The Ultimate Godox TT685O Review!

Welcome to our ultimate Godox TT685O review! After published some articles relating to some other other TT685 variants recently, we noticed that a number of people were reaching out for advice on the variant specifically designed for Olympus cameras so we decided to publish this article.

We hope that it will be able to help any of our readers who are thinking of picking the TT685O up for their Olympus camera of choice as we feel this really is a great little flash unit that has a very fair price tag.

As with all of the popular products that we review, we would also like to quickly point out that many third-party, totally independent photographers have chosen to post their own reviews of the flash unit online (click here to read some of them). Reading some of them can be a great way to get insight into the performance of the flash from photographers who have chosen to use it as their go-to camera flash of choice for their flash photography.

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Table of Contents

User Interface And Control System

The image above shows the user interface and user control systems for the Godox TT685O camera flash. Although it may look a little intimidating if you are new to flash photography, it is thankfully, very easy to use. The system is based around Eight buttons and a single rotary dial with a very clean and easy to navigate menu that offers a decent amount of customization of the flash units performance.

The buttons are easy to find and easy to press even when not looking at the flash unit allowing you to look through your viewfinder while switching flash modes or tweaking the performance of the unit too. The rotary dial in the middle of the control system is very easy to rotate as required and allows you to quickly cycle through options. Additionally, the flash does not have that cheap feel to it that some of its competitors do that can sometimes be a little offputting.

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The flash mode button on the TT685O allows you to quickly and easily switch between TTL flash mode, manual flash mode, and guide number so you are able to always get performance required from the flash head without having to waste time.

All in all, we are very happy with the control system and the navigation menu on the TT685O and feel anyone will be able to quickly pick it up and have it become second nature to them without much practice at all.

Performance And Functionality

One thing that we would like to point out before going into the performance of the TT685O is that although this is officially the Olympus variant of the TT685 flash unit, it also fully supports a large number of Panasonic series cameras too. If you also have some Panasonic cameras in your collection then this could come in handy as you can use the TT685O on your Panasonic camera.

Rather than waste your time going into each of the key features of the flash unit, here is a list of some of the key ones that we feel are the most important and most likely to be needed by our readers:-

Second-Curtain Sync
FEC
Multi-flash
Manual flash
TTL Autoflash
GN60(m ISO 100,@200mm)
22 steps from 1/1 to 1/128
Approx.0.1-2.6s recycle time
230 full power flashes per set of batteries
Wireless master or slave performance

Now, we would like to clarify that although the officially listed flash activations from Godox is 230 per fully charged set of batteries, this will change depending on what you are doing with the camera flash, your settings as well as the batteries you are using. We would always recommend that you use a set of budget-friendly, high-quality rechargeable batteries (Click here to check for product prices and availability) for best performance.

We would also like to touch on the variable 0.1 to 2.6 second recycle time for the flash unit too. Although being able to get it down to 0.1 seconds can be essential in some flash photography niches, it also has its drawbacks. It tends to rapidly eat through your battery power drastically reducing the number of flash activations you will get per full charge while also generating a large amount of heat.

If you are capturing photographs in quick succession with a low flash recycle time without taking breaks then it is likely that the flash unit will end up overheating. Many photographers choose to use multiple flash units so when your first TT685O gets hot you switch over to your second TT685O but this just increases the costs.

All in all though, especially for the price tag that the TT685O retails for, it offers a ton of functionality and some of the best performance on the market for an Olympus camera flash unit. We feel like this is one of the main reasons that the TT685 range has proven to be so popular as you just pop it on your hot shoe mount and your are ready to go.

Build Quality

The build quality of the TT685O is solid and hold up well to the amount of punishment flash units are usually exposed to when out and about traveling between locations. The body of the flash is made from a very robust plastic that is also very lightweight helping to keep the weight of your camera accessories as low as possible.

Although some of the previous Godox flash units did have a problem with the battery cover popping over during use, the TT685O does not have this same problem with the battery cover locking firmly in place when closed.

The image to the right shows the battery housing and the battery cover for the TT685O. We like how the batteries are inserted one after another rather than two sets of two batteries side by side. Using this set up of having one single straight line of four batteries really helps with overheating issues that plague some of the competing flash units on the market pushing the TT685O even further ahead.

Our Verdict

That concludes our Godox tt685o review and we really do think that it will make a great addition to your camera accessories as it is an excellent little flash unit for Olympus cameras. We have no doubt at all that picking up the TT685O will help to improve the image quality of your flash photography photographs and help keep your clients happy for many years to come.

Click Here To Read Independent Third Party Reviews Of This Product!

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The video below offers an additional third-party, independent review for the Godox TT685O to offer our readers an independent opinion of the product.