Somewhere between the hotshoe gun and the studio flash lives a series of small stand flashes, which are designed to be used when you want a bit of off-camera light when away from home. In reality, of course, all flash units are portable, it’s just a question of how much effort you are happy to put in to carry one. Not all studio-style flash heads, however, will fit in a camera bag alongside your lenses and sandwiches. And while all hotshoe guns can be mounted on a stand, they usually need an adapter to do so which suddenly means there are extra things to carry. What we have here in this Neewer Q120 is a flash that’s not too much bigger than a hotshoe-style head, but which acts like a studio head, so we get off-camera shooting without the weight and the set-up.

　　Whether I’m the right person to review this product I don’t know. I have always had a significant soft-spot for small, handy and powerful flash units, so I shall try to keep my enthusiasm from overwhelming my judgement.

　　Neewer Q120 Key Points Off-camera flash: 120W portable studio flash with angled light stand mount and umbrella slot Compatibility: TTL for Canon, Nikon and Sony, but manual for all camera brands via ‘Single Pin’ mode Triggering: Compatible with Godox X system triggers and flashes, so can be used as a transmitter or receiver in a group of Godox heads Neewer Q120 Features The Neewer Q120 is a 120W head that forms part of the Neewer Q system of on- and off-camera flashes. With no way to mount the flash on a camera, the Q120 is designed to be fixed on a stand and fired remotely. Neewer has a pair of hotshoe triggers to choose from for this purpose (the QPro TTL and the more recent QZ TTL) but the Q120 can also be controlled via one of the company’s Q-compatible hotshoe guns such as the excellent Neewer Z3R.

　　This time, though, we also have compatibility with the Godox 2.4G X system, so the Q120 can be used in groups with Godox heads either to control or be controlled by them. I mention this early as Godox has had a good deal of success with its flash systems and a lot of readers will already be invested. Of course, with this additional compatibility we get synchronisation with the Sekonic L-858D light meter as well. Should you wish to go back in time, you can also use a sync cable between your camera’s sync port and the 2.5mm sync socket on the flash.

　　Many of the features of this Q120 are very similar to those of the Neewer Z3R hotshoe flash mentioned above. The flash power output is the same and we have strobe modes of up to 100Hz, five groups, high speed sync and front/rear sync, as well as optical slave triggering that means we can trip this unit with any flash new or old. Like the Z3R this Neewer Q120 has a modelling light built into the head, but on this occasion we get just 3W instead of 12W adjustable over ten steps. Seems odd perhaps that a hotshoe head should have a brighter modelling lamp than the ‘studio’ head, but as this is being promoted as an outdoor flash, even a 12W modelling light won’t be much use.

　　When a full-power blast is too much for the situation, we have manual settings down to 1/256th in 1/10th stop increments, and of course in TTL mode that will all be dealt with in communication with the camera. Users of Canon, Nikon and Sony camera systems get TTL control via the Neewer Q system controllers, but with Godox triggers compatibility widens somewhat. While I used the Nikon-dedicated controller, I was also able to trigger the Q120 from Lumix, Sony and Fujifilm cameras using the single-pin-triggering mode. No TTL, but all the manual control you could shake a stick at. And when you want to shoot with particularly short shutter speeds, the HSS mode via the QZ TTL or QPro TTL triggers lets us work at 1/8000sec – in manual or TTL modes.

　　Flash duration depends on the power setting in use, but should vary between 1/220sec and 1/23,000sec, and Neewer tells us that the colour temperature we could expect will be around a very slightly warm 5600K, give or take 100K. While not specifically ‘daylight’ for most camera’s white balance settings, this should give us a happy skin tone that will look attractive and flattering. Slightly warm flash is nearly always better than slightly cool.

　　One of the things that makes this head attractive is its size and weight. I’m not sure it was done on purpose or not, but the 81x81mm dimensions of the body fit very nicely into a lens compartment in my soft camera bag, with the 143mm length of the head no greater than a 70-200mm f/4 lens. The 671g weight is somewhat less than that of most such lenses.

　　Neewer Q120 Build and handling Like most Neewer products, the Q120 is made very nicely. It is solid and seems rugged, and there’s not much about it that looks like it will fall apart or break. Though gladly I haven’t tried it, I suspect will be reasonably drop-proof too.

　　If you have used a Neewer Q or Z flash unit before, you’ll find that the controls on this model are very similar, and you’ll probably be able to work things out without recourse to the handbook. The standard locking feature requires us to turn the control wheel to bring the unit to life after pressing the on/off button, and the small-but-readable rear screen displays all we need to know about the modes and settings that are in operation.

