Are Godox Lights for Professionals?

There are two types of opinionated photographers: those who love Godox lights and those who feel Godox lights are not for professional use. Here are some considerations for whether the Godox system is for you.

Just as we use our professional judgment in choosing the right lenses and other gear for the job, we must also use our judgment in choosing which lighting system is best for our own workflow, regardless of which system is the top of the line. For example, a 4-wheel drive vehicle will take groceries home from the grocery store just as easily as a 2-wheel drive car can, so if you are never driving in the mud or in the mountains, it doesn’t matter which vehicle you use. The same is true of lighting. If you can do your job to 100% capacity with one set of lights, that’s all you need to look at.

Here are a couple of popular YouTube channels from outstanding educators who discuss why you should use brands other than Godox.

John Gress: Elinchrom

https://youtu.be/C-I5gpWhE2s

In a recent video, John Gress, who admits that he has never owned or used a Godox light, explains why he doesn’t believe Godox lights are for professionals. The name of this video has changed from calling Godox lights "disposable" to "not professional." He states that Godox lights are disposable because, if they ever break, you just throw them away and buy a new one instead of repairing it. The same can be said about anything though, from a Ferrari to a speedlight. If the cost of repairing it exceeds the cost of buying a new one, you just buy a new one. If not, you repair it.

To support his opinions, Gress focuses primarily on the cooling system by referencing certain pages in the manuals. With Godox lights, the manuals reference the number of times you can fire the flash at full power in rapid succession to activate the heat protection settings and before you experience a delay in recycle time. With the Godox AD200, it is 40 flashes at full power in rapid succession.

He states in his video: “I’m almost certain that anyone using these Godox lights is probably damaging them as they are using them.” And referencing the Godox AD200, he said, “So let’s say that after the period of use, maybe 3- 5 years, that Godox light is probably going to be not functioning because you, like a normal photographer, were shooting more than 40 pictures at full power in that time frame before it overheated, and damaged the light.”

I’m not sure exactly which type of photography would ever require you to shoot 40 full-power shots on a 200-watt light in rapid succession, let alone on such a regular basis that you are continuously putting stress on your bulbs and destroying them. If you were ever going to shoot dancers, or action sports, or anything where you need to use flash in rapid succession, you would use a more powerful light at a lower power so that you could get the faster recycle time. A Profoto B1X (500 watt light) has a recycle time of 1.9 seconds at full power, and .1 seconds at its lowest power. So, if you need fast recycle time for shooting in rapid succession, regardless of light manufacturer, you wouldn’t ever use a flash at its full power. You’d use a flash twice as powerful or four times as powerful as what you need, and then shoot it at a lower power to be able to take advantage of having a flash recycle time that matches your camera’s ability to take rapid shots.

So, the assumption that “normal photographers” do this on such a regular basis, and that if they used Godox, the lights would probably not work in three to five years, is probably a huge stretch. But it’s easy enough to prove. The AD200 been out since 2017, so you can do a quick Google search to determine if one of the most popular off-camera flash systems on the market has seen a surge in bulb deterioration to the point that they stop functioning entirely after three years.

Gress further speculates that because the $40 replaceable bulb on the AD200 will deteriorate to the point that it stops functioning, the entire body of the AD200 must also completely deteriorate, rendering it worthless and requiring replacement of the entire unit every three years. He explains that Elinchrom lights would typically lose about $300 of their $900 value in three years, so it’s an equivalent financial investment to buy Elinchrom. The Elinchrom One, for example, is $900, and it is the closest equivalent to the Godox AD200, only it is only about 60% as powerful, being a 131-watt light vs the 200-watt AD200.

YouTuber Wes Perry found that it took about 5 minutes of continuous firing on the AD200 when firing the AD200 at 50% power to begin to see a lag in recycle time. Another option for the same price as an Elinchrom One, would be to buy a 600-watt Godox AD600 Pro, and fire it at ¼ power to match the output of the Elinchrom One and get a recycle time of about 6 flashes a second at that lower power.

So, what does this all mean? The entire argument about inadequate cooling is only relevant if you are a photographer who regularly shoots 40 frames in rapid succession on full power on a regular basis. If that describes your workflow, then this is an important consideration. If you have $900 to spend, you can choose to either get the 131-watt Elinchrom One or a 600-watt AD600 Pro from Godox. With the Godox light, you’d have a much more powerful light with a larger battery that would give you more options for shooting, and still allow you to continue to take pictures continuously every second for a long time.

If you absolutely cannot use a 600-watt light because it is too big and you carry your gear in a fanny pack or just in your hands, and you regularly shoot over 40 frames in rapid succession on full power, then this is solid advice and you should consider whether the Elinchrom lights are better suited for you.

Miguel Quiles: Westcott

Miguel Quiles does a thorough review of the Westcott 400-watt FJ400 light and calls it the best light if you are just getting started. The Westcott 400 watt light is very close in specs to the Godox AD400 Pro. If you buy a light and a trigger, the Westcott light comes out a little cheaper than the Godox light, but one Westcott trigger will work on all major camera brands (you need a $20 adapter for a Sony because of their strange hot shoes). So if you ever switch camera brands, you might have to replace all your lenses, but at least you won’t have to buy a new $60 trigger.

