• joanne Matthews
• Tuesday 17 September 2019
• 1 Comment

Hähnel MODUS 360RT Wireless Speedlight

 

Introduction

Triggers : Hahnel Captur

Flahses : Viper Radio wireless trigger and Modus flashes

2 main flashes exist in Hähnel range the Modus 360RT (GN36) and the Modus 600RT (GN60)

These are fully featured flashes with excellent autonomy and very short recycling time thanks to their Li-Ion battery. They both have a performant radio controlled wireless system built in.

They seem to be clones of Godox V350s (for the Modus 360RT and Godox V860II (for the Modus 600RT) but those are not simple clones,  Hähnel has make them better on all aspects

Better build quality

Much better usability in the usage

Better Hotshoe mechanism

Better stand

Built in LED light for video

Clear Paper user guide provided

Better batteries that you can find easily

Better client support

Build quality & handling

The build quality is excellent.

To mount the flash there is the same ergonomic system as for Sony flashes with a simple lock and a clear indication with a red dot when flash is fixed. On the Godox it was painful as you had to screw it.

The shoe is delivered with a protection (Godox not) and the Flash stand seems better finished.

The spring to open the battery feels solid , the Godox was a little bit flimsy.

 

Size 

The Modus 360RT (Guide number 36) is compact and very similar in size to the Sony HVL-F32M Flash or the Nissin i40

It is much smaller than the Modus 600RT which is the model just above (GN 60)

 

Ergonomics

The flash has a medium size screen. Compared to the Godox, they change the function of some of the buttons and some labels and all seems much more natural to navigate.  For example on the Godox, you had M for master and a S for slave but you had also a M for for manual mode vs TTL, so you did not know what you were looking at and I was sometimes lost.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On-camera - standard
Mode: Switch between: TTL, Manual and Strobe

When in TTL:
Set button + wheel allow to adjust flash exposure
Sync is activating HSS (High Speed Synchronisation)

 

 

 

 

In M (Manual mode)
Turning the wheel allow to adjust power

Optical wireless is allowed in this mode by pushing the wireless button (GR)

 

 

Stroboscopic (Multi):

Wheel allows you to adjust power 

If you press set then you can adjust number, second press on set allow to adjust frequency

You can do wireless Multi shooting by combining the above with the wireless setup

Zoom
Press the zoom button and then turn the wheel to adjust.

LED
Press set button for 2 second to enter LED mode

Mode will set led on /off

Wheel will adjust power (1 to 5)

Wireless setup

Slave/commander : Press GR button (with a Flash icon) for 2 seconds allows you to enter in wireless mode

Turn dial to choose between slave mode / master mode / no wireless

Press set to confirm

Mode will switch between TTL / M / Multi

Group : press the slave button and set the Group to M/A/B/C

Optical wireless

You need to be in M mode

GR button is activating the Sony Optical wireless (S1 S2)

Master Mode

Slave Mode

On camera flash
Bounce mode / Indirect Flash

Using Indirect mode/bounce mode you can get good results in small rooms or groups of 2-3 people. For larger parts or groups of people, it would be necessary to mount on the ISO.

Direct Flash

Direct flash gives quite ugly results inside (like all flashes), but can be used as a replacement to get some shadows, especially combined with the HSS mode to shoot wide open eg at F1.4 t & 1/4000.

Wireless

The use of remote flash (wireless) with some light modifiers is for me the best way to use flashes. This allows you to recreate a natural light environment as the use of flash is not seen.

To do this you need a controller A (like the Sony HVL-F20M flash  for optical wireless mode or the Hähnel Viper TTL transmitter for radio wireless mode) as well as 1 or more slave flashes (B)

 

 

Wireless Flash 

The Modus 360RT has 2 wireless modes:

Optics: max 5m, no obstacle allowed, compatible with all cameras and Sony Flashes

Radio: up to 50m with Viper TTL transmitter

For both modes the Modus 360RT can serve as master or slave

(Note that Hähnel Flashes are only compatible with wireless transmitters of the same brand: Hähnel Viper TTL and not with Godox XPro or Godox X1)

Conclusion

The Hähnel Modus 360 RT has become my favorite flash for my A7RIII.

It is extremely robust, easy to mount / unmount, can shoot hundreds of flashes (> 500) with one single battery, support burst at 10 frames per second without overheating. It stays compact, has full wireless capabilities and built in LED for video.

Paired with the Hähnel TTL Viper wireless transmitter you can get seamless wireless flashes.

Compared to the Godox V350s it does not deliver better flash performance, but ergonomics & ease of use is better. With the Godox I was reluctant to take a step back and I preferred taking over a Sony HVL-32M or Nissin i40, however now I am taking the Modus 360RT by default. (The only case where Godox would be recommended is if you already have other Studio Godox flashes like the AD200 or AD600, to benefit from the use of the same wireless transmitter.)

Overall, the Hähnel Modus 360RT is for me, the best compact flash for Sony hybrids be it flash box or wireless flash radio.

If you need more power you can have a look at the excellent Hähnel Modus 600RT.

For the whole review please follow this link.

 

Marc Alhadeff Photography
Professional Photographer and Sony Ambassador, Belgium
Sony Alpha Blog

 

 

 

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