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First impression of Neewer TT850s
Update: finally did a detailed thing now that I have a few months of use through them: http://www.shootingonabudget.com/neewer … peedlites/ --------------------------------------------------------------------- I've had them for a little bit now, but have been on an extended hiatus from shooting, and haven't put much effort into things lately. However, now that I'm getting back into things, I wanted to share my first impressions about the Neewer TT850 speedlite. Today I sold all my Profoto gear to buy more of these. My auction of all* my YongNuos ends Sunday at 7:00. These are it. The end. (*all but 2 560IIs and 3 602s) Though I still recommend YN series flashes as more budget friendly, but if you can manage the extra $20-$30, do not pass go... Highlights: 1.5s recycle at full (shooting at 1/2 or 1/4 -or less- more often than not... it's pretty damn instant.) 650 shots per charge (again at 1/16-1/4 90% of the time... I have yet to charge a battery since March. Same power output as any other flagship flash. With FT-16s wireless trigger system... 16 channel, 16 groups with wireless 1/3 stop power adjustment (and at $32 with no need to have batteries in receiver, nice... usually chew through AAAs on my normal receivers) Wireless HSS with the Cells II trigger system (currently Canon only, though there are Nikon workarounds.) --------------------------------------------------------------------- I've never seen a combination this perfect, this affordable. While the YongNuos I love so much are amazing, and have served me well... the luxury of less battery management (and associated additional cost, four AAs bringing the 560II within $20 or so of the Neewer) is nice, I hate charging 32 batteries regularly... The speed is welcome, HSS for $140 or so (for the cells II) and additional flash and triggers at $115 (for another flash and one receiver) -- sure YN has HSS options similarly priced with the YN500ex and 622 (which also has ttl, that's nice, but requires 2 622s, so closer to $190/$140) the 500 is slightly less powerful, and slower. And the wireless power control for 16 groups is brilliant. I don't usually have more than 2 or 3 groups, but even still... even with one, not having to drop a boomed beauty dish to change the power is great to have at this price-range. Much more coming soon. Jul 17 14 09:36 am Link Thanks Jay - I'm looking at picking up a couple of speedlights so this is very timely. I have one Yongnuo and was expecting to buy more but maybe the Neewer is a better option. Jul 17 14 10:52 am Link Instinct Images wrote: Depends on your needs, and what you like. Still haven't gotten a TT860, so I can't say how good they are vs the 568exII... but YN has a beefier offering (like the 500ex, cheap off camera TTL) Their new 560TX gives the much appreciated wireless control a little more affordably Jul 17 14 10:54 am Link Will this Neewer TT850s be compatible with YN622 and the new YN622 TX? Jul 17 14 02:18 pm Link Connor Photography wrote: The HSS element is linked to the unit itself, so I would assume it would work, but no longer have my 622s to test. Jul 17 14 02:32 pm Link Connor Photography wrote: If one of the new Neewer TT series is to work with the yn622 / YN622 TX, the most likely candidate would be the TT860, that Jay mentioned, rather than the TT850. Jul 17 14 03:11 pm Link LightDreams wrote: I'd agree, if not for one thing. I thought the 850 needed Cells II as both a transmitter and receiver for HSS... but if the flash itself is in HSS mode, you just need the Cells II transmitter to say Jul 17 14 03:18 pm Link Intriguing. Let us know! I suspect the key will be what method the 622 receiver uses to communicates that HSS information to the flash... [EDIT] unless that HSS information bypasses the 622 system entirely? Except for the actual trigger the flash part? [/EDIT] Jul 17 14 03:26 pm Link Connor Photography wrote: The Godox v860 (which Neewer rebrands as the TT860) works with the YN622 (both ETTL and HSS). Jul 17 14 03:29 pm Link Phantasmal Images wrote: Nice to have that TT860 combination confirmed! Jay has me thinking about the battery issue a LOT more. Jul 17 14 03:32 pm Link LightDreams wrote: It seriously is an impressive combo. 