Well the Xpro-p (for pentax) arrived today. In case you are wondering it's -o for panasonic/olympus There are triggers for most brands.

There are 32 channels and 5 groups + support for 16 of their older triggers which are manual only. There is flash id (optional) which can be from 1 to 99 this allows 2 or more photographers to shoot their lights on the same channel without triggering the others lights. You can also share lights between a group of photographers, If I had a friend with nikon or canon provided they have the appropriate trigger for their system that would work too.

The TTL and HSS seems to work flawlessly. I just set shutter speed iso and aperture and the flash automatically adjusts to give enough light to give a correct exposure. I'm allowed to be technically dumb while my smart flash system automatically compensates. Of course I get to be creative as to how i position and modify the lights, It might not result in the greatest lit photograph but the exposure should be correct.

There is a pc sync jack which is 2.5mm mono and you can select it as input or output. The AD200 uses a 3.5mm jack my elinchrom uses a 1/4 jack and my rf603 uses a screwed pc sync socket and my flash meter uses a pc sync socket which isn't screwed in. If i am going to do things wired i am going to need a few adapters...

Things are looking good

well i have just got it to work with my yongnuo rf603n transceivers. I used my pc sync cable for my elinchrom to my flash meter cable down sizing from 1/4 jack to rca to rca to 3.5mm mono. Even on minimum power it's quite strong.

I have just ordered the sd-s7 kinda of a beauty dish grided softbox combo and the sd-s17 which is a native mount wide angle diffuser, just for its back plate it fits within bowens and elinchrom mount (which I have on two speed light brackets). by fitting that back plate, there can be a 2/3rds Stop improvement in output :) I've also gone for the extension cable.

you should be able to see it on this, there is a rubber cover labeled wireless control port and under that 3.5mm sync cord jack.

AD200 pro

(Download)

There is a cover and there is a round port (i think is pc-sync cord) + a usb port thats labeled wireless sync. I think they have made various transmitters over the years so if you have bought into the older system you can extend with the port I think there are speedlights with a usb port for a wireless receiver. Adorama have their own version of the XPro which has bluetooth built in. There are a few options for transmitters.

looks like if i wanted to use my manual yongnou i could use a pc-sync cable to my rf603 and have the xpro trigger from the hot shoe. If I wanted to rig a cold shoe to my camera i can use the extender option for the ad200. There really is a lot of choices available with godox.

Does anyone know what the usb port is for on the AD200? There is actually 2, a usb c which i think is for updating firmware and a second which i think is used for a wireless port but its got wireless built in??

I also found there is a godox A and A mini which use bluetooth to connect a smart phone / iphone.
The mini is a small smartphone dedicated flash but the godox A can also control other godox flash units such as the ad200.
On the iphone the sync speed of the camera is really low due to the electronic shutter but it does make for a way to save a preset for a group of flash units which might be useful.

The Xpro trigger doesn't have a ( hot shoe or cold)which is a bit of a shame since you can use the extension to put a head on camera. but i guess a bracket is possible.

i'm thinking the usb/wireless port is kinda redundant?

I'm waiting on my pro trigger i have an AD200 and the AD-B2 head but without the trigger, i can only use it in manual mode, it's due on tuesday.

Hi all,
I recently came across an interesting range of flash made by a chinese company Godox, Adorama and B&H have rebranded versions which they support locally. They have a fair range of different lights with a common wireless flash system which is shared across their products some have dedicated system versions eg one ending -n would be for nikon, -C canon , ect including sony, panasonic, olympus, and Pentax, fuji too i think.

depending on which model you are looking at you can get HSS to 1/8000th of a sec shutter speed and TTL modes as well.
As well as the extremely sophisticated wireless system they tend to use dedicated L ion batteries. Some interesting models are the AD600, 400 AND 200 Models. 600 watt/sec 400 watt/sec and 200 watt/sec. The ad600 and ad400 are pretty pricey but the ad200 is more affordable and about 3 x as powerful as a regular nikon or canon flash. there is a pro version of the ad200 which improves on the original ad200.

What makes the AD200 quite unusual is that it comes with a fresnel head and a bare bulb head. Other heads are available an LED head a round head (with a whole eco system of modifiers which are magnetic and can be stacked) The AD-B2 head is a bowens mount head that takes 1 or 2 Ad200 bodies giving a combined 400 watt secs along with 2 20 watt led modeling lights (you can configure 1 single 200 watt flash bulb in the centre position or 2 200 watt side by side. The 2 halves are isolated from each other and sit on a chunky metal fanless heat sink.

Another thing is a 2 meter extension cable which allows you to mount just a head at a top of a stand and keeping the main unit safe. If the stand topples you might lose the flash head but they are a lot cheaper than the whole thing.

These are pretty much studio lights but with the hss and ttl and battery operation a lot more flexible and relatively affordable and the design is well thought out. I just got the AD-B2 head today and its packed in a split foam that would easily transfer into a flight case.

I hope you are tempted to investigate further. The only drawback to this system is the urge to add to it one AD200 is nice but 2 AD200's is more useful still.

There are 3 types of trigger and these are dedicated to different camera systems so for me the XPro-P is appropriate but you could use the same ad200 with other brands and a different trigger. There are also some fairly cheap flash units which can be used as a master...

There are plenty of videos reviewing these units and accessories.

A Stylistic choice you mean.... it's meant to look like that...

I recently picked up a 4k drone and it's fairly powerful with a max speed of around 36mph and can easily exceed what I'm legally allowed to fly in terms of height and distance but I don't want to do that, not if I want to keep flying.

In Ireland its 300meters distance, 120 meters height (400 feet) There are quite a few restrictions on where you can fly such as national monuments , near people , prisons airports, urban areas.

However it is fairly unusual in that the Gimbal and camera is removable and there is a handle which can power the camera and gimbal with a couple of 1/4 20 mount points. I'm currently looking for the longest pole I can mount this on 7 meters seems to be the longest I have found so far. With a little effort very drone like footage can be made and you won't get arrested for it :)

It seems that Good and Bad Photos depend on the reasons for taking them.
E.g a Passport or driving license photo is usually as bland as can be and thats really the requirement, just a statement of record

I think I saw a good photograph last night while driving home last night. The Air was clear and the moon was a crisp crescent with one bright star (planet) near by. At times there was a foreground which worked. Of course I was driving and didn't have my camera or my tripod with me.

More often than not I find the stage but the subject is missing but thats ok i need the practice. More often than not I am dissatisfied with the photos i take. Should I not press the shutter button?

I guess I would be a bad photographer if I confused the best I could take at the time with a good photograph, its so easy to become confused.

heres an interesting use of drones
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/dec/26/sky-shepherds-the-farmers-using-drones-to-watch-their-flocks-by-night

A lot of drones are geofenced but even if they are not you can still check where you can fly https://www.dji.com/ie/flysafe/geo-map

I hope you got to keep the pain killers up for a while after that extraction. My current dentist is pretty good at minimizing pain.

He was making quite a slow exposure maybe no L bracket although a ball head will usually let you go to 90 degrees it may not be stable enough. I may have a shot of it myself i think it's an hour away from me. :)