Viltrox Spark Z3 Flash – Review & Sample Photos

Viltrox has been nailing it with lenses lately, carving out a niche with great optics at a killer price, and now they’re taking a swing at the strobe game.

And the result? A flash that’s less “pro studio workhorse” and more “stylish little helper” you can actually fit in your jeans pocket.

I really like these smaller on-camera speedlights, and it’s finally nice to have something with TTL that can replace my Godox Lux Jr, which has been my main light source for the last couple of years. This flash has some really nice upgrades and new capabilities we haven’t seen with third-party on-camera flashes before.

Viltrox Z3 Spark Flash – Amazon / B&H / Viltrox

The Vibe: Mechanical, Minimalist, and Made for the Street

The Spark Z3, with its “mech-inspired” aesthetic—that exposed circuit board peek-a-boo window, the matte gunmetal or the Tundra Green finish—is a statement.

Personally, I’m not particularly fond of the Gundam-style cyberpunk look. However, I’m mostly shooting with Leica, Fujifilm, and Nikon. I think this aesthetic makes more sense for Sony, Panasonic, or Canon shooters who are looking for a more modern, high-tech feel.

That being said, this flash is just too useful to ignore. You can always just cover it with black camera tape to stealth it out if you wish.

The Good Stuff: Power, TTL, and Battery Life

Don’t let the small size fool you; this isn’t a total novelty. It has a surprising 26W/s of output. That’s enough punch for most fill-flash situations, portraits, and street shooting. More importantly:

• TTL Just Works: For the vast majority of shooters, especially those new to flash, the TTL (Through The Lens) auto metering is accurate and fast. No fuss, no overthinking—just press the shutter and the camera and flash figure it out. It’s instant, reliable light.

• Simple Controls: Viltrox kept it beautifully simple. A wheel on the back for your manual power settings (from 1/1 down to 1/64 in 7 steps) and a lever for A/M/Off. No confusing LCD screens or convoluted menus. Just dial and shoot. There is also an S1, Off, and S2 switch on the side, allowing the flash to function as an optical slave in a multi-flash setup. S1 for standard Slave setup, and S2 tells it to ignore any pre-flash that some speedlights do.

• The Battery is Good: It features a built-in 1800mAh Li-ion battery, rated for 650 full-power flashes. It recharges via USB-C in approximately 70 minutes.1800mAh is pretty decent. It’s better than the two AAA batteries (which are 750 mAh each) I use in my Godox Lux. By comparison, one AA battery is 1900 mAh.
  
  As a street photographer, this should be enough to get you through the night, but by the gods, you better not forget to charge your flash fully before going out, because you can’t just swap out your batteries like we can with other flashes.
• Very Powerful – When using it outdoors on a camera like the X100V, you can utilize the ND filter and push the shutter speed to 1/10,000, creating some interesting effects by outshining the brightness of the ambient sunlight. You would need a leaf shutter camera to achieve this. Consider a camera like the Leica Q3 or Fujifilm X100VI, for example. Recycle time is also very quick at full power.

Here are some samples of using the ND filter on the Fujifilm X100V, with a fast leaf shutter and the flash at full power, on a bright sunny day. This only works with a leaf shutter camera. This could be really cool for daytime street photography. I haven’t tried it yet.

The Compromises: Built-In Battery + Direct Flash Only

Here’s the rub: that built-in battery is going to be a problem for many photographers who are not responsible for keeping their batteries charged.

I shoot a lot with a flash, so I usually keep extra batteries in my bag. Many of my street shooter friends often swap batteries in their speedlights throughout the night. You’re really going to have to get into the habit of topping this thing off before going out. If you do that, you should be fine for a good day of shooting since it’s rated for 650 full-power shots.

The Spark Z3 is a direct flash only.

I had hoped that a built-in battery would have added more functionality, such as a swiveling or tilting head, but it’s not much smaller than the Godox Lux Jr. Although we are getting TTL at least, and a much more powerful flash with a much faster recycle time than I get with my Godox.

As a direct flash only, you’re limited to the harsh, edgy, high-contrast look that’s all the rage in modern street and editorial photography. It ships with a small diffuser that you can attach, which helps soften the light slightly, but you’re never going to bounce this off a ceiling for soft, indirect light. If you rely on bounce and swivel for professional portraiture, this isn’t your primary flash. It can also operate in S1/S2 optical slave modes, which is great for off-camera fun; however, it’s manual only when firing remotely.

There’s no way to use it off the hotshoe as a master – I sometimes like to mount my flash off-camera with a cable, like on my Nikon Z8, where I use a SmallRig cage. I like to be able to mount my speedlights off to the side so they are not directly on the hotshoe. This is really handy, especially if you’re running other accessories on your hotshoe, but there is no way to do this with this flash.

Final Verdict: Is it a Buy?

The Viltrox Spark Z3 is a niche product, but it absolutely nails that niche.

If you’re serious about full-featured strobing, controlling light from every angle, and using sophisticated RF triggers, then you’ll want a more flexible unit.

However, if you are looking for:

1. A super-compact, lightweight flash for travel, street, or documentary work.
2. An introduction to Flash that utilizes dead-simple TTL and amazing battery life.
3. A way to jump on the intentional, direct-flash look with a tool that provides quality light.

…then the Spark Z3 is an absolute, no-brainer value proposition at its price point. This is my actual preferred style of flash, so I’m personally very happy with it and the increased power and TTL functionality I get over my Godox Lux Jr.

It’s a low-risk, high-fun piece of gear that delivers a quality pop of light right when you need it. Throw it in your bag, forget about it, and pull it out when you need to freeze some motion, fill in some shadows, or just give your photos that unique, punchy contrast.

Viltrox Spark Z3 Flash – Sample Photos

I especially like using speedlights like this for slow shutter flash photography. A powerful flash like this can stop the action, even with a slow shutter speed, but sometimes it’s nice for just a little fill light. I have samples here of both.

These images were all shot with the Fujifilm X100V and colored using my presets.