a9III - overview of flashes

[Jeff2013]

Thanks for the great review of these flashes!

I do a lot of outdoor strobe photography, with fast lenses, and the thought of foregoing HSS with the A9III has me salivating. I currently use the Godox X3 and a range of strobes from the Godox V1 up through the AD600.

What keeps me from going with the A9III:

The Sony flashes use AA batteries. Some years ago, my speedlights all used AA's and it was a pain. I have about 20 Eneloops that I would rotate through. I'm simply not going back to this cumbersome system!

After using the tiny Godox X3 trigger with its outstanding features and LCD, going to Sony's big, klunky trigger would be too big of a step-backward, for me.

Come-on Sony, please bring your flash gear up to current technology levels!

--
Jeff
Florida, USA
http://www.jefftitteringtonphoto.com

 

[AlephNull]

Sony HVL-F46RM

Did you notice the mention Eneloop Pro? They are one of the most respected rechargeable AA batteries.

I use Varta Ni-Mh 2600 mAh batteries. Many also like the Ikea ones, which are far better than one would believe from the brand and the price.

Sadly, the Sony flashes use AA batteries (the F46RM uses 4 at a time), and you can exhaust a lot of them keeping multiple Sony flashes going.

I have shot low light club events with both the HVL-F46RM and the HVL-F60RM, often around 1300 images, maybe 50% with flash. Have never needed to change batteries. But I seldom use full power.

There is an external battery pack for the biggest Sony flash, but it just takes AA batteries (8 of them, from memory).

Yes, it is not a perfect solution.

The Godox V1 and V100 use lithium rechargeable batteries - a lot more power in less space. - I wish Sony followed that path, even if it was only for their top-of-the-line flash.

I agree, I have the AD200proII and that battery is good.

There is a battery pack for the 60-flashes.

It's just a plastic box for 8 AA batteries. Should be a lithium battery packing a lot more power.

Yes, that would be better.

But on the other hand, when your special battery pack and the spare you bought quite expensively are empty you are done flashing until you can charge them. While with AA-batteries you can get new ones cheaply easily from many stores. There are both pros and cons with everything.

The two big disadvantages with using AA batteries are their size and voltage. They are cylindrical, and you need 4 to get to around 6V, so you need a bunch of contacts to connect them up - all that wastes space, so you have a lot of space that cannot be occupied by material that holds power. And the 1.5V voltage means you cannot use a lithium cell (voltage of 3.6V), so you are limited to older battery tech. You end up with far less power in the space occupied. Fill that space with a lithium battery and you'll have a lot more power.

Yes, you can buy AA batteries in lots of places, but you'll need to, because you will be exhausting them much more quickly. And they are bulky and inconvenient - you could fit two of the Godox lithium batteries into little more space than that occupied by a single set of 4 AA batteries.

If they had made the external battery pack use lithium tech (no need to limit it to AA batteries) they could have made it a bit more powerful (7.2V would be an obvious choice) and they could have made it last much longer.

The AA choice just feels like old-fashioned thinking.

Oh - I wonder if they could build a flash that took one or two FZ100 batteries? The average Sony photographer would already have a few of those, and they have a far higher energy density than even the best AA rechargeable.

 

[lattesweden]

The two big disadvantages with using AA batteries are their size and voltage. They are cylindrical, and you need 4 to get to around 6V, so you need a bunch of contacts to connect them up - all that wastes space, so you have a lot of space that cannot be occupied by material that holds power. And the 1.5V voltage means you cannot use a lithium cell (voltage of 3.6V), so you are limited to older battery tech. You end up with far less power in the space occupied. Fill that space with a lithium battery and you'll have a lot more power.

Yes, you can buy AA batteries in lots of places, but you'll need to, because you will be exhausting them much more quickly. And they are bulky and inconvenient - you could fit two of the Godox lithium batteries into little more space than that occupied by a single set of 4 AA batteries.

If they had made the external battery pack use lithium tech (no need to limit it to AA batteries) they could have made it a bit more powerful (7.2V would be an obvious choice) and they could have made it last much longer.

The AA choice just feels like old-fashioned thinking.

Oh - I wonder if they could build a flash that took one or two FZ100 batteries? The average Sony photographer would already have a few of those, and they have a far higher energy density than even the best AA rechargeable.

Many battery packs also uses round cells inside the box. But of course there are other advantages as you point out. Battery packs are also rather expensive so having an extra one is an investment, while using rechargeable AA batteries and some cheap Alkaline as backup is cheaper. So there are pros and cons.

Source: https://news.inventuspower.com/blog/construction-of-the-li-ion-battery-pack



This is how I store my spare AA-batteries. Sure if Sony flashes used Lithium packs that would be better, but I don't think it is that hard to handle as it is today and I like the Sony flashes, they have the best TTL and the best skin tones no matter power level.

Godox hotshoe flashes are also good these days and becoming better and better for every release, so if I would buy me hotshoe flashes today I might have gone with Godox.

I already have four Godox AD200Pro for studio and outdoors use.

--
Best regards
/Anders