For a good while I’ve thought of getting a flash system for my camera. I own an Olympus OM-D E-M5 (mark I) so there weren’t all that many alternatives to choose from. I wanted an off-camera system first of all and I had heard a lot of good things about Godox.

Godox is a Chinese manufacturer of photo lighting systems and accessories. They are sold under the Godox brand and under a number of other brands like Flashpoint and Cheetah. Their newer lights and flashes share the same radio system with built-in receivers. So it’s very convenient. You only need a transmitter for your camera brand to be able to control the lights. The Godox ecosystem is very well priced. That is always a plus.

Godox already had support for Canon, Nikon and Sony cameras. Not long ago they released a radio transmitter and speed lights also for Fuji and Olympus/Panasonic cameras. Immediately I started investigating if I would be able to use their flash system. What I needed was the transmitter (X1To) and the AD200. The AD200 would suit me perfectly since I really enjoy having light weight photo gear.

I noticed that Godox had not tested the trigger with my camera model. They didn’t say it wouldn’t work. They just stated that the combination had not been tested. I searched everywhere but couldn’t find much information about my combo at all. On the German Amazon site I found one comment stating that it would work. Since I really needed a flash system I decided that I would take the risk and ordered the transmitter and one AD200.

After a week or so I received the package. So did it work? Yup, it sure did. It all works fine from TTL to manual and high speed sync. High speed sync is automatically turned on when needed (if HSS has been enabled). The only issue I have is that I can’t use the max sync speed on my camera (1/250). For some reason I can’t use any faster shutter speed than 1/160. I don’t really understand why that happens.

Since my test with the X1To worked out well I decided to also try the V860IIo speed light. It’s a fairly powerful speed light and the radio transmitter is build-in. It also works well with my camera. TTL, zoom and HSS works as they should. But I have the same problem with the max sync speed as with the X1To. I’m not able to set it any faster than 1/160.

Other than that I’m really happy with the system. So I can confirm that both the Godox X1To trigger and the Godox V860IIo speed light works very well with the Olympus OM-D E-M5 (mark I) camera. The same should be true for any rebranded versions.

I am probably going to invest in a second AD200. One reason is that I think it’s a good idea to have a setup with two off camera flashes with the same power output. It should make it easier to create the scenes I want. Another reason is that I can combine two AD200 to effectively double the flash power. That can be done with the AD-B2 accessory from Godox.