Godox Lux Senior and Lux Junior Flashes – In-depth Assessment and Comparability – by Sroyon

Again in July, we reported on the discharge of two new Godox flashes with a particular, retro look: the Godox Lux Senior and Lux Junior. Godox kindly despatched us certainly one of every to check out, and this text – primarily based on a few months of in depth testing – is an in-depth overview and comparability of the 2 flashes. (For a much less detailed however presumably extra enjoyable take, take a look at my earlier article: first impressions of the Lux Senior.)

Specs and options

The Godox Lux flashes are outlined by their retro design, and are presumably the coolest-looking flashes presently available on the market. They’re suitable with just about any digicam – movie or digital – which has a hotshoe or PC sync port.

The Lux flashes are admittedly not as feature-packed as a few of Godox’s different choices – the TT685 and TT350, for instance, that are in the identical worth bracket because the Senior and Junior respectively. Nevertheless, they’re extra superior than many film-era flashes. As an example, the flash energy could be managed each routinely and manually, from Full energy all the way down to 1/64. Additionally they have optical management, which suggests they can be utilized off-camera, firing synchronously after they “see” one other flash (I used this characteristic for my header picture, amongst others).

Spec sheet

The next specs are taken from the Godox website, besides those in blue.

	Godox Lux Senior	Godox Lux Junior
Information quantity (Full energy)	14 (ISO 100, metres)	12 (ISO 100, metres)
Flash energy	7 ranges (1/1 – 1/64)	7 ranges (1/1 – 1/64)
Color temperature	6000K ± 200K	6000K ± 200K
Focal size	28mm (fastened)	28mm (fastened)
Battery	Lithium, 3.7V 1700mAh	Two AAA batteries
Recycle time (Full energy)	<3 sec	5 sec*
Sync	Hotshoe, sync cable	Hotshoe, sync cable
Optical management	S1/S2	S1/S2
Dimensions	84mm×114mm×176mm	74×50×72mm
Weight	227g	130g
Value	£115**	£65**

* Based mostly on my private assessments with new Energizer AAA batteries. (The numbers, for each flashes, are at Full energy. At 1/64 energy, recycle time is nearly instantaneous.)

** Value on Amazon UK on the time of writing.

Your eyes in all probability glazed over all that information. That’s okay. Within the subsequent few sections I’ll take you thru what these specs imply in observe.

Similarities

Aesthetics: Each flashes sport a retro look. In comparison with typical speedlights (I exploit the phrases “speedlight” and “flash” interchangeably), I feel the Godox Lux collection is aesthetically a greater match with movie cameras, or retro-styled digital cameras just like the Fuji X-series. (For extra on aesthetics, see below.)

Energy: They each have Auto and Guide modes to regulate the flash energy, which ranges from Full energy to a minimal of 1/64 in one-stop intervals. In subsequent sections of this overview, I am going into extra element on these modes.

Sync: Each flashes could be fired:

• on-camera (hotshoe),
• off-camera with a sync wire (provided), or
• off-camera with optical management (see below).

Variations

Development: The Godox Lux Senior folds out in three levels: open the principle cowl, come out the flashbulb, unfurl the fan-like silver reflector (you can even see the method in this Instagram reel I made). The Lux Junior has a less complicated building; what you see is what you get.

Mild supply: The Godox Lux Senior has a naked bulb – a curved flash tube (under left). In use, the bulb is surrounded by a reflector dish which successfully creates an even bigger, softer gentle supply. The Lux Junior, however, has a extra typical discharge tube fronted by a Fresnel panel. The Fresnel – as defined in this article – is sort of a lens. With out it, gentle rays from the discharge tube would fan out in all instructions. The Fresnel concentrates them right into a front-facing beam of a better depth. The Lux Junior thus produces a tougher gentle, just like a traditional speedlight (I’ve in contrast the sunshine high quality in a later section).

Measurement and weight: The Godox Lux Senior is larger (although it folds up fairly small) and about 75% heavier than the Lux Junior. However even the Senior is smaller and lighter than a traditional speedlight just like the Godox TT685 (410g with out batteries).

Energy: In line with Godox spec sheets, the Lux Senior (GN 14) is barely extra highly effective than the Lux Junior (GN 12). Nevertheless, my assessments (see below) counsel the alternative.

