Can the Godox tt685 handle wedding season

Hi all,

I was hoping to find someone who has used the Godox tt685 for a few weddings. I think my Mitros+ is crapping out. I've already got a regular Mitros that powers on but won't flash and I'm worried with my + is about to stop soon.

I'm looking to use the TT685 as flash on camera while triggering my AD180 & Streaklight 360 off camera(will need to upgrade the radios too). Currently those sit on Odin receivers. In smaller venues I can have them down on 1/64 power and 1/128 power respectively and they can shoot all night with only using 1 bar of power(freaking sweet).

Can the TT685 handle a full wedding season? I'm much more inclined to spend $125 each season than spend Phottix's $400 asking price on another Mitros+

ma11rats wrote in post #17977413
Hi all,

I was hoping to find someone who has used the Godox tt685 for a few weddings. I think my Mitros+ is crapping out. I've already got a regular Mitros that powers on but won't flash and I'm worried with my + is about to stop soon.

I'm looking to use the TT685 as flash on camera while triggering my AD180 & Streaklight 360 off camera(will need to upgrade the radios too). Currently those sit on Odin receivers. In smaller venues I can have them down on 1/64 power and 1/128 power respectively and they can shoot all night with only using 1 bar of power(freaking sweet).

Can the TT685 handle a full wedding season? I'm much more inclined to spend $125 each season than spend Phottix's $400 asking price on another Mitros+

I used the V850 for weddings without a problem. If you can wait, get the TT860 TTL with the lithium battery. Its the same flash but with better battery.
The new version has an internal radio that will remotely control power and fire the 180 and 360. You'll have to upgrade the receivers for the 180 and 360 to XTR 16 to use the TT685 or TT860 with them.

dmward wrote in post #17977531
I used the V850 for weddings without a problem. If you can wait, get the TT860 TTL with the lithium battery. Its the same flash but with better battery.
The new version has an internal radio that will remotely control power and fire the 180 and 360. You'll have to upgrade the receivers for the 180 and 360 to XTR 16 to use the TT685 or TT860 with them.

I believe the name for this flash will be the Godox V860 II, which is almost identical to the TT685 except the latter has AA batteries while the former has the Li-ion battery. CheetahStand will brand it as the V860X.

Totally agree that at this point in time Matthew should wait. Is flash is about to be available very soon.

Very cool. Thanks guys. I agree on the waiting. Fingers crossed my Mitros+ holds out. I've got 3 more weddings before the summer heat and then will start back up in the fall.

I went ahead and got the streaklight 360 while it was on the $320 sale and then bam, ttl version gets released. Think Ill wait on this lithium TT860II

POTN member "EmaginePixel" has had 2 TT685's die on him at weddings. Below is a post by him in regards to the IGBT module failure and the 2nd was a failure we are still trying to figure out.

https://photography-on-the.net …showthread.php?​p=17920802

Personally I am not a big fan of cheap third party Speedlites from anyone, whether from Godox, Yongnuo etc... I am a Canon Fan Boy when it comes to Speedlites, especially when used "On Camera" or in situations where there is the need for dependability. I am not saying that Canon Speedlites do not fail or that they may have other issues such as over heating but, the likely hood of such failures is far less with the Canon Speedlites than compared to cheap third party units.

I've had a 550ex for over 3 years now, bought used, has better ettl consistency when needed, and well, just works. When just using a flash on camera that's the one I go to for filling room light during the getting ready. I didn't want to spend $1300 on a 3 light setup with the 600ex. And I hate having so many damn AA. I have options in my camera bag in case of failures. I may pick up a 580ex soon to replace my 550ex. They can be found for around $135 these days.

So my option would be

580ex on camera atop a phottix strato(ettl pass through) and my 180 & 360 on strato receivers firing in manual.