1.5s / 650 shots Battery + HSS ... can't think of anything else I'd need than a handful of these. Jul 17 14 03:37 pm Link One update on using the tt850 with the 622s... FlashHavoc was able to make that combination work with HSS with a rather unusual approach. Note they were specifically talking about the Nikon system so it may not apply to the Canon versions. Their approach was to put a YN622n unit on the camera and then add an FT-16 on top of that in the YN622n's built in hot shoe. With that combination they were then able to make the tt850 / yn622n combination work using HSS. Note that a second YN622n receiver unit was NOT required. However they did mention using their existing FT-16 clip on receivers. While useful, it still leaves questions: - That does not mean that it's the only way of doing it (Jay's tests will be useful!). - Are the rules different for Nikon versus Canon and how does that affect things? - What happens with the YN-622 TX where there is no built in hot shoe to slide the FT-16 into? ?? Jul 17 14 04:14 pm Link LightDreams wrote: The 5 pin of the 622 likely 'tricks' the camera into being able to bypass HSS. The 850, in HSS mode, should work appropriately. Jul 17 14 04:27 pm Link Thanks Jay. And from what I've read since, it appears that Canon also has much better support for Cells II compared to Nikon (which FlashHavoc was using)... Jul 17 14 04:32 pm Link Put them through their first full shoot for taking a 'serious' look at them (rather than just testing them out.  The shoot went great. 550 shots (on one battery, still instant recycle) And the few times I wanted to readjust power (one camera had f/5.6 max, so I upped the power a stop and a third for that one... easy peasey. Jul 17 14 09:16 pm Link -JAY- wrote: M Jul 18 14 11:38 am Link Smedley Whiplash wrote: This might have to do with the wiring of the Cactus unit... Polarity might be different somehow. It's like if you plug a 622 into an AB via the PC, it won't fire, the green light on the rear of the 622 stays on making the ab's keep firing. Jul 18 14 11:46 am Link Smedley Whiplash wrote: I think it's more the contact on the 622s. Jul 18 14 11:51 am Link After wading through some stuff on the special TTL hotshoe pins (that are clear as mud!), apparently one of the extra pins, when it transmits a specific byte value, is sending a message to the flash that says "now I'm in HSS mode". Apparently, as best as I can interpret the articles, whatever is in the camera hotshoe has to be intelligent enough to respond with the electronic equivalent of "okay, we're switching to HSS mode. I understand". That suggests to me that Jay is on the right track. It's certainly looking more and more like the 622 on the camera hotshoe might be basically just reading and issuing the correct HSS response back to the camera. At least in the case where only one 622 is used in combination with the FT-16s. Right in line with Jay's theory... Jul 18 14 02:22 pm Link LightDreams wrote: I am not quite follow. From just layman view point, TT850 is for Nikon and TT860 is for Canon i/eTTL. Jul 18 14 02:43 pm Link Connor Photography wrote: The 850 is a "dumb" speedlight, it will do HSS with their FT16 trigger attached, but no ETTL. The 860 is the ETTL and HSS model, and does not require the FT16 trigger (although it can use it as well). The 860 is currently only available in the c model (ie Canon), but I'm sure a Nikon version is in the works. Jul 18 14 02:54 pm Link Jul 18 14 03:12 pm Link Connor Photography wrote: TT850 is fully manual (no TTL) but has HSS Jul 18 14 03:19 pm Link For those of you who have used Neewer's older manual flashes (TT560/520) you'll notice the build quality is MUCH higher... they feel indistinguishable from my Canon 580exIIs Jul 19 14 02:08 pm Link LightDreams wrote: I got quite a few emails about Nikon compatibility with the Cells II, so I picked up a pair of 622Ns (couldn't find a reliable, quick supply of single 622Ns, so had to buy 2, for