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Hi, I'm Dustin Abbott. Those of you that
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have been following my channel for a
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while know that over the years I have
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covered I think basically all the
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generations of Godox's 8100 flashes. And
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today I'm going to cover what is a
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lowerpriced alternative to the God Ox in
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the form of the newer Q120 outdoor
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flash. Now, as the name suggests, this
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does top the AD100 in terms of overall
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power output. And so it has 120 watt
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second output versus the 100 watt second
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output of the Godox. And so just to give
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you a sense in terms of guide numbers,
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that is a guide number 45 versus a guide
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number 41. So not a radical difference
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obviously, but if you're someone who is
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looking to achieve as much kind of power
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output as possible out of a relatively
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compact flash, that obviously is giving
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you a lot of bang. And as we're going to
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see, a lot of bang for your buck. Newer
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is popular with a lot of you for a very
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good reason. They really nail the price
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to ratio. And for a lot of you, they are
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an affordable alternative to more
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expensive products. And in this case,
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one of the other killer features they've
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got outside of price is within their own
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2.4 GHz Q wireless system. It of course
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does all the same things that you would
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expect out of something like Godox's X
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wireless system, but the interesting
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thing that they have added here is that
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it is cross-co compatible with Godox's X
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wireless system. So, for example, out of
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this trigger, which is Newer's QZS, I
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can actually not only control the newer
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flash, but I can control the Godox flash
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as well. So, I can also use a Godox
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trigger, in this case, the X3N for
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Nikon, and I can control the newer flash
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along with the Godox flashes. Here, for
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example, I've got the X3 Pro, and this
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is the C version for Canon. And once
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again, you can see I'm able to easily
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trigger that. So, what's great about
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this obviously is you can leverage
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existing Godox products that you already
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have. You can mix and match and so that
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you have more flashes. And in my case,
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for example, I love this trigger, this
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QZ S. I actually like this trigger
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better than I do the equivalent Godox uh
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triggers for a couple of reasons that
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I'll detail in just a moment. And what's
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more, for whatever reason, I've ended up
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with multiple Canonbased triggers. I've
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got a Nikon trigger. I've got a Fuji
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trigger from Godox. But my only Sony
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based ones are actually older ones that
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are, you know, kind of outdated at this
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point. And so I'm actually really
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delighted to be able to have a modern
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trigger that's, you know, more compact,
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a little easier to use that I can
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actually use with all of the flashes,
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which I own, which is quite a number of
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Godox products at this point. You also
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have the alternative of using a newer
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app for, you know, making adjustments
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and connecting to the flashes and using
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for that. Transmission distances are
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very similar to God Ooxes in that it's
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up to 100 meters or 328 feet, giving you
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a lot of flexibility on where you're
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going to, you know, have your camera
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position and still be able to trigger
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these without any kind of issue. Battery
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here is a 3000 uh mAh battery which will
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give you up to 420 one or full power
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flashes. And so that is a little bit
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less than the 8100, but remember, you're
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also outputting more light at every one
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of those 1 one flashes. So if you're
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dialing the power down, you're going to
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get, you know, as good, if not better,
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of battery life across there. Now, the
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slowest recycle speed is 1 and 1/2
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seconds. In this case, however, I
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throttled it down to 1 128 power output,
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and you can see I can trigger basically
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as fast as I can actually click it down.
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And so depending on the your power
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output, you can get a very very fast
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recycle time from that. Power cycles
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from 1 one down to 1 to 56. And you can
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control it in even more finite degrees
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than that. Flash coverage is 28 to 105
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mm. And so, you know, basically
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matching, I would say, pretty much as
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good as what you're going to get out of
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any kind of flash at this point. It does
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have a built-in modeling light. And in
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this case, it is very slightly brighter
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than what we have got from the
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equivalent Godox. This is a 3W modeling
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light where we have only a two watt
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modeling light on the 8100. It will
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support up to 18,000th of a second
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high-speed sync, which can be very, very
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useful. And then, of course, the other
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killer app here is the fact that the
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price at full retail is 219 USD MSRP.
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The God Ox is 299 and so we have got an
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$80 savings there right off the top.
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I've used the Q120 over the last about
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three weeks and I have used it in a
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variety of different situations for some
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portrait work. I have used it for some
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product photography. I have used it when
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shooting a bit of like macro style
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photography or just general photography
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where I wanted to add some strobing or
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just you know setup scenarios and
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testing the light. And so here are some
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things that I like and some things that
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I don't like. First of all, things that
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I like the power and the price. This is
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a lot of power and it is a fantastic
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price. This is a great way to get a
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little bit more light output than you
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get out of your typical 100 W second
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flash. And so, it's very useful for
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that. And I think for many people in
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many situations, one or two of these is
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probably going to be all the light that
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you need. I also appreciate the fact
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that it actually includes the magnetic
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uh dome diffuser. And by the way, their
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magnetic ring is compatible with all of
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God O's um you know, accessories that
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work through the magnetic ring as well.
