SOOC is simply an abbreviation meaning Straight Out of Camera in relation to digital photography. It signals that the image has not been edited in any way and is as close to the original as you can get.
Many think of SOOC as meaning no editing in software designed for the purpose like Lightroom or Photoshop. However, most cameras allow a profile to be applied to the image (standard, vivid, B&W, vintage, etc) and then it is debatable how unedited the image actually is. From the camera picks up the information from the sensor and until the information is written to the memory card, there is a bit of processing going on, so the completely unedited image is probably difficult to find.
The closest is a RAW image format, but even here the ISO settings influence the processing of the image. Many think that the ISO setting influences the sensors sensitivity to light, but the sensors sensitivity is constant. Instead the ISO settings governs a gain applied to the light readings from the sensor, and this camera internal processing can – with a bit of good will – also be seen as a sort of editing.
So I see SOOC more as an ideal that some like to get as close to as practically possible. Many professionals do what they can to get the images right in camera i.e. make sure the framing is spot on and no tweaking to e.g. the exposure settings is necessary in post to make the images look their best. They do not do so out of idealism, but simply because it saves time, and as you know: time is money. A school photographer taking several thousands of headshots over a year can save a lot of time if there is no editing needed but the result can be printed and delivered to the clients as is.
So my advice is that you should not put too much into the SOOC term. See it as an ideal and just know that when a camera reviewer says he /she presents the images SOOC, it is just another way of saying that the images could probably be even better with a bit of time spent editing.
The SmallRig RM75 video light is actually quite small. At 9.9 x 6.7 x 0.18 centimetres, it will not take up much space in your camera bag. Despite the small form factor, it delivers a CRI at 96 and a colour temperature in the range of 2500K to 8500K.
It is powered with a 4Ah battery, which I find to be a large battery especially considering the small size of the light. The spec sheet promises 3 hours of operation at full throttle, and if you ask me, that is a mind blowing performance! When I think back just a few years what a small LED light could deliver, then giant steps of progress have been made here!
The SmallRig RM75 as it presents itself on the tin.
The box with the light contains very little other than the light: a manual, a user guide, a USB cable and a light diffuser.
In the box you will find the instruction manual (left), the light itself (right) and a diffuser along with a USB cable (middle). The diffuser also protects the SmallRig light.
I must admit that I thought the light diffuser was a case to protect the light mainly, but when I tried to fit the silicone rubber case, I could see that the case is somewhat thicker than the light itself. This design to create a space between the light and the case, so the heat can dissipate. That said, the diffuser will also protect the light, the same way you probably have a cover for your smartphone.
Yes! USB-C charging! And you can also see the small screen top right that shows you the menus and status of the light.
I enjoy USB-C charging very much! It saves me from unboxing yet another charger, and it also means that I can charge the SmallRig when on the go, say via my power bank or the USB plug in my car. So USB-C charging is very welcome! And I am also glad to see that the SmallRig charges with a powerful 65W charger – not all devices can stomach so much power (for the tech savvy: it supports USB-C PD).
In use
There are not many buttons on the SmallRig and that is good news if you ask me! Other than the on-off switch and the USB-C connector, there is only a command wheel to control the light (it is named “SET”). It works simple and smart: push it once to enter/jump a menu, and long push it to exit the menu. Turn the wheel to change the value, say the strength of the light or the color temperature. The menus and options are displayed in a small OLED screen on the middle of the rear of the SmallRig light.
The interface to the SmallRig is simple: a small command wheel (left), an on/off button (middle) and a USB-C connector (right). At the other end there is a 1/4″ thread for mounting the SmallRig on a tripod or the like.
There are 3 main menus in the menu system and you can control all aspects of the light (light intensity, color temperature, saturation, hue, etc). There are also a number of predefined effects that you can choose between like fireworks and a police car. For my liking, it gets a little bit fiddly to choose between all those options with just a command wheel, and luckily there are 2 QR codes in the manual – one for OIS and one for Google. In other words: the SmartRig has an app! Everything seems to have an app this day and age!
Of course the SmallRig has an app! And you can control all aspects of the light including special effects! Just remember to have bluetooth turned on on your smartphone.