Amazon Prime, lol) - They'll be here Thursday, and I'll be able to reliably test the Nikon workarounds for HSS. Jul 22 14 06:53 pm Link You are determined to make me buy some. Never I say, and never again. And ... oh never mind. Jul 22 14 07:02 pm Link Herman Surkis wrote: Since my wallet is usually so empty, I get off on manipulating the wallets of others. Jul 22 14 07:09 pm Link I will say that the output of the Neewer 850 & 860 is pretty awesome. I doubled up two units on a stand (straight heads, no mods), and matched the sun's backlighting at 11am, @ 9ft. (Model had blond hair even...) My Yongnuo's with the same supposed GN didn't do that. Jul 22 14 08:16 pm Link Connor Photography wrote: Somewhat low budget work around for us dumb Nikon users, LOL... Jul 22 14 08:34 pm Link Erik Ballew wrote: Exactly the method I'll be testing out once I get new 622s later this week. Jul 22 14 08:50 pm Link Hey Jay could you do a little write up showing and listing the gear you have and recommend? You've talked about so much different equipment that it would be nice to know what you either have or recommend for someone starting from scratch that wants to create basic lighting setups using just speedlights. Of course a link to a reliable source for purchasing would be nice too! Thanks! Aug 03 14 05:52 pm Link Instinct Images wrote: I would, but it's such a varied list that spans so many different price points. Aug 03 14 08:46 pm Link Ok so I just received my Neewer tt850 from Amazon and still waiting for the trigger/receiver to arrive. The flash certainly feels solid and it recycles very quick! Assuming all goes well and I like this new system, I'm having trouble finding only additional receivers for sale. I'd like to add two more flashes but the sellers I contact say they only sell the triggers and receivers together as a set. Any help finding legit sellers for those receivers would be greatly appreciated! Aug 15 14 07:12 pm Link Chris Trento wrote: Search for the receivers on ebay under the Godox name. They are the same as the Neewer receivers. Aug 18 14 12:52 pm Link Christopher Michael D wrote: +1 Aug 18 14 05:33 pm Link Thank you Christopher and Jay. Now I find them as individuals under the Godox name. I got a chance to test everything and I must say I'm very happy and impressed! I was originally thinking of a 3 light setup with these, but I think I'm going to add just a second one and wait for the Nikon TTL version of the 860 to come out so at least one of them can replace my on camera TTL flash for when I need that. Aug 24 14 04:00 pm Link Connor Photography wrote: -JAY- wrote: Just confirmed (picked up a set of 622Ns) Aug 24 14 05:00 pm Link That's good to hear Jay! Aug 24 14 06:55 pm Link I started picking up the goddox v850 a while back. Got a deal on the neewer tt850s 104.95. They are the exact same thing. I love the batteries and the power till the last shot. I pick up the deals that have the ft-16s 3 pack with one transmitter. Then I pick up the cells 2. So while I have a bunch of extra transmitters I wont use because I needed the ft-16s. Cant find them sold separately yet. But 79.00 for a kit breaks down to about 26.00 pr a ft-16. you can pick up a cells 2 with 1 ft-16s for 55.00 So all in all you can get it to lets say 4 newer flash 1cells 2 and 4 ft-16s for about 550.00. Not bad for the HSS performance. one 580 ex 2 and a couple of yn 622 will run you 750.00. I think the Neewer's do everything I need from them. Sure you go set power and zoom manually. But I prefer to set manually anyway. I'm picking up 8 more In September for a Commercial warehouse Automobile shoot I have coming up. These fill in just perfectly along side my Alien bees sb800 with vagabond mini's. No electric in abandoned warehouse. I trust them to do just fine. I love the fact the batteries are lithium Ion so you don't have to worry about discharge or memory. Just charge them up before every use regardless of how much charge is on them. Aug 25 14 03:04 pm Link Caitin Bre wrote: But you can change it remotely. it's a godsend, and such a breath of fresh air at these prices. Aug 25 14 03:18 pm Link |
