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Hi, I'm Dustin Abbott. A few months ago,
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I reviewed the newer Q120 flash, which
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is a great bargain alternative to some
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of the Godox flashes if you need less
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power. However, but in this case, what
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if you need a whole lot more power?
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Today I'm looking at one of their
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higherend and obviously larger flash
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units and this is the Q4 Pro. This is a
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400 watt second flash output that is
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going to give you tons of light and
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obviously a lot of flexibility on what
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you do with that. So I've used this for
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a variety of different purposes at this
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point. I've used it for product
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photography in a variety of of settings
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for you know different applications both
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for my lens reviews but then also for
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some corporate type work. I've also used
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it in a portrait session. And so I'm
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going to give you some feedback in this
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review as to what I think of this flash
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in terms of its uh operability, in terms
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of its light output, and then of course
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to give you some look at some photos
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taken with it in these settings. And so
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you can help to determine whether or not
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it is useful enough for your
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application. We're going to start,
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however, by taking a look at just the
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basic specifications. As noted, this is
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a 400 watt second flash, and it uses
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their 2.4 4 gigahertz uh Q wireless
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system. It does also have a standard
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flash trigger port and so it does have a
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variety of ways to trigger it. It also
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can be controlled via Newer's um app
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which is available for iOS and Android
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though obviously that's a slightly
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different application there. One of the
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unique things about Newer's products at
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this point is that their wireless system
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is cross-co compatible with Godox's X
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wireless system. And I did test that in
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this application and I found that I was
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able to use my Godox triggers without
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any kind of issue with it. It does um in
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terms of the control, it has dual uh
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full color screens on it and so nice
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interface as far as accessing menus and
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overall, you know, basic information.
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And I did look and I was able to still
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see it out in bright sunny conditions.
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It's obviously not as, you know, fully
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saturated terms of the color or quite as
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bright and that kind of setting, but I
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it still was readable under those
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settings. Transmission distance is up to
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100 meters or 328 ft, giving you a lot
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of flexibility on your working range
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with it. It has a 2800 mAh battery pack
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here that is good for 325
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full power flashes. Now, obviously, if
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you're using it at lower power settings,
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which I suspect you will be a lot of the
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time, you're going to get a lot more uh
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flashes, total flashes out of that. It
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can actually support strobe lighting up
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to a 100 count with a 100 uh hertz
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frequency. And so, that's going to make
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it extra useful if one of your
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applications is maybe dance recital or
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something where you need to stop action
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and be able to do really really um high
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sync speeds with that. And it is capable
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of doing that. And so a little bit more
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flexibility than the smaller flashes in
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that regard. The recycle time is very
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very fast if you're operating at lower
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power outputs, as fast as a tenth of a
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second and then as little as 1.1 seconds
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if you're operating at the maximum one
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one uh full flash output. So uh for just
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shooting portrait work, obviously even
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the 1.1 second is plenty. And so I found
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that for my work as often as I was
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pulling the trigger um or the shutter
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that it was flashing and so no issues
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there. It will do high-speed sync up to
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18,000th of a second. You can control
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the power output in one/10enth stop
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increments. So as much as a full 1:1
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power, full power and then as little as
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and so giving you a lot of you know
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finite control over power output there.
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very useful to me is there is a 30watt
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modeling light that is at a 5600 Kelvin
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uh output and so which gives you just
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number one a lot of assistance for
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focusing but also a lot of nice look at
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how the light is going to fall which can
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be very useful in certain kind of
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strobing situations. It does have a
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Bowen's mount and so broad range of
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compatibility with all kinds of
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accessories and of course Newer does
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manufacture a lot of those you know all
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kinds of different modifiers including
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variety of different soft boxes and so
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that's useful as well. Price here is
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$639 Canadian and as we're going to see
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that runs close to $200 cheaper than
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most of the competing models. And so
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obviously as always with newer they
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really strike a chord with a lot of
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photographers because of their value
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proposition. So let's talk a little bit
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about the ways that I've used it and
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show you some photos here. And so first
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of all I used it in product photography.
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And that is something that's really
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important to me because I do it all the
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time. I'm constantly reviewing new
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lenses. And so I can't show you all of
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the product photography that I've shot
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with it because I can't show you all the
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lenses that I am currently working on.
