In case you were looking at the Godox Witstro bare bulb flashes...

[inkista]

There's a new entry coming: the Godox Witstro AD200:

http://flashhavoc.com/godox-ad200-witstro-announced/

200Ws. It's a LOT smaller/more compact than an AD360II. They've ditched the hotshoe foot, and made the head modular so it can be used either as barebulb, or a traditional speedlight with fresnel panel.

Adorama is calling it the Flashpoint eVOLV 200 and current price is US$329.95. elv on PoTN (the admin of flashhavoc) says the output looks to be only 0.3 stops less than an AD360II, but with a smaller area.

[Dave Humphries]

Looks interesting Kathy,

That should fire nicely from my X1 trigger.

Sooner or later, I'm probably gonna need something more powerful than the TT600/685's I have.

Thanks, Dave

[inkista]

Yup. Kind of what I was thinking. But I'm still waiting to see if there are Fuji X or µ4/3 X1 transmitters coming down the pipe...

BTW, the $230 Adorama price is for the following 2-head kit, which includes:

• Bare Bulb Head
• Fresnel Head with LED Modeling
• Barn Door with Grid and Color Gels
• Stand Adapter with Umbrella Mount
• Lithium Battery
• Battery Charger
• Case
• One Year Warranty

BTW, the Fresnel head is not zoom-able and is set to 35mm.

User Manual here: http://www.godox.com/EN/InstructionM...0_20170209.pdf

[Dave Humphries]

The modelling light would be nice to have, I just wonder whether it will be bright enough and if so, how much it knackers the battery - also, that would be great if you could control it quickly from the X1T.

The compactness is good, but it must have consequences (laws of physics and all).

I guessed the Fresnel lens wouldn't zoom, there are limits to miniaturisation

Hope they make an X1T-F for you.

[inkista]

The modelling light would be nice to have, I just wonder whether it will be bright enough and if so, how much it knackers the battery

Majority opinion is not bright enough to use inside a modifier. Other folks wonder if an LED head (or extension cables) are coming. More speculation on gang-up modules. Thus hath the AD600 wrought.

...also, that would be great if you could control it quickly from the X1T.

Cheetahstand video says yes, you can turn the modelling light on and off from the X1T. Also, that it accepts all the AD360 accessories, and stuffing it into an S-bracket requires modifying the bracket. My guess is Godox will make a new one.

The compactness is good, but it must have consequences (laws of physics and all).

Well, reports are saying anywhere from 0.3 to 1.0 stops less light than an AD360, a smaller pattern, but faster recycle, and more HSS bursts before the overheat stuff kicks in. So, pros and cons to the smaller size/power footprint.

...Hope they make an X1T-F for you.

That'd be nice. But if they never do, I can always get an X32T (manual-only) transmitter, and still have remote power control, if not HSS. In the meantime, my Yongnuo gear works ok for what I do.

[inkista]

Was digging about on some boards, and found someone pointing to a Facebook posting by Ed of Cheetah Stand. It says:

Godox Plan:
TT350 Olympus and Fuji April-May 2017.
If TT350 is good, Move to 685 and V860II.
If all is good move to X1 Fuji and X1 Olympus.
The same time firmware update for all 2.4G light accept Fuji and Olympus
AD200 60 bulb LED light head May-June 2017.

So. Jaw hit floor, kinda. Wasn't expecting to see a TT350 for mft/Fuji X that fast. Hope the plan works out. And a TT350 for micro four-thirds or Fuji X, if it costs the same as the Canon/Nikon/Sony version (i.e., $85 on Adorama) would be a very nice (much cheaper) alternative to a Nissin i40/i60. That may be my gateway flash into the X1 system, although (sigh) only 270º swivel...

And hey, look! A video head/modeling light for an AD200...!

[inkista]

Just wanted to mention, the AD200 firmware has been released for v2.0. This makes it compatible with -O and -F transmitters in the X system. The Godox G1 software has been upgraded to G2.

http://www.godox.com/EN/Download.html

The release notes for v2.0 state:

v2.0
date: 2017-06-12

Updated contents:

Compatible with Godox wireless Olympus/Panasonic X system and Fuji X system; Add the detection and application of separate LED head (AD-L); Optimize the detection of LED head.

The LED head was also announced, but everybody's wondering what a 3.6W LED head might be good for.

I've had a TT350-O (-O=Olympus/Panasonic; they're using -F for Fuji X) in hand for about a week, and it's a very good size/weight match with mirrorless for on-camera flash, with the main caveat being that it doesn't do 360º swivel. TTL, HSS, 2nd curtain, MULTI, S1/S2, all work as expected. I don't have an X slave unit to test the RF master capabilities with. But as an on-camera flash it does surprisingly well. More power output than I expected from a 2xAA flash. Gracenote stuff that's missing would be it has a screwlock instead of a lever lock, there's no sync or battery pack ports, and no recycle beep. OTOH, the price tag is $85.

Early reports on mu-43.com suggest that out of the box, you do have sync and remote power control and partial HSS with all the lights with built-in X receiver units with the TT350-O as master. Obviously, firmware updates are required for TTL. Curious to see how long they take in rolling out the firmware updates. For Sony, it was a year from the release of the X1T-S until the last of the TTL lights had firmware upgrades (AD360II, AD600, V860II, TT685).

In addition, the X system has expanded on the monolights side: Godox has released MkII versions of the SK and QS series monolights with X receivers and remote power control to go with the QT II series. Adorama, tho, has only picked up the super-cheap SK II lights.

The TT350-F is about to be released. And Adorama is now taking pre-orders for -F and -O versions of the TT685 and V860II.

Interesting times to be a mirrorless Strobist.

