By Tati Taylor 4 days ago, Photography Gear
External devices, connected with the help of hot and cold shoes, will come in handy for professional photographers and beginners who want to improve the functionality of their cameras. In this article, I will compare hot shoe vs cold shoe photography and tell you about the main differences between these mounting devices. With their help, you can mount a range of external devices to the camera body, including an external flashgun, microphone, GPS adapter, etc.
You can use a hot shoe on your analog or digital camera. This accessory looks like a metal bracket. You can use it to attach a variety of devices to your camera and stabilize them when taking photos. When comparing hot shoe vs cold shoe, you will see that the former comes with electrical contacts that allow you to connect your camera with external gadgets without extra cords. Besides being used as a mount for external photo devices, a hot shoe can significantly improve the functionality of your camera.
When selecting a hot shoe, keep in mind that it might be not supported by some camera brands. Each camera model has its unique features. Hot shoe mounts also differ depending on the manufacturer. A hot shoe should have specific electrical contacts, which is why you won’t be able to use Nikon flash with a Canon camera.
You can also find off-brand camera flashes that are compatible with almost all camera models. However, photographers prefer using the devices released by well-known brands since a professional camera might be incompatible with third-party devices.
Radio trigger will come in handy for those who need to turn on the studio lighting remotely. By using it, you can control the shutter, which makes it perfect for taking long-exposure shots.
When selecting a wireless trigger, you need to take into account the brand of your camera and the manufacturer of your lighting kit. Those who have a Canon camera and the Godox studio lighting system may use the Godox X1T-C E-TTL remote trigger.
GPS receiver will come in handy for those who need to save the EXIF metadata. Only some cameras allow you to record it, but you can use an external receiver and mount it on your camera using the hot shoe. Start by checking whether the device you are going to use is compatible with your camera. If you have a Nikon camera, you should be able to mount the GPS-N Plus High-Precision Camera GPS Receiver on it since it’s compatible with most models released by this brand.
You can use a variety of brackets if you want to mount some devices on your camera using a hot-shoe adapter. It’s suitable for flashes, microphones and other accessories. You can select any bracket system for your budget and needs.
A cold shoe is a convenient mount for camera accessories that comes without electrical cords. When comparing hot shoe vs cold shoe, it’s important to remember that the latter doesn’t allow you to synchronize the camera’s body with a flash without additional cables, cords, power extenders, wireless devices, etc.
If you are interested in flash photography, you can choose from a variety of cold shoe models. The most basic models come with brackets on top. They have a thread mount at the bottom. The only thing you need to do to use them is to mount your flash and fix it.
Thanks to its position, a cold shoe ensures that all the accessories that you attach to your camera will be properly stabilized. Their weight will be evenly spread without making the camera body tilt. Whether you prefer cold shoes or hot shoes, they come with mounting arms that make it easier to attach various devices to a camera. What makes a cold shoe different is that you will be able to rotate flash in different directions.
Some photographers also use cold shoes with electrical signals. While these devices don’t generate any signals on their own, you can connect them to hot shoes and use them as a power extender. This solution will be useful when you need to connect more than one flash to your hot shoe adapter. However, these days, you rarely can find a camera model that supports such cold shoes.
Professional photographers rarely use the in-built flash since it doesn’t allow taking high-quality photos. They prefer using an external flashgun instead, especially if they specialize in reportage shooting. Depending on the number of devices that you need to connect simultaneously, you can select a cold shoe extension that suits your needs.
In some cases, you might want to capture photo and video content simultaneously. If you don’t have an assistant who will help you carry several tripods and mounts, you can purchase a dedicated adapter for GoPro cameras. You can attach it to your device and use it to mount other gadgets. If you have a cold shoe, a camera mount adapter for GoPro will be a perfect all-in-one solution for your needs.
Another thing that I’ve noticed when comparing cold shoe vs hot shoe mount is that you can easily mount both these adapters to the camera at the same time.
To attach a hot shoe, you need to connect it to the camera body using an arm mount or a thumb-locking wheel. If you need to mount a cold shoe, you will need to use the extra cable, a wireless trigger or any other option that allows you to connect the camera to a gadget you need to use.
To use multiple external gadgets at the same time, you can use various brackets. You just need to attach them to the camera to make it more stable. They are perfect for cases when you need to mount several devices to the camera body.
