Pixel X900 Flash

Powerful Radio & Optical Slave

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Performance   User's Guide   Recommendations

Pixel X900 Flash

Pixel X900 Flash (20.4 oz./577 g with included Li-Ion battery, rated GN 60m/197' at 200mm, measured GN 46m/151' at 200mm, measured GN 24m/80' at 35mm, measured 2.2s recycle time, optical & 2.4GHz RF slave, red LED AF illuminator, integral bounce card & wide panel, sold as model X900C for Canon: $120 and model X900N for Nikon: $120). bigger. It comes with a load of accessories and you can get more at Amazon.

This 100% all-content, junk-free website's biggest source of support is when you use those or any of these links to my personally-approved sources when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live. Thanks for helping me help you! Ken.

 

March 2019   Better Pictures   Nikon   Canon   Sony   Fuji   LEICA   All Reviews

Nikon Flash

Canon Flash

Pixel X900 Flash

Pixel X900 flash. bigger.

Please help KenRockwell.com

 

Introduction

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Good   Bad   Missing

Adorama Pays Top Dollar for Used Gear

Amazon

B&H Photo - Video - Pro Audio

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I buy only from these approved sources. I can't vouch for ads below.

The Pixel X900 is a fast, high-powered, full-featured flash that comes for Canon and for Nikon.

It has the same power output and features as Nikon and Canon's top flashes, recycles immediately, and here's the best part: instead of running on 4-AA cells you have to supply it comes with its own dedicated Li-Ion rechargeable battery pack and charger, which belts out more flashes with more power faster than flashes using 4-AAs can.

The big, lightweight battery is rated for an amazing 700 full-power shots per charge, compared to only 100~200 shots per set of 4-AA alkalines or Ni-MH in the top Canon and Nikon flashes with similar power.

It's much less expensive and built that way, too. It comes with a full load of accessories: case, Sto-Fen style diffuser, stand, battery and charger.

Its head has a huge zoom range from 20~200mm (with "focused" and "diffuse" modifications), and has a built-in wide panel and bounce card, too.

It does what a flash is supposed to do: belt out loads of power without stalling or overheating. Bravo!

 

Good

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com Essentially the same features performance as Nikons and Canon's $600 flashes — for $120.

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com Optical slave compatible with Nikon or Canon's systems.

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com 2.4 GHz radio slave (works only with the Pixel King Pro Radio Trigger, not with Nikon or Canon's radio control systems).

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com State-of-the-art weather-sealed locking foot.

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com High power.

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com Fast recycle time: measured at 2.2 seconds from full-power!

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com Huge zoom range from 20mm to 200mm and beyond

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com Wide panel.

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com Integrated bounce card.

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com Easy to use and program.

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com Potent battery included.

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com Included charger has a great red and green LED display showing charging progress.

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com Diffuser, case & foot included.

green ball icon © KenRockwell.com 4 watt white LED lamp.

 

Bad

red ball icon © KenRockwell.com First sample overheated.

red ball icon © KenRockwell.com Chinese domestic product — support & etc. comes direct from China.

 

Missing

gray ball icon © KenRockwell.com Seems like it includes everything for its low price except maybe light-balancing filters.

gray ball icon © KenRockwell.com Radio control only works with the matching Pixel King Pro Radio Trigger. It isn't compatible with Nikon's or Canon's own proprietary radio control systems. As the Pixel King Pro Radio Trigger costs much less than the Nikon or Canon solutions I don't know if you'd consider this bad or good.

 

Specifications

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Rated Power

Guide Number (GN) 60m/197' at 100~200mm setting.

See also Measured Power.

 

Recycle time

Rated 1.5 seconds at full power.

See also Measured Recycle Times.

 

AF Assist Beam

29 red laser points.

 

Manual Flash

Full to 1/128 in third stops.

 

Stroboscopic Flash

1 ~ 500 Hz.

1 ~ 100 flashes at 1/8 ~ 1/128 power per instance.

 

Radio Slave

2.4 GHz FSK

 

Zoom Head

20mm to 200mm.

Zooms a little beyond each to accommodate "Focused" and "Diffused" settings for all.

Flip-down ultrawide panel.

Clip-on diffuser included.

Pull-out catchlight bounce card.

 

Bounce Head

-7º to +90º

±180º left or right.

 

Quality

Made in China.

 

Battery

Pixel X900 Flash

Included H23 battery. bigger.

Included.

Rated 700 full-power shots per charge.

 

Charger

Pixel X900 Flash

Included charger and adapters. bigger.

Included charger includes adapters for worldwide use.

Great red and green LED display shows if it's charging or not and the current charge percentage.

 

Flash Size

2.9 × 2.4 × 7.6 inches.

73.5 × 61 × 192 millimeters.

 

Flash Weight

Measured 20.365 oz. (577.4 g) with included Li-Ion battery.

