GEAR
MINI TESTS
GODOX FV150 HYBRID FLASH/LED £335/$299 godox.com
If you’re a hybrid shooter creating stills and moving images, one of your biggest headaches will be lighting. You need continuous lighting for video and ideally flash for stills, but they don’t always come in the same fixture. Now Godox has its FV150, which is a hybrid flash and LED unit. It’s not as powerful as a standard flash, but pumps out around four times the output of the LED light and flashes at all sync speeds up to 1/8000sec. Best of all, it’s a reasonable price, costing just £335/$299 for the 150W version we tested. A 200W light is also available. While the LED continuous lighting is as easy as turning it on and adjusting power through the panel on the rear of the unit (or with the included remote control), using flash is more complex as it has to sync to your camera. The FV150 has a standard 3.5mm/ 1/8in flash sync terminal on the back, so you can plug in a sync cable or use a
wireless kit like the Yongnuo RF-603C II Remote Flash Trigger Kit, which is ideal for Canon DSLRs. To keep it all Godox, look for the X Pro-S TTL or X2 2.4GHz TTL Wireless Flash Triggers that talk to the receiver built inside the FV150. The flash will then work at up to 10fps or 8fps in high-speed sync mode, although this cuts the power by half. So the reality is that it’s not a replacement for a full-power studio flash, but it can be very useful for good-quality stills, especially if your camera is decent at higher ISO settings, which can be needed in order to get a fast enough shutter speed to freeze motion. In a studio with a still subject and camera on a tripod, it’s not an issue. But then again, you could just use continuous light and go for a slower shutter speed. In continuous mode, this COB LED is daylight-balanced and has eight built- in special effects such as flash, storm, TV and broken bulb. These are OK for occasional use, but since it’s not a full- colour light, they aren’t as convincing as some rivals. The light has a Bowens mount to take lots of accessories, as well as an umbrella mount underneath the body of the light. This means it’s not
quite central, but for bigger umbrellas it’s not much of an issue. The fixture comes with a decent reflector and large, well-built U-bracket offering lots of adjustment. The rear screen’s LCD display is good, and the included wireless control is simple to use. From this, you can set wireless remote control channels and groups, too. As a video light, it works well. The output is consistent and flicker-free. The light is also virtually silent and we had no overheating problems. PRO MOVIEMAKER RATING: 8/10 A decent COB light with flash power as an added bonus Pros: Offers two kinds of light from a single unit Cons: The need to add the dedicated sync trigger
REAR OF THE GEAR The back panel is easy to understand, with access to main functions
SPECIFICATIONS Type: LED monolight with built-in flash
GOOD GODOX The FV150 is a capable COB with its own remote control and also works as a flash
Output: 58,000 lux at 1m/3.3ft High-speed sync: To 1/8000sec Colour temperature: 5600K +/-200K Colour accuracy: CRI 96, TLCI 97 Accessory mount: Bowens S Power consumption: 150W Display: LCD Dimensions (wxhxl): 34x20x16cm/13.4x7.9x6.3in Weight: 3.13kg/6.9lb “It’s not quite as powerful as a standard flash, but pumps out around four times the output of the LED, flashing at all sync speeds up to 1/8000sec”
95
PROMOVIEMAKER.NET
Powered by FlippingBook