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Is it normal that it's difficult to mount/unmount a flash?

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maxxxx

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I recently switched to an A7iv from Fuji. The change has been really good so far with the exception of one issue. I have two Godox flashes and with both of them it's a real pain to mount and also unmount the flash. I need a ton of force to get the flash to slide into the hot shoe and removing it is even worse. The eyepiece also constantly seems to be in the way.

Is this normal? With my previous (not sony) cameras this wasn't a a problem.
 
I have a few different strobes, including Godox which do seem the tightest fit of the bunch to me. They're difficult to slide in and out smoothly and especially difficult to impossible if not dead square in the slider to start with. But mine don't need fear-of-breakage amounts of pressure if lined up first. I tend to use a radio trigger or small master flash most often - so no idea if things loosen over time.
 
Using Godox TT350S, v860ii-s and the XPRO trigger on my A7III, I don't have any problem of this kind. I just release the retention ring when mounting/dismounting and it cames out of the hotshoe with virtualy no force aplied.
 
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Short answer: Yes.

I have two A1's and previously an A7Riv on which I used flash, and the Flashpoint flashes are VERY tight (I'm about 99% sure they are just rebranded Godex). Work fine, but it takes a lot of effort to install.

Maybe some bodies are different, maybe some flashes are different, but three Flashpoints and three Sony bodies and all require a LOT of pushing to get in.

Linwood
 
Don't know if it is normal, but had the same issue with a Godox 685 and X2T. Out of the box, the flash took so much force to mount on my A1 that I stopped trying to push it on fully at less than halfway in. The camera surely would have taken the load from forcing it on but I really didn't feel for stressing it. Never had anything go that badly into a hotshoe ever before. However, it slid reasonably well into an old, worn Nikon hotshoe where I mounted/dismounted it like a million times with pressure in every direction to shave down. That made it easier to put on the Alpha but its still very stiff.

The X2T was very stiff too but not to the point where it would require enough force to worry about breaking something.

My F60RM2 slides in smoothly and easily.
 
No, it is not normal. There is a thread here from a few months ago that mentioned a fix was made for Godox flashes in the form of a new foot. I recently switched to Sony and thought the Godox flash was very difficult to get on and off. I have not followed up on the fix yet but it was low cost and easy to replace.
 
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maxxxx said:
I recently switched to an A7iv from Fuji. The change has been really good so far with the exception of one issue. I have two Godox flashes and with both of them it's a real pain to mount and also unmount the flash. I need a ton of force to get the flash to slide into the hot shoe and removing it is even worse. The eyepiece also constantly seems to be in the way.

Is this normal? With my previous (not sony) cameras this wasn't a a problem.
Click to expand...
No, it's not normal, but Sony made the hotshoe shallower on its newer models, so Godox feet have a fit issue, now. Godox has remedied this with new feet, according to Rob Hall, though he (and Godox and B&H and Adorama) keep calling them "shoes". [sigh]. He gives an aliexpress link to the replacement metal hotshoes. Adorama has them for the V1/V860 III.

It's four screws and one cable connector to replace; should take about a minute for the speedlights. No idea how the transmitters are going to get fixed.

This new foot also should fix the fragility of the foot when used on the hotshoe.
 
kli said:
maxxxx said:
I recently switched to an A7iv from Fuji. The change has been really good so far with the exception of one issue. I have two Godox flashes and with both of them it's a real pain to mount and also unmount the flash. I need a ton of force to get the flash to slide into the hot shoe and removing it is even worse. The eyepiece also constantly seems to be in the way.

Is this normal? With my previous (not sony) cameras this wasn't a a problem.
Click to expand...
No, it's not normal, but Sony made the hotshoe shallower on its newer models, so Godox feet have a fit issue, now. Godox has remedied this with new feet, according to Rob Hall, though he (and Godox and B&H and Adorama) keep calling them "shoes". [sigh]. He gives an aliexpress link to the replacement metal hotshoes. Adorama has them for the V1/V860 III.

It's four screws and one cable connector to replace; should take about a minute for the speedlights. No idea how the transmitters are going to get fixed.

This new foot also should fix the fragility of the foot when used on the hotshoe.
Click to expand...
Seems that's only for the Li-Ion flashes but not for the battery powered TT685.
 
maxxxx said:
kli said:
maxxxx said:
I recently switched to an A7iv from Fuji. The change has been really good so far with the exception of one issue. I have two Godox flashes and with both of them it's a real pain to mount and also unmount the flash. I need a ton of force to get the flash to slide into the hot shoe and removing it is even worse. The eyepiece also constantly seems to be in the way.

Is this normal? With my previous (not sony) cameras this wasn't a a problem.
Click to expand...
No, it's not normal, but Sony made the hotshoe shallower on its newer models, so Godox feet have a fit issue, now. Godox has remedied this with new feet, according to Rob Hall, though he (and Godox and B&H and Adorama) keep calling them "shoes". [sigh]. He gives an aliexpress link to the replacement metal hotshoes. Adorama has them for the V1/V860 III.

It's four screws and one cable connector to replace; should take about a minute for the speedlights. No idea how the transmitters are going to get fixed.

This new foot also should fix the fragility of the foot when used on the hotshoe.
Click to expand...
Seems that's only for the Li-Ion flashes but not for the battery powered TT685.
Click to expand...
There's another, I think they just call it "zoom". Search.
 
maxxxx said:
I recently switched to an A7iv from Fuji. The change has been really good so far with the exception of one issue. I have two Godox flashes and with both of them it's a real pain to mount and also unmount the flash. I need a ton of force to get the flash to slide into the hot shoe and removing it is even worse. The eyepiece also constantly seems to be in the way.

