Hot Shoe Flash Systems

[Loose Canon]

I’m looking around at the current offerings of hot shoe flashes/triggers with the idea of possibly expanding my current system.

I only need manual with no ttl capability necessary and I want full power/zoom control from the camera (remote; i.e. carrying a controller TX in my pocket would be cool but not a deal breaker). Remote shutter release is cool too but I already have that covered. The more groups the merrier of course, but I’m thinking four minimum. I would like all flashes to be RF triggered from a camera mounted TX (no on-camera flash Master) but optical slave option is mandatory for flashes. Ttl pass through is nice but not necessary.

Present hot shoe equipment includes:

3x Canon 580 EXII flash (no optical slave firing)
Phottix Odin trigger system
This is a ‘system specific” set-up.

I am very happy with this system and wouldn’t even consider changing it at this time if I weren’t looking at increasing the number of lights. To this end I’m thinking third party flashes and I’m going to go “budget” with it. Hopefully with no future regrets!

The three manufactures I have been exhaustively researching so far include Yongnuo, Cactus, and Godox.

Yongnuo looks fair, and are the most inexpensive. It seems there are a lot of folks using them and I’m guessing for this reason. On paper they look great, but there is a disturbing history of reports with failures, bad (or no) customer service dating to present with their newest releases. The over-riding theme is that they are priced as disposable. Not liking that! The system is proprietary but cheap enough that my entire present system could be replaced for a little more than the cost of one Canon 600EX-RT. Built in RX on flash requiring a TX for camera.

Godox looks pretty good too and mostly good reviews. However their proprietary Li-ion batter has had some past issues. Reports state they may have this ironed out and if so is worth considering. I’m going back and forth on this battery system mostly because replacement (spare) batteries are expensive. Less PITA and longer life than a ton of AA’s but maybe not so in a pinch. Another proprietary system so any expansion/upgrading must be in-system. RX is not built into the offered manual flashes requiring one TX for camera and an RX for each light.

I’m leaning toward Cactus and I am finding the least reviews on these. What I am seeing though is all good so far. Non-proprietary system that will fire/control my 580EX II”s (and just about any other flash that has ttl capability), and the Cactus RF60 flashes look pretty nice too. This system is a bit more expensive but easily within what I am hoping to pay.

I really don’t want to go OEM and I really don’t want to shell out for the top drawer Pocket Wizard ttl system just to have remote manual power control.

All systems will manually fire my studio strobes but with no remote power control which is cool. In case I want to integrate hot-shoe/studio down the road.

All systems seem to have adequate RF range and lack-of-line-of-sight capability.

I am on the verge of pulling the trigger (pun intended!) on the Cactus but thought I’d just toss this out and see if anyone might offer some experience oriented opinions or anything else that can be thought of for that matter! I think I have the features options/capabilities pegged fairly well on the different manufacturers and these are the only manufacturers I have looked at in-depth so far. I realize this Forum isn’t a hugely flash oriented group but I know there are at least a few who are quite versed in this matter.

Appreciation in advance!

[loosecanon]

I use the Yongnuo YN622C controllers for my collection of cannon flashes, these include a pass through for a shoe mounted flash on the camera. The Tx unit I also has does not allow a shoe pass through, but does provide direct control bypassing the camera system, however it can also act as a remote release via hotshoe for some later canon cameras, including the M which otherwise has no remote release apart from the short range IR unit.
The only Yongnuo flash I have is the ring flash,£70 compared to canons unit at £100's . Build quality good for the price.
The price of the Yongnuo units is low, so worth getting to experiment. They work by radio but use the flashgun optical control, eg $30, 580, onwards.
In UK Yongnuo units are appearing as alternative brands at higher price on the retail market.
I see in USA B&H are selling them, so one presumes they are happy with the return rate in order to stock.

[Manfred M]

Terry - I recently picked up a Godox Wistro AD360 as a portable high power light source. I got the FT-16 wireless controller for as well.

