Godox’s third generation of “Quicker” QTIII series strobes bring LED modelling light and more efficient bulb design

Although the Godox M600D LED light might not quite be official yet, Godox has announced three new strobes in its QT series today. The QT series is Godox’s line of “Quicker” AC-powered studio strobe lights offering HSS up to 1/8000th of a second as well as short flash durations with t0.1 times as fast as 1/29,600th of a second. Today’s announcement brings the third generation of QT lights with the Godox QT400III, QT600III and a very powerful QT1200III.

These are manual lights and do not offer TTL, but they are designed for shooting at high speed with super short exposures – whether that be through a fast shutter speed or an extremely short flash duration. And while High Speed Sync might not always be that useful in the studio, the fast flash durations most definitely are, especially if you’re trying to freeze the action of fast-moving subjects like dancers or objects flying through the air.

All three models also feature recycle times to match that speed at only 0.9 seconds at maximum power and 0.01 second at minimum power. Multiflash is also supported up to an insane 30Hz (yes, 30 flashes per second!) for 99 flashes – or just over three seconds.

The new QT III series lights aren’t that different on-paper to the QT II series, but they receive the newer bulb design of the AD400Pro, AD600Pro and AD1200Pro portable strobes. This leads to more efficient flash output and the 150W incandescent bulb has been replaced with a more energy-conscious 40W LED modelling light, bringing down both power consumption and heat generation. LEDs also have a much longer lifespan, so you’ll likely never need to replace it under normal operation – something which you might have to do regularly with incandescent modelling lights.

	Godox QT400III	Godox QT600III	Godox QT1200II
Power	400Ws	600Ws	1200Ws
Flash Mode	M/Multi/HSS	M/Multi/HSS	M/Multi/HSS
Guide Number (1/1 power)	65	76	105
HSS Flash Duration (t0.1)	1/760-1/29,600s	1/530-1/26,100s	1/300-1/23,400s
Stable Colour Mode Flash Duration (t0.1)	1/670-1/6700s	1/530-1/6,010s	1/300-1/6,090s
Stable Colour Mode Colour Temp	5600K +/-200K	5600K +/-200K	5600K +/-200K
High Speed Flash Mode Colour Temp	5400K~9500K	5400K~9500K	5400K~9500K
HSS Mode Colour Temp	4600~5000K	4600~5000K	4600~5000K
Recycle Time	Approx 0.01-0.9s	Approx 0.01-0.9s	Approx 0.01-0.9s
Power range	1-1/256 (M) 1-1/32 (HSS) 1/4-1/256 (Multi)	1-1/256 (M) 1-1/32 (HSS) 1/4-1/256 (Multi)	1-1/256 (M) 1-1/32 (HSS) 1/4-1/256 (Multi)
Multiflash	Max 99 flashes at up to 30Hz	Max 99 flashes at up to 30Hz	Max 99 flashes at up to 30Hz
Sync modes	HSS up to 1/8000 Front Curtain Sync Rear Curtain Sync	HSS up to 1/8000 Front Curtain Sync Rear Curtain Sync	HSS up to 1/8000 Front Curtain Sync Rear Curtain Sync
Delay Flash	0.01-30 sec	0.01-30 sec	0.01-30 sec
Mask function	Yes	Yes	Yes
Fan	Yes	Yes	Yes
Beeper	Yes	Yes	Yes
LED modelling lamp	40W	40W	40W
Modelling lamp brightness	1-100%	1-100%	1-100%
Display flash duration	Yes	Yes	Yes
Display	LCD Panel	LCD Panel	LCD Panel
Wireless	Built-in 2.4Ghz Godox X receiver	Built-in 2.4Ghz Godox X receiver	Built-in 2.4Ghz Godox X receiver
Working temps	-10°C to 50°C	-10°C to 50°C	-10°C to 50°C
Dimeninsions	392x176x143mm	392x176x143mm	550x176x143mm
Weight	2.96kg	3.33kg	4.26kg

Are they worth upgrading if you’ve already got the QT II series lights? Possibly not unless you really want that 40W modelling light to pull double duty when you want to shoot video. Although. in that case, I’d probably just invest in some dedicated video LEDs if you’re planning to go that route. But if you’ve been thinking about picking up some high speed AC-powered studio strobes, and don’t already own the QTII series, then the new QTIII lights look like they could be just the ticket.

The Godox QT400IIIM, QT600IIIM and QT1200IIIM will be available to order soon priced at $589, $639 and $829 respectively. For now, you can find out more on the Godox website.