[inkista]

... On the Godox site, it mentions camera bodies supported, and the K-5 is not listed. I hope that is not really an issue.

It probably isn't if all the same flashes that work in P-TTL on the supported models work on your K-5. My GX7 was never listed as a supported camera for the XPro-O. Godox supported models lists are basically only the models they have access to to test. Non-inclusion doesn't mean it won't be compatible.

[morenjavi]

The XTR16 and XTR16s have been problematic for anything other than triggering and power control. Fuji users couldn't get HSS out of them until the v03 firmware update on the X1T. But Canon/Nikon users were supposedly getting HSS out of them off the bat (although you do have to set HSS directly on the AD180 and AD360 [mark I]). My guess is the Pentax picture might look closer to the Nikon one.

My hopes are:

1. To get HSS automatically with the AD200, without setting anything on the flash side, just as I get now with my XProC stacked on Cactus V6II. Of course TTL too. I suppose TTL+HSS is possible too.

2. To get HSS with my AD360, forcing HSS on flash side
3. Same for the V850, if HSS could be set from the trigger side, then it will be better.

[inkista]

Hello and thanks for the info. About TTL with the V860II, can you confirm that it will be possible to get PTTL with a V860IIC from a XProP, cross-brand style?

Obviously, I can't actually confirm something about gear that isn't out yet, I'm just someone who hangs out on a lot of camera boards and reads Flash Havoc too much.

But that said, it should work the way you describe. As I said, I can use my TT685C in TTL/HSS/with power control from my XPro-O on my GX7 and my XPro-F on my X100T. And the TT685 is pretty much identical to the V860II, except for using AAs instead of a li-on pack.

Are the V860II series similar to the AD200, that can be used with different triggers (Canon, Nikon, etc) ?

Yes. And, of course, like the AD200, the V860IIC will require a firmware update before it can understand the XPro-P's PTTL commands.

If you look at the V860IIC's revision history:



You'll see that Nikon, Sony, MFT, and Fuji compatibility were all added this way. Pentax compatibility will be done the same way.

[stevebrot]

Hi. I'm not a Pentax shooter, but I'm a Godox enthusiast who shoots Canon, MFT, and Fuji, and I had a ton of fun helping outline some stuff about the Godox system to Fuji users before the system came out, so thought I'd take a look and see if I could lend a helping hand for Pentax shooters curious about the system.

Welcome to the Pentax Forums and thanks for being so very helpful!


Steve

[inkista]

My hopes are:

1. To get HSS automatically with the AD200, without setting anything on the flash side, just as I get now with my XProC stacked on Cactus V6II. Of course TTL too. I suppose TTL+HSS is possible too.

2. To get HSS with my AD360, forcing HSS on flash side
3. Same for the V850, if HSS could be set from the trigger side, then it will be better.

I wish I could give you more specifics on this, but I only own the TT685 and TT600, and don't have experience with the AD Witstros.

As I understand it from the Flash Havoc XT16 article and AD200 article, 1 and 2 should work the way you envision, but 3 won't: like the AD360, you have to set HSS on the flash unit.

You may also want to ask or look around on the POTN board's lighting forum Godox threads. POTN used to be a Canon board (they're all-brands, now), so they have huge amounts of experience with Godox gear before everybody else did. The Godox System Integration thread is almost 100 pages long.

---------- Post added 08-28-18 at 02:50 PM ----------

Welcome to the Pentax Forums and thanks for being so very helpful!

Steve

Thank you! and you're very welcome.

Since my blather seems to be helpful, a few words on retailing, branding, and what Godox gear is not in the system.

To save Helen Oster of Adorama the effort, if you do end up going the Flashpoint/Adorama path to the Godox system, they actually have a separate support email for the in-house brands (brands@adorama.com). If you have an issue with a Flashpoint unit, it's better to go through them vs. the regular customer support at Adorama. For example, if you just have a bad li-on battery, then you won't have to mail back the entire unit for a return as you would with the regular customer support, they can just exchange the battery.

Both Adorama and B&H are doing their own support for the Godox products they sell. Adorama's also an Amazon seller, if you prefer going Prime.

Godox is also rebranded a lot. It's kind of like Samyang's lenses. Other brands that Godox can be found under would include Cheetah (although Ed Tang is getting out of selling Godox units), Pixapro, Flashpoint, and Neewer, among many others. I'd say be very careful if you do end up getting a Neewer, though. Neewer rebrands from a number of different Shenzhen companies, including Yongnuo, Jinbei, Meike, and Triopo as well as Godox, so you have to be very certain the flash you're getting is what you think you're getting.

