Godox V100 Review: Reliability and Trade-offs

G'day. Welcome to the Wiser Wedding Photography Podcast, learning how to build a wiser wedding photography business. Honest conversations about tech, marketing, branding, and running a wedding photography business that actually survives. Hosted by none other than myself, Chris Jack. I'm an 11-year wedding and corporate event photographer based in Brisbane, Australia. I'm going to be focusing on tech stuff, relevant, practical things that you can apply incrementally to your wedding photography business to help you build a wiser wedding photography business.

So let's go straight into the topic. Why is the Godox V100 my favorite flash now? Unboxing and spec videos on YouTube have always been popular, probably always will be popular.

The thing that really grates me about those sort of unboxing videos and spec videos and review videos is that it's not a real-world test. So they're not surfacing long-term issues with the flash. They're not telling you what really matters in the real world when you use that particular device or tool.

I've had a love-hate relationship with Godox. I guess my experiences seven or eight years ago weren't so good. I went through virtually all their range, like the 685, the 600, the 8200, and experienced all sorts of issues with overheating, just general failures, whether that was buttons that would fail on the 8200 or just flashes that, in one particular case, the E-TTL didn't work at all, only worked in manual. And that was out of the box, new. I just sort of felt that, you know, Godox was not up to the job then.

So I stuck with my Canon 600EX-RT IIs. It's a bit of a mouthful, but they are absolute tanks, workhorses. They are great flashes. I would go back to them in a heartbeat if it wasn't for the ongoing issues I had with them, which centered around connection dropping.

When I first started using them, I didn't notice the problem quite so much. It seems to have been some sort of Wi-Fi or protocol or radio clash with some type of devices that were broadcasting in the same space.

And I remember one wedding, I remember it very clearly, trying to get the 600EX-RT IIs to maintain their signal. And we're talking about 10 meters away, and it would just drop out. And it was during the first dance, and after that, I just decided, well, there's got to be a better way.

I can't put up with this. So, as you do, you look at the other options. I looked at Profoto and a few other things. I did love the Profoto interface. It's well renowned, but, you know, $2,000 for a flash? Are you kidding me? I mean, these things are going to be dropped. These things are going to be knocked off light stands.

You need really three. Two for a wedding and maybe one as a backup, as a minimum, especially if you're doing a three-light setup.

I actually went out and bought another 600EX-RT II. I think the guy in the shop was surprised. I don't think they sell many these days. But I paid another 600 Australian, or $400 or $500 US, for another Canon 600EX-RT II. And so I had three of these things.

And then the Godox V100 came along, and it made a lot of promises.

It had a very short recycle time. It had its own built-in battery, good for 500 full-power flashes. But most of all, it had a full-color LED touchscreen.

That's one of the problems I had with the Canon 600s. I would always be struggling to see the screen and read it, whether that was outdoors in the sun or even indoors. The clarity and contrast on that thing was just not up to scratch. So you end up using muscle memory after a while and just sort of knowing which buttons and which menu options are required. But if you're struggling in the heat of the moment, that's not a good flash to use if your eyesight isn't great. I bought a V100, and at first I was skeptical. I thought, "Well, is this really going to be as reliable as a Canon?"

So let's knock that one right on the head. The Godox V100 has been just as reliable as Canon 600s, probably more reliable, definitely more reliable when you factor in the lack of dropouts. So I don't get those dropouts anymore, so I'm not worried about that.

It's not distracting me when I'm in the middle of a first dance or a grand entrance and I'm freaking out because the secondary flash has died. I might point out that when the dropouts occurred, they were with my secondary off-camera light used for backlighting on, say, first dance or grand entrance speeches, things like that.

So it was never a critical light, but it was always my kind of signature look for first dance. So having the secondary hair light fail during a first dance and not being able to get that beautiful wash of light across the dance floor is something that didn't make me happy. So now I can honestly say, after using the Godox V100 for probably 18 months or so, it is reliable.

I feel like it's just as reliable. I think it's built just as well as the 600, probably not if you open it up and look inside. So far I haven't dropped it, so I can't say how good it is in that area. I certainly dropped the 600s a few times. I dropped a 685 once from a relatively short height and it just smashed into multiple pieces.

So let's go into the pros and cons of the Godox V100 versus the Canon 600EX-RT II or similar flash from your manufacturer. These are the things that matter to me, and I think they'll matter to you as a wedding photographer as well.

