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Godox officially announces the XPro II Trigger for Nikon, Canon, Sony, Fuji and Olympus/Panasonic

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This one sure took some time to happen. Initially announced back in June 2022 as a new trigger for Leica only, the Godox XPro II has been pretty elusive as far as other camera systems go. Last month, other brand versions started popping up on Canadian retailer websites, but there’d still been no official announcement from Godox and no general availability.

Well, now, Godox has officially announced the new XPro II trigger for Nikon, Canon, Sony, Fuji and Olympus (OM System)/Panasonic. It’s a little cheaper than we previously thought, too, with the new versions showing a $40 lower price tag than the first XPro II Leica version. Godox has made no mention of their being an updated XPro II model for Pentax, although B&H has one listed.

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I got sick of carrying flash around, so I built them into a backpack

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The Rig, later named “The Revenant” is an idea that I had at Fanimecon 2019, where I was tired of carrying around a flashgun to get nice lighting. Instead, I wondered if through my backpack I used to carry my equipment around in, could I just use that and hold it static? So I ended up attaching two of my speedlights and small softboxes to the already set tripods and went that Friday to try it out. It worked remarkably well, so it stuck. The idea is not original to me, as I saw someone at Dragon Con years ago doing something similar (without softboxes).

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Here’s how to figure out what size and shape of softbox you should buy

Very early on in the journey of a photographer’s transition to flash, particularly studio strobes, the first question we find ourselves asking is “what modifiers should I use?” Actually, the first question is probably “what’s a modifier?” which is then followed by the other one. You start to do a little Googling and searching around retailers, and you discover softboxes. There are so many different shapes and sizes out there, though. Which is the right one?

Well, the fact is that there is no objectively right or wrong softbox. They all exist because they’re all useful. They’re just all useful in different ways and each present a different appearance of light only our subject, depending on how you use them. In this video, David Bergman (and Dean Edwards) take an almost 20-minute tour around every size and shape of softbox you can imagine illustrating what they do.

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Stop using flash at aquariums, it kills the fish

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Too many people ignore the “no flash” sign when visiting places like museums, galleries, and in a recent case, a public aquarium. But the sign is there for a reason, and it was recently confirmed when the camera flashes confused a fish so much that it killed itself.

The terrible event was captured on video, clearly showing the poor creature hurtling toward the light. Swimming at high speed, it hit the aquarium glass, and it sadly ended the fish’s life.

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Godox XPro II trigger for Nikon, Canon and Sony appears on Canadian retailer’s website

Godox doesn’t appear to have made an official announcement yet, but the Godox XPro II trigger, first released in June 2022 for Leica now appears to be popping up for Nikon, Canon and Sony. There are no listings on Amazon that I can find, except for the original Leica version, nor are they even mentioned on the Godox website, but listings have popped up on retailers offering not pre-orders but showing it as available to buy now.

The listings popped up on the website of Canadian retailer, Strobepro. There are listings available for the XPro II-N for Nikon, XPro II-C for Canon, and XPro II-S for Sony cameras. Each carries a price tag of CAD$122.95. Oddly, that’s even cheaper than the $129 XPro II-L for Leica that’s been out for seven months.

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Paul C. Buff announces Celestial, a portable strobe with HSS and TTL capability

Paul C. Buff lighting company, producers of such lights as the Einstein, AlienBees and DigiBee lighting products, has announced a new strobe called the Celestial. What makes this light special? Well, in the grand scheme of things, not much. But in the Buff lineup, it means they’ve finally got a small portable strobe that supports High Speed Sync and TTL flash metering – only a decade behind the competition.

It’s a 500Ws strobe with a light output that Buff says is “similar to the 640Ws Einstein” strobe, with a 12-stop brightness range. It has a recycle time of only 1.5 seconds and syncs with shutter speeds all the way up to 1/8,000th of a second. It also features a “160 Watt equivalent” LED modelling lamp.

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Elinchrom releases FIVE – A 522Ws battery strobe with 450 full power flashes and charges over USB-C

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Elinchrom has announced the Elinchrom FIVE. It’s a 522Ws battery-powered moonlight that offers up to 450 full-power pops on a single charge.  It also features active charging, so you can keep it topped up all the time while using it when you’re near power. And we’re not just talking AC power, either. You can charge it up from any USB-C source without any proprietary chargers or spare batteries required.

It features a built-in continuous running 26W bi-colour LED modelling light, which should also be bright enough for some video uses. It syncs up to 1/8000 with High Speed Sync (yeah, we’re not talking about that tail sync nonsense), as well as TTL with a manual lock and built-in Bluetooth for remote control from the Elinchrom Studio App without the need for Elinchrom Bridge.

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The Godox Lux Senior is one of the weirdest flashes I’ve see

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When I first saw the Godox Lux Senior flash, I knew I had to have one. Even before checking the specs. Even before reading the reviews. It was just such s cool looking piece of gear that I could not resist.

Now, I have had it for about a month. Was it worth the hype? Read on to learn more.

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Godox goes even more retro with the 60s-styled Lux Senior on-camera flash

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Last month, Godox took a walk on the 80s side with the release of the new retro-themed Lux Junior on-camera manual flash. Well, now they’ve gone even more retro, dialling things back another decade or two, with the announcement of a new 60s-themed Godox Lux Senior.

The Godox Lux Senior is styled around one of those satellite dish-looking flashes that fan out with a bulb in the centre. Fortunately, the new Godox Lux Senior doesn’t come with the problems such flashes had in the past – like one-time-use bulbs. Unlike the Lux Junior, which is a far more inconspicuous unit, I think this one’s going to take a special kind of photographer to be seen out in public with it, though!

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How to use a ring light with colourful backdrops for amazing portraits

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I share a lot of lighting setups on here and every time I do, not only am I trying to share something unique, but I’m also trying to share something that’s practical and easy to implement for as many people as possible.

For the most part, I think I achieve that and although not everybody has access to all the kit I do, I still believe that certain elements of every setup I share are accessible by all. This is me trying to soften the blow of this week’s setup, as although not everybody will own all of this kit, cheap alternatives are viable and failing that, at least the DIY background and basic lighting principles involved are very much achievable by all. As always, if you have any questions about any of it, don’t hesitate to drop them down below.

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