Also, not all Godox gear is in the X system. An older Godox flash like the TT560 (aka the Neewer TT560) has no built-in radio triggering, and the Godox TT520II/TT560II is using the older 433 MHz triggers (e.g., FT16, Cells II). Only the strobes on elv's Flash Havoc overview of the system are in the 2.4GHz system. Similarly, of Godox's AC plug-in strobes, only the Mk II series have the built-in 2.4 GHz receivers for the system and can be accurately power-controlled. Older lights, like the Mini Pioneers cannot, even if equipped with an XTR16 receiver.

[Class A]

Once all the firmware updates and flash releases (if they're happening) come through, you should hopefully be able to have TTL/HSS/remote power control over:...

Do you expect the AD600PRO to be compatible with the XPro-P out of the box?

The XPro-P description states compatibility with the "AD600 series" and that doesn't explicitly include the AD600PRO.

N.B., for anyone interested in the Godox equipment, I highly recommend to get the Flashpoint equivalent products from Adorama because then you'll have great service at least for the warranty period. If you buy from Godox directly, you won't have any joy with their customer support. People complain about not getting replies at all, language barriers at play, conversations being dragged out for months and months, etc.

I'm excited about getting direct access to the Godox lighting solutions but I'll make sure I'll use a distribution channel (e.g., Adorama) which will give me support at least for the warranty period.

[morenjavi]

I wish I could give you more specifics on this, but I only own the TT685 and TT600, and don't have experience with the AD Witstros.

I have the referenced flashes, and can get HSS without issue, with the help of the nice Cactus V6 II. What I expect with the Pentax trigger is to have the same features without stacking and something 'extra', like TTL and maybe some HSS automation, that is, to set HSS ON/OFF just from the XProP, without the need to force manually on the flash; maybe on the V850, that are not too old. I'm a bit surprised to read that the V850 can only be used at low speed, because at present I can sync up to 1/8000, even without a Godox trigger. It should be 'funny' If I had to stack the XProP again

As I understand it from the Flash Havoc XT16 article and AD200 article, 1 and 2 should work the way you envision, but 3 won't: like the AD360, you have to set HSS on the flash unit.

Yes, I think I will get the same, I can't set HSS on this flash remotely, but at least I can change power in HSS mode, this is not possible with the AD360. As the V850 is more modern than the AD360... who knows, I'll need to check. The AD200 is really nice because the HSS mode is set just depending on your camera speed, you don't need to set anything on flash side (If you have the Xpro as a trigger). Also is so portable, it's my favorite and most used Godox flash.

You may also want to ask or look around on the POTN board's lighting forum Godox threads. POTN used to be a Canon board (they're all-brands, now), so they have huge amounts of experience with Godox gear before everybody else did. The Godox System Integration thread is almost 100 pages long.

I know the POTN forums, I started to read compulsively when the AD360 was announced, sure you know the thread "A new barebulb flash arrives". This is the thread I was referring to when I was talking about the pics from Jesús Padilla.

Regards.

[inkista]

Do you expect the AD600PRO to be compatible with the XPro-P out of the box?

The XPro-P description states compatibility with the "AD600 series" and that doesn't explicitly include the AD600PRO.

I would also assume that "600-series" means all the possible AD600 models:

AD600 (Godox mount)
AD600B (Bowens-mount)
AD600M (Godox mount, manual-only)
AD600BM (Bowens mount, manual-only)
AD600 Pro

But, as out-of-the-box? Only the M models are likely to be fully compatible. To get PTTL, the 600 models will require a firmware update. Also, as a small cautionary note, while Canon, Nikon, Fuji, and MFT users didn't seem to have issues, the manual-version of the AD600 actually required a firmware update to fire correctly in sync in M mode with the Sony triggers. Sometimes you may have to wait on a firmware fix when an unexpected bug crops up. They sometimes send stuff out the door a bit buggy and then fix things afterwards with firmware updates.

N.B., for anyone interested in the Godox equipment, I highly recommend to get the Flashpoint equivalent products from Adorama because then you'll have great service at least for the warranty period. If you buy from Godox directly, you won't have any joy with their customer support. People complain about not getting replies at all, language barriers at play, conversations being dragged out for months and months, etc. ...

+1. In my experience, I've never received a reply to an email I sent to Godox's support address, while emailing the Flashpoint support folks have always gotten me a reply in a timely manner. Maybe not a fix; but definitely a reply. I still CC Godox support on all my emails to Flashpoint support, because a bug report is still a bug report.

