Godox V100 100Ws Round Head Camera Flash Review | A Significant Upgrade!

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[Music]
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[Music]
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hi I'm Dustin Abbott and I'm here today
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to give you my review of the new godox
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V100 now I'm reviewing the V100 C for
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Canon however it is available for most
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of the major platforms and you can get a
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TTL that is specific to that model and
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more on that in just a moment in many
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ways it is the successor of the V1 was
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the first of their round head flashes
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that I reviewed about 5 years ago and
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I've actually been using several of the
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uh V1 units since that point as my kind
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of primary go-to flashes when I'm doing
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anything particularly on camera but then
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even in some cases when I'm traveling
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off camera and wanting to do one with
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the command or you know to use one of
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the triggers uh things like that I have
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found them to be very reliable with a
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lot of years of use at this point the
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V100 is a modernized and vastly improved
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replacement and as tends to happen it's
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coming to Market with a roughly similar
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price tag to what this did back 5 years
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ago even though it has a lot of
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improvements so let's start by talking
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about what has been improved here and so
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here uh side by side you can see that in
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many ways the form factor of the flashes
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looks flash units looks very similar
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they're not quite identical in size but
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they're not radically different either
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but in the internals are pretty
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radically different this new V100 is
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actually a 100 WATC powered flash unit
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the V1 was a 76 WATC so we have nearly a
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25% increase in power output which
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obviously is significant backing that up
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is a though again similar size Factor
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but a more more or greater density
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battery pack we now have a
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vb3 instead of the VB 26 that was in the
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older FL unit and it's now a 211.45 wat
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uh battery capacity versus 18.72%
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here and I've got it mounted on at the
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moment is that we have a detachable
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secondary flash unit that is designed
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that if you're actually doing bounce
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flash um you can put that on there to
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provide some fill flash at the same time
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so an interesting application if you're
2:46
wanting to get kind of the look of
2:48
having less of a direct flash but a
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little bit of fill and there's some pros
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and cons that I'll get to in a moment
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regarding that but again it's a a very
2:56
useful feature that is surprisingly
2:58
bright in the amount of power output
3:00
that it can use uh particularly if
3:02
you're relatively close to your subject
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now one of the key things that they are
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touting here but obviously is going to
3:08
affect a pretty small percentage of the
3:11
potential user base but they are touting
3:13
that this is able to sync with the Sony
3:16
A9 Mark II's Global shutter with up to
3:19
180th of a second uh shutter speeds um I
3:23
wasn't able to verify that for two good
3:25
reasons I don't have an A9 Mark II and
3:27
also I am testing the Canon version here
3:30
and so I couldn't obviously test that
3:31
but even with these others they're again
3:34
claiming to be able to do syn speeds
3:36
into the 12,000th range and so obviously
3:39
being able to match with electronic
3:41
shutters the faster electronic shutters
3:43
that are on a number of modern cameras
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at this point now obviously that's going
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to be at a REV reduced power output
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you're not going to get the full power
3:51
capacity which by the way is only
3:53
available in manual mode anyway where
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you're all the way up to a a you know
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one to one level for power output but
3:59
here obviously anytime you're doing
4:00
high-speed sync you're going to get
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diminishing returns and obviously the
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faster the shutter speed you go the more
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that that is going to be true at this
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point another thing that's improved is