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However, I can show you a few of them.
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And I found that it had very very
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excellent color precision, which is
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really important for that kind of work
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for me. In that setting, it's way more
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power than what I needed. But obviously
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having lots of it on tap is very, very
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useful. So when it came to shooting
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lenses, I was able to in that setting,
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the more important thing to me is the
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ability to throttle that power back. And
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so I could actually get nuanced lighting
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that had good color accuracy and looked
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good. Those shots turned out really,
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really well. I'll probably continue to
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incorporate it for that setting because
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again, it has an excellent modeling
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light that really really helps for that
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type of work. Now, in a more
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high-powered situation, I also wanted to
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test using a Godox trigger uh for and
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shoot on a Nikon body. I don't actually
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have a newer trigger for Nikon. I only
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have one for Sony. And so, I was able to
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use without any issue at all, just
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switching it into the equivalent RX
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mode. I was able to shoot with that God
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Ox trigger and I was able to have enough
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power here that for example if I just
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shot you know according to the lighting
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you can see that the uh the sky is going
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to be really blown out in that setting.
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Well I just wanted to see okay do I have
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enough power here in the middle of the
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day to actually pull back the sky and
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have detail in the sky too. The answer
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was yes. There's tons of power there and
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so I could illuminate these suitcases
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that I was shooting for a level eight um
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review and and I was able to do that
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without any kind of issue while also at
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the same time being able to balance the
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rest of the scene. It has tons of power
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output and that was shooting through a
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softbox to help to moderate the light
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and so great there. The second
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application I shot was was to do just
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basic head shot for young lady who's
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wanting some profile pictures for
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LinkedIn and for she's kind of beginning
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her professional career. And so I
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actually shot primarily in TTL for this
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setting. And for a a hair light, a
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little bit of additional light, I used
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the Q120. All both of them shooting
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through soft boxes. Uh I was able to get
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amazing clarity on these shots. And so
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if you know if your priority is getting
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fantastic detail um for that kind of
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work also found in that setting because
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I mostly kept it dark. I was using a the
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30 W modeling light for uh just the
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basic fill light and the kind of working
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light in the room and it was perfect for
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focus. I had zero issues with it that
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worked really really well for that. And
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then I also used it in an outdoor
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portrait setting and and so in that
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setting I really wanted to play with
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intensities with the light and to see
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okay if I'm shooting a backlit subject
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you know so for example here in this
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shot you can see the subject is uh
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without any kind of flash it's the
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subject is basically in the dark um if
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I'm trying to expose for the overall
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scene. If I put the flash into play, you
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can see I was able to strobe four and to
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fill that space and so that they were
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properly illuminated and it gives that
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dramatic shot. Now, that's not always
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the most natural looking. It's cool to
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look at, but I wanted to diversify with
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those shots. And so, um, I also in other
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cases, I shot to where I wasn't trying
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to expose for the sky and allowed the
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sky to be washed out and filling in
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shooting at, you know, larger apertures
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sometimes. And I was able to uh get
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really really great looking uh results.
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And the big thing that stands out here
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is that I had enough power to play with
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basically to accomplish what I wanted in
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the setting. And obviously if you're
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shooting with a few of these, you could
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basically overpower any kind of, you
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know, back lighting situation. So that's
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fantastic. But also very important to me
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in that setting is color accuracy. So, I
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have lots of flexibility for editing
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editing the results and getting
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different looks and styles, but starting
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off with a nice base level of color for
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editing and so I was happy with it in
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those settings. So, moving on from that,
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let's talk about some things that I like
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and then some things that I don't like.