I will say that if you're used to Yongnuo 560 gear giving you remote wakeup, zoom control, and using a single unit as both a flash-transmitter and a shutter-receiver, that this is not the case with Godox X gear. Wakeup does not work (despite what the manuals say). Flashpoint support told me to turn off sleeping on the flash as my sol'n. [eyeroll]. Zoom only works with the TTL speedlights and only if the Zoom is set to "auto" on the flash itself. With the X1T transmitter, you only get a single universal zoom settings for all groups; with the Xpro, you can set zoom by group. And if you may as well hang onto your RF-603II triggers if you need a radio-based shutter remote, because the Godox X triggers do not do the shutter-release with flash trigger-delay thing the Yongnuos do; you need two separate Rx/Tx sets set to different channels.

... I'm excited about getting direct access to the Godox lighting solutions but I'll make sure I'll use a distribution channel (e.g., Adorama) which will give me support at least for the warranty period.

B&H has also started to support Godox gear in a manner similar to Adorama's, albeit without the rebranding. And while you might be able to grab stuff earlier off eBay or some Chinese-based Amazon seller, in reality, the time it takes to ship directly from China to the time Adorama's shipping them out the door with Amazon Prime, you may only be a week ahead or so. So, again +1 from me; the support is worth the tradeoff.

---------- Post added 08-29-18 at 03:22 PM ----------

I have the referenced flashes, and can get HSS without issue, with the help of the nice Cactus V6 II. What I expect with the Pentax trigger is to have the same features without stacking and something 'extra', like TTL and maybe some HSS automation, that is, to set HSS ON/OFF just from the XProP, without the need to force manually on the flash; maybe on the V850, that are not too old. I'm a bit surprised to read that the V850 can only be used at low speed, because at present I can sync up to 1/8000, even without a Godox trigger. It should be 'funny' If I had to stack the XProP again

Yup, that's counter to expectation. They may have just copied the Fuji text, though. Fuji Godox gear is still having problems getting HSS out of the TT600 and V850II, never mind the XTR16s.

Glad you're loving the AD200. Have you seen the announcement for the round head with magmod-like modifiers? Man, are they going for poor man's Profoto A1. I'm really curious to see if they eventually come out with a round-head V860II Pro that will actually be the Godox version of a Profoto A1. (Super sweet if it used the same magnetic modifiers as the AD200 head).

I know the POTN forums, I started to read compulsively when the AD360 was announced, sure you know the thread "A new barebulb flash arrives". This is the thread I was referring to when I was talking about the pics from Jesús Padilla...

Yup, that's the great granddaddy of Godox threads on POTN. Good times! Whew. You don't need me, if you have their collected folk wisdom!

[geojazz]

About time ,I have been using the AD-600's (in studio) , the Manual AD-360 and Ad200's ( for location work ) but I have been using the XPRO-C as the controller and it allows me to trigger off my 645z and K1 at maximum sync speed. It will be nice to have the HSS capability (once I get all the firmware updates applied). Since I don't use TTL, I'm old school and I prefer to use my Sekinics L358 to meter everything , this will be a gamechanger for me when I'm out doing location shoots!

[jake14mw]

I am waiting very impatiently for these!

I have a Godox TT600 and V850ii. So for those, obviously no TTL, but will I have to switch between HSS and non HSS on the flash itself?

[inkista]

I am waiting very impatiently for these!

I have a Godox TT600 and V850ii. So for those, obviously no TTL, but will I have to switch between HSS and non HSS on the flash itself?

No. Not if the flash has a built-in 2.4 GHz radio transceiver. It's only the older models using an XTR16 (AD180, AD360 Mark I) or XTR16s (V850 and V860 Mark I models) that have to have HSS set on the flash. With the TT600 and V850II, you should be able to set HSS on the XPro.

Well, unless you shoot Fuji. Fuji's HSS isn't accessed on Godox the way it is with the Cactus V6IIs. With Fuji, you have to set HSS/FP in the camera menus, so there is no SYNC menu button on the XPro-F to select HSS or 2nd curtain. Something I find annoying, since my other XPros both have the SYNC button.

Also, the TT600 and V850II do not have any kind of firmware upgrade capability, so if there is an issue with HSS, you'll be waiting on a possible firmware fix on the XPro-P (or whatever you end up using as your on-camera transmitter). The lack of firmware upgrade capability also means that you won't be able to use ID codes (a feature that came in with the XPro transmitter, so was added to the lights via firmware update). ID codes are a feature to avoid inadvertent triggering if someone else nearby is also using Godox gear on the same channel. You can set a two-digit code (from 01-99) on both the transmitter and the flashes, and unless that code matches, the flashes won't respond. It basically turns the 32 RF channels of the Xpro into 3168 virtual channels.

