batteries!! (amen!) All of them come with rechargeable Lithium Ion battery packs that you just throw on the charger. We have never even come close to shooting even 1/2 the power at an event on any flash.
- No more cables. Nothing hanging from Pocket Wizards.
- No more heavy battery packs for the big strobes (Vagabond Mini).
- Easy to set up and tear down at event – throw AD200 on a stand with an umbrella VS. throw an Alien Bee AND a reflector AND a power cord AND a Vagabond Mini AND a Pocket Wizard receiver AND a Pocket Wizard AC9 AND a Pocket Wizard Cable…
- You can control everything from the menu on the V860 OR from the X32. I prefer the X32 unless I need a flash on camera. It’s smaller and easier to jump through your different flashes to tweak on the fly. However, having the ability to use either is awesome and for a remote costing $46, why not have both?!
- AD200 comes with a fresnel head and a bare bulb head so you can use them with a lot of light modifiers. (I haven’t used the bare bulb)
- We use MagMods for gels and grids and they fit perfectly over the AD200 and the V860!
CONS:
- Sometimes the V860 slides back a little in the hot shoe and won’t fire. It’s easy to just shove it forward and tighten down but the first time it might scare you.
- On-camera TTL isn’t as perfect as the Nikons were. It’s really really really really close most of the time so if being perfect only 94% of the time is the only downside, I’ll take it in a heartbeat!
I hope this helps. At some point, we will add the Witstro AD600 flash for studio lighting. We just don’t need it right now. Having the internal battery pack and internal radio remotes that work with everything else is key.
I know some Canon users have asked if it’s worth it since they have had internal remotes in their flashes for a while. I definitely think so. It’s a fraction of the cost so you can have more flashes to play with or more money in your pocket. You also get to use bigger flashes on the SAME remote system so no more needing one thing for Canon and one thing for bigger flashes.
In a nutshell – they work AND they will save you money! You won’t regret them.
If you have any questions or think I missed something, leave a comment below. Feel free to link to this if you think it would help someone. If you are looking to buy some Nikon flashes, Pocket Wizards or Alien Bee flashes, let me know! 😉 Hope this helps.