Battery and recycle time: The Godox Lux Senior runs on a Lithium battery, which additionally contributes to its sooner recycle time. The battery is charged by plugging a USB-C cable (provided) into the flash unit. That is tremendous handy. My solely gripe is that, since lithium batteries are inclined to lose their charge-holding capability over time, I might have most well-liked the battery to be replaceable (not built-in, as within the Lux Senior).

The Lux Junior runs on two AAA batteries. The recycle time is barely slower, however for those who run out of juice, it’s simple to hold (or purchase) spare AAA batteries, whereas the Lux Senior needs to be plugged in for recharging. For the Lux Junior, I like to recommend utilizing rechargeable batteries to scale back e-waste and lower your expenses in the long run (I exploit Ikea Ladda batteries and the Stenkol charger).

Color gels: Due to its form, it’s simple to make use of color gels on the Godox Lux Junior. On the Lux Senior, gelling can be trickier, in all probability requiring a hack of some kind. For the picture under, I merely hooked up a pink gel to the Lux Junior with a rubber band, as proven at high proper. Backside proper exhibits the setup (however with out my hand).

Compatibility

The Lux Junior product page lists the “suitable cameras” as Fujifilm, Canon, Nikon, Olympus and Sony. However each flashes additionally labored with my Minolta SLR (hotshoe), and my Minolta Autocord TLR (PC sync port, because it solely has a “coldshoe”). In reality I see no cause why they wouldn’t work with another movie or digital digicam, so long as it has a hotshoe or sync port.

Packaging

Just like the flashes themselves, the packaging seems to be and feels good – actually a reduce above what I might count on for equipment at this worth level. The packing containers have a matte black end and a magnetic lid. Additionally they embrace a fabric bag, guide, PC sync wire and, in case of the Godox Lux Senior, a USB-C charging wire.

Lacking options

There are some options which can be found on many typical speedlights (e.g. the Godox TT685), however not on the retro-styled Lux collection: tilt, swivel, zoom, TTL, radio receiver and high-speed sync. If these options are necessary for you, the Lux collection is probably not a superb match. However they do produce other benefits – they give the impression of being cool, are comparatively low-cost and compact, and as my pattern photographs will hopefully present, there’s nonetheless lots you may nonetheless do with these flashes.

Feel and appear

Typical speedlights are versatile marvels of know-how – I like my Godox TT350 and TT600 and use them usually – however let’s face it, they aren’t significantly fairly. With the Lux collection, Godox clearly wished to make the aesthetics a promoting level, and in my opinion, it’s an actual success.

The Lux Junior, to my eyes, has extra of a Seventies/80s aesthetic, maybe greatest suited to smaller cameras corresponding to fixed-lens rangefinders and manual-focus SLRs. The Lux Senior harks again to an older design, the form of flashes usually seen with TLRs and Speed Graphic cameras. Regardless of the outward variations, each Lux flashes share some design options that determine them as belonging to the identical collection – faux-leather trim, chrome accents and bodily dials. The overview copies which I examined have been black, however Godox have additionally launched multi-coloured variations.

Now you would possibly say: as a substitute of vintage-looking trendy flashes, why can’t we purchase precise classic flashes? You possibly can, however there are some downsides. Many film-era flashes have discharge voltages which can fry trendy cameras (this excellent article by Matt Wright on Emulsive goes into extra element). Older flashbulbs, like these from which the Godox Lux Senior attracts design inspiration, have been single-use; you needed to exchange the bulb every time it fired. (That they had different disadvantages too – took some time to succeed in full energy, have been too sizzling to deal with for some time after going off, and so forth – however the single-use limitation alone makes them too impractical for many of us.)

The haptics and end of the Lux flashes are glorious, with switches and dials that click on satisfyingly into place. For me, the analogue-style dials are lots nicer to make use of than the buttons and LCDs on trendy speedlights. An additional advantage is that even earlier than you turn it on, you may see (and alter) the flash energy.

Gear used

The digital photographs on this article have been shot with my trusty previous Nikon D5200, with an AF-S Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 and Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5. The movie photographs have been shot with a Minolta Autocord TLR and a Minolta X-370s SLR.

Digital camera settings for the digital photographs, obtained from the metadata, are famous in captions. For the film photos, I didn’t take publicity notes. Life is simply too brief…

Flash used was both the Godox Lux Senior or Lux Junior, additionally famous in captions. Each flashes can be utilized in both Guide or Auto mode. I used Guide mode for all photographs besides those within the Auto part. I didn’t at all times observe the flash energy, however that’s not so vital. What’s necessary is that every one these photographs have been achievable at someplace between minimal (1/64) and full energy.