So let's look at the benefits or the pros of the V100, compared to something like the 600. So firstly, it works all the time. It's more reliable because it doesn't drop out as I experienced with the 600, especially with the radio dropping out. It's USB-C charging. Now, I can't emphasize this enough, and I'll talk about that shortly as to my workflow with regard now to USB-C charging.

If you're still using rechargeable AA batteries, I think that's fine for secondary lights. But if you're still using AAs as your primary source of power for your main flash, I think you're missing out now. With all the USB-C chargeable flashes that are out there now, I think those times are over.

So I think it's 100 watt-seconds, the V100. 600 or equivalent, it's about 70. So is that noticeable? Yes, it is noticeable when you're in a large room, function center. Maybe the ceilings are 10 meters high or even slightly higher than that.

You can still flash. Maybe you'll need full flash power now. Do you need to use full flash power all the time? Of course not. It's just going to be those edge cases.

That extra power is super helpful when you're shooting large group photos, or larger group photos at weddings and corporate events when you're forced to use the flash. And those that have shot event photography, corporate event photography, know how that works. What inevitably happens is, the director or the CEO or the chairman of the board will suddenly tell someone or come up to you and say, "Oh, we want a large group photo of everyone now," or, "We want a photo of all the award winners now on the stage right now."

Now, that happens all the time, despite me suggesting to event planners that they should plan a particular time for these types of large group photos into the timeline so that I am prepared and everyone else is prepared. Inevitably, it happens at just about every event. This gets thrown at you, and it's entirely up to you.

Luckily, with a large group photo, there is that milling around and confusion amongst guests initially. When you've got to do a large group photo immediately, it's never immediately. That is commensurate with the number of people in that shot. Getting 100 people on the stage takes at least five minutes, maybe longer.

When you're shooting a large group photo in a situation like that where you need to use flash, when you've got more than about 20 people, you're going to want to shoot that at maybe f/4, if you can get away with it, and maybe a little bit higher as well for those people who are right at the back to get everyone in focus.

So it's giving you more headroom. So yes, I do like that it works. I like that it's USB-C charging. I love the fact it's got more power. I don't like the fact that it's a little bit heavier, but we'll get into that in the cons.

Let's face it. The V100 flash looks cool. The 600, not so much.

It's a, "Hey, I've got the latest gear" sort of impression, I think it gives out. Now, and I'm sure you can quantify that.

You don't look like you've got archaic equipment when you're using a V100. And look, having a clear screen matters. It saves me seconds, and seconds count. And being able to drill into those menus, being able to glance down, and just see what my flash power is, is valuable.

I feel like I'm working quick when I'm using the V100. The other pro is the actual trigger range of the flash. So it's 328 feet on the V100. That's 100 meters that you can fire it.

Having said that, the 600 and equivalents are much shorter. It's 30 meters, I understand.

And outside, if you're in a grand wedding venue with maybe a large pool or lake or something like that, again, 30 meters is just not going to cut it. So I don't have to worry about the range anymore. I don't have to be constantly thinking, "Oh no, is it going to fire across the dance floor or across the other side of the room?"

Now, the other pro is a pretty obvious one, but it's worth mentioning, and that is the integration with the Godox ecosystem with all their other flash products. So that's the problem with a 600 or equivalent. You just don't have those options. And quite often you do want to fire an AD200 with something like 200 watt-seconds outside for a backlight on a cloudy, overcast day, and you want it to recycle as soon as possible.

You just can't do that with the 600 as your trigger on your camera. So, stepping into the Godox ecosystem is opening up all these other opportunities for setting up different sorts of lighting systems. So it just makes sense from that point of view.

Some would say that's the main benefit of using a Godox flash on your camera, is that you can fire other Godox products. But of course, this podcast is mainly about the V100 and why I think it's the best flash for wedding photographers. But overall, that's probably the major pro for using any Godox flash on your camera, is access to the ecosystem.

And now to the cons of using the V100. Now, ironically, this is actually a list of cons that is more than the pros, which doesn't seem to make sense, but it's the impact those pros have on your workflow and everyday use, which make them overall more beneficial than using something like the 600. So let's go through some of these.

I think the number one con for me is probably the small amount of extra weight. I don't like that. It's about 80 to 100 grams more. You do notice it. That can be mitigated by perhaps not using heavier light modifiers.

It's a hold-down to switch off, which is super annoying, because yes, that one second counts, and being able to see what your ambient light is when you're using off-camera flash is so important when you're in manual mode, and you've got to hold down the button, switch it off to test that.

