We were recently sent the Godox iT20/iT22 iFlash for review. They’re tiny, they weigh in at about 45gm. they’re USB-C rechargeable and they take up no space in your camera bag / pocket, but are they any good? Let’s talk about that…
A small lightsource close to your lens typically gives a pretty harsh light and, honestly, these little flash fall into that category – while they do come with tiny mag-attach filters, a spreader (to throw your light around a bit) and two CTO colour filters, (1/2 CTO and 1/1 CTO) they do sit down very close to directly above your lens and so you tend to get that “deer in the headlights” look if you’re not careful!
There is no built in way to change the angle of the flash, you can’t use a remote trigger with them, but you could get creative with a piece of paper and bounce the flash – which I tried, for fun, and it can work.
The other issue you run into, literally, is the end of your lens (In my case a 35mm prime) gets in the way of the cast flash and sends a tasty shadow out onto your subject – that said, I’d imagine people using a flash like this are likely either using smaller (bridge?) cameras or maybe pancake lenses at parties? Not sure.. A couple of images below to show you the results of using the flash with a 35mm lens.
Godox do sell a hot shoe riser that lifts your flash up a little and also allows you to tilt it back to help alleviate that, but generally, unless you can get your flash off the camera or in the least bounce it off a wall or ceiling, you get what you get and you don’t get upset… That said, getting upset would be NOT being able to capture anything because it’s too dark – having the miniscule Godox in your bag will help you with that.
The iT20 and 22 are USB-C rechargeable, they recharge pretty quickly, just over an hour from empty to full and on a full battery they’re rated for around 700 frames at 1/1 power. Mostly easily enough for any party!
So we’ve talked about the whole “get the lightsource away from your lens” and how, with the Godox iT20/22 it isn’t possible, but does that matter? I honestly don’t think it does! In use, the Godox iT20/22 are an easy to use compact flash that will illuminate your subject – it won’t be the most flattering light, but it does a great job for what it is! You have a very simple Manual / TTL but, then you have buttons to adjust flash intensity across 6 stops (1/32 to 1/1 power) in precise ±1/3-step increments for total command over your lighting. Simple to use and I think would be really handy to help you learn how flash works.
Not sure what Manual Vs TTL flash is? Check out this article
What’s in the kit?
You get the flash, a usb-c / a cable to charge your flash, a small pouch to keep it all nice and neat and you get three filters. As you can see in the image below, there are a whole stack more filters, as well as the riser we talked about above, and a diffuser you can purchase separately.
I think, for a beginner flash, for the “have some light rather than nothing” that the mini Godox iT20/22 flash system is a great purchase for the money, well worth chucking in a Christmas stocking if that’s your thing!
Check them out here on the Godox website
