How about a monolight?

So there is the seed of the idea. You may be clever and eager to remind me that this flash has a connector to allow it to be used from an external power source. This is true, but that external source is expected to deliver 300 volts DC! The 3 pins are ground (in the middle), a signal to "turn on" said course, and the 300 volts. The packs typically used for this hang on a strap and a carried around by the wedding photographer who uses them. Directly supplying 300 volts allows shorter cycle times than feeding 6 volts and using the switching supply in the speedlight itself.

Having set that idea aside, we get back to the 6 volt idea. You certainly could do that. I was doing some searching and found a discussion about such a job and several people jumped in to say, "it would be far better to just buy a small monolight and away we go.

A monolight is otherwise known as a "studio flash". Every pro photographer (who works in a studio) owns several and there are many brands and varieties. And for studio work there are light stands, softboxes, and a myriad of "lighting modifiers" that these studio dudes know all about. This is a well trodden field.

Which one

• Light output (Watt-seconds (Ws) or Guide Number (GN))
• Price
• Size and weight
• mount for adding accessories (Bowens seems to be "the" standard)
• what sort of mount it has for putting it on a pole
• what adjustment of power levels it has
• is the modeling light LED or a tungsten bulb?

A chat with a guy at BH

• Consider the Wescott SS400
• Consider the Elinchrom RX4 (there is also a RX One -- 100 Ws, $264
• Consider Pro Photo
• Godox are more or less "disposable" if anything goes wrong.
• Godox QT series is their top of the line
• absolutely get a wireless controller

I like the Godox lights because they are cheap ($109 for the MS200 and $139 for the SK300). I am willing to view something that cheap as disposable.

So, why a monolight?

• They are designed to run off of AC
• They are designed to be used all day long and cycled fast
• They typically have a fan to cool off the electronics.
• They have a simple interface with knobs, not menus.

My 580ex weighs 1.2 pounds.
The Godox MS200 weighs 2.9 pounds.
The Godox SK300 weighs 4.4 pounds.

Amazingly most of these lights can be radio controlled. Even the cheapest Godox unit, the MS200.

As a side note, if I knew what I knew now, I would never by a Canon speedlight. They are undeniably a quality item, but my (now obsolete) 580ex that cost $440 when new has no radio control. It does have the terrible Canon IR remote system. If you go to buy their next flagship speedlight, the 600ex (also now obsolete), you get radio control, but it is still powered with AA batteries. The current flagship is the EL-1, priced at a sobering $1100 !! Holy Cow.

Consider instead the Godox V860 for $179 along with their X2T-C (C for Canon) radio trigger instead. You could buy two of these lights and the trigger for not much over $400, less than half the price of the Canon EL-1.

Back to monolights, which one?

I ask another question. Will this be too much light? I am now using my 580ex at 1/32 power. It has a GN of near 200. The MS200 has a GN of 174, and can be run at 1/32 to full. This sounds promising. My macro lenses have no diaphragm that I can use to control light. So my control is either speedlight power or ISO. I am now shooting at ISO 400 with 1/32 power. So, I can reduce the ISO to 100 on my Canon R5 giving me 2 stops of reduction. Actually I might as well shoot at ISO 100 and bump the flash power up if needed.

What about our candidates?

• Paul Buff - Alien Bees
• Amazon: Alien Bees B400 $245

And now, what about that Godox MS200-V unit for $109?
You have to buy your own reflector to put on the Bowens mount. ($13, see below) You get control from full to 1/32 (6 stops like the AB B400). Cycle time is 0.1 to 1.8 seconds. This is a 200 Ws light with a guide number of 174. You get an LED modeling light (a 10W led), which I like The unit is 11x7x5 inches, and weighs 2.9 pounds.

• Amazon: MS200 kit with reflector $115
• Amazon: MS200 $109
• BH photo: Godox MS200-V
• 7 inch silver reflector $13
• Amazon: diffusors for 7 inch lamp

So we purchase the MS200

• Video: MS200 - 5 minutes

• Adjusting power levels is MUCH easier than with my 580ex speedlight.
• When the test button blinks, it means you need to dump power (the capacitor inside is overcharge).
• The monolight can be off, proportionate, or percentage.
• To use percentage mode push the power control dial like a button, then adjust brightness.
• By holding the modeling light button, you can set it to dim automatically when you shoot.
• S1/S2 work with the optical receiver on top which slave this to other flashes.
• TTL will not work with the MS200
• HSS is undocumented, but there are reports that it works.

Both a X2T-C ($59) and XPro-C ($69) are available. The X2T has a hotshoe, the XPro has a bigger display. And to further complicate things there is an XProII-C for $89. The "Pro" units let you see 5 groups at once, but if you don't need that, you don't need the big display. The Pro lets you shoot a first TTL, then lock in whatever that did as manual settings -- they call this "TCM" (TTL convert to manual). The II adds bluetooth (which the X2T has, but the original Pro did not). With this you can control all the flash settings from your cell phone.

Look for the Godox Flash App on Google Play.

Other candidates

Of the above, I favor the DP400 because it offers the 7 stop control down to 1/64, but it is twice the weight of the MS200.

Godox also makes the AD200 you hear a lot about, but it is $349 and powered from a 14.4 volt battery. So it makes no sense for me at it is more of a super speedlight than a studio strobe.
If you want to go that route, go whole hog with the Westcott FJ400 $600 400 Ws 9 stop (1.56 Ws to 400 Ws) 0.9 sec cycle time 5.3 pounds -- from a 29.6 volt Li-ion battery. Not really what I am looking for.