Some terminology

There are a few phrases I’ll use all through this text. When you’re aware of flash, and particularly for those who realized on the school of David Hobby, you in all probability know these phrases already, so be at liberty to skip forward. However for those who’re a newbie (or just rusty), it’s price defining some primary terminology:

• Flash publicity
• Ambient publicity
• Dropping the ambient
• Killing the ambient

Flash publicity is the sunshine from the flash itself, as recorded by the movie or digital sensor. All different gentle is ambient publicity. Word that “ambient” doesn’t essentially imply “pure gentle”. The sunshine from a table-lamp or neon signal additionally counts as ambient gentle.

Dropping the ambient is to make the ambient publicity darker by underexposing. The three photographs under illustrate what I imply. Within the first one, the publicity is “right” for the foreground topic (my pal, Mayank). However the gentle is flat, and the background is blown out.

Within the subsequent picture, I “dropped the ambient”. Through the use of a sooner shutter pace, we get good saturation within the background. However now Mayank himself is virtually a silhoutte.

The subsequent picture has the identical publicity settings because the earlier one, however I used flash to gentle Mayank.

Now I realise this isn’t probably the most “pure” picture, however at the very least there’s good element in each foreground and background. By inserting the flash off-camera, and by utilizing a softbox or different modifiers, I may have obtained a extra natural-looking outcome. However at this stage, I need to hold issues comparatively easy – it’s only a demo, nothing extra.

When you drop the ambient even additional in order that there’s successfully no ambient publicity in any respect, that’s referred to as killing the ambient. At this level, all the sunshine comes from the flash publicity.

The picture under was shot with out flash, lit completely by ambient gentle.

For the following picture, taken proper after, I underexposed by 7 stops, successfully “killing the ambient”.

Now add flash, and also you get a really completely different and dramatic image. The flash lights up the topic, however the underexposed background remains to be utterly darkish.

Guide and auto modes

On the Godox Lux flashes, the On/Off change additionally doubles because the Guide/Auto change. Once you flip the flash on, you routinely select certainly one of these two modes.

Guide

The Godox Lux Senior and Lux Junior flashes each have adjustable energy (technically, it’s the flash length which adjustments, not the ability) starting from Full energy to a minimal of 1/64, at one-stop intervals (Full, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8 … 1/64). It is a important characteristic – one other diploma of freedom, yet one more variable we are able to tweak to acquire the specified mix of ambient and flash publicity.

The rear dial has an outer ring which controls the flash energy, and an inside ring which is mainly an publicity calculator (with no impact on flash output). The calculator is easy. When you perceive the relationship between ISO, aperture and shutter speed, you may grasp the dial in a matter of minutes.

Let’s say you’re utilizing ISO 100, and your topic is at a distance of three metres. You merely flip the inside dial to line up the ISO and distance, as proven under left. The highest half of the dial then exhibits you a couple of mixtures you should utilize: Full energy and f/4, 1/2 energy and f/2.8, 1/4 energy and f/2. (The shutter pace doesn’t have an effect on the flash publicity; so long as you’re at or under the sync pace, it solely impacts the ambient.)

What for those who wished to make use of a smaller aperture, say f/8? With movie, you’d in all probability want to maneuver nearer to the topic. On digital, you may merely improve the ISO. Within the picture at above proper, I’ve turned the inside dial clockwise to line up ISO 400 and three metres. Now the dial tells you that you should utilize Full energy and f/8. Like I mentioned, easy.

After all, the dial is an approximation. In sure conditions – say for those who’re mixing ambient gentle and flash, or utilizing color gels – the dial values could not provide the outcome you’re searching for. I really feel it’s most helpful with movie cameras, as a result of most trendy flashes don’t have any such information in any respect. When taking pictures digital, I hardly ever check with the dial. I’ve a tough concept primarily based on prior expertise, after which I fine-tune it by chimping (take a photograph, take a look at the LCD, alter as crucial, take one other).

Auto

On the Godox Lux flashes, Auto mode assumes you’re utilizing ISO 100 and f/2.8. Equal settings would additionally work, corresponding to ISO 50 and f/2, or ISO 200 and f/4. (The shutter pace, as famous earlier, doesn’t have an effect on the flash publicity, so long as you keep inside the sync pace.) The guide warns that Auto mode could not work as meant if the topic is greater than 4 metres away, or for those who use an “additional lengthy lens”.

