I took the plunge and bought one of these iM30s, mainly for the quick power level selector. I have dozens of older flash units and an equal number of nice Nikon Speed lights, but they have LCD screens and “menu type” selections of features, so they take much more time to set up and are almost worthless if needing to change settings in a hurry. At $34.90 the price is reasonable. Thanks for this video!
I kinda got this on a whim a while ago and being clueless about flash photography, it has been interesting.. thanks for those useful links in the description, your flash tables will come in handy!
That IM20 looks so good as someone looking for something smaller than this but not quite as "automatic" as the Reflx Lab Mini. Hoping they send you their new models so you can review them too :)
I’ve had my eye on this flash as well, nice review. By the way, Godox is actually pronounced as “god” and “Ox” instead of “Go” and “dox”! It comes from the Chinese 神牛. 神(shén) means “god” and 牛(niú) means “ox.” Just a little fun fact :)
The Wein or Vello Hot Shoe adapters will help with any of the old flashes by buffering the voltages to a safer level. One of these was tested to be safer, but I forgot which, so I will not speculate. Also, good for any shorter flash to raise it from the hot shoe to clear lens hoods or longer lenses.
Banger review, Alex! I'm sold on it, I'll probably buy one. Already have a Nikon SB-30 and it works well but doesn't have the same fine tuned power selection. Btw would love an in-depth video about flash and guide numbers, if you ever get interested in making one :)
lHaving this little flash in your bag is a no brainer due to it's size and capabilities. Best to have a flash than not to have one. One interesting possibility for me is to use it a second off-camera flash with my Leica D-Lux 8 having the Leica's small flash trigger it. Also using a sync cable, for my macro work. I ordered it immediately. I had it on my list, but your review pushed me to buy it now. Thanks and excellent detailed review.
Very nice and detailed review, best I’ve seen so far. And wow, didn’t expect de IM20 and 22 models. I was searching about IM30 to see if it would fit nice with my Rx1R, but the IM20 seems to be a better option/fit. I don’t intend to use it off camera, if I need I can go for my Nano X3 + V1 combo 😂 Thanks you!
I was very surprised by them too! For strictly on camera use they're very appealing. I see a few Ricoh owners already preordering to replace their Reflx Lab Mini Flash.
dangles an expensive camera twice! dont want to know to know how many times off camera /: anyway i love your thoughts on gear xD my go to is the Qii, you know the one bad flashes has
Hello thanks for your review. I just received mine yesterday. Set it up today on my Sony a7cr with a 28 mm f4.5 pancake lens. Flash fires fine at a few different power settings. But when I look at the images only the lower portion of the image is illuminated. Any thoughts about what I might need to do to fix this issue? Thanks for being there!
It absolutely does; My friend tried it on his M4-2 (which makes it funnier that I misspoke, saying the M4-2 has a cold shoe) and it worked perfectly :)
I use an Olympus FL-LM3, which is twice as powerful, doesn't need batteries and obviously works perfectly with my Olympus camera, so I don't really need this Godox flash. But man, it is a great little flash at this price point and a tempting buy for use with my film camera!
Thx for making your settings chart available! Are the left column numbers ISO or shutter speed? If the former, what shutter speeds should be used for any given aperture? Thx.
They're ISO; the shutter speeds you should use depends on your camera's flash sync speed and how much ambient light you want to include. There's no fixed answer here except "don't shoot faster than the sync speed" unfortunately!
I have this it’s nice, it will not fit in some film camera cold shoes, the pin sticking out too far to enter shoe. I bought an extension flash handle on aliexpress called “DSLR Camera L-Bracket Video Handle Grip Light with Cold Shoe Mount 1/4 Adapter” works fine, but needed some gaffer tape to make it work with film cameras, you need a bit of tape padding to make it tight with the camera, DSLRs have some rubber on the bottom of the camera, film cameras just have smooth metal, it will be loose without the tape on the handle on each side of 1/4” mounting screw. But then it works with the pc cord and it’s a bit off center and lenses don’t block it, light looks more off camera and higher as well, less flat lighting, no lens shadows.
All good, but did they fix the issue with cold shoe compatibility? For those out the loop, Godox units fire due to shorting on a metal cold shoe (as needed on hot shoe); which makes it unusable on many cameras with metal cold shoes. You can apply electric tape to insulate the contacts, but this makes the cold shoe sometimes a too tight fit, and/or the tape quickly wears when swapped frequently, as one does with flash units. It would be very easy to fix this, Godox, please just add a cutout switch to the hotshoe contacts, this would save us A LOT of headaches. Wasting film bc your flash doesnt fire because the workaround electric tape failed again sucks.
The quality of the light this one or the Reflex Mini Flash. I have my second Reflex Mini coming I like it so much. The ulanzi is a really good flash. And yes the auto mode is useless. But in manual it’s fantastic. Problem is on my cameras it’s too long and my head hits it when I put my face to the viewfinder.
