As our regular readers will probably know, we are steadily trying to work our way through reviewing as many of the entry-level flash units on the market as possible. Today’s article is going to be part of this series on the entry-level flash units and we will be going over our Godox TT560 review.
If you have read any of our other reviews in our entry-level flash unit series you will probably know that we consider the Neewer TT560 (Click here to check for product prices and availability) to be the best flash unit on the market in the sub $50 price range. It is without a doubt one of the most popular entry-level flash units on the market at the time of writing and definatley has the best reputation going amongst photographers in the price range.
Now, you may have realized that both the Godox and the Neewer flash units have the suffix of TT560. This is due to both of the flash units essentially being exactly the same just with different branding slapped on them. This has resulted in the performance and build quality of both the Neewer and the Godox TT560 being the same.
The strange thing is that the Neewer TT560 is extremely popular and has taken off to become known as one of the best flashes in the price range while the Godox TT560 is rarely used but essentially the exact same flash unit. That said, we will still go over our review of the Godox TT560 in full. One reason that we feel this may be the case is that the Godox TT560 is around $20 more expensive than the Neewer TT560 at the time of writing for essentially the exact same flash unit.
Click Here To Check On The Latest Price For The Godox TT560!
User Interface And Control System
The image above shows the control system for the Godox TT560 and as you can see, the flash unit uses the standard indication gauge and button set up rather than the LCD panel with a rotary dial or directional pad like the higher price point flash units. The two main advantages of the control system used on the TT560 is that it is cheap so it helps keep the price tag of the flash down and that it is very easy to use.
Due to being in the sub $50 price bracket that is generally agreed to be the entry-level price bracket, there is a high chance of anyone looking to add the Godox TT560 to their camera accessories will be picking it up as their first every flash unit. This is where the ease of use of the control system on the TT560 comes in as even if this is your very first flash unit, it is very easy to pick up and use right out the box.
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The system also allows you to quickly prep your flash for your session while also allowing you to quickly and easily tweak it mid-session as required if needed without you wasting time. The interface has an LED-based output level indicator, two flash power adjuster buttons, a flash mode control button, a test button, a power switch, an LED-based charging indicator, and a Flash mode selector.
All in all, the TT560 is very easy to use and we feel even someone brand new to flash photography will be able to get the most out of the flash unit.
Click Here To Check On The Latest Price For The Godox TT560!
Performance And Functionality
One of the main reasons that the Godox TT560 has so much potential is that it offers some excellent performance for its price tag and has some great features and functionality too. Due to so many of the entry-level flash units on the market these days essentially having a very similar control system and build quality, the performance is what usually differentiates a good entry-level flash unit from a bad one.
We have made the list of some of the key features on the Godox TT560 that we feel most of our readers considering purchasing this camera flash will be wanting to know:-
- Guide number (105mm ISO 100) 38.
- Recycling time – 0.1 seconds to 5.0 seconds.
- Color temperature – 5600±200K.
- Built-in power-saving and overheating protection functionality.
- Eight steps of power output from 1/1 to 1/128.
- Three supported flash modes – Manual, S1, and S2.
- Built-in Overheating protection.
- Build-in power-saving mode.
- Vertical tilt angle 0 to 90 degrees.
- Horizontal panning angle: 0 to 270 degrees.
As you can see, the TT560 comes with plenty of features that go above and beyond what the majority of other competing entry-level flash units offer you. One thing that we do want to point out is that the officially listed number of flash activations per set of fully charged batteries is listed as between 100 and 1500. We have no idea where they get the 1500 from and think it is probably just a typo that should read 150.
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That said, the battery life is going to depend on multiple things anyway. Mainly the recycle time of the flash you have selected and the quality of your batteries. We have seen a number of people report that they tend to get around 250 flash activations when using a set of high-quality rechargeable batteries (Click here to check for product prices and availability) with their TT560.
Another thing that we want to point out is that although the TT560 is listed as having some build-in overheating protection, using the flash unit with a 0.1 flash recycle time for an extended period of time the is definatley going to be some overheating issues. The same goes for higher price point flashes but we just want to point this out as we know many people reading this are likely picking up their first flash unit. If you are planning to be doing extended sessions with a fast flash recycle time then we would recommend that you plan a bunch of breaks in where possible so the flash unit can cool down.
Click Here To Check On The Latest Price For The Godox TT560!
Build Quality And Design
Moving on to the build quality of the flash unit and as we mentioned earlier in the article, the majority of the entry-level camera flashes on the market right now essentially use a very similar build quality with a few tweaks here and there. Due to this, at this price point in the market flash units don’t really stand out from each other when it comes to building quality, the majority of them are just middle of the pack without sticking out for good or bad reasons.
That said, the majority of the flash unit is made from some decent quality plastic that is pretty lightweight. In addition to this, it can take a few bumps without having issues but we would not really consider the plastic on the case of the flash unit to be robust so it will not hold up too well to some serious punishment coming it’s way.
Before making this next point, we just want to make you aware that EVERY entry-level flash unit we have reviewed so far has this same issue. The photograph above shows the battery housing for the Godox TT560 and as you can see, it uses the Two by Two battery housing that can lead to some overheating problems depending on how you are using the flash unit as heat transference between the batteries can occur.
In an ideal world, we would love to see an entry-level flash unit come out with the One by Four battery housing to help dissipate the heat generated but to date, we are yet to find one. All that said, we doubt this will end up being an issue for most people who pick the Godox TT560 up as you need to be activating the flash unit with a very fast recycle time constantly for long periods for this to become a problem.
Click Here To Check On The Latest Price For The Godox TT560!
FAQs
Question – What camera bodies can I mount the Godox TT560 to?
Answer – As the flash unit uses a standard hot shoe mount you can mount it to all Canon, Nikon, Sony, Panasonic, Fuji, Pentax, and Olympus camera bodies that use a standard hot shoe mount.
Question – Is the hot shoe mount on the Godox TT560 made from plastic or metal?
Answer – It is made from metal so will hold its shape better and not warm and end up getting itself jammed on your camera body.
Third Party Reports
Our Verdict
That brings our review of the Godox TT560 to an end and as we mentioned earlier in the article, it is the same camera flash as the Neewer TT560 but it just has an additional $20 added to its price tag for some reason. Due to this, we would always recommend you just pick the Neewer TT560 (Click here to check for product prices and availability) up instead and save yourself the $20.
Click Here To Read Independent Third Party Reviews Of This Product!
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Image Licensing
Shared under Creative Commons – https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Igor Menezes Fotógrafo – 15 Anos – Daniele Dias – https://flic.kr/p/jCG2E8
dallashangerphoto – Bekah Timm – https://flic.kr/p/8rXMCh
