The Godox A1 lets photographers use studio lights with a smartphone

By Hillary K. Grigonis Published July 24, 2017

Taking the flash off-camera opens up a world of different creative lighting possibilities — and now that potential could be coming to smartphones in more ways than one. Camera lighting company Godox recently teased a “phone flash system” that allows users to take the flash off-camera (or rather, off-smartphone) called the Godox A1.

Details on the Godox A1 are slim — for now, the company has only released a teaser on Facebook, so it’s unclear when the product will fully launch. The company did share, however, that the flash system has both three built-in LED lights for continuous video lighting, as well as one flash lamp for lighting stills.

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The Godox A1 is a wireless flash system, and based on the images shared by Godox, can also be paired with a smartphone for a brighter on-camera flash. The A1 can also control other Godox system flashes, the company says, which means that besides taking the flash off-camera, the system opens up possibilities for two-light set-ups.

Along with triggering another flash, the A1 also doubles as a transmitter for Godox’s line of 2.4GHz strobe lights. While smartphone photographers probably aren’t going to want to invest in strobe lighting, the A1 could slide in as a nice companion for making existing studio set-ups more mobile.

While details are slim, the Godox A1 already looks like a versatile lighting solution for mobile photography. Images of the device in action show lighting videos, an on-camera flash, off-camera lighting, and even dual lighting set-ups with an additional flash.

While several off-camera smartphone lighting options already exist, including the Nova wireless and iBlazr 2, the A1 is compatible with a wider range of products thanks to that flash compatibility and studio light trigger.

Pricing, full specs, and the launch date have yet to be announced, leaving us with a few questions, including just how bright the compact flash system is, how affordable the off-camera smartphone flash is, and if it will work with Android along with the iPhone shown in the teaser images.

Godox is a photography lighting company based in China that offers a wide range of lighting options including both flashes for DSLRs and mirrorless cameras and studio lighting and macro lighting. The company has at least 15 engineers continuously working on developing new products like the A1.

Hillary K. Grigonis

Former Contributor

Hillary never planned on becoming a photographer—and then she was handed a camera at her first writing job and she's been…

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