　　A total of seven buttons on the rear of the unit help us very quickly get to the features we want to use, and make switching from one mode to another easy. We don’t need to remember double presses or combinations of buttons things are well marked and simple to navigate. I really value that.

　　As the Godox compatibility mode is a new feature that’s been added to an existing system, it is rather tagged on to the bottom of the main menu. But even there it is simple to find and adjust.

　　It’s pretty convenient that the Q120 uses the same 3000mAh NB-Z1 Pro battery that powers some of the Z-series hotshot flashes such as the Z3R so those using both units can share batteries between the two. Spares are listed at $49.99 / £48.99, but they are almost constantly on a special offer of some kind.

　　The battery compartment is located on the rear of the flash, alongside the display panel, so the battery will always be able to pop out easily, without changing the direction of the head or taking it off a stand. Conveniently too, its USB port is exposed when it is in the flash body, so we can charge it while it is in place you don’t need to take it out.

　　The body is well vented, so we shouldn’t be troubled by over-heating, and the three-speed fan also helps here. There are two anti-rotation pinholes either side of the 1/4in 20 thread, so once the head is screwed onto the supplied mount it should stay securely in place.

　　At the risk of becoming a bore about the Neewer Studio app, it’s worth mentioning here that we can control the Q120 from our smartphones, using the app to adjust almost everything, to trigger the flash and crucially, to set the power output independently of the remote trigger, and then have the remote re-take control once the app is closed. That’s very useful indeed.

　　Neewer Q120 In use For such a small head, the Neewer Q120 is nicely powerful. I measured f/16 at 2m and ISO 100 which is equal to the output of the Neewer Z3R, and more than sufficient for most location shooting situations. While the body has the means for mounting it on a stand, I spent a lot of time with it in my hand, holding it at arm’s length above my head for walk-around shots. In these situations, I found it a good match for the bright summer sun of central Europe. I was able to fill shadows nicely, and even overpower the sun with a nice direct blast to the face from 10-12 feet.

　　The head comes with a domed diffuser, the size of half a tennis ball, which snaps over the flash and is held in place by magnets. This knocks about half a stop from the output but dramatically alters the characteristic of the light. Without the dome diffuser we get even coverage for a 35mm lens, but noticeable falloff towards the corners of the frame with a 28mm. With the dome, the light is distributed nicely across the frame with a 24mm fitted. The diffuser also reduces some of the harshness of a direct flash, creating a slightly more flattering light to the extent you can use it for portraits without upsetting the subject with wrinkles, spots and over-textured skin.

　　Adding softbox or dish modifiers involves fitting the Q120 into the Neewer CRB1 Bowens mount adapter, that’s designed for the round-headed Z series guns. There are also magnetic clip-on filters and a grid should you wish to shape or colour the light, which can be used with or without the CRB1. Umbrella users, though, can slide a shaft through the umbrella clamp on the supplied hinged bracket that allows the Q120 to fit on a light stand.

　　Obviously, all these fittings will knock some power out of the gun, and when we begin adding multiple layers of diffusion/colours we should expect to lose a couple of stops of light. But pushing the camera from ISO 100 to 400 compensates without the addition of too much noise.

　　Neewer says we should expect about 410 full power bursts from the battery if we don’t use the modelling light although the modelling light hardly uses much power. I have no reason to quarrel with this figure, as I used the head a great deal and only charged it once and even then just as a precaution.

　　Neewer Q120 Verdict On paper there’s not too much to separate this Neewer Q120 from the hotshoe-flavoured Neewer Z3R, so whether you buy one over the other comes down to form-factors and whether you want to use your flash on the camera or off the camera. I’m quite a fan of getting the flash out of the hotshoe whenever possible, and this head encourages us to do that all the time, instead of just when we think of it. And we’ll save £30 as an extra incentive.

　　This is a very neat little head that houses more features than its size and price might suggest, and which I think most photographers will find useful. I used it for portraits and floral pictures, as well as some macro and a bit of architecture and it performed really well in all cases. It’s a great, and not heavy, addition to the camera bag that can make a big difference to our photography.

　　I like that it is so easy to use, and that if I’m prepared to walk around with the remote in my hotshoe, I only have to take this flash out of the bag, switch it on and it’s ready to fire. A lot of photographers are a bit scared of flash, but in this Neewer Q120 it’s actually easy to use, fun and creative. I liked it before I started using it, and I’m glad to say I like it even more now the tests are all done.

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