The app is maybe not the most elegant software I have come across, but it certainly gets the job done, and it also secured that the software in the SmallRig was updated to the latest version, before I started to use the app in more detail. For my usage the most important is to be able to control the intensity of the light and the color temperature – and sometimes also to turn the light on and off remotely. So I have not deep dived into the more advanced functions, but it sure looks overwhelming with all the effects that are available and the way you can tweak the hue of the light.
Mount
There is a small 1/4″ thread in the bottom of the SmallRig so you can mount it on a tripod or a boom arm or whatever is to your liking.
The SmallRig on a Manfrotto tripod.
As a new feature (at least for me), the SmallRig also has some magnets that makes it possible for you mount the light on a metal surface.
The SmallRig has magnets that allows you to mount the light on metal surfaces. Here a small lamp on my desktop. The magnets are relatively weak compared to the weight of the SmallRig, so it will not work for all types and sizes of metal.
I found the magnets to be relatively weak when holding the 185 grams light, but if you find some metal that is sufficiently “beefy” and flat, then it definitely works.
Conclusion
The SmallRig RM75 here in late 2022 retails for around 80 USD which I think is a very fair price for a powerful light with lots of features and controls and a battery that will keep you with light for several hours on one charge.
The question is if the 5W of light the SmallRig yields (500 lux at 0.5m) is sufficient for you and if the surface of the light is big enough for your needs. That comes down to exactly what your needs are for lightning. But if you find that the size and the illuminance of the SmallRig will cover your needs, then I have no hesitation to recommend the SmallRig RM75.
I love my Sony RX 100 M3. But it is a tired old friend. It has been on the floor a few times – the control ring is more oval than round, the LCD flip out only hinges in the left side and for the EVF to work I have to make a little rain dance and send a prayer to Sony! So I need a change – a new camera!
The new Ricoh GRIIIx in front of the Sony RX100 M3. The latter is a tired old friend, that has served me really well over the years.
So although I am not a street photographer, the Ricoh camera GRIII and all the hype and attention it gets has certainly not passed unnoticed. And then my local camera pusher had a black Friday deal with a good price (1000 EUR) and a SmallRig video light added to the package, and I decided to go for the Ricoh pocket camera.
The GX3x is the newest camera from Ricoh and it stands on the shoulders of the GX3, where the older version is a wider lens of 28mm full frame equivalent, where the one I decided to go for had the additional ‘x’ which signifies a 40mm full frame equivalent lens, i.e. a more narrow field of view for the x version. In any case, it will be a change from my Sony RX100M3 that provided a zoom lens.
Speed
The first thing I noticed when starting to use the camera is the start up time. Relative to my Sony RX100M3 the startup time is super fast! This camera is really fast and does all it can to help you not miss that scene or situation that suddenly is worthy of a shot!
The menus are well structured and the camera responds super quick to scrolling and zoom/pinch. Super responsive.
Speed is also what comes to mind when using the menu system and in general working with the camera – it is super responsive! Pitching and zooming happens super fast on the touch sensitive rear LCD and it is simply a pleasure to work with.
You can use the touch screen to control the menus or the nice control wheel here. Your call!
And in addition the menus are well structured. As a Nikonian I find the structure is similar to Nikon and I feel at home right away. You can use both the excellen touch screen or the good command dial to control the menu system.
The PASM dial works well. The other buttons and dials feels a bit “plastic like” but they get the job done.
The buttons and dials are a blit light or “plasticky” when I compare to the Sony RX100M3, but they get the job done and as such I can forgive the lack of an up-market feel to the controls, despite the price tag around 1000 EUR. The play button to review the images sit right where it should, but I had to get used to pressing it again to move out of review mode (on a Nikon you just half press the shutter, and it understand you want to move on).
Viewfinder
There is no viewfinder! You see the scene you are about to shoot using the rear LCD! That is intimidating at first, especially when you come from a camera with viewfinder – EVF or OVF.
I felt like an old man that forgot his reading glasses! You walk around with the camera in arms length to look at the rear LCD and frame your shots! But to my surprise, you quickly get used to it. And I really like the touch to focus feature: Tap to select what it is in the frame your want the camera to focus on and your wish is it’s command!