You also won't be able to turn off that blinking red LED on the front that indicates it's in active RF slave mode; something you can now do with the TT685/V860II and AD360II; again via firmware update. Still gotta use gaffer tape.

I own two TT600 speedlights as well as a TT685C.

Also, not that you'd want to do this, but never put a TT600 (or, I would assume a V850II) into S1 mode and MULTI mode at the same time. I found out that the later bursts of the MULTI mode re-trigger the optical slave indefinitely, so the flash just keeps strobing until you turn it off regardless of what you set for MULTI, which obviously runs the risk of overheating the flash.

[mcgregni]

ID codes are a feature to avoid inadvertent triggering if someone else nearby is also using Godox gear on the same channel.

Yes, Cactus have brought this in too, a 4 digit ID. I've wondered why its really necessary, as surely it just duplicates the purpose of the Channels themselves ..... and I'd think 16 channels is plenty for any real world situations .... ? Its something that can catch out the unwary though if a digit is nudged by mistake.

[jake14mw]

No. Not if the flash has a built-in 2.4 GHz radio transceiver. It's only the older models using an XTR16 (AD180, AD360 Mark I) or XTR16s (V850 and V860 Mark I models) that have to have HSS set on the flash. With the TT600 and V850II, you should be able to set HSS on the XPro.
...

Thanks, great information. One other question I have. If I am using the XPro, and I have changing lighting conditions that will require HSS in some cases, but not others, is there any disadvantage to putting it in HSS mode? If not, why have a separate mode at all?

[inkista]

Yes, Cactus have brought this in too, a 4 digit ID. I've wondered why its really necessary, as surely it just duplicates the purpose of the Channels themselves ..... and I'd think 16 channels is plenty for any real world situations .... ? Its something that can catch out the unwary though if a digit is nudged by mistake.

I think it all started with Canon's RT system introducing the four-digit ID codes. Which was probably prompted by the whole PocketWizard custom ID service. That's where PocketWizard would, for a lot of money, add a "custom channel" to your PocketWizards. It was mostly documented and recommended among professional sports photographers who were shooting at the Olympics or Superbowl, where they'd be doing remote-shutter or remote-flash with a scrum of other folks vying for similar placement. The limit on the PW channels could cause a huge problem, so they'd pay the extra for the service. Not a typical or normal situation, but certainly one that professional Canon sports/event shooters might encounter.

Canon created their own 2.4 GHz RT system in some part because of the fact that the 580EXII had an RF incompatibility with the PocketWizard 433 MHz system, and so they wanted to better or at least duplicate the existing feature set. So, four-digit custom ID codes (and also graphing out the bandwidth usage to spot RF interference) were features that came in on the 600EX-RT.

---------- Post added 08-31-18 at 11:59 AM ----------

Thanks, great information. One other question I have. If I am using the XPro, and I have changing lighting conditions that will require HSS in some cases, but not others, is there any disadvantage to putting it in HSS mode? If not, why have a separate mode at all?

It may depend in part on the underlying camera/flash system.

With my Canon gear, leaving it in HSS seems to work fine, as the Canon gear will automatically switch between HSS and not-HSS based on the shutter speed being used on the camera.

But with my MFT gear, I note that if I set HSS, HSS is used regardless of the shutter speed set on the camera. I can be at 1/60s and still lose power to the repeated pulsing of HSS. So, I have to manually turn it on and off if I only want to use HSS when I need it.

I can't tell you exactly what's going on with Fuji gear, since I have an X100T, which uses a leaf-shutter so HSS isn't exactly the same picture as with the focal-plane shutter bodies.

[inkista]

Oh, hey, all my dire "you'll have to wait on firmware updates" warnings may not be that much of an issue.

Yesterday, Godox posted the AD600/AD600B v2.6 (download link), AD600M/AD600BM v1.9 (download link), and AD600 Pro v1.3 (download link) updates to include Pentax compatibility.

The non-Pro versions use the G1 updater app (download link); the Pro version uses the G2 updater app (download link).

All the Godox downloads are .rar files. If you used internet exploder and it renamed them, just change the suffix back to .rar and use WinZip, 7Zip, etc. When you expand the archive, you'll get a PDF that describes the version history (don't worry. It's not all in Chinese; just the top bit) and the actual firmware file. If it unpacked with Chinese characters anywhere in the path, you'll probably want to delete those. Use the micro USB port on the light, not the USB-A port that's for plugging in an FTR16 receiver. You'll also probably want to discharge an AD600 prior to the firmware update.

So, three down; four to go (AD200, AD360II, TT685, and V860II) ...