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I really like, as always with newer
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products, I love the ratio of the the
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performance you're getting relative to
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the price. So, as a point of reference,
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or Pro 2, it runs basically $200 higher,
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about $650 range, where this is right
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And so, obviously, good value for money
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there. A minor thing, but this found I
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found that it had a very satisfying pop
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to it when I was actually shooting with
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it, particularly in that outdoor
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portrait setting. I could hear it pop,
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you know, as I was shooting. And I don't
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know, there's something kind of old
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school charm like being in a portrait
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studio. It just had a a great sound to
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it. So, I mean that it's not a
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dealbreaker for anybody. It's just
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something that I enjoyed. I've already
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highlighted I appreciated the great
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color accuracy and that stood out to me
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that I got good consistent color out of
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it. I enjoyed having enough power to
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have the flexibility in most lighting
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situations and enjoyed having enough
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power where I could use a full softbox
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and moderate the quality of the light
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through that. And so I found that to be
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useful. As always with these newer um
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products from newer that that cross
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compatibility is very useful because if
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you already have Godox triggers, it
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makes you either buying these or adding
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them into an existing array. If you're
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looking to maybe add another flash unit
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and you're, you know, counting pennies,
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um not that we have pennies anymore, but
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if you're, you know, managing your
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budget, I really like the fact that you
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can use existing Godox triggers. I also
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appreciate the fact that it's got a nice
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control layout between the wheel and a
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lot of individual buttons, the dual
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screens. It gives you enough information
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on there and you al obviously also have
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the option to access through the newer
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app and so you can change settings
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through that. So all of that I found to
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be very very useful. Now in terms of
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things that I don't like, I don't
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actually love the aesthetic of this. I
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mean it's sturdy. There's very good
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materials in it. This handle, you can
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tell, is really really robust. So, all
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of that is good, but the overall look of
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it is it's basically just kind of a
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scaled up version of uh in terms of the
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basic design of a a newer actually, it's
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a fixed lighting that I use on set. And
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so, I mean, it's it's not a amazing
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looking look to me. I actually prefer
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the visually some of the other flashes.
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However, it is a fairly functional
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design in that it lays quite flat and so
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um I I can see a scenario where it could
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be easier to bring along than some
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others. Obviously, it does come with a
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case, although this case, as you can
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see, is not very small. It comes with a
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small modifier here as well along with
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the, you know, the charging capabilities
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for that. But, um it's the overall look
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is just so so. I also don't love the
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fact that we require a proprietary
11:41
um AC charger for the battery. I I
11:44
vastly prefer having USBC as a charging
11:46
solution. I do like the fact that there
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is a charge port where you can plug in
11:51
while it's without having to eject the
11:53
battery unit itself. I was, you know, I
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tested with the USBC port because there
11:57
is one present, but unfortunately that
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only seems to be there for firmware
12:01
updates. And so charging, you're stuck
12:03
with a power brick and something
12:05
proprietary like this. And on top of
12:08
that, you don't have any kind of
12:11
continuous power options natively here.
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You can't just charge this in or excuse
12:16
me, plug this in and run it off of that
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power. It requires a separate accessory
12:21
kind of a dummy dummy battery that you
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can then continuously run power through
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the dummy battery and run it that way.
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But, you know, obviously I'm set up on
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this stand Vmount and things like that.
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Vmount's not going to be an option. So,
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you're just a little bit more limited in
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your approach for that. I don't see why
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it's not here. My conclusion is is I
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think this is a great alternative to
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flash units like the Godox 8400 Pro. Um,
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and again, at nearly $200 less, it has
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lots and lots of power. That 400 watt
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second power output for many people is
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going to be plenty. and plenty to if
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depending on how you're distributing the
12:59
light to even illuminate a group and
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then obviously if you need multiple if
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you have multiple of them you've got
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tons of of options for how you're going
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to light a particular scene. I also
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really appreciate the fact that I don't
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know how it all works, but the fact that
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Newer has designed with the this idea of
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cross compatibility with Godox's uh X
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system. And so that I it just adds a
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layer of value and practicality for
13:26
those of us who might already have some
13:28
Godox triggers or even Godox lights. And
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the fact that you can do some mixing and
13:32
matching very very useful to me. So at
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the end of the day, I do think that the
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Q4 Pro is very very useful. It's not
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perfect. couple of limitations that I've
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detailed here, but I love the quantity
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and the quality of the light that it can
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produce. And it is a strong value at its
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asking price. And with all newer
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products, it seems like there are often
13:52
coupons and deals where you can save
13:54
even more money there. And obviously,
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that's only going to increase the value.
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If you want more information, I have
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thrown links in the description down
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below where you can either do further
14:02
research or purchase. As always, thanks
14:05
for watching. Have a great day and let
