Hey all, I recently picked up a used 6d and am basically just taking shots of family, etc. Most of my shooting is indoors with a mixed amount of lighting at all hours. My primary concern is being able to slap something on top of my camera that can essentially live there when indoors and chasing my kids around, that is as fool-proof as possible. My current Yongnuo 560-III isn't ideal as it's full manual, meaning I usually need 2 - 5 shots just to get a decent exposure and then if I change rooms need to start over, which usually means my kids have moved on.
The V1 has quite a few videos and reviews despite being new-ish on the market, but most feel like they are infomercials and I'm not sure how much I can trust these opinions. Amazon doesn't have a ton of reviews but most seem positive. My thinking is, if setup in an umbrella or softbox I am not seeing much advantage over a less expensive fresnel head, but on camera with what I am seeing is a more even and soft drop off of light, having this flash pointed just off of subjects may provide almost what would be a softbox type quality of light, while still being hotshoe mounted with the dome diffuser mounted or bouncecard. Does this make sense and would you agree/disagree?
My alternative would be to purchase a tt685 or v860ii with the cheap adapter and the accessory kit (AK-R1), but from the one or two videos I've seen, there still is some noticeable hotspot in the centre with the dome mounted to these flashes.
I see some wedding photographers are starting to adopt the V1, and wondering if they may be in a similar, albeit more higher stakes situation than I, where they at times just need something that will help with needed fill flash on camera, and want to reduce the risk of harsh lighting where possible.
I also would love to start bringing a flash when we are outdoors as well, and have seen a couple of other videos where they photographer has the dome diffuser mounted and the flash pointed either directly at or, just above the subjects face to add some soft fill. This would be another big use for the flash for me if it works well. I just can't picture myself running around with a lightpole and softbox anywhere, other than perhaps for the odd planned family portrait.
So if I'm going to buy once I'd rather get whatever gives me the easiest solution, but just don't want to throw away money if this is all marketing hype for a new product. Ultimately, I do see many users of the AD200 recommended the round head attachment so that is leading me to believe that in concept at least, there is a benefit to the shape of the light at it's source, despite it's size.