The other advantage of the FJ400 is that you can use it while charging the battery. The AD400 has an AC adapter, but that costs extra.

My biggest concern about the Westcott system is that they have such a limited lineup of flashes. Currently, they have an 80-watt speedlight, a 200-watt strobe, and the 400-watt strobe. Godox, on the other hand, has several speedlights, a 100-watt strobe, 200-watt, 300-watt, 360-watt, 400-watt, 600-watt, 1200-watt, and a 2400-watt strobe. The 200-watt strobe also has available an adapter so that you can combine two 200-watt strobes to make it into a single 400-watt light.

The Importance of a Wide Selection

I began in lighting with a single speed light. When I learned how to bounce light and modify light, and then wanted to learn two and three-light setups, I bought two AD200s and the adapter, which allowed me to take pictures outside more comfortably. Later, I needed stronger lights to expand my skillset and the types of photographs I could offer clients, so I bought two AD600s. Mostly, I shoot indoors, but because I live in a city known for its perfect weather and beautiful beaches, I occasionally get asked to shoot outside.

When I shoot outside, I would primarily use my AD600s because I either need as much power as I can to balance with the ambient light, or I need to be able to take more shots and I want to be able to shoot at a lower power and have a longer battery life and faster recycle time. I chose to get the AD300 for that because it is the size of an 85mm f/1.4 lens, and it has much smaller batteries than the AD600. Because of its size, I wouldn’t have to worry as much about having it tip over and be top-heavy when shooting outdoors. I could bring the light and several batteries in a bag smaller than the size of an AD600 with one battery. It was portable and powerful enough for virtually every outdoor shoot. The AD200 was not powerful enough for all my applications. The AD400 was a little too big for me. I had several choices and got a light that worked perfectly for me. As I added new pieces to my collection, they all worked with the same trigger and I was able to expand without having to abandon the pieces I already had.

If you grow and want to be able to expand your lighting, it helps to be in a system where you have multiple choices. Right now, the strongest studio light that Westcott makes is the FJ400. It came out two years ago. The FJ200 and the FJ80 came out about a year ago. It’s a tiny selection that is not really growing at a serious pace for a company looking to compete. I would be worried about buying from a line of lights with so few options. It just kind of looks like Westcott wants to keep their toe in the water of strobes and see where it goes, like what Microsoft did with the Zune.

Fstopppers: Profoto

Almost three years ago, Lee Morris compared the Godox AD400 pro to the Profoto B10. He found that there were some categories where the B10 won and somewhere the AD400 won and concluded that the AD400 is the obvious choice for the majority of people. For example, the B10 had better flash durations in freeze mode, but lost color accuracy compared to the AD400 shot in regular mode.

One of the common critiques I hear a lot when comparing the Profoto and Godox lights is that the Profoto is built like a tank with a much higher build quality. If you are in a situation where you need to have a light that is built like a tank, then that should be an important consideration for you. I am primarily a studio shooter and my strobes are not usually subject to hazardous conditions, so having lights built like a sturdy jeep as opposed to a tank is adequate for my needs.

Another common issue that I hear is that Godox lights are made in China, so it’s impossible to get any customer service. Godox lights are rebranded in the United States as Flashpoint and sold exclusively through Adorama, where you can get your customer support through Adorama. They have a phone number and an email for customer support specifically for Flashpoint systems.

Profoto users also talk about how they have to use Profoto because that logo impresses people and lets them know you are serious. They say that if you go to a commercial shoot with anything other than Profoto lights, the creative director or art buyer will laugh at you and wonder if you are a real photographer. Again, if you are in the small subset of photographers that works with people who would laugh at you if you had anything less than Profoto, then you should definitely only get Profoto. But if you are shooting weddings, high school seniors, food, products, cars, test shoots for modeling agencies, events, or any other line of photography where the client doesn’t see or care what kind of light company you are using, then it really doesn’t matter.

Should Professionals Use Godox Lights?

As I stated in the beginning, professionals who are charging money for their work should use their best judgment in which lights they should use. If you must use a small battery-powered light only, and you need to use it at full power over 40 times in rapid succession on a regular basis then you should definitely look at the Elinchrom lights.

If you need lights that are built like a tank and impress people, then you should really look at Profoto. If you need lights that were thoroughly tested with various light meters and color accuracy tests and found to be almost identical to Profoto lights but at a fraction of the cost, then look at Godox.

I have never seen a picture that was only made possible because it was shot using a certain lighting company’s lights. I have never seen a photo that was better because one light brand was used over another. I have never seen a picture and immediately been able to tell that there was a Godox light used or a Profoto light used. I challenge anyone to show me a picture and show me that it was only possible or that it was even made better because it was shot with a certain lighting company’s lights. No one can do it.

You might travel a lot and therefore you need one company’s sturdiness. Or you do something where you need another company’s ability to shoot full power on burst with a low-power strobe. Or you might not care about the scalability of your system. There are lots of considerations you need to take into account when choosing a lighting system that is going to help you make money. Godox lights are most certainly lights that can be used by professionals in many genres.

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