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Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio
09-12-2017, 12:48 PM
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It is a flash branded AmazonBasics that strongly resembles a Godox VT560 (virtually identical) and which says VT560 on the back. There are similar items from Neewer and others.
Steve
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Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio
09-11-2017, 01:50 PM
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Update on my AmazonBasic flash quest...
I received my replacement last week (thank you, Amazon for speedy shipping) and must sadly report that flash failed after firing about a dozen times. I attempted a second replacement, but was restricted to refund only. Customer service informed me that the item has been pulled from active listing pending a quality investigation and will not be available to order until that is resolved. I confirmed today 11 Sept 2017, that it is only available refurbished.
Steve
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Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio
09-11-2017, 01:45 PM
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I should qualify that the failure to fire involved conductive cold shoes common to many cameras made prior to the mid-1970s when hot shoes first became commonplace. Also affected were non-anodized/painted flash brackets. Vintage flash units are tolerant to the potential short-circuit and will continue to operate using the PC connector. The Amazon unit simply charges and fails.
Steve
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Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio
08-30-2017, 07:01 PM
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Did you get a chance to try it out? I have been unable to get the slave modes (S1 or S2) to work consistently.
Likewise...are you able to use the slave modes?
Steve
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Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio
08-24-2017, 11:10 PM
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Mine showed up this morning. So far, my impressions are mixed. In advance of a real review...
Pros:- Extensive feature set for this price point
- Build is not bad, regardless of the price. Buttons and switches are good quality and the battery door appears sturdy.
- Initial testing indicate a guide number close to the Godox VT560's GN 38 rather than the GN 33 stated in the user guide
- Metal hot shoe foot
- Easy to use
- Battery load diagram is very clear and nice
- Battery change is easy and sure
- Instantaneous charge at all but full power and ~1.3s at that setting
- Power assignments for each mode are remembered
- Settings are remembered through power cycle
Cons:- The metal foot is odd-sized and is longer by several millimeters than the ISO 518 spec. It overhangs the rear of a standard shoe a fair bit and hits me in the eyebrow when mounted to my K-3.
- The center contact pin is somewhat longer than most and may require some serious assistance to compress onto the hot shoe plate on some cameras
- The unit will not function if mounted to a metal cold shoe, even with a known good PC connection for sync. This deficiency has serious ramifications if intended for use on vintage cameras, accessory flash brackets, or lighting stands having a metal cold shoe
- The PC sync fitting on my copy became very loose in its mount after very light use and feels like it will soon fall out of or into the flash body. I consider this a defect and will be asking Amazon for a replacement.
- The S1 mode is not very dependable. I have not been able to fully characterize its behavior except to say that I would not expect it to work in a daylight situation, that it is sketchy even in dim light, and that it may not work at all with some trigger flashes.
- The S2 mode does not work consistently with either of my P-TTL flashes
- The eight power levels are specified at 1-stop increments, though initial testing indicates that the steps are not inverse powers of two. Again, I have not fully characterized the behavior.
- No flash zoom feature
Of the above, I consider the PC fitting and cold shoe behavior to be the most bothersome, with the optical trigger problems as close third.
Notes:- The locking pin at the front of the foot retracts when the locking dial is in the full up position. This simplifies mounting on some cameras.
- The power switch moves right-to-left to switch on. This is somewhat different and requires some getting used to.
- The flash ready sequence is from green to red and is a little counter-intuitive
- Did not evaluate the external power port
- Did not check for consistent white balance at all power settings
Steve
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Forum: Flashes, Lighting, and Studio
08-21-2017, 07:24 PM
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The question might be how well the slave mode works. Some online reviews indicate that the sensitivity of the optical detector might be rather poor. Amazon is being slow on shipping mine, but I too will craft a full review once I have it in hand.
Steve
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