That's just what you do when you're setting up flashes. You want to see what the ambient light is first, and so that slows down the process. And same with the lock button. There is no sliding lock button on it.

Sometimes it just doesn't switch modes quickly. You'll hold your finger on it, and for some reason, it just won't progress to the next mode. And when you're in the heat of the moment, that can be super annoying as well.

I use BlackRapid straps, and it just happens all the time. I'll set it to a certain exposure compensation, and then I'll look down, and it's suddenly at 1.7 over. And of course, you'll notice that when you take a photo and adjust it. But having to constantly be aware that it will do that.

Now, you could say, "Well, just lock it," but I don't have time to lock it and unlock it. Are you kidding me? I don't have time to lock it. So I've just got to put up with it constantly changing the exposure compensation throughout a reception, which isn't so good, but it's one of those things you get used to. And now to the other thing, which is weird about it. I've learned to live with it.

It's like maybe having some sort of disability, you over time you learn to live with it, and before you know it, you don't even realize you've got it. Well, that is that the Godox V100 underexposes by about 0.8 or 0.9 of a stop. Unfortunately, that's right between 0.75 and one stop.

So you can overexpose by 0.7, but that won't be enough because you'll still be underexposing for some reason. And I'm talking about when bouncing to the ceiling here, I'm not talking about direct flash.

It seems to be when you're bouncing that it underexposes by at least that amount. Now, I've also recently just given up on that, 'cause it used to underexpose all the time, and I've just set it to one stop of overcompensation. That will work most of the time, and then sometimes it'll slightly overexpose.

So I don't know why this particular flash, the V100, needs an extra stop of exposure compensation when you're bouncing off a ceiling. If someone can tell me, that'd be great. But that is a con. The Canon was a lot more consistent with regard to bouncing off ceilings and getting the right exposure.

So now, I just want to talk about, nothing exists in isolation, or no man is an island, as I was taught at school. And this is where using a flash like the V100 is so beneficial overall. Because when you think about it, one of the things that takes up a lot of time when you're preparing for a gig is charging those AA batteries.

And you need extra batteries. You need more batteries than you think you might need if you're using double As, because they're only doing so many full-power flashes. Now, with the V100 or something like that, you're... If you're getting 500 full-power flashes, if you're only shooting at 1/16 or 1/32 at a reception, then you're going to be able to shoot all night long, and you're not going to have to change the battery for a whole wedding day, considering most of the time you're only using flash in the evening. So being able to just put that battery in and just keep on shooting and not have to go back to your bag and crawl on the floor and put the batteries in, that's always a real pain doing that.

Putting in those four batteries in the right way in a dark environment is just one of those annoyances of being a wedding photographer. So all that is avoided when you're using the V100 or something that has a lithium-ion battery like that which is rechargeable.

The point is that it's USB-C chargeable. So that means you can take a 10,000 mAh power bank and you can charge another battery. So you only need one battery in the flash, and you probably will not need to put in your backup battery. Now, of course, you're going to bring along another battery in case the battery fails. I haven't had any problems with the batteries failing yet, but I would never just turn up with one battery.

So you've got your 10,000 mAh power bank with you to charge the batteries in the V100. But what else does that give you? That gives you the opportunity now to charge your regular camera batteries. So if you're using something like the Neewer triple charger, TTL-PE6, Neewer spelled N-E-E-W-E-R, that is an incredible little product.

It can charge three batteries. Thus why it's called triple charger. Charges three of your camera batteries at once using USB-C power. So you can charge that with a power bank, or you can plug into AC. Now, that is a game changer. If I can get through one podcast without using the word game changer, I'll be happy, but I can't think of a better word.

It's a game changer because it means that you can charge your camera batteries and your flash batteries, providing your flash batteries are capable of being charged by USB-C power. And that just changes everything, because I'm finding myself needing to carry less double A batteries, which are heavy and are a pain to have to charge before every wedding.

And that's the show for this week. I'm your host, Chris Jack. One last thing, I run every wedding I shoot through 1pm.app. Inquiries come in, quotes go out in a few clicks, contracts are signed with deposits, integrates with Stripe, payments are tracked, it's got a live timeline. We'll run a show, the couple and anyone else working can open up and you can share with.

So it's essentially one app for everything instead of five, made by someone who does this job every day. So have a look at 1pm.app, check it out, sign up for the 30-day free trial and tell me what's missing. Tell me what else it needs. Thanks for listening and I'll catch up with you in the next one.