Like another automated characteristic on a digicam, Auto mode could not provide you with optimum leads to all conditions, but it surely principally does the job.

The subsequent picture was with the identical settings because the one above, however with out flash:

So how does Auto mode work? Now we’re wading into nerd territory, and also you don’t actually must know this, so be at liberty to skip to the following part. However right here’s my idea.

Each Lux flashes have a tiny sensor on the entrance, which the guide describes as an “auto gentle receptor”. I feel what it actually does is to estimate the gap between the flash and the topic (with infrared, maybe?) and alter the flash energy accordingly.

Right here’s a take a look at. For all six of the take a look at photographs under, I killed the ambient, so the one illumination comes from the flash (Godox Lux Senior).

A and C have been each shot on Auto mode, however for C, I went nearer, zooming out in order that the topic seems to be related in dimension. The publicity, as you may see, is analogous (C is barely brighter, however somewhat inconsistency is to be anticipated).

With B and D, I attempted to manually match the respective Auto exposures. In case of B (3 metres), 1/16 energy did the trick, however for D (1.2 metres), I needed to go all the best way all the way down to 1/64.

E exhibits that at 1/16 energy (similar as B), the picture is over-exposed. That is smart, as a result of E is from a more in-depth distance. Lastly, F exhibits what occurs in Auto mode if I cowl the sensor with my finger. The flash fires at most energy, which at this vary means blowing out the topic.

As I mentioned, I believe that the sensor is measuring topic distance (versus mirrored gentle, as in thyristor or TTL systems). This has one benefit. Reflective meters are sometimes fooled if the topic is darkish or brilliant. Within the two photographs under, the Godox Lux Junior, in Auto mode, appropriately uncovered the Instax picture though it takes up solely a small a part of the body. The backgrounds (black bedsheet and white wall) which dominate the respective frames didn’t idiot the sensor into over- or under-exposing.

Mild high quality, energy and color

The picture under exhibits the sunshine high quality from three completely different flashes:

• Godox Lux Senior
• Godox Lux Junior
• Godox TT600 – a traditional speedlight.

All three flashes have been set to 1/64 energy. The TT600 was set to 28mm zoom. The Lux flashes should not zoomable, however based on the spec sheet, they’ve 28mm protection.

First, gentle form. As you may see, the Lux Senior’s reflector capabilities like a small beauty dish, making a smooth, fuzzy circle of sunshine. The Lux Junior and the TT600 (typical speedlight) are fronted by Fresnel panels and have the same form – a tough, rugby-ball formed beam. The beam has a reasonably even depth inside the confines of that form, and speedy fall-off past.

Now let’s discuss gentle energy. The next section has a extra in-depth dialogue together with Information Numbers, however all technicalities apart, you may already see from the picture above that when set to the identical energy stage – 1/64 for all three flashes – the Godox Lux Senior is weaker than the Lux Junior, which in flip is weaker than the TT600.

What does this imply for real-world photographs?

When it comes to gentle high quality, the leaf shadows are evidently softer with the Lux Senior, and tougher with the Lux Junior. It’s because the Lux Senior’s reflective dish creates an successfully bigger (and subsequently softer) gentle supply.

Each flashes have been set to the identical stage (1/64), however with the Lux Junior, I needed to cease down barely (from f/6.3 to f/8, i.e. 1/third cease) to get the identical publicity. This helps the proof from the earlier picture that the Lux Junior is barely extra highly effective.

Lastly, the Lux Junior appears to have a barely cooler (bluer) color temperature. (For each photographs, my digicam white-balance was set to Cloudy.)

These conclusions – that the Godox Lux Senior is softer, barely weaker, and hotter – are corroborated by all my assessments to date. Within the comparability under, the left (Lux Senior) and center (Lux Junior) photographs use the identical publicity settings, however as you may see, the center picture is barely brighter. In the appropriate picture (Lux Junior once more), stopping down from f/5.6 to f/7.1 produces an publicity which is nearer to the Lux Senior.

The close-ups under present, as soon as once more, that the Lux Senior produces softer shadows than the Lux Junior.

