A few weeks ago, I released a detailed video review of the top five speedlights on the market. I had the opportunity to speak directly with Neewer, Godox, Westcott, and Profoto for my review, and I learned a lot. I want to correct some of the mistakes I made.
Optical Slave Performance
IN my previous videoI note that both Newbie And Godox The flash has an optical slave, but Neewer’s optical slave is nearly unusable. It requires direct light on the sensor to trigger, making it impractical. Neewer responded, saying that it will adjust the sensitivity of the Z2 flash in future products to match the performance of Godox’s V1 flash. It’s unclear whether this improvement will come via a firmware update or a new version of the flash.
Modeling and autofocus assist lights
In my initial testing, I couldn’t get the AF-assist illuminator to turn on on any of the flashes because I was in AF-C mode. After switching to AF-S, all of them (except the Sony) had working AF-assist illuminators. Neewer points out that their Z2 flash has two LEDs, which I didn’t mention—one near the flash tube and a brighter one at the front.
Update recycling time
In my initial review, Professional photos has the fastest recycle time by a small margin. Neewer later informed me of a firmware update for the Z2 that improves recycle time, making it faster than the Godox V1.
Color accuracy revisited
President of Westcott raised concerns about my color accuracy test, which measured Kelvin temperature at both maximum and minimum power. When I retested at all power settings, I found that the Godox still had the best color accuracy, while the Westcott dropped to last place. This discrepancy could be due to the fact that I tested different flashes (I had two of each) or that my colorimeter wasn’t entirely accurate. What I learned from this second test is that while the Godox had the best color accuracy, it wasn’t as significant as the first test led me to believe.
Check wireless range
The Profoto performed poorly in both the long-range and close-range wireless range tests. Professional photos Both Godox and Neewer reported similar results in their tests, confirming the accuracy of my findings. Godox and Neewer had issues with short-range performance when the flashes were very close together, but this could be mitigated by setting their remotes to short-range mode. This mode is only available on the remote, not the flash, so my testing was accurate.
Conclusion
After reviewing and incorporating feedback from manufacturers, Godox V1 still my favorite speedlight, although I now realize I made a mistake in not including their newer speedlights V1 ProfessionalThe Pro version has a metal hot-docking dock, better thermal performance, an external battery input, and the ability to charge via USB-C cable. In my opinion, these updates are worth the extra money.
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