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that we now have the modernized godox
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touchscreen here which is a a match to
4:16
some of the other recent flashes but
4:18
also I kind of even more importantly
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it's a better match to the newest X3
4:22
flash trigger so a fairly similar menu
4:25
output and so if you're using the flash
4:27
trigger and then the menu on the back of
4:29
the the the camera or the The Flash I
4:31
should say you're going to be able to uh
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be able to kind of navigate things a
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little more effectively because they're
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arranged in a similar fashion and a lot
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of the different settings are located in
4:41
similar places and again all access
4:44
accessible by touch which is very useful
4:47
as well I like the fact that this
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particular battery pack can be actually
4:52
charged directly to it and so you can U
4:55
USBC and you can charge right to the
4:57
battery pack itself and so that
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eliminates the need for a separate
5:01
charger which is huge though it is
5:03
compatible with some of the like multi-
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bade Chargers uh that are sold for godox
5:08
products and so if you're wanting to
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charge multiple batteries you can do
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that but of course USBC is is pretty
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ubiquitous at this point so it makes it
5:15
really easy to charge it even from a
5:17
power bank or anything else like that
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and uh what's furthermore is that even
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though we have a huge amount of power on
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board here we have the ability depending
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again on the setting and the sync speed
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to be get anywhere between 70 and 100
5:32
consecutive full power flashes out of
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that battery pack and so you know while
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100 may not seem like a a massive amount
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that's actually really high for
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something like this and what it means is
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that under normal conditions it's very
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very rare they're using full output on
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these flashes so means under normal
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circumstances you're going to be able to
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flash pretty much all day uh and and
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still have plenty of battery capacity
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there and so I really really love that
5:57
about these particular flash units you
5:59
also have more precise control over the
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modeling light uh rather than just going
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in uh you know a few steps you now the
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ability to have direct control anywhere
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between 1 and 100% And so again it just
6:11
gives you more Precision on that and I
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appreciate that it is also compatible
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here at the front with the PB 960 remote
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flash power pack which gives you a
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faster recycling obviously it's going to
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give you even more flashes because it's
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a dedicated power unit and so again it
6:28
this is a compatibility that I've seen
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on some of their other recent flashes
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like the recent 8200 Pro Mark II that I
6:35
recently reviewed it had similar
6:37
compatibility and so again it's it's
6:39
great to see that you could buy one
6:40
accessory and then use it across
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multiple of these products and it's one
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of the things that I do appreciate about
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God ox's approach so that is kind of a
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summary of the pretty long list of
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upgrades that we have here from the V1
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so let's shift over and talk about some
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of the ways that I've used The Flash and
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so where are some of my own personal
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findings are coming from I did use it as
7:02
part of a maternity shoot and in that
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case I shot on a Canon R5 body with the
7:08
the the flash just mounted on the camera
7:10
itself so into the hot shoe and I used
7:13
the uh rf70 to 200 F4 uh lens for that
7:18
particular um photo shoot and so you can
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see some of the photos here that I did
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in that point and so even though I I was
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shooting sometimes through multiple
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layers be it of branches or in different
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settings I got very good metering
7:30
results I got nicely you know filled
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flashed results and again the lighting
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the consistency was really good um on
7:38
that I also used it just on a quick uh
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business head shoot in this case using
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it again just on on camera and using it
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to get a sense of just doing kind of a
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head and shoulders you know kind of
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classic business type shot for someone
7:53
that's going into local politics I also