Clarifying on-camera usage: I use it as a bounce, whether up to the ceiling or to the side if I'm close enough to a wall that's not painted. If possible I block it from my subject(ie niel van niekerk). I prefer directional light to fill flash. If I'm outdoors I'll add a bounce card/diffuser because I have to. So my on camera flash works it's but off.

Do you want or need a TTL flash "on camera"?

I am not a big fan of stacking a flash on a transmitter but a smaller flash, such as a 430EX, on an X1 transmitter would give you an "on camera" flash (via Group A) as well as control of your 180 and 360 via XTR16 receivers. I would take an older 430EX or 430EXII any day as an "on camera" flash over a TT685. I currently own 2 TT685's and have owned both versions of the 430EX's in the past so I am able to make the comparison as to my preference.

A lot of the time the 430 is not powerful enough depending on the venue's ceiling height, or if it's painted a darker color, or wood. My wife uses the 430II on her 6d and she's always higher in ISO than I am, w/ or w/out my off camera setup in the equation. Knowing that raising the ISO helps alleviate some stress of the flash, I still prefer the lower the better. I will admit wholeheartedly, I'm a pixel peeper. I don't like noise. A little amount is fine and unnoticeable in most scenarios but I feel that Noise Reduction in Lr makes skin look plastic-y very quickly. I would much prefer shooting at ISO 800 over 1600 with a heavier flash on camera.


I like ttl if the ceilings are angled or have different heights due to design(beams etc) across the room, where I really don't want to have to pay attention on every step I'm taking 'is the ceiling 5' higher here? well I better bump up the power.... I walked over there, crap I forget to bring it down 1 1/3 stops, way overexposed group shot.' If the ceiling is one height and I can set it and forget it, fine, I'll dial in a manual power setting on-camera and be happy. Most venues I've worked in so far, manual gave me more inconsistencies because I wasn't constantly fine tuning the power output throughout the night.

That raises another issue though. Phottix Mitros ttl SUCKS compared to my 550ex(and that's over a decade old tech). Is Godox going to be more accurate? That's another question to the reliability issue. ugh. Why won't Canon just make their own strobe/AD360/Quantum style lighting? I know I know, business sense tells us that they'd rather make a crap load of money from their 600 but man, I'd love some 1st party powerful lighting. One that DOESN'T require AA batteries.

I'm going to be blunt: I know a lot of guys like to "remember" their brand of flash being the bomb-dignity when it comes to TTL. But all that means in the real world is that you know how to work with your camera's particular implementation of TTL. TTL is always a best-guess endeavor by the camera logic. And we can get to learn and anticipate how a particular brand will respond and what compensation we need to make. Rarely does any modern flash simply jump way out of scale from shot to shot, though some may have a higher threshold for how they guesstimate changes.

So that said, I basically don't trust ANYbody's TTL and much prefer the predictability of manual control.

Once the Godox V860 II comes out and is shipping, you should have a nice flash with Li-ion power for great stamina. You'll also have the option of TTL or manual control.

ma11rats wrote in post #17977913
That raises another issue though. Phottix Mitros ttl SUCKS compared to my 550ex(and that's over a decade old tech). Is Godox going to be more accurate? That's another question to the reliability issue. ugh. Why won't Canon just make their own strobe/AD360/Quantum style lighting? I know I know, business sense tells us that they'd rather make a crap load of money from their 600 but man, I'd love some 1st party powerful lighting. One that DOESN'T require AA batteries.

You'll get no argument out of me as I am not a big fan of Phottix TTL. My complaints, going way back to shortly after the release of the original Odin to just recently with the release of the Odin II, are well documented here in this forum. "Phottix TTL SUCKS" is putting it a lot more mildly than what comes to my mind for a description.

The TTL performance of the TT685 is not up to my standards but, then again I am a Canon Fan Boy. That is one of many reasons that I have never seriously considered using the TT685 as an "on camera" flash or X system Master. As an "off camera" secondary Slave flash it may be adequate. The AD360II needs some improvement in the TTL department as well when used in the X system but, I have found it to have better TTL consistency when used with the Canon Wireless RT system. The AD600 and the X1 has some rather impressive TTL performance, and I have even compared it to being as consistent as Canon 600EX-RT's. I like the Canon Wireless RT system when using Speedlites, and the Godox X system and AD600's when you need to get serious. The AD360II can float back and forth between the two systems as needed.