With regards to gentle high quality, the shadows are the obvious distinction, however the Lux Senior additionally has an total softer and extra rounded gentle. It is a extra delicate impact, but it surely makes a distinction, particularly for portraits. Within the photographs under, the specular spotlight on her forehead is extra smeared out within the second picture (Lux Senior) and tougher within the third (Lux Junior).

In my earlier post in regards to the Godox Lux Senior, I shared some avenue portraits (I’ve reproduced certainly one of them under; for the remainder, please see my original article).

In photographs like these – I used a wide-angle lens at shut quarters – the Lux Senior’s reflector creates an successfully bigger gentle supply, so the standard of sunshine is softer and extra rounded than what I’ve come to count on from on-camera flash. After all, softer is just not essentially higher. If you need a tougher, extra edgy aesthetic, the Lux Junior could also be a greater software for you.

Information quantity

The reported Information Quantity (GN) for the Godox Lux Senior and Junior flashes are 14 and 12 respectively. For functions of this overview, you don’t want a technical understanding of GN (see this explanation, for those who’re ). All you have to know is that different issues being equal, the next GN signifies higher flash energy.

The different issues being equal is essential. When the specs for the Lux Senior and Junior flashes have been first introduced, I noticed numerous on-line feedback bemoaning their low GN. My tackle that is that (a) these flashes should not as weak because the GN would possibly counsel, and (b) to the extent that they are weaker than another speedlights, it’s not an issue for the kind of situations through which I foresee these flashes getting used.

Let’s discuss GN first. Most trendy flashes have zoom functionality, that’s, you may management the unfold of sunshine. Identical to a hosepipe, a narrower beam means extra energy, which interprets to the next GN. On spec sheets, the GN for flashes with zoom functionality is commonly reported on the longest focal size, so it sounds extra spectacular. For instance, the GN for the Nikon SB800 – a basic speedlight – is 56. However that determine is for when the flash is zoomed to 105mm. At 28mm – as you may see from the manual (PDF) – the GN drops to 32.

When you think about that the Godox Lux Senior and Lux Junior are “fastened focal size” flashes with a comparatively broad beam (28mm, based on the spec sheet), a GN of 14 or 12 is just not unhealthy.

Apart from, specs are all very effectively, however on the finish of the day, I belief real-world expertise: how does it carry out within the subject? I’ve used these flashes extensively during the last couple of months, and my takeaway is that they’re sufficiently highly effective for most typical situations. In reality, I used to be pleasantly shocked by how highly effective they’re.

Now if you wish to gentle up an entire basketball courtroom, or overpower the solar at excessive midday, these flashes evidently gained’t do the job. For such situations, Godox and different producers supply extra highly effective (but additionally larger and dearer) lighting options. However the Lux flashes are greater than sufficient for taking photographs on a night-out with pals, or as fill flash within the daytime. They will even kill the ambient, if the ambient is just not too sturdy.

The photographs above – with Pearl, an actor – have been shot in a span of simply 4 minutes, so there was little or no change in ambient gentle. The distinction in illumination is completely all the way down to digicam settings. The primary picture is ambient gentle solely. The second picture has the identical settings, however I used fill flash, at low energy, to make her pop.

Within the third picture, I underexposed by 3⅓ stops, successfully nearly killing the ambient (you may nonetheless see a touch of element within the constructing, and a sliver of sky above it). However by ramping up the flash energy, Pearl herself remains to be well-lit.

These three photographs, I feel, are a superb demonstration of how versatile these flashes are. By altering solely the digicam settings and flash energy, I may obtain vastly completely different results – from only a soupçon of fill flash, to killing the ambient nearly completely with the intention to gentle the topic with flash alone.

Right here’s one other demonstration of flash energy: the Lux flashes are sturdy sufficient to gentle an entire large tree! (I selected an publicity that regarded “proper” to my eyes, however with the next ISO, I may have made the tree even brighter.)

Flash sync

Off-camera flash

The photographs within the Information quantity part above, and a lot of the different photographs on this article, have been taken with on-camera flash, i.e. with the flash mounted on the digicam’s hot-shoe.

However the Lux flashes can be used off-camera. First, in case your digicam has a flash port, you should utilize a sync cable to attach the flash. Each Lux flashes include a PC sync cable, which is what I used with my Minolta Autocord (see below). In case your digicam has a unique sort of port, or if you need an extended cable, you must be capable of purchase one on-line. Sync cables are usually cheap and extensively accessible.

