A Brief Review: Godox Lux Part 2 – Senior

As a heads up there will be a lot of cut and paste from Part 1 about the Junior.

This is a unique product as far as flashes go. The kind of product I did not know I wanted until it was released.

Had considered both this and the Godox Lux Junior. Then, as often seems the case, I walked into my local camera shop and there they were. I went for the Junior first. The dp2 Quattro is a perfect choice. Had no plans of picking up a SIGMA compatible flash since it would not see much use, but something like this would be great fun. Put in 2 AAA batteries, strapped it to my little SIGMA dp2 Quattro without bothering to read the instructions and fired.

Nice. Ok. That went well. What about a portrait? Graham was game.

We have a winner ladies and gentlemen. Things went a bit fuzzy and when I got home I had a Lux Junior and Senior in tow. Two flashes would seem to be an indulgence, but not really. More on that below. I started with the Junior in the last post and all went well.

Konica Hexar RF - 7Artisans 50mm f/1.1 — Guillermo.

Having gotten some film sample shots with the Junior now it was time for the Senior. Did not take many shots for the Senior to show its worth. The beauty of these flashes is that they are very simple. Let me first run through aspects of these flashes. I say these because other than form factor these flashes are operational twins. Then I will run through my experiences so far and then some sample photos. Almost everything in this next section below is cut and paste, except for the product images.

This flash does not have one party piece, but a few.

Universal

These flashes will work with anything. Was talking with Guillermo and Graham about these flashes and Guillermo was asking what cameras they were compatible with. That is the beauty of them. The answer is yes.

System agnostic.
- A one pin affair. If it has a hot shoe it will work.
No hot shoe. No problem.
- Comes with flash sync port and cable so older film cameras are game.

This sync port sits next to one key distinction between the Junior and Senior…

Rechargeable Battery (Senior Specific)

What you see up there folks is a USB-C port for the internal rechargeable battery. I see this mostly as a plus, assuming I remember to recharge it and how long it lasts. Possibly an aesthetic choice as much as a functional one. Replaceable battery units like the Junior do offer a simple battery swap option in the wild. But I think the sleek design, convenience of not having to buy batteries, and the ability to charge the flash just about anywhere make a strong case as well.

Full Manual Controls

Has a handy dandy exposure chart on the back if one should choose to make use of it.

Cool. Me?…

Includes Automation

Has an Auto mode. Huzzah! A gift to the attention span hobbled such as myself. There is a light sensor at the front.

Since there is no intelligent communication with the camera it comes with a chart with recommended optimal ISO and aperture combinations. The ones that matter most for me are the combinations of f/2.8/ISO 100, f/4/ISO 200, and f/5.6/ISO 400 since those are the films speeds I use most. Very easy to memorize. But the whole chart is fairly easy to memorize.

ISO	50	100	200	400	800	1600
Aperture	2	2.8	4	5.6	8	11

Distance: Max. 4 meters

What is also convenient is that this chart is shared with the Junior. Only one chart to memorize. And it works as billed.

Off Camera Capabilities

These flashes can be remotely triggered by an optical sensor. (See image above in the automation section to see the optical sensor.)

Pretty straightforward.

Works in manual only.
S1 is for non-TTL flashes.
S2 is for TTL flashes. Ignores the pre-flashes.

Set the power level, place it where you want it and fire away. That is about it. Once again, it works as billed.

Good Looks

The Lux Junior is a good looking piece of kit. Well, the Senior looks even better. Closed.

Open.

Helps that it comes with a carrying bag and good looking packaging. None of these things help you take a better picture, but it makes for a nice purchasing and ownership experience. Surprising consider the fact that these flashes and very…

Reasonably Priced

The Godox Lux Senior costs $119. A bit more that the Junior but still very reasonable. Godox has a history of competitive pricing with their mainstream system TTL flashes and strobes. But I am impressed that they carried the same pricing to these flashes also.

Functional Nostalgia

Using this flash reminds me of the days when I used flash with my Dad’s Pentax ME Super back in the day.

With the added benefit of an auto mode. There is also added nostalgia due to the design. I cannot state how much I love the design of this flash. Makes the also retro Junior design look downright cautious by comparison. Simply opening the flash for operation is a bit of an event.

A solid feeling unit and none of the process above feels flimsy. The Industrial Engineering degree wielding geek within me approves. Well done.

A Tool For the Task

As mentioned in the last post this flash can also be used with practically any camera. Film or digital. Full frame or medium format. New or old. Brand name does not matter. For my first test round I chose a favorite rig of mine. Last time I used the Konica Hexar RF teamed with the 7Artisans 50mm f/1.1 with the Junior

This time around I went a bit bigger.

Sidebar: I could go with a technically superior, modern TTL compatible flash like my tt350 (Courtesy Pentax’s crazy adherence to forwards and backwards compatibility.) but I mean… Look at that rig above! Nice.

Why film first? Figured I would try the most challenging use case. Result? Fantastic. Stopped by Southeastern Camera and enlisted the fine folks there as test subjects. Fortunately, they were game.

How I used the Senior:

Set to Auto.
Used Lomography 100 film.
- Why ISO 100? Wanted to shoot the 645 FA 75mm wide open.
Per the chart above aperture priority was used set to f/2.8.

Result:

Worked every bit as good as I expected it to based on my experience with the Junior. Even with extremely slow shutter speeds inside, the flash allowed clear images to be created. Success.

On to the images.

Sample Images