Quick question and notice most of the videos never mention: how do you meter this flash while shooting with films? Specifically without the distance indication on flash did you meter with a test flash and a handheld meter every time, or use a digital camera with similar setups for sampling?
It's the same as for digital! I did no test flashes except for the off-camera digital stuff. At ISO 100, GN = aperture x distance, so your f/stop multiplied by the distance (in m) should equal ~15. f/4 at 4 m, f/16 at 1 m, etc. I tend to frame the shot and use that distance to find the correct aperture, but you can choose e.g. f/8 then find the correct distance if you wish.
@@Shaka1277 Ah perfect!! Will this formula based on the full power on this flash? Thanks for the explanation and please make a video just to talk about this and I am sure many people will love to see that 🫡
Oh yes that's at full power, sorry for not clarifying that. So at 1/2 power you would shoot at f/11 and 1 m (one stop brighter aperture, for one stop darker flash) at ISO 100, etc. A couple of folks have asked about this so I may have to cover it!
I bought a Godox iM30 and love the fact that it prioritizes the sync cable over the pin when a sync cable is used.
Your review is incredibly thorough and insightful, by far the most impressive one I’ve seen.
I took the plunge and bought one of these iM30s, mainly for the quick power level selector. I have dozens of older flash units and an equal number of nice Nikon Speed lights, but they have LCD screens and “menu type” selections of features, so they take much more time to set up and are almost worthless if needing to change settings in a hurry. At $34.90 the price is reasonable. Thanks for this video!
Thanks Alex!
Oh, thank you very much. :)
I kinda got this on a whim a while ago and being clueless about flash photography, it has been interesting.. thanks for those useful links in the description, your flash tables will come in handy!
Excellent review, subscribed!
We need a comparison with the iM20, iM22 and iA34. Godox is so fast.
i'd love to see an in depth tutorial on manual flash calculations from you at some point! you seem to have a lot of knowledge to share.
I got it for $19 on a deal season in aliexpress and I love it.... A perfect flash for my GR III.
Great review Alex
That IM20 looks so good as someone looking for something smaller than this but not quite as "automatic" as the Reflx Lab Mini.
Hoping they send you their new models so you can review them too :)
I’ve had my eye on this flash as well, nice review. By the way, Godox is actually pronounced as “god” and “Ox” instead of “Go” and “dox”! It comes from the Chinese 神牛. 神(shén) means “god” and 牛(niú) means “ox.” Just a little fun fact :)
I appreciate that, cheers. :)
The Wein or Vello Hot Shoe adapters will help with any of the old flashes by buffering the voltages to a safer level. One of these was tested to be safer, but I forgot which, so I will not speculate. Also, good for any shorter flash to raise it from the hot shoe to clear lens hoods or longer lenses.
Banger review, Alex! I'm sold on it, I'll probably buy one. Already have a Nikon SB-30 and it works well but doesn't have the same fine tuned power selection.
Btw would love an in-depth video about flash and guide numbers, if you ever get interested in making one :)
Outstanding, just subscribed. Thank you
I bought the iM30 when it was released, just to test it and sell it on, but I'm keeping it because it's a great little flash and so cheap to buy.
Really impressive video, thank you
lHaving this little flash in your bag is a no brainer due to it's size and capabilities. Best to have a flash than not to have one. One interesting possibility for me is to use it a second off-camera flash with my Leica D-Lux 8 having the Leica's small flash trigger it. Also using a sync cable, for my macro work. I ordered it immediately. I had it on my list, but your review pushed me to buy it now. Thanks and excellent detailed review.
Thanks for that! Glad it was able to cement your decision.
can you show us how to use the 2.5 mm sync hole. which cord compatible with nikon and connecting to which port of the camera. Thank you.
Nikon use a non-standard connector so check your camera manual.
What's the difference between this and the Godox Lux Jr?
Very nice and detailed review, best I’ve seen so far. And wow, didn’t expect de IM20 and 22 models. I was searching about IM30 to see if it would fit nice with my Rx1R, but the IM20 seems to be a better option/fit. I don’t intend to use it off camera, if I need I can go for my Nano X3 + V1 combo 😂
Thanks you!
I was very surprised by them too! For strictly on camera use they're very appealing. I see a few Ricoh owners already preordering to replace their Reflx Lab Mini Flash.
@@Shaka1277 matches perfect with Ricoh indeed. I’m going to see if I can order one on AliExpress
Thanks, guess I need to enlarge the print of the manual!
dangles an expensive camera twice! dont want to know to know how many times off camera /: anyway i love your thoughts on gear xD my go to is the Qii, you know the one bad flashes has
Hello thanks for your review. I just received mine yesterday. Set it up today on my Sony a7cr with a 28 mm f4.5 pancake lens. Flash fires fine at a few different power settings. But when I look at the images only the lower portion of the image is illuminated. Any thoughts about what I might need to do to fix this issue? Thanks for being there!
