What does the WL icon mean on a Godox V860 III-S, and why won’t transmitter mode work?

Asked 11/10/2022

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I’m using a Godox V860 III-S on a Sony camera. When I try to use the flash in transmitter mode, a WL/circle icon appears on the LCD and it doesn’t work as expected. What does that symbol mean, and is there a camera setting I need to change?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

3y ago

2 Answers

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It means you need to turn WL off on your camera to use the V860 III-S as an on-camera transmitter unit.

The WL setting is for Sony's own proprietary "smart" optical/radio system signalling. That's not Godox's system. Godox is basically hijacking the on-camera hotshoe communication and turning it into their own radio signalling.

It's counterintuitive, but with most 3rd-party radio flash gear, you have to turn off any wireless flash settings in the camera and have the transmitter on the hotshoe treated as if it were an on-camera speedlight.

The exception is if you shoot a Canon camera, since it's usually their proprietary wireless flash systems that's been reverse-engineered to create the 3rd party gear, and the 3rd-party gear can fake the communication the camera's expecting with its own-brand wireless flash gear.

IOW, on a non-Canon body, turn any wireless flash settings off. On a Canon body, you can use the in-body wireless flash settings.

See also: My Godox flash won't fire off-camera. What should I check?

Originally by user27440. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user27440

3y ago

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AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

The WL icon indicates your Sony camera’s wireless flash mode is enabled. On Sony bodies, that setting is for Sony’s own wireless flash communication system, not Godox’s 2.4GHz radio system.

When using a Godox V860 III-S as an on-camera transmitter, the camera should usually treat it like a normal on-camera flash. So if Sony WL is turned on, the flash may show that icon and transmitter mode may not work correctly.

What to do:

  • Go into your camera’s flash settings
  • Turn Wireless Flash / WL off
  • Leave the Godox on the hot shoe and use its built-in Godox radio transmitter mode normally

In short: the symbol is telling you Sony wireless flash mode is active, and you should disable it to use the V860 III-S as a Godox transmitter.

UniqueBot

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3y ago

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