Hey, guys. Welcome back to another video.
In this one, we're going to be reviewing the brand new Godox S2 Bracket.
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Let's get into it.
So, I've got the Godox S2 Speedlite Bracket
with me here today.
So, this is the brand-new version of the S-type bracket
that was released by Godox.
I mean, it's their answer to allow it to mount with all
the other speedlights and flashes that Godox now have and offer.
So, let's take a closer look at what's inside.
So, inside we've got the bracket that's wrapped in some bubble wrap.
We've also got a construction guide.
It just shows you different configurations and how to mount certain flashes,
as well as all your lighting modifiers on the front and back.
And that's it.
Just some silicone gel there.
Let's take a closer look at the bracket.
There we go. So, the bracket itself already feels like it's quite sturdy.
It does have some weight to it now.
And that's mainly because the actual build quality
feels like it's improved quite a bit.
So, this mounts here.
The mount that has the tilting head, as well as the mounts to the stand
is now made of metal.
And overall, it feels like a sturdier build.
There are a lot of similarities to the previous S-type bracket.
Let's take a closer look at those.
I've got both the previous version of the Godox S-type bracket here,
as well as the new Godox S2 Bracket.
Let's take a look at some of the similarities, firstly.
As you can see, it actually looks quite similar
and not much has changed.
In terms of the bracket part here, it almost pretty much looks the same.
You've got the typical Godox S-type bracket there.
You've also got that flat mounting point that's got some grip there
that allows you to mount it down.
And you've got the locking mechanism there.
So, that means it supports your standard speedlights.
And you've also got different mounting points for your umbrella there.
And you've also got the light stand mount here.
But, some of the major differences for the Godox S2 Bracket.
Firstly, the handle here that controls the tilting function has changed.
It's a lot easier to use now.
So, you can actually pull that out and reposition the handle if you need to,
almost like a crank style locking system.
And you've also got that improvement in build quality
of the actual light stand mount there.
So, this part here is actually made from metal now,
as opposed to just the plastic there.
So, that means it's a lot sturdier to actually mount and to stand.
And, hopefully, that doesn't drop your flash or anything like that,
and it's a lot better build quality.
In terms of some of the other differences, you've got a different style of way
to mount this to your light stand.
So, you've got the standard way which is just vertically like that.
But you can actually now mount this horizontally.
So, Godox have provided a larger opening there or a mounting point.
And you can see that there.
That allows you to mount this horizontally.
So, you can actually reposition the light stand head there
to that position there to make an L-shape.
And you'll need to reposition this locking knob.
They've provided another point to screw this into there
to mount this horizontally on to your stand.
And one of the other differences is the mounting point here.
So, the mounting point for the umbrella is a slide in now.
So, there's a sliding.
And it's got a little silver tab in there that sort of locks in with tension,
rather than having to use it with a locking knob there
for the umbrella mount on the previous version.
So, the umbrella mounting mechanism is a lot more stable.
And that helps it in both positions;
in the vertical or the horizontal position.
Now, taking a look at the last major change,
and that is just the way to mount the different flashes here.
So, you've got your standard flat mounting point there
that allows you to mount standard speedlights and flashes,
such as a TT600, the TT685.
And then, if you actually remove that first piece.
So, first, you have to slide that part out.
There's actually two parts of this.
You can remove that top piece and slide that bottom piece back in.
And you can see now it's rounded here at the bottom.
And you've also got that padding there and that sort of friction part
that allows you to mount a flash, which you can see
once you loosen that a little bit.
It's more round in shape compared to that flat shape there.
That means you can mount your Godox V1 flashes or an AD200
or an AD200 Pro with H200R Round-Head.
So, they've allowed that function now.
You couldn't do that on the previous model here
because this is obviously flat.
You could do some sort of DIY things to your old S-type bracket to do it.
But now, it's all built-in to the new S2 bracket.
And when you finally slide that last part off there,
you can see that opening is much larger.
It allows you to support other things such as
the AD400 Pro, as previously mentioned.
So, let's run through some of the different mounting options available
for all the Godox flashes that are currently on the market.
So, we've got the TT350's here.
We've also got the TT685 and the Godox V1, the Godox AD200 or AD200 Pro,
and also, the Godox AD400 Pro.
Firstly, we've got the mount here.
It does have those two layers that we discussed.
But, when you're using the TT350, it still doesn't support it
in its standard configuration there.
That's already at its lowest setting and you can see it's still loose in there.
So, it wouldn't be advised to use that.
But the great thing is you can actually use it vertically.
So, you'd have to loosen this a little bit.
Let's take a few turns to do that.
And you'd be able to put it in its vertical position there.
So, you can put a single flash in a vertical position.
And the great thing is you can actually use two flashes.
So, I've got two here with me.
And using the X1, X Pro, or X2 triggers, you can fire them off wirelessly.
And you can use two TT350's if you have them available.
Otherwise, with that flat part still installed,
you can mount standard speedlights.
So, this is the TT685 and also the TT600.
You can just mount them as per usual.
There we go.
So, that's just mounted now as its standard configuration.
Now, one great thing about the S2
is something that the previous model couldn't do,
which is mount the Godox V1 Flash.
So, the V1 Flash is obviously a round-head flash
and it was a little too big for the previous S-type bracket.
Now, to mount the V1, what you need to do is
actually just loosen that a little bit and slide out those two layers
for mounting points and remove the first one.
So, that one, there's the flat one.
Install that bottom layer.
You can see that's the rounded part there that supports the V1.
The V1 slides straight in there.