Focus options
The Ricoh GRIIIx comes with no less than 9 different focus options out of the box! I have in this post explained them all and most of them work really well and it is nice that there are so many options to choose from. And the macro function enables you to get really close to the subject (12 cm).
My only complaint when it comes to the focus system is the implementation of manual focus, where you have to turn the command wheel a lot in order to move the focal plan. It would have been nice with a ring around the lens to control the focus manually.
Charging
There is one thing that I don’t need: one more charger! And unfortunately the GRIIIx brings a charger for the battery! However, I was REALLY happy to see that it is possible to charge the battery via USB-C without taking it out of the camera. This means a lot to me, as I have a good set of USB-C charger and it also means I can use a powerbank on the go to charge the camera.
Thank you for USB-C! I have too many chargers. The Ricoh GRIIIx charges the battery in camera. You can use powerful chargers and it is faaast charging!
Some devices with USB-C connectors cannot muster a high powered power supply like 65W, but the GRIIIx took the challenge happily. And the charging for that reason is fast. Good!
Maybe because of the need to keep the rear LCD powered at all times when shooting, the battery life is not impressive. The specs promises around 200 shots, but I would think it depends very much on the rear LCD and how you use it. If you on a sunny day turn up the brightness and in addition take a long time to frame each shot, then I think the number of shots will drop like a stone. On an overcast day with temperatures around zero degrees, I was able to get 100 shots out of a fully charged battery before it was depleted, so the temperature is also part of the mix. But in my book much is forgiven as it can be re-charged via USB-C and hence my power bank or the USB connector in my car can be used for re-charging when on the go.
Internal memory
I don’t know how many times I have pulled out my DSLR from my camera bag only to learn that I left my SD cards at home! If my SD cards could speak like the toys in Toystory, then they would scream “Remember me!” every time I head out without the cards!
So I was really happy to find that the Ricoh GR3x has internal memory, and if you shoot JPG files (which I often do, as they are excellent) then you can have lots of images without the SD card installed in the camera. This feature is a true life saver!
In the pocket
The Ricoh GR3x is a pocket friendly camera. At around 250 grams with battery and memory card, I sometime have to tap my pocket to make sure I have not dropped it! And relative to my iPhone, it does not take up much space in my pocket or backpack.
It is compact and light (250 grams approx). Here with my iPhone12.
One thing the GR3x shares with my Sony RX100M3 is that the lens hood is built into the camera. When you turn off the camera, a set of small blinders move in to protect the front of the lens. Excellent! You can put the camera in your bag or pocket and not worry about a lens hood or the like. This small feature is really important to me and one of those things you will notice in the daily use of the camera.
Maybe a small think to you, but a big thing for me: the camera closes the front and protects the lens when turned off. Great feature for lazy photographers – no need to worry about a lens cap if you handle the camera with a bit of care!
However, the blinders are not designed to handle a lot of force, so if your camera needs to fit into a tight pocket or will bounce around in your bag, then a lens hood may be one of the first accessories you should get. Also, be aware that the camera is not weather sealed so make sure to protect it well from rain and moist.
Image quality
The image quality produced by the 24MP APS-C sensor in combination with the 40mm FF equivalent lens is really good.
Image quality is more than approve – here a frosty day in December.Image quality from the 24MP sensor is more than approved.
There is lots of detail, contrast and resolution. Of course you need to consider if you want to live with the restrictions imposed by a prime lens at 40mm, but if that is not an issue for you, I think you will love the image quality. Color rendition, contrast, resolution – all exams passed with flying colors.
Close up image using the macro function. It works really well.
There is a macro function you can engage to give you that extra focus on smaller things. It does not need to be bugs or insects, it can be nice little things like a snow covered leaf in the woods or the like. I found the macro function to work surprisingly well, even as the owner of a Nikkor 105mm S Macro lens!
Only thing to mention regarding image quality is the focus breathing. It is significant and videographers looking for a small camera will probably find this to be a showstopper.
Low light performance
A rainy evening during winter time. Not much light here.