Check your shutter speed; you're probably shooting faster than your sync speed (see the manual).
For the same price and roughly the same size you could also get a Nikon SB-23. Add a SC-17 for off flash shooting.
Hasselblad shots were nice.
Thanks! I love my XPan. :)
Thanks for the in-depth review! Exactly what I was looking for! Do you know of the Flash also works for Leica M film cameras on the hot shoe?
It absolutely does; My friend tried it on his M4-2 (which makes it funnier that I misspoke, saying the M4-2 has a cold shoe) and it worked perfectly :)
@ Perfect, that’s amazing! Thanks a lot :)
I use an Olympus FL-LM3, which is twice as powerful, doesn't need batteries and obviously works perfectly with my Olympus camera, so I don't really need this Godox flash. But man, it is a great little flash at this price point and a tempting buy for use with my film camera!
Wow, that Oly fash is tiny! Huge fan of a tilt head on a mini flash. The GN is 30 feet though, not 30 m, so it's a bit weaker than the Godox.
What transmitter are you using to trigger off camera flash?
Thx for making your settings chart available! Are the left column numbers ISO or shutter speed? If the former, what shutter speeds should be used for any given aperture? Thx.
They're ISO; the shutter speeds you should use depends on your camera's flash sync speed and how much ambient light you want to include. There's no fixed answer here except "don't shoot faster than the sync speed" unfortunately!
I have this it’s nice, it will not fit in some film camera cold shoes, the pin sticking out too far to enter shoe. I bought an extension flash handle on aliexpress called “DSLR Camera L-Bracket Video Handle Grip Light with Cold Shoe Mount 1/4 Adapter” works fine, but needed some gaffer tape to make it work with film cameras, you need a bit of tape padding to make it tight with the camera, DSLRs have some rubber on the bottom of the camera, film cameras just have smooth metal, it will be loose without the tape on the handle on each side of 1/4” mounting screw. But then it works with the pc cord and it’s a bit off center and lenses don’t block it, light looks more off camera and higher as well, less flat lighting, no lens shadows.
I use f/tools app to calculate distance.
All good, but did they fix the issue with cold shoe compatibility? For those out the loop, Godox units fire due to shorting on a metal cold shoe (as needed on hot shoe); which makes it unusable on many cameras with metal cold shoes. You can apply electric tape to insulate the contacts, but this makes the cold shoe sometimes a too tight fit, and/or the tape quickly wears when swapped frequently, as one does with flash units.
It would be very easy to fix this, Godox, please just add a cutout switch to the hotshoe contacts, this would save us A LOT of headaches. Wasting film bc your flash doesnt fire because the workaround electric tape failed again sucks.
I mentioned that it works fine with cold shoes!
@@Shaka1277 Oh thats super - happy to hear so! 🙂 I only noticed the part around 5:25, but nice to know the issue is no longer present!
It's very annoying with some other flashes so I totally understand. I've lost a lot of film in the 124G because of that issue.
The quality of the light this one or the Reflex Mini Flash. I have my second Reflex Mini coming I like it so much.
The ulanzi is a really good flash. And yes the auto mode is useless. But in manual it’s fantastic. Problem is on my cameras it’s too long and my head hits it when I put my face to the viewfinder.
Quick question and notice most of the videos never mention: how do you meter this flash while shooting with films? Specifically without the distance indication on flash did you meter with a test flash and a handheld meter every time, or use a digital camera with similar setups for sampling?
It's the same as for digital! I did no test flashes except for the off-camera digital stuff.
At ISO 100, GN = aperture x distance, so your f/stop multiplied by the distance (in m) should equal ~15. f/4 at 4 m, f/16 at 1 m, etc. I tend to frame the shot and use that distance to find the correct aperture, but you can choose e.g. f/8 then find the correct distance if you wish.
@@Shaka1277 Ah perfect!! Will this formula based on the full power on this flash?
Thanks for the explanation and please make a video just to talk about this and I am sure many people will love to see that 🫡
Oh yes that's at full power, sorry for not clarifying that. So at 1/2 power you would shoot at f/11 and 1 m (one stop brighter aperture, for one stop darker flash) at ISO 100, etc.
A couple of folks have asked about this so I may have to cover it!
@ that would be awesome!
You can gel your flash, actually you should to adjust for whitebalance
That's the plan, but it's only fair to review it as-is since most people wouldn't do that.
Flash, Bam, Alexakazam new shaka video :)
Your narrative is missing when showing the IM 20 and IM22 at 17.05 minutes!
Removable batteries are way better than integrated ones. Integrated ones can die.