[Manfred M]

Something does not sound quite right Kathy. A 200 W-s flash delivering 1/3 stop less output than a 360 W-s unit does not logically make sense. That cannot be a like to like comparison.

I find the 360 underpowered at times when I use it outdoors, with a light modifier (soft box) and low ISO shooting. After all, the reason I bought is was for a more portable outdoor solution than my 640 W-s studio lights / battery pack.

[rpcrowe]

Manfred,
Would the measurement have any relationship to the size, shape and or efficiency of the relative reflectors.

[inkista]

Something does not sound quite right Kathy. A 200 W-s flash delivering 1/3 stop less output than a 360 W-s unit does not logically make sense. That cannot be a like to like comparison.

I know. A lot of folks were flummoxed by that.

The reports have been varying, most seem to say it's 2/3EV to 1EV lower than an AD360, which makes more sense (see the PetaPixel revlew: where testing an AD360II w/5" reflector yielded f/22, and the AD200 w/barebulb head and 5" reflector yielded f/16.4. The V860II @35mm was f/10.9).

Most folks are wondering whether ganging 2 of them will stack up against an AD360, given that the form factor makes it a lot more portable/convenient. Godox is apparently planning on coming out with a bracket for doing just that.

And then there are other folks looking at the AD600's 1200WS head, which can gang up two battery packs to one head, and looking at the AD200 and going "hmmmmm..."

All wild speculation, though.

Apparently one of the problems with the new form factor for AD360 owners, though, is that without a tilt/swivel head, it's harder to control the exact direction of the head, since you have to use a ballhead to mount the flash to the stand.

I find the 360 underpowered at times when I use it outdoors, with a light modifier (soft box) and low ISO shooting. After all, the reason I bought is was for a more portable outdoor solution than my 640 W-s studio lights / battery pack.

Yup. AD360 is no match power-wise to that. Everybody pretty much says the 360 Ws rating is... optimistic.

I look at the AD200, though, and think, "Look! An AlienBee AB400 that's pocketable and battery powered and does TTL/HSS with a built-in radio receiver!".

[inkista]

...and Godox has finished upgrading the firmware on all their TTL X lights. All the existing versions of the AD600, AD360II, AD200, V860II, and TT685 now have a firmware version that enables MFT and Fuji X-signalling compatibility over radio.

Geez, that was fast!

[Dave Humphries]

I see what it says Kathy, but don't you find their web site and download links the most confusing ever; try saving a Bookmark/Favorite; they mostly have the same name! (aka html page 'Title') Grrr

If you figure out how to actually download the firmware files or the G1 app, rather than look at it as a large page of extended ASCII text or as a 'manual', please do let me know

They might make smart flash guns, but their web site has to be one of the worst in the world, probably written by the person that codes the firmware.

Or am I being unfair?
Dave

[inkista]

If you figure out how to actually download the firmware files or the G1 app, rather than look at it as a large page of extended ASCII text or as a 'manual', please do let me know

Um. I don't have any trouble with it, or clicking on the green arrows to download stuff. But then, I just bookmarked the download page link I posted, not the download links themselves. I was slightly annoyed that everything's in .rar archives, instead of .zip, but that's kind of par for the course.

Not sure what you're seeing.

Here's what I see:

[inkista]

Also, finally managed to do a google image search on the disappeared "Flashpoint EVOLV Twin Head" (the listing got yanked off the site, as did a Flash Havoc announcement of same on its site), and found this:



Neat, huh? Ganging head with LED modeling light in a Bowens mount bracket. No cables, more powerful than an AD360. Too bad it looks like it was vaporware--at least at the moment. I wonder if it caught fire or something...

[Dave Humphries]

Not sure what you're seeing.

Here's what I see:

Hi Kathy,

I see that page too, but if I click on any green arrow using FireFox, it attempts to display the code as a text web page!

Therefore I tried with IE and that offered to download and save the rar files - progress!

As an aside, it is just me or has FF gone 'off the boil' again recently? Mine has been quite unstable recently, like it was a year or two back

So I did that for the 3 devices I was interested in (TT685, X1TN and X1RN), plus the "Godox G1" software.

Then I scanned them all (with Norton), which got very unhappy with the file of the "Godox G1" firmware upgrade software; saying (IIRC) that heuristically, it looked like it contain a malware risk.

So then I scanned it with Malwarebytes and that was happy with it.

It may be a false positive (by Norton), I'd be interested to know if you have actually used it yet?

TIA, Dave

I have a shooting session next week, so I won't be trying any firmware upgrades to my equipment until after that (just in case).

[inkista]

Ah. I tend to browse with Chrome most of the time.

As an aside, it is just me or has FF gone 'off the boil' again recently? Mine has been quite unstable recently, like it was a year or two back

Not sure what you mean by FF?

...Then I scanned them all (with Norton), which got very unhappy with the file of the "Godox G1" firmware upgrade software; saying (IIRC) that heuristically, it looked like it contain a malware risk.

So then I scanned it with Malwarebytes and that was happy with it.

It may be a false positive (by Norton), I'd be interested to know if you have actually used it yet?

Wow. Thanks for noting that.

No, I haven't used it; I still don't have any Godox gear other than the TT350-O, which I purchased primarily to have as an on-camera tiny bounce flash. I'm waiting mostly to see how the X2T transmitters look, so I may not purchase any more Godox gear this year (ok, maybe a TT600 or TT685-C if I rack up enough Amazon credit card points to get one at a substantial discount. I like the idea of purchasing from Adorama via Amazon so I'll get the Flashpoint warranty, but also be able to use up my points and get Prime shipping.)

If I do end up picking up a TT685-C instead, then I shall have to figure out how to use the G1 software on my MacBook (most probably through Bootcamp) or an ancient XP netbook I keep for Yongnuo firmware updates....