What external flash is actually gonna give me the best skin tones and recycle times for outdoor portraits on my Canon 5D Mark IV? I’ve been shooting professionally for about six years now mostly doing landscapes and some lifestyle stuff but I just landed this huge wedding contract for a friend in Seattle next month and I am honestly kinda freaking out because they want that super polished high-end look even in mid-day sun. I have always been a natural light only kind of photographer mostly because I was intimidated by the tech side of strobes but I know I cant fake this one. I need something that talks perfectly to my Canon bodies without skipping a beat.

I was looking at the Canon Speedlite 600EX II-RT because obviously it’s native but man that price tag is steep for something I might not use every single day. I’ve heard everyone raving about the Godox V1 with the round head and the V860III but I’m worried about the color consistency between shots because I’ve heard third party stuff can sometimes drift a bit blue or yellow when it gets hot. Is the round head actually a game changer for fall-off or is that just marketing hype? I’m looking to spend maybe $400 or so tops because I also need to pick up a decent trigger and a softbox to go with it.

I really need something with high speed sync because I’m gonna be shooting at f/1.2 or f/1.8 most of the time and I don’t want to be stuck at 1/200th of a second and blowing out my backgrounds. Also battery life is huge for me since I’ll be on my feet for 10 hours straight. Does the lithium ion battery in the Godox really hold up better than just carrying a pocket full of Eneloops for a standard Canon flash? I'm so excited to finally step up my lighting game but there are just way too many options and I dont want to buy something that's gonna overheat after twenty minutes of shooting...