The low light performance of this little camera is impressive! I have come home with usable images shot at ISO 6400. It requires a little bit of post processing to remove the grain and noise that will show in the darker parts of the images, but to me this is a small price to pay when the reward is to come home with images where the camera almost “sees in the dark”.
A night out.
I think the built in image stabilisation really helps capturing images at night – I have (with a bit of luck) shoot handheld at speeds down to 1/10th of a second.
Technical image quality
The purple dot on the stem of the tree is all the flare I could find in this image!
If we look at some more nerdy aspects of the image quality, one of the first things I notices was the outstanding control of flare. Videographers will probably want to stay clear of this lens for that reason! It dampens flare really well!
The flare control is outstanding. There is a little bit of purple where the red arrow is, but is is really well dampened. This is my “light from the iPhone” test that I usually do with lens reviews.
The sunstars are as most sunstars are on modern lenses: not that great. But it is because the rounded aperture blades are designed to give round bokeh balls and this comes at the expense of the sunstars. I would happily live with less attractive bokeh for beautiful sunstars, but I think I am alone with that point of view.
I have seen more beautiful sunstars than this, but this is a typical compromise when the bokeh is prioritized.Bokeh is more than approved. Both wide open and stopped down, the results are beautiful.
The bokeh or out of focus areas are rendered beautifully. You can also see this in the macro shot earlier in this post. The GRIIIx performs well here!
In high contrast areas there are lots of aberrations. This is zoomed in 400% so many will not notice, but I do!
If you want to pixel peep into an image shot in a high contrast scene, then you will find aberrations and plenty of them! In the example above I have zoomed in 400%, but then the aberrations are noticeable. I doubt that any non-photographer in real life would ever notice, but as an acid test of the lens performance, I think it is fair to mention the aberrations generated.
Conclusion
Can I recommend this camera? Yes! Indeed! Relative to my set of criterias for a small pocketable camera, this one checks all the boxes. But it may not check all your boxes, i.e. your preferences may be different than mine. It is very capable camera, but it is not cheap and it is not free of errors or bugs. But it won me over – maybe it will win you over as well?
Pros
Image quality
Bokeh
Flare control
Low light performance
Image stabilisation
Internal memory
Macro function
Good AF system with lots of options
Menu system and responsiveness
Start up time (fast!)
Weight (250 grams approx)
Size (pocket friendly)
USB-C charging
Lens front protected when turned off
Cons
Price (1000 EUR)
No viewfinder
Battery life
Not a flip / articulating screen (it is fixed)
Plastic feel to the build quality
Not weather sealed
Sunstars not that beautiful
Prime lens, not a zoom
No built in flash (a hot shoe is available though)
A hot shoe is a flash interface that you find on the top of some cameras that enables an external flash and the camera to communicate. Cameras with built in flashes will not have a hotshoe whereas many DSLRs and mirrorless cameras do have a hotshoe.
The camera lying down to the right displays the hot shoe sitting on top of the camera (metal). The flash in the middle is positioned in a cold shoe. A cold shoe is on its own to the very left.
The hot shoe is brand specific. It looks similar across all camera brands, but the specific position of the contacts and the protocol used differs, unfortunately.
Transmitters to be mounted on Nikon (N), Fuji (F) and Sony (S) going left to right.
In the image above you can see 3 different camera brands and what their contacts for the hot shoe look like. You can see that the number of contacts and their position is not the same, so you need to buy a flash specific for your camera brand if you plan to mount it on camera. The above 3 is so called triggers that allow you to operate the flash off camera via a radio signal.
A cold shoe is just a hot shoe with no contacts. It allows you to mount the flash in the shoe, that either serves as a stand on its own, or enables you via a thread to attach it to a stand. A cold shoe works for all flash brands.
When I was in the market for a speedlite flash the first time around, I looked at the prices for flashes from the big brands such as Canon or Nikon. And my conclusion was that they were out of my reach budget wise. I know from many blog posts and users sharing experiences with these brand flashes that they are very good and will (almost) last you a lifetime. Your mileage may vary, but the price simply kept me from the big and well known brands.
The other side of the road is is to go for a very cheap flash, but studying the market and what experience photographers had had with budget flashes, that did not seem to be my path either. As they say, buy nice or buy twice. I was not planning to buy twice.