Even though I have recommended the TT600 and TT685 over Yongnuo flashes, for persons looking specifically at cheap flashes, I cannot in good conscience make that recommendation (especially in light of recently gained knowledge stemming from EmaginePixels issues) to anyone looking for flash units that have good TTL performance and are dependable. I will state for the record that I have had no major issues with the TT685's or the TT600's that I own but I'll leave it at that.

I have no issue with AA batteries especially after having 4 of the $30+ Godox Li-ion batteries fail. Sure they were replaced for free by the dealer but it took a month and luckily I did not need those flash units. It is pretty hard to beat the white Eneloop batteries for performance and longevity.

As far as Canon building a larger version of a flash, don't hold your breath. The Canon Wireless RT system with 600EX-RT's and Godox AD360II's (attached to Phottix Laso receivers) is just a pretty dang good system. No need for a Canon version of the a 300ws strobe.

Hi Rand,

Could you elaborate or provide a link re:

>>(especially in light of recently gained knowledge stemming from EmaginePixels issues)

I'm very interested in this whole business, as my plan is to try to go basically all Godox once Adorama releases their V860IIC rebrand. I just got a couple of long-awaited TT600s in the mail yesterday and so far I really like their simplicity and clean UI. The fact that they're $70 and can be used in a pinch as a 2.4 Ghz 5-group transmitter (albeit Manual-only and no HSS) is pretty great too.

So is there an achilles heel lurking...?

Owen.

I'm very interested in the AD600!


My issue with the AA is the sheer number of them and their weight when you get a good system going. Prior to having the blast packs, I would use the bolt version of canon's battery pack. That's 14 AA per off camera flash(4-speedlite, 8 batpak, 2 radio). 28 if you want to have a replacement(2 events in one day or back to back without time to charge all of them) 2 flash setup plus on-camera plus the replacements for on-camera. That's up to 64 AA for a two event weekend.


I don't think Canon would ever build a bigger light.


Can you do 600ex firing on-camera to Laso with the 180/360 non-ttl atop in manual? Because then I'd get the best of both worlds. Canon reliability, solid ttl when I need/want it and my manual lights for the corners of reception halls.

When I get the X1Ts one of the first things I'm going to test is how it supports the Nissin Di700a.
Mainly because Nissin recently announced an i60a which is more powerful than a D700a and also smaller.

I'll be interested to see how the Nissin works on the X1.

Having a TTL speedlite on camera is a valuable tool.

My ideal setup for wedding and events with a lot of activity is to have a speedlite on camera and two, maybe three lights on stands around the area.

The Canon 600EX-RT system was ideal with its 5 Gr mode. I could use the on-camera light as master and set the off camera lights in separate Groups. With all of them in TTL it gave me a lot of control shooting with people moving around relative to the lights.

It appears the Godox X system will offer similar flexibility. It would be nice to have more than 3 groups but most of the time that was all I used.

I think, although I'll test it when it arrives, the Godox TT685 or TT860 will function the way I need.

I am hoping the Nissin i60A will work with the X1 controller. That offers another option for me.

As for speedlites handling a wedding season, so far its been Canon 580EX, 580EXII, 600EXRT, Nissin Di866, Godox V850, Nissin Di700a all have delivered the goods for weddings. Several of them have taken a tumble with a light stand. Also, Godox 180 and 360 bare bulb strobes, as well as Alien Bee 800s and Einsteins.

As mentioned, the biggest pain are the AA batteries that need recharging. Sometimes as many as 48 over night. Thats for 4 speedlites with associated external packs. The Godox battery packs and Lithium batteries for the speedlites are a great improvement.