The second choice is optical management. (It was once referred to as “optical slave”, however the time period is now deprecated – for good cause! – and most firms together with Godox have phased it out.) Primarily, because of this the flash will fireplace synchronously when it “sees” one other flash. Each Lux flashes have two optical management modes: S1, the place it fires immediately when it sees a flash, and S2, the place it ignores the primary pre-flash and solely fires in response to the second (precise) flash.

Within the photographs under, the Godox Lux Senior was positioned on camera-left, and triggered by the built-in pop-up flash on my DSLR. As a result of off-camera placement, the sunshine is much less flat and extra dimensional than the earlier photo the place I used on-camera flash.

A downside of this methodology is that the set off flash (the DSLR’s built-in flash, on this occasion) additionally impacts the picture. Typically, that’s precisely what you need – for instance, for those who’re utilizing the off-camera flash as the important thing gentle, and on-camera flash as fill.

When you don’t need the set off flash in your picture, you might have a couple of choices. Within the picture at above proper, I used a diffuser over the on-camera flash, as proven under. In consequence, the on-camera flash is weakened to some extent the place it has negligible impact on the scene, however remains to be sturdy sufficient to set off the Lux Senior. So within the second picture above, there aren’t any shadows on the wall behind the plant, and the shadow of the vase is deeper (whereas within the first picture, the on-camera flash acted as a fill gentle).

A second choice is to make use of an on-camera speedlight because the set off flash, with its head swivelled in the direction of the off-camera flash. That is what I did for the 2 photographs under, taken inside minutes of one another. The primary picture is with ambient gentle solely. For the second, I dropped the ambient and lit Pearl with off-camera flash (Lux Senior).

The photographs under present my setup. The on-camera flash is a Godox TT600 speedlight, zoomed to 200mm and swivelled to the left. The Lux Senior is on camera-left, nestled in my bag (the second picture exhibits a close-up).

When you get shut sufficient, merely holding the off-camera flash together with your free hand will produce sufficient of an angle for a dramatic picture. The picture under demonstrates the method. As soon as once more, the Lux Senior is being triggered by an on-camera speedlight.

The subsequent picture exhibits the outcome.

Right here’s one other picture with the same set-up, however shot by my pal Redwan (the topic of the earlier picture). I used to be on camera-left, simply out of body, holding the Lux Senior.

The subsequent two photographs are in the identical tunnel, with the flash on a stand (camera-right). As earlier than, the set off was an on-camera speedlight. I dropped (however didn’t fairly kill) the ambient, eager to retain a little bit of ambiance. The Lux Junior (second picture) produces a tougher shadow.

Second-curtain sync

Some product pages, corresponding to B&H Photo, counsel that the Lux flashes don’t have second-curtain sync (aka rear-curtain sync). But it surely labored on my digicam (Nikon D5200), and I believe it would work on different cameras too if they permit second-curtain sync.

Once you use typical (front-curtain) sync with an extended shutter pace, the flash fires on the begin of the publicity, producing movement blur within the “improper” course, as proven within the first picture under. Rear-curtain sync ensures that the flash fires on the finish of the publicity, so that you get the “proper” sort of movement blur.

Extra picture samples

Digital

Now for some extra pattern pictures displaying how the flashes carry out in numerous situations. Within the photographs under, I used the Lux Senior (on-camera) as a fill flash. The impact is delicate, however an enchancment – I feel.

Within the photo-pair under, the flash (Lux Senior) is greater than only a fill-light. It overpowers the reddish ambient gentle, successfully “cleansing it up”. I truly choose the primary picture, however typically portraying the topic clearly could be extra necessary than the temper.

Within the subsequent picture, I used a pink gel on the flash (Lux Junior). I additionally selected an extended shutter pace, and whereas the shutter was open, I moved the digicam to make gentle streaks within the background – a way referred to as “dragging the shutter”. The foreground is lit by flash, which is instantaneous, so there isn’t a movement blur there.

Lastly, some extra off-camera motion. The picture under was shot with ambient gentle solely.

For the following picture, I used a decrease ISO and smaller aperture to kill the ambient. The Lux Senior was held off-camera in my left hand, triggered by an on-camera speedlight swivelled in the direction of it.