So my solution was Godox, that I find to deliver solid quality products without breaking the bank. That for me was the sweet spot I had been searching for. And I got a TT685 and later a V860 mk II and now a V860 mk III. And I wish I had started with the latter!
Now, if you are simply after if I can recommend this flash, then it is a big yes. I find the price around 220-230 EUR to be reasonable, and the functionality and light provided by Godox is exactly what I need. If you have a big studio and need to cover a lot of distance or area, then this flash may not suffice (the guide number is 60 (meters)), but for my work mainly being shooting objects (products, stills, etc) at relatively close range, this flash is spot on for that I need.
Notice that this flash is also branded under the name: Flashpoint Zoom Li-on III R2 TTL over at Adorama.
Battery
So this reviewer starts out with the battery on the V860 III – does he not get the point with a speedlite? Well, I do, but when you start working with a speedlite, one of the first things you will notice is battery life and recycling times.
Mk II left, mk III right. Newer is better: Smaller size battery and more power.
I have had speedlites with AAA batteries and external power banks, and I can say from bitter experience: do not travel that road! It is clumsy and cumbersome! The powerful Li-on battery in the V860 III delivers plenty of power. In fact, it has 1.5 times more power than the mk II, despite the battery is smaller in size.
The hole in the flash is by design! The battery fits very precisely. You release the battery by pushing a button while tilting the flash – then it slides out sideways.
The recycle time after firing full throttle is around 1-2 seconds, and that is more than acceptable in my book. The cycle speed obviously increases as you lower the power, so worst case is 1-2 seconds, but often faster.
The spec sheet promises 480 flashes at full power (76W) before the battery is flat. I must admit that I have never run a battery down – I have a spare battery in the charger, and as soon as there is 1 bar left, I switch, and I have never bothered to count. For me the flash can fire so many times on a single battery that I get tired before the flash does! But of course, if you shoot HHS a lot, then 480 flashes may wear down quickly!
Notice that relative to the mk II, the mk III has 50% more amps available, despite the battery’s physical size being smaller. So if your budget allows, go for the mk III for that reason alone – you will not regret it.
Presentation
So the Godox V860 III is a pretty standard speedlite and from the looks of it, it does not stand out from so many other speedlites.
As with more expensive flashes, you can tilt the head both in and up-down direction, but also turn it sideways. This is great for bouncing the light exactly in the direction you want it to. Cheaper flashes often only allow you to tilt up and down.
Modelling light.
An added feature with the mk III relative to the mk III is so called modelling light. It allows you to see the direction of the light before you hit the shutter – provided the head is pointing the same direction as modelling light does! And when shooting into a shoot through umbrella, I find it less useful as the light is rather weak. The idea is good and probably stems from some of the pro gear where the modelling light can power up entire softboxes and really be useful. Here I find it is more a gimmick than anything else.
On camera
The foot of the flash is designed for a specific brand of camera, and you can get a flash for all the major brands. I have flashes for both Fuji, Nikon and Sony, but I know the list is longer and that Godox probably extend is as this blog post ages. So check if there is one your camera.
One cool detail that I think many have forgotten is the ability to have the flash fire in optical slave mode. This is a budget friendly way of getting your flash off the camera and use the flash built into your camera to trigger the Godox flash. In the image above, just below the modelling flash, you can see a red zone beneath the Godox name, and it is where the flash looks for trigger light if you have activated optical slave mode. Of course the slave flash is not very smart and cannot contribute to TTL shooting or other ways of controlling the light automatically, but as a manual way of getting the flash off camera, I think it is a valid option. And it can be an option while you save for a radio transmitter! Which brings me to…
Off camera
Maybe one of the best things about the Godox flashes is that they share protocol and can talk to each other irrespective of the camera they are intended for. When we are talking on camera, you need to buy a Godox flash made for Fuji if you want it to be mounted on a Fuji camera. The foot is made specifically for that brand only. But when moving off camera, only the trigger needs to fit the brand of the hotshoe. The protocol between sender and receiver is brand agnostic.