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used it for some product shots and just
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trying to see how it would perform in
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terms of the TTL metering when I got
8:03
kind of closer to things and and so
8:05
again I tested for that I also then used
8:07
it um off camera either with a flash
8:10
trigger for Canon I have a couple of the
8:13
X3 triggers here so I used it both for
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Canon and then also for Nikon to see how
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it number one performed when you're
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matching the TTL so this being a Canon
8:22
TTL unit but I was happy to find that it
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worked equally well when using a flash
8:26
trigger an X3 flash trigger on another
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camera system and again I got very good
8:30
TTL metering in that regard so now after
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using it for about 6 weeks let me give
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you a look at what I like and then what
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I don't like the first thing that I'll
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say that I like is that God ox's
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metering is just getting better and
8:44
better and and I really feel like it's
8:46
at this point I'm getting better
8:48
metering than I can ever remember
8:49
getting from a third- party flash I've
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used a lot of different flash units over
8:53
time and going back over a decade and in
8:57
many cases I find found that I would
8:59
often revert to manual control just to
9:02
kind of tune the output to the level
9:04
that I want I find at this point and
9:06
it's of course it's so handy with these
9:08
triggers to be able to just dial a
9:09
little bit of uh compensation in either
9:12
direction if you want to but even
9:15
without messing with that I just found
9:16
that the TTL was just really really good
9:18
and so that included it using it on
9:21
camera with Canon's TTL but then using
9:23
it as an off- camera flash with the X3
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like in these shots for example of of
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Ferrari in here I was just kind of
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handholding wasn't a big quick set setup
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it was just a quick setup I was
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handholding The Flash in different
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places to get the lighting area that I
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want but I was only about 5 to six feet
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away from Ferrari and yet in doing that
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I was able to get really good power
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output and that was shooting with a
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Nikon Z8 and then the uh Z50 mm
9:52
f1.4 and so again I was really really
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pleased with the uh lighting that I got
9:57
in that situation I also really
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appreciate how much power that we have
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on hand here this is the most powerful
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flash of this type at 100 wat second and
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so now it matches what at least the the
10:10
bottom level of of God ox's you know
10:13
non-ttl flash units that are designed to
10:16
be used solely off camera and in part of
10:18
a wireless system or you know through a
10:20
wired trigger and so I really appreciate
10:23
the fact that you're getting so much
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power output from a flash unit like this
10:27
that is obviously fantastic I also
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appreciate the great battery life I've
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always actually loved the godox battery
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packs to begin with when I was first
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doing godox reviews I was coming from
10:39
and my main flashes that I used for my
10:41
own work were ones that were powered by
10:43
four uh AA batteries and what I found is
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a couple of things number one I found
10:48
that the battery life wasn't really all
10:50
that fantastic with the doublea's what I
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also found is that if the flashes have
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been sitting for any length of time that
10:56
the there was always very very little
10:58
charge in the batteries and so it was
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kind of like pointless I would have to
11:01
make sure to be very conscious about
11:03
charging charging batteries and have
11:05
multiple sets say if I was doing a
11:07
wedding uh day because I just needed I
11:09
would burn through batteries what I
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found with these godox units is that you
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can they can sit for months if you're
11:14
not regularly using them and they're
11:16
just ready to go there's been very
11:18
little power depletion but also what I
11:20
find is that the battery life itself is
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just really fantastic it's no problem to
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do an all day wedding shoot using these
11:26
battery packs and so that I really
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really appreciate
11:29
I also vastly prefer the menu navigation
11:33
instead of having you know what let's
11:35
see there's there seven seven different
11:38
buttons plus rocker switch four
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different positions on a rocker switch
11:42
and then an entry button in the middle
11:44
and another switch and so you've got
11:45
like 13 or 14 different control points
11:48
there on the back of the V1 here you
11:50
have a much simplified and obviously you
11:52
can see that the screen itself is much
11:54
brighter its color um and then being
11:57
able to just touch and navigate through
11:58
that way it works and the menu just and
12:02
the control points have just been
12:03
simplified to a much easier way to use
12:07
another thing I appreciate not only is
12:08
the new case much more not modern and
12:11
Slick looking almost with a I'll call it
12:13
a carbon fiber type look to it obviously
12:16
not carbon fiber but uh it has just kind
12:18