Rated 14.8 oz. (420g) empty.

 

Included

Flash

Velcro Nylon case.

Clip-on Sto-Fen style diffuser (not shown here)

Stand.

Battery

Charger and charger power adapter.

USA and foreign power plug adapters.

Pixel X900 Flash

Included case. bigger.

 

Price, USA

$120 for Canon and $120 for Nikon, March 2019.

Pixel X900 Flash

Box, Pixel X900 flash. bigger.

 

Optional Accessories

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Performance   User's Guide   Recommendations

 

Pixel King Pro Radio Trigger

 

Performance

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Performance   User's Guide   Recommendations

 

Overall

At any price this flash is excellent at belting out more power faster and longer than any 4-AA-powered pro flash.

It also has the same boatload of remote and other features as top Nikon and Canon flashes, just that the overall build quality and quality control isn't as tight. For one-fifth the price, do you care?

 

Measured Power

Zoom Setting
GN, Meters
GN, feet
w/Diffuser cup, 90º bounce
8.5
28
w/Diffuser cup, 45º bounce
10
32
w/Diffuser cup, not bounced
15
48
Wide Panel
16
53
20mm
23
76
35mm
24
80
50mm
30
100
105mm
41
134
200mm
46
151

 

Measured Recycle Time

2.2 seconds after a full-power flash with a room-temperature battery with at least a half a charge.

2.37 seconds after a full-power flash with a battery with at least a half a charge warm from heavy use.

2.6 seconds after a full-power flash with a battery charged at 25%.

 

Rear LCD

The rear LCD is well lit by green LEDs when you want it to be lit.

The text is small and light, but will be legible to people with good eyesight (or glasses).

 

White LED Light

The white LED is mostly for looking around your camera bag or looking for lens caps under chairs.

It's only 1-1/2 stops brighter than the flashlight of my iPhone Xs Max, so it's not going to help anything for still or video photography except if you're shooting in pitch dark and just need to see something.

It's easy to use: just press the button on the side of the flash while the flash is on.

The white light covers 180º with a lot of diffusion.

 

User's Guide

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Performance   User's Guide   Recommendations

 

See also Pixel's X900 Users Manual.

 

TTL vs TTL BL Modes

For some odd reason it's much easier to find the archaic traditional TTL mode in the usual rotation of modes when pressing the MODE button. Don't use the TTL mode; always use the TTLB BL, balanced TTL mode.

Nikon and Canon tend to hide the old TTL mode in the menus, requiring you to disable ambient-balanced lighting, so it only gets activated if you really want it.

The old TTL mode isn't balanced with ambient light. It was the first mode to come out in the 1980s, but was quickly replaced in most camera systems with today's default TTL modes that balance the flash with ambient light.

If you accidently use the regular TTL mode the flash exposes the picture for 100% flash expecting no ambient light, meaning that most of the time you get overexposure from the combination of the flash exposure with extra ambient light.

 

Overheating

While it seems reasonably resistant to the flash tube overheating during shooting, my first sample had a manufacturing defect which caused the case (right in the center around which the head pivots) to get dangerously hot. Luckily I was paying attention and shut it off, but its own temperature sensors should have shut it off.

Just be sure yours doesn't do anything funny if left on for more than 10 minutes at a time. Even my defective sample was safe if left with the SLEEP DELAY set to five or ten minutes.

I suggest you set yours to sleep after five minutes of non use, or at least be sure to turn it off when you put it away in your bag or leave it unattended until you're sure that yours has no problem. The case should not get warm or hot if it's on and you're not taking pictures.

 

Recommendations

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Performance   User's Guide   Recommendations

This cheap flash works surprisingly well, with all the features of the top radio-controlled flashes from Canon and Nikon, and its big included battery lets it shoot more shots faster than either Nikon or Canon's flashes can. The big Li-Ion battery doesn't get as hot as AA Ni-MH do during heavy shooting, and recycles at least as fast.

If you only use your flash on-camera or don't need radio control and want a low price, it's better to buy a used Canon 580EX II or a used Nikon SB-700 to get higher quality at about the same price (580EX II review and SB-700 review.) Both this flash and camera-brand flash respond to the camera-makers' optical control systems.

However, if you need the latest radio-control features for off-camera flash and your only other option are the $600 flash and triggers, consider these. The radio-control features on this flash don't work with Nikon's or Canon's radio triggers, they work with the less expensive Pixel King Pro Radio Trigger instead.

This 100% all-content website's biggest source of support is when you use those or any of these links to approved sources when you get anything, regardless of the country in which you live. Buy only from the approved sources I use myself for the best prices, service, return policies and selection.

Thanks for helping me help you!

Ken, Mrs. Rockwell, Ryan and Katie.

 

© Ken Rockwell. All rights reserved. Tous droits réservés. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

 

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04 March 2019