And you just screw down to tighten once again.
So, that's really great to mount the V1 Flash
because the V1 actually has those different magnetic modifiers
from the AK-R1 kit.
But then, on top of that,
you obviously have the options to mount different Bowens modifiers
as well as an umbrella.
Now, once you remove that top part, you can actually also mount
the AD200 and AD200 Pro.
So, I've got the AD200 here with me.
And just a standard head here, a standard-sized head.
This is the LED head.
But, it's the same size as the flash head
that's included with it that now mounts directly just like so
you can do it horizontally or you can also do it vertically.
Similarly to the Godox V1,
you've got the AD200 that you can mount the H200R.
So, that's a round-head as well.
And you can see it's pretty much the same head in terms of size.
So, that also mounts to the new Godox S2 Bracket.
And once again, it does have that mechanic mounting point
that supports the AK-R1 accessory kit for Godox.
So, that's a great thing to have.
Now, lastly is this final feature
which allows it to support the Godox AD400 Pro flash.
So, to do that, you need to remove this final layer
and that allows it for a larger opening here
and you need to just loosen that all the way...
...and simply mount the AD400 Pro through there.
So, AD400 Pro, out of the box actually doesn't have any Bowens mount.
So, that's probably why you'd use it with something like the S2.
You can pre-install the Bowens mount that's included,
but what happens is it won't actually fit into the case anymore.
So, for someone that doesn't want to pre-install the Godox Bowens mount
onto the AD400 Pro, what you can do is just leave it off.
And then, if you do have the S2 bracket, that allows you to use it
for all your different accessories if you have multiple flashes from Godox.
You can see that round part there is that silver mounting point that
you actually need to use to fit that into the S2.
Slide that in.
And you just need to screw down a little bit to tighten securely there.
So, just make sure that's nice and tight because it is quite back heavy here
due to the fact that it's got its battery and the rest of the weight out back here.
Now, in terms of that horizontal mounting point that we discussed earlier,
what you can do is actually reposition this head here.
And what you'll find is it actually won't allow you to mount it completely
because the actual light stand mount of the AD400 Pro,
although tucked in at the bump here, restricts the movement there.
What you can do--
or one of the main features, I guess, for mounting this horizontally would be
to actually use it top-down like that.
So, you can definitely use the AD400 Pro top-down.
I mean, you can do it already with the bracket that's really there.
It's just Godox allowing all the different features
and all the different flashes to be used with the new bracket.
So, I guess it's good in a way and mounting it top-down that way.
So, if you add a modifier, that'll create some great moody shots there.
This is on a desktop stand.
So, it's not really that secure and stable.
But if you put it on to a larger light stand or C-stand of some sort,
you can definitely get quite a lot of height
as well as a nice big modifier such as a big octabox
and creating some really nice moody portraits there,
or adding a bit of depth to your shots in terms of the lighting.
So, all the different range of flashes that you can see
are supported by the new S2 bracket, which is great considering that
it's not too expensive compared to the previous model.
Now, running through some of the different lighting modifier options
that you have available to the new Godox S2 bracket.
It was the same as a previous model.
I personally think this is probably one
of the most essential pieces to have in your kit,
especially if you're an on-location photographer.
Simply because you have the convenience to mount
different lighting modifiers on to a different off-camera flash.
So, if you're just using the off-camera flash
without any modifiers, the light, typically,
is a little too harsh or a little too flat.
So, what you can do is obviously mount softboxes on there.
And this is a Bowens S-type bracket,
so that means it supports all Bowens modifiers,
including softboxes, barn doors, beauty dishes,
snoots, reflector dishes, and things like that.
So, that's really great.
And you also have the option to mount the umbrella there at the bottom.
A couple of different options that are available from the Godox range
is obviously you can support other collapsible softboxes by Godox,
as well as the constructible softboxes.
They also have beauty dishes available.
But, one great modifier that they have is actually a tulip softbox.
And I have one here with me.
So, this is the Godox Tulip Softbox.
This is a 60x60 size.
I mean, it's collapsible, basically,
because you can actually fold this down into a small size,
just like that, and pack it away.
It's similar to a car visor.
And you can see there it's sort of like a triangle shape here.
You can open that up to be a tulip softbox,
which is essentially a square-foot box.
I've pre-constructed one here.
And there you go. It's already constructed.
There's no rods or anything or the Bowens mounts at the back there.
It's just simply a frame here, a flexible frame.
And you've got your modifier here.
They typically come with an internal diffuser as well.
But we've only got the external diffuser mounted here.
Now, the great thing about this softbox in particular,
is that you can actually mount this directly to the S-type bracket
without the need of a speedring.
Then what you'll see is the opening.
There's a circle opening there.
Usually, you can use a speedring if you're wanting to mount it directly to,
say, a studio flash or something like that.
But you can actually just mount that directly on to the S-type bracket here,
this model and also the previous model.
Just using friction through the back here.
So, I just make sure all of the edges are actually fitting.
There we go.
So, it actually holds on quite sturdily there.
And you can actually reposition this.
I mean, I've only got it on a small desktop stand,
but you can reposition that.
And the softbox itself won't fall out
because what's happening is it's actually held by
the frame there at the back, which is really great because, obviously,
that means you can forego the whole speedring situation
and just use the actual back of the softbox there.
And that's a really great portable setup for an on-location photographer,
if you're just wanting to have a collapsible softbox
as well as the off-camera flash paired with your trigger and your camera.
So, that was just a quick look and review of the Godox S2 bracket.
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