First things first. The unit is SOLID. Build quality seems to be as good as or better than products I've seen out of Canon, Nikon, Metz or Nissin. These guys take quality very seriously. As you have noted, their batteries, triggers, etc, are proprietary and the units are not compatible with my Pocket Wizards if I want to remotely control them.

If their Speedlights are anywhere close to the quality of my unit, I'd say go for them. Well engineered and really well built.

[Rob Ekins]

Terry,
I have been using the YN system for 3 years and haven't had a problem with them, they have all had a fall at one stage or another and just keep going. If quality is an issue for you I believe Amazon do a one year warranty in the US but cant confirm this as I am outside the US. I believe B+H and Adorma do third party warranty that is in expensive.

If this set up is for shooting interiors you will need a set up where the flash controller is off camera, touching the camera once you have composed your shot is a no no especially if you are shooting brackets.

The YN way to do this is:
603C on camera.
560TX off camera with a 603C attached
YN560IV Flashes not 560iii the IV has 6 groups as opposed to 3 in some versions of the earlier model.
Your existing shutter release or laptop/CamRanger/tablet if shooting tethered

Good luck which ever way you go.

[Loose Canon]

Awesome! I appreciate you guys chiming in here.

I really, really want to like the YN’s! Price is right and they meet my requirements. Six groups are very appealing. I’ve scared myself silly reading so many consistent horror stories about these! I know for sure that if a dud is shipped, I’m going to be the one who gets it! Never fails and I’m not good with paying for problems no matter how inexpensive it may seem on the front end. On top of that there are the corresponding horror shows of trying to get anything done from here to China. Its not really instilling a huge amount of confidence! Still in all I’m not yet ruling them out. There are just as many folks, such as yourself Robbie, that have had good luck with them.

Yes and Robbie, I know Adorama USA will provide an extended warranty on these. I’ll admit I was a little surprised when I saw B&H handling these to begin with. So for me in the US they would come from Adorama with the extended.

Manfred I like what I see with the Godox equipment. I suspected the quality was excellent from what I’ve seen and I appreciate your confirmation. Since they are being picked up by so many different brandings must say something. The Wistro is apparently highly regarded. I’m curious? How are you two getting along? Is it doing what you want from it? I have heard the FT-16S RX isn’t a super tight fit to the flash bodies but no problems performance-wise. Well, at least on the V850 anyway. Is yours okay? I also read that since the battery issues have been improved they are now stamping a batch # on the improved batteries.

These things are reported to support sixteen groups! Mama! Group Heaven! I sure with they had built-in RX but since they are powered from the Mother Ship (flash itself) at least that’s not a separate battery requirement.

Good luck which ever way you go.

Thanks Robbie! I need all of that I can get!

[Manfred M]

The Wistro is apparently highly regarded. I’m curious? How are you two getting along? Is it doing what you want from it?

I bought it for a specific project that got postponed. I was looking to do some outside work, but did not want to haul the Einstein's along. The Wistro is ~ 300 W-s so I loose just over a stop, but have a much smaller and more compact flash unit to haul along. The standard bracket uses a Bowens mount, so I bought a Bowens speed ring and just replace my Paul C Buff one on one of my soft boxes. I can use it with my Einstein lights and PocketWizards, but can't change the settings remotely with them.

I have heard the FT-16S RX isn’t a super tight fit to the flash bodies but no problems performance-wise.

The mount to the Wistro body is via a USB connector, so it is not as secure as I would like it. A small piece of gaffer's tape gives me an extra sense of security.

[Loose Canon]

Sounds like a nice rig Manfred. Especially since you have some modifiers laying around easily adaptable.

The mount to the Wistro body is via a USB connector, so it is not as secure as I would like it. A small piece of gaffer's tape gives me an extra sense of security.

This I didn't know. I haven't looked at these particular lights very closely since I'm not in the market for one. The RX for the V850's uses a 4-pin connection. I think the older version used to also use a USB but if I'm not mistaken has been changed in later versions.