Transmitters to be mounted on Nikon (N), Fuji (F) and Sony (S) going left to right.
Sounds complicated? I have 3 so called X-pro tiggers. One for Nikon, one for Sony and one for Fuji. Each pro trigger can only sit on a Nikon, Sony and Fuji hotshoes respectively. But they can trigger any V860, irrespective of what camera it is made for.
The x-pro transmitter.
So I use the same flash for 3 different cameras. That is smart. And it works. But of course the trigger is not for free, but compared to other brands where the protocol between trigger and receiver is brand specific, this is simply brilliant!
Living with a V860 III
Admitted, I will never be a big fan of the user interface on the Godox flashes, and the mk III is no exception. I have come to learn to live with the menus and buttons that I find a bit quirky, so it is not a showstopper in any way, but a better designed user interface is for sure on my wish list for the mk IV!
The weight is around 500 grams with battery, and that is some when mounted on top of the camera, but you quickly get used to it. Be careful with handling the flash when mounted on camera – the foot is made of metal, so if force is applied (you drop the camera with flash on a tile floor!) then you may find your flash survives but the hot shoe on your expensive camera is shredded. So take care or shoot off camera!
The user interface could be better. It is not bad, but not super intuitive either.
I don’t think you will miss any technical features with the V860 mkII. It supports HSS, front/rear curtain sync, optical slave, TTL, exposure compensation +/- 3 stops, zooms between 20 and 200mm, has built in reflector and has a focus assist light. There are so many groups and channels that even 10 wedding photographers working in the same space could find a seperate channel combination to work with! Your demands may be more advanced than mine, but for me this flash has all I need and then some!
The light is as it should be – 5600K +/- 200 K. I have not noticed any changes or inconsistency over time with the temperature of the light, no matter if the flash is just started or has been at it for a long time.
My wish list for the Mk IV, other than a better menu system, is the ability to charge the battery via the USB-C connector in the flash, i.e. that I can charge the battery without removing it from the flash. That would be cool. But it is nice to have.
Conclusion
As you have probably guessed, I like this flash! It gets the job done, and without the quirks that some other flashes have. In short:
Excellent value for money
Powerful and compact battery
Tons of technical features
Great wireless system
And the improvement points are:
More power to the modelling light
Re-designed menu system (by a photographer, not a software engineer!)
I guess the name says most of it: shoot through umbrella! It is a light modifier that you shoot through to diffuse and soften the light. It really looks like a white umbrella. A shoot through us opposed to umbrellas with reflectors on the inside, where they reflect the light rather than letting it through.
The umbrella left mounted horizontally, the flash to the right.
I guess professionals with a studio don’t use umbrellas as they have softboxes and beautyboxes and the like that is much better at directing the light where it is needed.
However, don’t write off a shoot through umbrella just yet! First of all it is very inexpensive, secondly it folds down to taking almost no space in your camera bag and thirdly it yields some beautiful light. The reason the light is so beautiful is that it is soft – the umbrella makes the light source much bigger than the head of the flash, and as you probably know: beautiful soft light is all about getting a very large light source very close to your subject. And an umbrella can help with both! Don’t be afraid to move the umbrella close to your subject – you will love the effect!
Off camera flash
An umbrella requires that you have an off camera flash. Otherwise you will be pointing the lens straight into the umbrella, and there is not much point to that way of working! So in the image above you can see my Godox flash is mounted on a stand that also holds the umbrella. Not a camera in sight.
The flash and the camera talks to each other via a radio transmitter mounted on the top of my camera in the hot shoe. You can also make the flash go off camera via a long cable, but I find it so much more enjoyable to work with a radio transmitted signal. So if your budget allows, consider a radio controlled flash and a transmitter to match.
Flash zoom and umbrella distance
The umbrella and flash at work. The flash could make better use of the umbrella if the zoom on the flash is a tad wider.
One tip to get the most out of the umbrella: adjust the focus of the flash so that it uses the entire umbrella. In the example above, you can see that I have only used the centre part of the umbrella. You can either move the umbrella further away (until you reach the end of the arm!) or you can adjust the zoom on the lens to go wider.
