Installing CTO Gels On A Godox V1

Profoto A1: Buy yours here.

In an earlier post I made some observations about the Godox V1 round-headed flash, aka Adorama's Flashpoint Zoom Li-on x R2 TTL Round Flash Speedlight. They are one and the same. This installment is to address the issue of color correction gels. It was introduced in early 2019, and it made quite a splash because until that point, those wishing the convenience of TTL metering combined with the even lighting pattern of a parabolic reflector had only one choice: The Profoto A1 Studio Light.  At $800.00, the flash, though very versatile, was expensive for what you were getting. In spite of the hype, it is NOT a replacement for a studio flash, but can serve a photographer well if s/he knows its limitations. For the cost of a single A1, you could buy three Godox V1 flashes, which if you're not a hard on your equipment, would provide years of service. I purchased two V1s: One is dedicated for Nikon and the other for Fuji. And in a pinch, both can be simultaneously adjusted using a single dedicated, on-camera Flashpoint or Godox controller. Honestly, there's a lot of value in the Godox.

Adorama Round Head Flash Kit

The flash's round head is a double-edged sword. The parabolic reflector gives a very even light pattern without any obvious hot spots. However, the head shape makes it incompatible with many popular on-camera light modifiers. Neither the Gary Fong Light Sphere nor any of the Mag Mod accessories can be used with the V1, which for me is a definite drawback. A variety of add-on accessories are included with the Round Head Flash Kit (about $60), which includes a set of barn doors, a snoot, a bounce card, and a grid that are held to the flash head with magnets. Also included are some accessories for changing the flash color, including three warming filters, one florescent green color correction filter, and two clear filters along with a magnetic filter holder which are sold separately as the AK-R16 Gel Set (about $10) which is sold separately. Us this kit to attach any gels you may choose to cut from the CTO gel sheets you may already have on hand.

C.T.A. S. Get yours here.

If you are interested in more precise color adjustment or don't want to do the cutting yourself, you'll need to add the Color Temperature Adjustment Set (about $15) provides 16 pairs of pre-cut color correction gels (CTOs, the CTBs, and the Plus Green gels). One photo of the product on the Adorama website shows how a round, blue gel is sandwiched between the two clear gel holders that came with the Flash Kit.

While I'm waiting for the Adjustment Set to arrive, I will find my stash of gel sheets and cut myself a full and quarter CTO gel to use when balancing incandescent ambient lighting or to warming up a subject. 

Leader Wallet: Order yours here.

To install one of the pre-cut gels, you lock one of the clear retaining disks into the slots inside the holder. Next, drop in the gel of your choice. Finally, attach the filter holder to the flash head. The gel will be held in place between the clear gel holder and the flash. This is the simplest method, although storing the relatively fragile gels may become a problem. I'm thinking about using a fly-fisher's leader wallet, which I found on Amazon. It's certainly large enough to accommodate these gel and keep them safe and organized. 


This closeup photo makes it easier to see the retaining tabs, along with a magenta gel sandwiched between the two retaining disks.

I am looking forward to the speed and convenience of mounting a magnetically attached CTO gel to the Godox flash. Although I purchased the full Mag Mod kit, I never really liked the gel attachment system. This approach for the V1 is just as fast and much more compact. 

Finally, a warning: The flashtubes generate a fair amount of heat, and if you attempt to machine-gun your flash exposures, you might fuse the gel to one of the filter retaining disks. So slow down.

Nikon SB-800 Battery Door Replacement

My last attempt to clean the contacts wasn't successful in removing all of the corrosion.

Rust Never Sleeps. Neither Does Battery Corrosion: Familiarity breeds contempt, and absence makes the heart go wander. Since my world has essentially been appropriated by all things Fuji, my Nikon speedlights have been getting less attention than they should. As a consequence, my speedlights are occasional stored with their batteries still in place, and if the gremlins have their way, the batteries contained therein will leak, causing the contacts to corrode. An explanation can be found at this Wikipedia link, a portion of which I have duplicated.

...Alkaline batteries are prone to leaking potassium hydroxide, a caustic agent that can cause respiratory, eye and skin irritation.^{[note 1]} Risk of this can be reduced by not attempting to recharge disposable alkaline cells, not mixing different battery types in the same device, replacing all of the batteries at the same time, storing in a dry place and at room temperature, and removing batteries for storage of devices...

In many cases, the surface corrosion can be removed with some #0000 steel wool or a pencil eraser. In my last corrosion event, the damage was confined to the battery door, and this simple treatment worked, that is until the corrosion returned. But if this was to be a reoccurring event, I thought I should give some thought to replacing the battery door completely. It appears I'm not the first to confront this problem, as eBay had several vendors who would sell me a non-OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) replacement for about $10.00. Meh. Not Nikon.

For more information click here

SD-800 To The Rescue: If you purchased your SB-800 new, you also received an SD-800 Battery Holder along with the other boxed goodies. I never paid much attention to this add-on because of its bulk. I determined that if I needed an power boost, I would attach a Nikon SD-8a 6-AA battery pack, which would improve my flash recycling time  significantly. 

Incidentally, this add-on was created to bring the battery output of five rechargeable NiMH batteries to the same 6-volt output of four alkaline batteries. I never gave this much thought, as I found that four NiMH batteries were sufficient for my needs, and when I needed more, added an aforementioned SD-8a battery pack. Life is good enough. 

To install the SD-800, you can refer to pages 64 and 65 of the manual for installation instructions. I reproduced those two pages here. Once done, you'll have clean electrical contacts for your batteries, but you'll always need to take along that fifth.

Pages 64 and 65 from the Nikon SB-800 manual. To view the entire PDF, click here

What You Didn't Know: It turns out that the battery cover for the SD-800 is identical to the one covering the battery compartment of the SB-800. If all you want is a new, corrosion-free cover, just remove the cover from the SD-800 and install it on the SB-800. This gives you the OEM cover you desperately want. But don't throw the uncovered SD-800 body away. Some day you may want to add that fifth battery!