Review: GODOX IT32 GN118 TLL flash and X5s hot shoe kit $104

Amazon Affiliate Link: https://amzn.to/4aO4og8 Price as reviewed: $105 GODOX IT32 S GN18 TTL Flash & X5S Flash Trigger for Sony 2-in-1 HSS Rotatable Flash Head and Touchscreen 2.4GHz X System with LED Modeling Lamp,Magnetic Filter,White Diffuser and Build-in Reflector From the GODOX Store This package includes the GODOX IT32 flash unit (that supports Through the Lens TTL automatic metering mode, and High Speed Sync HSS on Sony cameras) as well as the [Sony Specific] X5s hot shoe adapter module designed specifically to connect to and talk digitally with Sony cameras. [They also sell similar modules for other brands of cameras, so you could theoretically use one IT32 flash unit with multiple brands of cameras, only buying the specific X5 unit for each camera.] The cool thing about this product combo kit is that the IT32 physically mounts to the X5 (via magnets) and the X5 connects to your camera. They have pins for data communication and charging (the IT32 charges the X5 when they are plugged together) but they also talk wirelessly, so you can remove the IT32 flash unit from your camera and use it as an off body flash (the box includes a tabletop stand with 1/4-20 socket to tripod mount the flash unit). Because the X5 unit already has a wireless flash sender built in, you can also link other GODOX flash units to the camera in a group for studio work. [I've verified that the X5 unit works correctly to trigger an older GODOX outdoor flash unit that specified an X3 sending unit, so it is backwards compatible.] The flash unit has everything you would expect (snap on diffuse, pop-out diffuser with bounce card, rotating head, yellow warm color temperature filters for the flash unit) plus a "model light" which acts as a video light source. You can adjust the intensity as well as if it turns off when you take a photo (or stays on through the photo taking process). I found that this model light is especially useful to get your camera to auto-focus on subjects for night photography (as well as a video light). It's surprisingly strong for an "add on" feature. Not quite as strong as dedicated off-body video lights, but certainly holds its own against other inexpensive hot shoe mounted video light I've seen. It supports TTL auto flash mode, which is the easiest to use, with only a -3 to +3 exposure adjustment range, or you can put it in full manual mode to exactly control the amount of light. The Through The Lens metering mode is the main workhouse of this flash unit, and I anticipate using that mode 99% of the time. Having the ability to "just take photos" in auto mode without having to worry about flash power settings is a real game changer when stepping up from a single point manual flash unit. The convenience is well worth it and you'll never go back to a manual only flash unit. It also has a multi-flash mode if you want to capture a few points in time using a single open shutter long exposure image. The number and frequency of flashes is dependent upon the flash brightness you select, and for higher power modes you'll generally be limited to 2-3 flashes within a second period. I have other flash units that are more impressive with the number/frequency and power of their multi-flash mode, but they are all much larger. It's a nice option to have and the multi-flash mode works well within the power limitations, but if you really want to have maximum multi-flash capacity, you may want to go with a larger / more powerful flash unit. It had one "bug" out of the box with the default version 1.10 firmware. On my Sony camera, if I set it to manual mode, it would swap back to TTL mode if the camera was set to auto mode. [The camera HAD to be in manual mode for the flash unit to stay in and work in Manual flash mode.] Their website has a firmware update to v1.15 which I downloaded. I had to use very specifically the G3 V1.1 software to upgrade the firmware (The V2.0 software failed without good error messages.) This wasn't a showstopping bug, but it took me a bit of time to get the firmware updated. [Once you update the firmware on the IT32 flash unit, it automatically downloads and updates the firmware on the X5 sending unit the next time they are plugged together and power cycled.] After the firmware update, I was able to use the flash in manual mode while the camera was in auto mode [although if you turned the camera off and on again, the flash would switch back to TTL mode, which is a reasonable default.] Overall I've very happy with the flash unit, and especially appreciate the flexibility of being able to move the flash unit on-body, off-body, and use the sender to trigger multiple flashes in a group.