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I just purchased a Godox X2T-N transmitter for my Nikon D5100, along with a Godox TT600 speedlite.

Playing with it I noticed pictures were cut in half horizontally, the upper part being more illuminated than the lower half. At first I thought it was a camera issue, but after some checks I eventually figured it was a synchronization issue : there is a latency between the flash light and the shutter closure.

The setup is as simple as possible with these three elements : the transmitter is fixed on the camera hot shoe, the flash set as slave (S1) in group A, channel 1.

The camera shutter speed is set (in manual mode) to 1/200 (which seems to be the highest shutter speed authorized when the transmitter is mounted), and the anti-red-eye is disabled. The trigger is set to high-speed sync (although I actually first noticed this in second-curtain sync mode). Camera exposure delay mode doesn't improve things, and neither does the X2T delay setting.

I saw the Godox download page has a fix for "the problem that when setting the shutter to high-speed sync and shooting continuously in 1Dx and 1DxII cameras, the shutter sometimes will return to low speed" on the Canon version of the transmitter, could this be a similar issue ?

Anyway, before attempting to contact Godox I wanted to know if there were other settings I could possibly check to cancel this lag, or if there was any workaround besides reducing the shutter speed ?

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Since your camera is not HSS capable, you need to set the transmitter to normal first curtain sync. Have you tried that? \$\endgroup\$
    – Michael C
    Apr 7, 2020 at 8:27
  • \$\begingroup\$ Any firmware/software compatibility issue between the Canon version of Godox triggers and Canon 1-series cameras like the 1D X and 1D X Mark II have nothing to do with the Nikon versions of Godox triggers, which reverse engineer Nikon, not Canon, protocols. \$\endgroup\$
    – Michael C
    Apr 7, 2020 at 8:29
  • \$\begingroup\$ @MichaelC AFAICS there is no such setting, only high-speed sync and second-curtain sync. \$\endgroup\$
    – Skippy le Grand Gourou
    Apr 7, 2020 at 8:36
  • \$\begingroup\$ When nothing is showing for sync mode on the panel it is in first curtain sync. \$\endgroup\$
    – Michael C
    Apr 7, 2020 at 9:46
  • \$\begingroup\$ @MichaelC There is never "nothing" on the sync panel, only the two forementioned options. \$\endgroup\$
    – Skippy le Grand Gourou
    Apr 7, 2020 at 10:03

1 Answer 1

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The Nikon D5100 doesn't have high-speed sync (HSS) capability (apparently Nikon is known to reserve this feature to higher end cameras, as opposed to other manufacturers), so this option is useless in the X2T when used with this camera.

Concerning the X2T delay option, as mentioned in the manual this setting

[sets] the firing delay in high-speed sync

and therefore is of no use with a camera which doesn't support HSS.

As for a workaround, there doesn't seem to be any definitive solution currently. Someone already asked elsewhere and the main suggestions were to increase the flash power and filter the light with a neutral density (ND) filter, or to use a reflector.

Some people are working on unofficial patches for Nikon DSLRs, and according to their wiki they "have made the most progress on the D5100", so this might be a path to investigate. However I didn't find mention of anyone currently working on such a feature in their forums (it seems impossible to register now, I will update this answer when and if I can get any more information).

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Not important, but it's not just Nikon's D3x00 and D5x00 bodies: Fuji also declines to add HSS/FP to their entry level lines (T-### and X-A series). And I think the only possibility may be using tail-sync. \$\endgroup\$
    – inkista
    May 29, 2020 at 19:50

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