I've read about an "alt/mask" feature on some of Godox's studio lights (AD200, AD600, QT600II). It looks like it's some method for creating a firing sequence among multiple lights. What exactly is this feature, and what is it good for?
Answer
The MASK/ALT Feature
MASK/ALT defines groups and a firing sequence for those groups for multiple lights. Successive presses of the shutter will fire a different group of lights each time. All lights must be in M mode. It's called MASK/ALT because it's often used to create freeze masks, and because the firing alternates/rotates between the groups.
On the AD600, custom function 3 is the MASK feature, and you set two values: the UNIT, and the ALT.
The UNIT feature is how many groups of lights you want the firing sequence to cycle through. It can be 2 MASK, 3 ALT, or 4 ALT. The ALT value sets which group the light is in: 1, 2, or 3.
On the QT600II, custom function 3 is the MASK feature, and you simply set the group for the light to n1, n2, or n3.
On the AD200, MASK is custom function 5, and you can set the group to n1 or n2.
Once everything is set, firing rotates through the defined groups of lights in sequence. So, n1 lights fire first, then on the next shot, the n2 lights, and so on.
Uses
There are two main uses this function is good for.
The first is for high-volume product photography, where you often want to mask out the background. If you define your key lights as one group, and your background lights as the other, you'll get a shot of the subject, and then get a white-background/black silhouette shot, perfect for defining a mask, as well. This is why the two-group setting is also called MASK on the AD600.
The second usage is to cut down the amount of time required to recycle a light. You can alternate firing among multiple units, effectively halving/thirding/quartering the recycle time between bursts, depending on how many flashes you have set up in this manner. Burst shooting with sports can be possible.
See also:
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