Speed light recommendations: Camera: Sony A7711 I would appreciate any information pro/con on the following speed lights: Neewer Vision 5 400 watt- Trigger would be a separate purchase...

CWW Loc: North Jersey

Camera: Sony A7711
I would appreciate any information pro/con on the following speed lights:
Neewer Vision 5 400 watt- Trigger would be a separate purchase
Godox V860ll- Trigger included
My goal is portrait photography, both studio and field. I'm looking for advice so as to avoid regrets on purchasing a unit that would be disappointing.
Thank you in advance, much appreciated!

twice_shooter

The Neewer you mention is a strobe. The Godox is a speed light. They are not the same beast. If you are looking for a speed light you can’t go wrong with Godox.

CWW Loc: North Jersey

twice_shooter wrote:

The Neewer you mention is a strobe. The Godox is a speed light. They are not the same beast. If you are looking for a speed light you can’t go wrong with Godox.

Thanks, duly noted! I'll make the assumption that you have experience with Godox. Any idea of the wattage output? I read the Amazon description and cannot find the wattage. Thanks again!

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

It is more than obvious that the Neewer is a studio flash. It does not mean it cannot be used in the field but unless it has the facility to use batteries which I do not really know if it does, I would say it is not practical for that application.
The Godox as has already been mentioned is a speedlight and it has its own lithium battery. That means it will have plenty of juice to shoot portraits. With a guide number of 197 at ISO 100 I would say it is a powerful flash. How much punishment (professional use) it can take is something I do not really know.

If you know how to use flash for portrait photography I am sure the Godox will serve you well and a couple of units with softboxes or umbrellas will give you all the light and conveniences anyone need to shoot portraits, outdoors and in the studio.

CWW Loc: North Jersey

camerapapi wrote:

It is more than obvious that the Neewer is a studi... (show quote)

Thank you, appreciated.

sscnxy

CWW wrote:

Camera: Sony A7711
I would appreciate any information pro/con on the following speed lights:
Neewer Vision 5 400 watt- Trigger would be a separate purchase
Godox V860ll- Trigger included
My goal is portrait photography, both studio and field. I'm looking for advice so as to avoid regrets on purchasing a unit that would be disappointing.
Thank you in advance, much appreciated!

I decided to learn portraiture a couple of months ago also. While it would have been simple enough to equip myself with a big strobe right off the bat, like the expensive Profotos or the cheaper but fine Paul C Buffs or Godox AD400-600's, etc, etc, I thought it'd be fun, challenging, and more satisfying to try a minimalist approach and see what one could accomplish with much less costly off-camera speedlight gear. There are a lot of ideas on YouTube for doing that very thing. So I bought a new Godox TT685 for just $110, 2 like-new Vivitar 283's for $40 on EBay, 2 nice, used Vivitar SL-2 Optical Slaves at $10 each to safely trigger the 40-year-old Vivitar flashes (on the fantastic advice of UHH'ers who knew and warned me about the high trigger voltages), and a Vivitar VP-1 variable power module for $20 to smoothly control the 283's flash output. I also bought 3 light stands and 2 medium sized Godox softboxes for the 3 off camera speedlights for a little over $100 on EBay. I fashioned a snoot tube out of drawing paper and lined its interior with crinkled aluminum foil so I could direct a hairlight or rimlight in controlled fashion from one of the 283's . I found that the Godox TT685 was quite powerful such that I needed only 1/4 power setting in the softbox positioned 3-4 feet away from the subject as a keylight. The Vivitar 283 in the second softbox, also at a fraction of its maximum output, served quite nicely as the fill light. I generally didn't need to call upon one of those 43" round reflectors, though I have that too.
The 3rd speedlight (Vivitar 283) with the snoot attached, was employed as the rimlight or hairlight, depending upon the effect I wanted. The lighting and colors turned out quite satisfactory. I'm still playing with my inexpensive setup and having a lot of fun learning portraiture with my better half while stuck at home during this lockdown. I think you can do fine with the Godox TT685 or TT600 or Flashpoint (same thing, different label) speedlights for a home studio. If you want to spend a bit more for the Li rechargeable battery model, the 860 has the same power output. The Godox round headed speedlight or the AD200 are nice but cost way more. To "overpower" the sun in daytime, I'm not sure if you'll need something with a lot more wattage. But consider giving the speedlights a try, though. They're quite inexpensive, it's nice to have several around anyway, and you'll have a lot of fun doing off-camera flash. Good Luck!

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CWW Loc: North Jersey

sscnxy wrote:

I decided to learn portraiture a couple of months ago also. While it would have been simple enough to equip myself with a big strobe right off the bat, like the expensive Profotos or the cheaper but fine Paul C Buffs or Godox AD400-600's, etc, etc, I thought it'd be fun, challenging, and more satisfying to try a minimalist approach and see what one could accomplish with much less costly off-camera speedlight gear. There are a lot of ideas on YouTube for doing that very thing. So I bought a new Godox TT685 for just $110, 2 like-new Vivitar 283's for $40 on EBay, 2 nice, used Vivitar SL-2 Optical Slaves at $10 each to safely trigger the 40-year-old Vivitar flashes (on the fantastic advice of UHH'ers who knew and warned me about the high trigger voltages), and a Vivitar VP-1 variable power module for $20 to smoothly control the 283's flash output. I also bought 3 light stands and 2 medium sized Godox softboxes for the 3 off camera speedlights for a little over $100 on EBay. I fashioned a snoot tube out of drawing paper and lined its interior with crinkled aluminum foil so I could direct a hairlight or rimlight in controlled fashion from one of the 283's . I found that the Godox TT685 was quite powerful such that I needed only 1/4 power setting in the softbox positioned 3-4 feet away from the subject as a keylight. The Vivitar 283 in the second softbox, also at a fraction of its maximum output, served quite nicely as the fill light. I generally didn't need to call upon one of those 43" round reflectors, though I have that too.
The 3rd speedlight (Vivitar 283) with the snoot attached, was employed as the rimlight or hairlight, depending upon the effect I wanted. The lighting and colors turned out quite satisfactory. I'm still playing with my inexpensive setup and having a lot of fun learning portraiture with my better half while stuck at home during this lockdown. I think you can do fine with the Godox TT685 or TT600 or Flashpoint (same thing, different label) speedlights for a home studio. If you want to spend a bit more for the Li rechargeable battery model, the 860 has the same power output. The Godox round headed speedlight or the AD200 are nice but cost way more. To "overpower" the sun in daytime, I'm not sure if you'll need something with a lot more wattage. But consider giving the speedlights a try, though. They're quite inexpensive, it's nice to have several around anyway, and you'll have a lot of fun doing off-camera flash. Good Luck!

I decided to learn portraiture a couple of months ... (show quote)

Really interesting approach that you took. Thanks for your response, something I need to consider prior to my purchase. Thanks again!