Umbrellas comes in different sizes. If it is not a problem for your camera bag, I would recommend large rather than small. You have probably guessed why: it makes the potential lightsource as big as possible = soft light. You can always zoom in to make use of only the centre of the umbrella if that is to your liking. The other way around is more complicated!
I must admit that it was only because I read the manual, that it dawned on me that there is a thing called a wide-angle diffuser built into my flash. I think it is quite common for flashes, as I have seen it on both Yongnuo and Godox flashes.
In hiding
The wide-angle diffuser sits a bit hidden on the front of the flash. It is just a piece of clear plastic that you can pull out from its hiding and mount it over the front of the flash. It is hinged, so it is quite easy to do and it swings into position almost by itself when you pull it all the way out. The plastic has some structure or pattern in it, which helps diffuse the light.
The Wide-angle Diffuser sits hidden in the front of the flash. Here it is halfway out.
In position
When you have put the wide-angle diffuser in position, you will hear the motor in the flash working (provided the flash is turned on). When you engage the diffuser, the lens moves to the widest position it can offer, typically 14mm or 18mm. And you can no longer change the zoom – it is locked.
The Wide-angle Diffuser is here active and covers the front of the flash.
The the diffuser and the wide position of the zoom in the flash in combination is intended to diffuse the light as much as possible and give a more soft light. In my experience the effect is noticeable but no match for a large diffuser like a softbox or simply bouncing the flash against the (preferably white) ceiling. But in a pickle, it can mitigate the harshness of the light a flash produces.
In the image above, you may have noticed the little white piece of thin plastic next to the diffuser (a reflector). They sit in the same slot in the flash, and when you pull out the diffuser, the reflector tags along. You can push the diffuser back in the slot and have the reflector out still, as shown in the image below.
The reflector is here engaged to give catch light in the eyes of people photographed.
If you set the flash so that it points upwards to bounce against the ceiling, the reflector can be used to create catch light in the eyes of people photographed.
When you shoot a scene where there is very little light, say at a party late at night or a dinner at a restaurant, then a flash may be the only way to get sufficient light to enable you to capture an image.
The human eye is like the aperture of your lens: in low light it opens up the pupils (aperture blades) to maximise the light intake. Unfortunately, the light that enters your eye is also reflected by the eye to a very large degree. So wide open pupils equals lots of light returned.
A cat’s eye reflects even more light than the human eye, and the result can be quite erie when shooting with a flash!
Pre-light
A way to mitigate this is so simple it’s almost complicated: if your camera before firing the flash gives a strong light to make the pupils contract, then you have minimized the problem! The only requirement is that the pre-light and the flash are fired right after each other. The so called “red eye reduction” is an option available with many point and shoot cameras.
So, is this a good way of solving the problem? Well, it certainly gives less red eyes, but you will also see that people are not unaffected by the strong pre-light and often look as if they are looking into the headlights of an oncoming car. Which is actually pretty close to what has happened! And it is not the most flattering look!
Secondly, a lot of post processing software (like Lightroom) offers standard solutions to remove red eyes that is both efficient and simple to use. So for these reasons, I do not use red eye reduction when I shoot with a flash.
When you see a flash working, you are probably left with the impression that it emits the light in a binary fashion: it is dark, then very bright and then dark again. So from zero to full speed in no time.
Actually your flash takes a little time to build the light intensity to peak, and also a little time to turn it off again, so you get a curve that looks like a wave. Flash duration is about how long time it takes from the flash is fired until the light is turned fully off again.
Measurement
If the flash emitted the light in a fully binary fashion, it would be easy to measure the duration of the light being on. But when you have a curve, you need to find a point on that curve to use. So typically the flash duration is measured from when the light has reach 50% of full throttle to when the light has either dropped to 50% of full throttle. An alternative is to do the same, but for 10% instead. These two measurements are often named t0.5 or t0.1.
For producers of flash, the competition to have the best numbers in the spec sheet often leads them to give the 50% value, as it is the fastest number. If they don’t tell you how they have measured, my bet is that they have taken the fast number and put in the spec sheet, i.e. t0.5.
