Why Is My Godox Flash Not Firing?

Sometimes the first big step of learning how to use flash is fully understanding how your equipment works. There are so many buttons and settings! I remember feeling really overwhelmed at first and wondering in frustration “Why is my Godox Flash not firing?”. Expecting your flash to fire and nothing happening is the worst, especially if you’re in the middle of a session! In today’s post, let’s do a little troubleshooting and discuss possible reasons. Most importantly, let’s figure out how to fix it!

TL/DR: Why Is My Godox Flash Not Firing?

If your Godox flash is not working, check whether:

• The camera’s silent shutter is turned OFF.
• The camera’s shutter speed is at or below it’s sync speed.
• Your flashes are on the same channel.
• The flashes are in the correct mode.
• Your trigger or flash are fully pushed into the hot shoe of the camera.
• Recycle time is happening due to drained battery.
• All of the components are “awake” instead of in sleep mode.

Godox Flash Not Firing Due To Recycle Time

One of the prime reasons that your flash may not be firing consistently, every time that you push the trigger, is recycle time. In simple terms, your flash requires time to recharge from the battery after it fires. If the light on your flash is blinking red and your flash is not firing, this is a sign that the flash is in the process of re-charging. Once the light turns green, the flash is charged and ready to fire again.

I consistently use the Godox VI for my in-home photography sessions. I have been very pleased with the powerful performance of the battery. For the first several firings of my flash, the recycle time is minimal. I can practically fire my flash continuously. However, as I drain the battery, the recycle time can become longer. (I tend to be a little click happy when working with young children and will drain my flash more quickly during those sessions.) Using a flash at full power (1/1) will drain the battery quicker. Using a flash power of 1/32 or less can help minimize your Godox flash not firing due to recycle time.

Is Your Shutter Speed Too Fast?

Each camera body has a specific sync speed. The sync speed is the highest shutter speed at which your camera can use flash (unless you have specifically set up for high sync mode). My camera body is the Sony A7IV and its shutter sync speed is 1/250. On my camera body, if I have my flash in the hot shoe for on-camera flash and set the shutter speed to 1/300 or faster, my shutter will not fire. My camera will literally not let me take a photo unless my shutter speed is set to 1/250 or slower.

One of the first steps to using flash is figuring out your camera body’s sync speed. Your camera may still allow you to take a photo with your shutter speed set faster than the sync speed, but the image may turn out distorted with black bands.

Is You Silent Shutter Turned On?

Does your camera have an electronic shutter mode or silent shooting mode? My Sony a7iv sure does. Unfortunately, silent shooting mode and flash don’t work well together. Most cameras need the mechanical shutter to be turned on in order to activate a flash. If your Godox flash is not firing, double check that your mechanical shutter is turned on!

Are Your Flashes On The Same Channel?

When setting up for off-camera flash, you must make sure that your trigger and off camera flash are set to the same channel. The channel is denoted by “CH” and a number. If one of your off-camera flashes is not firing along with the rest, stop and make sure that it’s not on a different channel. It has to be on the correct channel in order to get the signal to fire. (I will note that if I accidentally have two off-camera flashes set to the same channel and group, one of my flashes will turn itself to “off”. It will literally say “OFF” on the screen. If using more than one off camera flash they need to be set to different groups; which are denoted by a letter. Restarting the flash and setting it to a different group generally fixes this issue.)

Likewise, make sure that your flash is in the correct mode for set up you are trying to accomplish. Not sure where to start with that? You seriously need to sign up for my FREE Quick Start Flash Course.

Related Post: How to Sync A Godox Flash with a Trigger.

Is Your Flash in the Correct Mode?

If you’re using off camera flash, double check that the flash is in the correct mode. It should be in a slave/receiver mode in order to be trigger by another flash or trigger. My camera screen turns orange when it is in this mode.

Likewise, if you are using a flash on camera to control other flashes off camera, make sure it is in master/transmitter mode. Otherwise the flashes will not communicate!

Is Your Trigger or Flash Fully Pushed Into the Hot Shoe?

Sometimes the fit of your flash or trigger into the hot shoe is a little tight at first. Make sure everything is fully making contact so that it will communicate. One of my students once actually managed to mount her flash backwards on her Nikon camera. Whoops!! So make sure everything is also oriently correctly while you’re at it!

Has A Component Fallen Asleep?

Not to sound like Roy from the IT Crowd but, “Have you tried turning it off and on again?”

Seriously though, sometimes if there’s a lull in shooting, one of my flashes will go to sleep and my trigger won’t wake it back up. Usually I can hit the center button on the flash to wake it up. However, sometimes something glitches and turning the flashes off and back on solves the problem of why my Godox flash is not firing.

Help Beyond Your Godox Flash Not Firing

Looking for help getting started at the very beginning of the process? I’m here to help! Sometimes the hardest part of using flash is figuring out all of the buttons and settings. My personal confusion over what it all meant and how it all worked honestly kept me from using flash for a long time. I simply felt overwhelmed!

Therefore, I have put together a FREE QUICK-START COURSE FOR FLASH to help you master the basics and get started. Click below to sign up!

Related Post: How to use the Godox V1 as a Trigger

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