Is this normal? With my previous (not sony) cameras this wasn't a a problem.
Click to expand...
Which flash(es) are you using? Do they have the newer all metal foot or the black plastic foot? The newer metal feet do slide into the hotshoe more easily. But, I've found the metal feet require more force to get the last millimeter or so into place. I agree that overall the Sony hotshoe is harder to deal with compared to all other. I think that is just a factor of the complex Sony "mulit interface" design.
 
I just recently got an A7 IV and only had a chance to try my Gottox flash briefly, but did notice it was hard to put on the shoe.

I also got the Sony hot shoe mounted mike that was offered as a combo from B&H and actually put that on the hot shoe first to try it and found it difficult to slide on too. Till I saw this tread, I just figured it was new and the shoe might loosen up a bit with use, but now...? (and of course did loosen the retaining knob when mounting).

The problem doesn't seem to be limited to just non Sony accessories.
 
maxxxx said:
kli said:
maxxxx said:
... Godox has remedied this with new feet, according to Rob Hall, though he (and Godox and B&H and Adorama) keep calling them "shoes". [sigh]. He gives an aliexpress link to the replacement metal hotshoes. Adorama has them for the V1/V860 III. ...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Seems that's only for the Li-Ion flashes but not for the battery powered TT685.
Click to expand...
Yeah. I can't find a TT685/V860 II version of the foot that declares it's the new metal-updated one. It could be Godox hasn't bothered for the older models. Very often, they'll only update the current model in the lineup; not the older ones.
 
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Ferguson said:
maxxxx said:
kli said:
...This new foot also should fix the fragility of the foot when used on the hotshoe.
Click to expand...
Seems that's only for the Li-Ion flashes but not for the battery powered TT685.
Click to expand...
There's another, I think they just call it "zoom". Search.
Click to expand...
There's always been a replacement foot for the TT685/V860 II on the Adorama website, but it doesn't look like it's been updated with the fix.

Whether the new foot will work on the older models is probably something to ask Flashpoint support.
 
kli said:
Ferguson said:
maxxxx said:
kli said:
...This new foot also should fix the fragility of the foot when used on the hotshoe.
Click to expand...
Seems that's only for the Li-Ion flashes but not for the battery powered TT685.
Click to expand...
There's another, I think they just call it "zoom". Search.
Click to expand...
There's always been a replacement foot for the TT685/V860 II on the Adorama website, but it doesn't look like it's been updated with the fix.

Whether the new foot will work on the older models is probably something to ask Flashpoint support.
Click to expand...
So you don't think they fixed it on the replacement plastic feet, only the metal?
 
Wow. I just broke the foot just by turning the head of the flash. That's pretty bad.
 
Haven’t had that problem with my flash trigger, but it’s a different brand. It does take a bit of a nudge to seat it all the way, but it’s not “force”.

Saw one person having trouble getting his flash off - he hadn’t unlocked it, and by the look of it, I think he didn’t know it had a lock (not that the lock was working perfectly, but I think he’d done that before…) - I didn’t say anything because he looked really angry.
 
kli said:
maxxxx said:
kli said:
kli said:
... Godox has remedied this with new feet, according to Rob Hall, though he (and Godox and B&H and Adorama) keep calling them "shoes". [sigh]. He gives an aliexpress link to the replacement metal hotshoes. Adorama has them for the V1/V860 III. ...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Seems that's only for the Li-Ion flashes but not for the battery powered TT685.
Click to expand...
Yeah. I can't find a TT685/V860 II version of the foot that declares it's the new metal-updated one. It could be Godox hasn't bothered for the older models. Very often, they'll only update the current model in the lineup; not the older ones.
Click to expand...
I have been lookng at this for my 2 broken Flashpoints:

 
TomV1 said:
kli said:
maxxxx said:
kli said:
TomV1 said:
... Godox has remedied this with new feet, according to Rob Hall, though he (and Godox and B&H and Adorama) keep calling them "shoes". [sigh]. He gives an aliexpress link to the replacement metal hotshoes. Adorama has them for the V1/V860 III. ...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Seems that's only for the Li-Ion flashes but not for the battery powered TT685.
Click to expand...
Yeah. I can't find a TT685/V860 II version of the foot that declares it's the new metal-updated one. It could be Godox hasn't bothered for the older models. Very often, they'll only update the current model in the lineup; not the older ones.
Click to expand...
I have been lookng at this for my 2 broken Flashpoints:

https://www.adorama.com/fplfxpzlxsv2.html
Click to expand...
Yeah, that's for the V1 (Zoom Li-on X)/V860 III (Zoom Li-on TTL III) and possibly the TT685 II, as I linked above. :D

No idea if that unit would work for the TT685 or V860 II, though. Note how this assembly has the slidelock, not the twist lock of the older models. If the wiring harness is identical and the physical fit is the same, it might work, but it may not, since it's a different unit.

I'd definitely ask Flashpoint support ([email protected]) if it can be used for the TT685 (Zoom TTL) or V860 II (Zoom Li-on TTL) before purchasing if that's what you want it for.
 
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Yes, it is a known issue that the A7IV has a slightly more cramped flash shoe mount.

Ironically, a common complaint in earlier Sony camera models it that the flash mount is too loose, so Godox adapted to it.

Certain retailers sell an alternative metal connector for Godox flashes (I'm uncertain whether works across all Godox models, at least it works on the V860-III) that replaces the plastic ones, which alleviate this problem.

I personally tried the metal connector and it works.
 
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My 685 is a pain in the neck to get on and off the Alpha 1, and so is the X2T, so...

I haven't checked my Godox 685, so I'm not sure which model it is, but Amazon shows some different feet for the 685. If I know I can get a replacement, it'd be worth doing a little work on the foot to thin it down...
 
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