Westcott’s New S18 Mini Flash

credits: Westsott

Westcott has announced the S18 Mini, a compact and basic on-camera flash. It delivers 18Ws of output with a guide number of 16 at ISO 100, which puts it a bit above what you would get from a built-in flash, but still well below a full-size speed-light. It uses a single-pin hot shoe, so it will work across different camera brands, but there is no TTL or any kind of automatic exposure control.

Everything here is manual. Power can be adjusted across 19 steps over a 7-stop range, with 0.3-stop increments, so you do get fairly precise control, but you will obviously have to dial it in yourself. The flash head tilts from -3° to 72°, which allows for some basic bounce lighting, although there is no horizontal swivel, so you are limited to vertical adjustments. Recycle times are listed between 0.01 and 2.5 seconds, depending on the power level, which is about what you would expect for something in this range.

It runs on a built-in 3.7V 1250mAh battery, charged over USB-C, and is rated for up to 500 full-power flashes per charge. It also comes with a set of colour gels, including diffusion and CTO options, which can slightly change the look of the light. Weight comes in at 100 grams, with pricing set at $40

You can see full details on Westcott’s website here