Movie

Now let’s take a look at how the Godox Lux flashes play with movie cameras. My Minolta Autocord TLR has a “coldshoe” – a bracket the place you may mount the flash, but it surely doesn’t routinely sync with the shutter. Fortunately, the digicam has a PC sync port, and the Godox Lux flashes include a sync cable. So mount the flash on the coldshoe, plug one finish of the cable into the flash, the opposite into the PC sync port on the digicam, and you might be good to go.

The cool factor in regards to the Autocord is that it has a leaf shutter, so you might have flash sync even at 1/500 sec (my Nikon DSLR, made half a century later, is restricted to a synch pace of 1/200 sec).

My Minolta X-370s SLR does have a hotshoe. For my assessments, I used Fuji Velvia 50. Utilizing flash with movie is already considerably difficult since you may’t see the outcome and alter accordingly. Slide movie is even trickier; it has decrease dynamic vary than destructive movie, which suggests there may be little margin for error. Then once more, if didn’t I get pleasure from making my life needlessly sophisticated, I wouldn’t be taking pictures movie.

The place doable, I like to recommend bracketing. Right here, the second publicity was nearer to what I used to be going for.

Within the flower picture under, I wished to kill the ambient, however as you may see, some background element remains to be seen. I feel the ambient gentle was too brilliant to be “killed”, which illustrates one of many pitfalls of utilizing flash with movie cameras.

“Killing the ambient” is usually achieved by rising the shutter pace, which drops the ambient however not the flash publicity. Nevertheless, in comparison with their digital descendants, movie cameras with focal-plane shutters are inclined to have decrease sync speeds (1/60 sec on my Minolta). This makes it tougher to kill the ambient in brilliant situations.

Within the subsequent picture, I wished to drop (not kill) the ambient, to retain a number of the ambiance. Fluorescent lights have a greenish forged. Our eyes – and to some extent, digital sensors – can alter, making the sunshine look nearly impartial. However daylight-balanced movie like Fuji Velvia, particularly when underexposed, brings out the inexperienced forged in all its glory. I reasonably just like the impact, however not everybody does. The flash paints the topic with impartial gentle, making her stand out.

Remaining ideas

At a time when the market is awash with a mind-boggling array of lighting options, the Godox Lux collection is actually distinctive – retro-styled flashes, which nonetheless boast trendy options like adjustable flash energy and optical management. They accessorise rather well with movie cameras or retro-styled digital cameras, however they pack sufficient options and flash energy to be far more than simply equipment.

Between the Godox Lux Senior and Junior flashes, which one must you select? They each have their execs and cons, so finally it comes all the way down to your wants and priorities. Each flashes look cool – cooler than typical speedlights, in my view – however the Lux Senior is especially eye-catching. Whether or not you’re taking photographs of pals or strangers, it’s an incredible conversation-starter. The Junior, nonetheless, is smaller and lighter (and likewise cheaper).

The Lux Senior has a softer gentle, whereas the Junior is tougher, and in my expertise, additionally somewhat stronger. The Senior makes use of a lithium battery and has a sooner recycle time. The Junior’s recycle time of 5 secs (at full flash energy) generally is a hindrance for those who’re utilizing a digital digicam and taking pictures quickly, however might be wonderful for movie. If you wish to use color gels, the Junior is a more sensible choice due to the form of its flash head.

As I discussed, the Lux flashes lack some options which can be found on many typical speedlights just like the Godox TT685. That is one thing to pay attention to, however to me, it’s not a deal-breaker; reasonably, I see it a compromise. With the Lux collection, Godox clearly got down to design flashes that are comparatively low-cost, compact, and with a retro design. For my cash, they succeeded. We wouldn’t criticise, say, a Mini for missing off-roading capacity – it’s simply not designed for it.

Assessed on their very own phrases, the one two enhancements I can consider are: (a) as a substitute of the screw-type hotshoe security lock, I wish to see a quick-lock mechanism like on the Godox X2T radio set off, and (b) a detachable battery for the Godox Lux Senior, in order that it may be changed when it reaches the tip of its lifespan.

If you need the retro feel and look, go for a Lux flash. If you need a full-featured speedlight, there are many choices from Godox in addition to different producers. For me – and I believe for a lot of different amateurs – feel and look are an enormous a part of the pictures expertise, and there’s nothing improper with that. Options are good, however taking footage must also be enjoyable, no? The Godox Lux flashes may also help with that.

Thanks for studying. For extra of my work – with and with out flash – be at liberty to take a look at my Instagram.