Power
Another complicating factor is that the more power the flash lets out, the slower it typically gets. So the flash duration is very fast if you only use a fraction of the power the flash can provide. For this reason, the flash duration is often listed in the spec sheet as an interval. The Godox V860II has a flash duration listed as 1/300 to 1/20000 seconds.
And so what?
I Granted, there are probably many flash photographers out there that really don’t care too much about the flash duration, unless they are specialized in super high speed photography. For me the importance of flash duration is to realize that your flash (often) is much faster than your shutter speed, and this is vital in order to understand other flash related concepts like front curtain synchronization, rear curtain synchronization and high-speed synchronization.
You may have or have seen some horrible images from a party or a vacation: people with red eyes in harsh white light, staring at the photographer like a deer caught in the headlights, and dark shadows right behind them that adds to the eerie feeling you get when studying the images! The only logical conclusion is: flash photography – no thank you! It is not for me!
But I ask you to consider this: Why is it that many professional photographers always use flash when shooting? Even when shooting outdoors on a sunny day? Do they not have the same horrible vacation images as the rest of us? Apparently not.
In this post I will briefly give a few motives for why to shoot with flash, and hopefully this may give some inspiration for getting started with flash photography. Or the opposite – basically confirming you in your choice to stay clear of flashes! We’ll see!
Signal to noise
Signal to noise. Sounds complicated, right? And it is, if you want to be an engineer and dive into this interesting concept. Lots of math and complexity. But for us photographers, all you need to know is that light is a signal and that your camera is a system that inherently holds or produces noise. So there is a balance between the input in the shape of light and noise during the production of the output, the image. That balance is signal to noise. And the stronger the signal is relative to the noise, the better, i.e. the more clean the image will appear.
If you have been shooting a low light scene with the ISO cranked up to ridiculous levels, then you will see the result of a poor signal to noise ratio, in photography that comes in the shape of grain and noise and washed out colors. The camera sensor simply gets so little light, that the noise is as strong as the light, and hence the sensor starts mistaking noise for light. And that is not good.
Flash photography has an amazing signal to noise ratio. The flash light is super bright (and super short lived) and that means all noise in the camera is effectively suppressed. And the result is super clean images with amazing colors and details. And especially portrait and fashion photographers love this, and the buyers have come to expect this quality.
Freeze!
A flash is fast. Very fast. So fast that your shutter speed relative to the flash speed is like your granny trying to keep up with Usain Bolt! And for that reason subjects that move fast will be frozen when caught in the light of a flash (provided the ambient light is kept out of the equation, but that is another story).
So flash photography can capture hummingbirds with still wings, balloons that explode, drops of water that hits a still surface, etc. The ability to freeze a moment is much better with flash than a shutter. And even if you don’t want to capture something that moves super fast, the flash can be a safe way to avoid blur from the subject or the camera moving. And this again aids the production of sharp images.
Control
If you are a landscape photographer, you have probably been up early in the morning to catch that special light in the morning when the sun rays travel the long distance through the atmosphere and yields that wonderful soft light and long shadows. And been equally disappointed when the sun promising weather forecast was wrong and the rain pouring down.
Flash photography is all about control. You can control the direction, intensity, temperature and color of the light. Nothing is left to chance – you have full control. Of course it comes with a price, that you need to have flashes and light modifiers and learn the trade of flash photography, but the reward is that you will have lots of control. And many professionals need that to secure that they make money – they cannot wait for the conditions to be right for photography. Every day has to be the right day!
Predictability
When you control the light, you hold the formula for success. If you are a portrait photographer and have learned a flash setup that gives exactly the rembrandt lightning that you want for you corporate headshots, then you are able to reproduce this over and over. So you don’t have to re-invent the wheel, but can do today exactly what you did yesterday. You have a formular for – if not success – then a formula for getting the same results over and over again. For a professional photographer the ability to reproduce the same results without the need to set off time for learning and tuning, is vital. Time is money. Literally.
What about you?
So how is this relevant to you? Well, it may not be. There are tons of adventure, wildlife and landscape photographers that do fine without flash photography. But if you want to dive into product shoots, portraits, event photography, macro photography or flower photography, then I think you will find that a couple of flashes and a few well chosen light modifiers may be what takes your photography to the next level.
