I have the 600EX-RT and now the Godox v480 C. I wanted the Godox as a smaller and lighter flash mainly for macro photography. I also own a number of other Canon flashes and a couple of macro twin flashes. For use with my home made cygnustech style diffuser the v480 has a lot of advantages over the 600 EX-RT. Size wise it is noticeably smaller so perfect for this use. I chose it over the Godox 350 mainly for the built in modelling light. This is really useful in lower light macro work to find critical focus. In the Canon 600 EX I had to strap on a head torch to get this facility. Battery wise the lithium based Godox is leaps ahead of the Canon. 4 AA batteries in the Canon do not last long. I would often have three charged sets of eneloops in my pocket to cover a days shooting. At 1/16th-1/32 power, the Lithium battery in the Godox can keep up with the R7 at 15fps, with the modelling light on and shoot all day for me. Even then I can in down time recharger the battery with a USB C battery bank that I often have with me. So all good there. In addition and unlike the Canon 600 RT, after extensive bursts there doesn’t appear to be any overheating.
The negative points of the Godox are liveable with. First, the light is very slightly darker in the bottom left corner on my copy. It is only noticeable when testing for been light though. The Canon performs better in this aspect. Next is the fact the two RT systems despite both being 2.4ghz are not compatible. Shame but I knew that from the off. I have a couple of Yongnuo RT flashes that are, not that I use multi flash setups often so it doesn’t really affect me. Finally, and the most annoying, is the touch screen. It is fiddly to use, especially setting manual flash power. I can use the dual too for that but it does take a bit of getting used to. It also has a tendency to be nose operated. More than once I have accidentally switched from manual to ttl mode when bringing the camera to my eye. There is a lock mode but it deactivates when the flash goes into standby mode. On wake up it is back to accidental adjustment. This is with the shipped v1.0 firmware. Hopefully Godox will take in feedback about this and improve on lock mode.
In the box is a USB A charger, and A-C charge cable, a silly keyring, a basic diffuser, a pack of coloured gels and an attachment for them, a case and the usual stand. So you get a decent little package for the money. Overall I have been quite impressed with this little unit so far.
www.macrumors.com
