Hähnel Modus 600RT

£229/$255 Power to the people

Something of a flashgun revolutionary, the Modus 600RT uses a lithium-ion battery pack, rather than AA cells. It has a powerful Gn 60 rated maximum output, along with a superfast 1.5-second recycling speed, beating all comers in this group test. Stamina is excellent too, with around 550 full-power flashes on a full charge.

The basic flashgun is available in Canon, Nikon, Fujifilm and Sony versions, each with a built-in RF transceiver. Upmarket features include a 20-200mm zoom head, high-speed sync and programmable repeat flash modes. Build quality is good too.

Performance

With its powerful maximum output, consistently accurate TTL metering, and super-fast recycling, the Hähnel can match or beat camera manufacturers’ own-brand rangetopping flashguns for performance.