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So, another area of cross compatibility
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that I really like. I love the fact that
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you don't have to buy new triggers if
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you already have Godox triggers. And so,
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that obviously just makes it a whole lot
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easier to take that leaping off point.
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Very, very useful. I also like the fact
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that the battery back here has a USBC
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port that is outward facing, which means
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you can charge it while in the actual
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flash unit itself. What's more, I did
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test and you can power the battery and
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be charging it while you're actually
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using the flash, which means I could
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have it mounted on a light stand
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connected to a Vmount battery and
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essentially not worry about the battery
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running out at all because I can
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continually recharge through that. One
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other thing just on a practical level
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that I really liked is with the Q ZS
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trigger and that is that while it is
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touchscreen, you know, Godox has really
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leaned hard into the whole touchscreen
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thing. I also appreciate the fact that
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there is a little wheel here to allow
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you to control settings. There are a
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number of actual physical buttons on
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there. That just means you have a few
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different control points. Touchscreen I
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find sometimes isn't always as precise
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as what I'd like. For example, if I'm
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trying to set this output right here, I
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can drag my finger across. But if
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there's a really specific output I'm
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putting for, it's a little hard to be
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precise. But what I can do is I can
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actually click through there and just
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very easily go through the, you know,
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the kind of the third stop of degrees
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through there. So that is very very much
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appreciated as well. I also love the
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fact that we have, you know, not only a
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full range of compatibility in terms of
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the magnetic filters, but if you use an
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adapter like this from newer, which is
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relatively inexpensive, you can very
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quickly get into a full spectrum of
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accessories with the Bowen's mount here.
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And so that included, I've used it with
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soft boxes, beauty dishes, and so it
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just means that there's a whole world of
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other accessories that is very easy to
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access by using the adapter here, which
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I certainly recommend doing if you want
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to soften the light output and make it a
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little bit more flattering and different
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settings. How about some things that I
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didn't like? I don't find the design
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language here nearly as sleek as what I
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do Godox's. Godox is really doing a
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great job, even right down to the cases.
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I think that their their cases have a
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really really stylish look. Whereas the
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newer cases, it's it's definitely their
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brand. I've got a number of newer
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products and so it's very familiar kind
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of this gray with the blue accent on it.
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But you know, all of these things from
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the flash unit itself, it's just to me
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it's not quite as as nailed when it
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comes to the design language. And so I
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like that. I also found that it took me
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longer than what I anticipated in terms
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of getting the cross compatibility set
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up. And so you do have to be careful to
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make sure that you have current firmware
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on most everything involved. But there
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was some other settings that I had to
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access that I just wasn't familiar with.
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And so there was a process to make sure
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that I got the compatibility nailed
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down. It took me a little bit longer
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than what I anticipated because of that.
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But again, once I got it set up, no
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problem. But just something to be aware
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of. You may experience some initial
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frustration if you're not really
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familiar with diving into the menus on
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your triggers and your flashes and
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making sure that all the settings are
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appropriate. And I will also say that
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sometimes updating the firmware on some
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of these products can be a little bit
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frustrating as well. And so just the
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whole process takes a little bit more
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steps than maybe what all of us would
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like in terms of just plugandplay
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compatibility. So what's my conclusion?
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Well, I would say that there are two
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clear advantages over the 8100 Pro Mark
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II, and one of those is price at about
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$80 cheaper, but then also the power
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output. You're getting, you know, that
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additional 20 watt seconds of power
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output for less money. And again, while
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the overall design may not be quite as
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stylish, the functionality is basically
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equivalent. And of course, you're
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getting greater power, cheaper price. I
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love that. Obviously, the killer feature
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here is this cross compatibility with
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Godox products. The ability to use my
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Godox triggers to control this flash,
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the ability to use the newer trigger to
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control the Godox flash. All of that is
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just fantastic. I love that. And so, I
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will say at the end of the day, this is
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has really impressed me in terms of just
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the functionality and the practicality
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of it and also the ability to just merge
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these systems together. just means that
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I have one more tool in my arsenal when
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I'm wanting to do strobe work where I
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can mix and match. And of course, I love
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this trigger and I love having this even
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to now control my Godox flashes on my
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Sony cameras. All of that adds up too. I
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think the Q120 is a great value for
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money. And certainly if you don't have
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triggers already, pick up one of these
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QZs or not necessarily S, whatever your
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camera system is because it's a really,
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really great trigger. It works well. And
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bonus, you get to use it to control your
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Godox flashes as well. If you want more
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information, you can check out the links
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in the description down below, and they
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will take you to places where you can
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research things more thoroughly. As
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always, thanks for watching. Have a
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great day, and let the light in.