of a cool diamond pattern on it but what
12:21
I also appreciated and I was very
12:23
curious to see is like okay if I since
12:25
you know in the Box it comes with this
12:27
fill flash unit not attached to the
12:30
flash it's just there as a part of the
12:31
packaging so I was curious to see if I
12:33
mounted that on does this still slide
12:36
into the case itself so if I'm leaving
12:38
it on on a regular basis can I actually
12:41
put it into the case and the the good an
12:43
the right answer the correct answer is
12:45
yes and thankfully they thought about
12:47
that in designing the case to where
12:48
there is room for all of that to fit
12:50
together so I appreciated that I also
12:52
appreciate the ability to directly
12:54
charge those batteries via USBC it is
12:57
the most simple and most logical way to
12:59
charge those batteries and actually one
13:01
of the things that I I requested when I
13:03
was reviewing the 8200 Pro Mark I was I
13:07
wish that that particular battery pack
13:08
could be charged via USBC well this one
13:11
can and so that is a great step in the
13:13
right direction as always I really love
13:16
the whole godox Wireless X system and so
13:20
you can use this Flash in a lot of
13:22
different ways obviously you can use it
13:23
as an on camera TTL flash you can use it
13:26
as a master unit to then also then
13:29
wirelessly TTL trigger other flash units
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you can use it as a receiver unit off
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camera and so you can use a wireless
13:36
Trigger or another command unit to
13:38
trigger it uh it just there's a lot of
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different ways you can use this and you
13:42
can integrate it with a wide variety of
13:44
other godox products and I appreciate
13:46
the fact that they kind of keep
13:47
everything within that same workflow I
13:51
also appreciate the fact that it doesn't
13:52
just come with a USB C cable it also
13:55
actually comes with an AC adapter and
13:59
while I I know that understand a lot of
14:01
people have a lot of AC adapters at this
14:03
point maybe they don't need the power
14:04
brick there's obviously going to be
14:06
people who don't and so throwing that
14:07
into the box you know may cost them a
14:09
couple of dollars to to manufacture that
14:12
but having that is great and so that you
14:14
have everything you need right there in
14:16
the box and so I appreciate that so what
14:19
about some things that I don't
14:21
like I still find even though we now
14:24
have the ability in theory to for it to
14:26
scan channels and just to do a one click
14:29
One Tap sync with the trigger and the
14:32
Flash unit itself I still find that the
14:35
process is a little bit what I'll call
14:37
mysterious it's not always intuitive and
14:39
so it doesn't seem it's not like you at
14:41
least what I've seen you get a really
14:43
great confirmation okay you know it's
14:45
now synced it's now ready to go and so
14:47
what I I found is that I go through the
14:50
process and I'm still not quite sure
14:51
it's happened and what happens is that
14:53
if you're you're still in that kind of
14:54
menu you can click on the trigger you
14:57
can click just the a manual triggering
15:00
to see if you got the sync going and
15:02
nothing happens because you have to get
15:03
into the proper mode on the flash unit
15:05
itself and then it will work I think
15:08
that they could still clean up that
15:09
process a little bit more where it's
15:11
just a little more obvious on screen
15:14
what's happening and that relationship
15:15
between the trigger and the Flash unit
15:18
itself another thing that uh that I
15:21
found a little bit frustrating is that
15:24
it's great to have this fill flash
15:26
accessory but what I found is that the
15:29
fill flash you have to manually control
15:32
that so maybe not a big deal if you're
15:33
manually controlling the main flash as
15:36
well and so you can perhaps match those
15:38
power outputs but if you're using TTL on
15:41
the main Flash and then you have to
15:42
manually change the output on the fill I
15:45
just found that I had to tweak with it
15:46
tweak it a bit before I got something
15:49
that I felt was complimentary enough
15:51
that I'd actually use it CU in many
15:53
cases with the initial kind of flash
15:55
shots that I got I found that I actually
15:57
prefer just the bounce flash alone uh
16:00
without having the fill accessory
16:02
powered on and so again I it would be
16:05
nice if the TTL function actually
16:08
controlled both of those things and so
16:10
that you could actually have a little
16:12
bit more of a Synergy between the main
16:14
Flash and the fill Flash the final thing
16:17
that I'll criticize is that first of all
16:20
it's I'll say this I mean I'm
16:22
criticizing the very plasticky feeling
16:25
actually mounts here at the same time
16:27
I've been using this this unit for years
16:30
and it's holding up just fine uh however
16:33
it doesn't necessarily inspire a great
16:35
deal of confidence it doesn't feel as
16:37
secure as you know my earlier flash
16:39
units with a metal attach point and and
16:42
so anyway I just I'll continue to cite
16:45
that because I just feel like they still
16:46
could beef that up a little bit so my
16:49
conclusion is this I've gotten a lot of
16:50
use from the V1 flashes over the years
16:53
and the V100 is in my opinion a really
16:55
really solid upgrade great power output
16:58
good battery life an Ever improving TTL
17:01
performance better metering performance
17:04
these godok flashes I find just work
17:06
great I've used a lot of them over the
17:08
years and I think the V100 of all of
17:11
their on camera flashes that I've used
17:13
it works better than ever it has more
17:15
thoughtful features better usability and
17:17
obviously a lot more power it's a lot of
17:20
flash for a price point of $349 us I
17:24
think it's for many people it's going to
17:26
be a better option than something like
17:27
the 80 100 series for example that is
17:31
similarly priced it's a little bit
17:32
cheaper the 8100 unit it has the exact
17:36
same power output you know it has the
17:38
same round flash head and so it feels
17:42
like this just gives you a lot more
17:43
versatility the ability to use it you
17:45
know as your TTL command or uh you know
17:48
not just as a receiver type Flash and so
17:52
I I think it's really fantastic
17:53
particularly if maybe you mostly shoot
17:55
with an you know off off camera with
17:58
your strobing but if occasionally you
18:00
might you think you might need an on
18:02
camera flash or a TTL for a command unit
18:05
then I think the V100 makes a lot of
18:08
sense and so I happily will recommend it
18:10
today I'm Dustin Abbott and if you want
18:12
more information you can look in the
18:13
description down below and I will link
18:15
to the product listing page along with
18:17
some buying links if you want to explore
18:19
more as always thanks for watching have
18:21
a great day let the LI in
18:24
[Music]
18:28
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