I have always been a bit of a lighting snob. Camera-wise, I'm happy to go 35mm instead of medium format. For lenses, I'd use a Canon instead of a Zeiss with no concern, but when it came to lights and modifiers, I'd only use Broncolor. So I was happy to review this new (ish) light.
Over the years Godox has been making lights to varying levels of success. They are a great budget brand, but in my eyes, they were never really up to the task of high-end commercial professional work. Godox its self has a few different names around the world, one of which being Pixa Pro. The reason this is of interest to me as a UK-based photographer is that they actually have a service center. A place where you can send your kit to be repaired, cleaned, and generally looked after. Sure, with some of the cheaper Godox gear you just accept it's disposable. But for their new pro packs and heads alongside their other more expensive kit, I have always been wary as it's just far too expensive to be a disposable item.
In this video, I talk about the Godox AD1200 battery-powered pro light from the perspective of a professional, commercial still life food and drink photographer. I look at all of the key elements that really matter to a photographer like myself. I have also since used this light on an actual commercial job. This is the first time in 5 years that I have used anything other than Broncolor for a professional job, and I was genuinely impressed with the results.
Haven't tried 1200 yet, but 600 Pro TTL works like a charm for me for a while now. Great quality for good price.
I do wounder if these will overheat or not?
All monoblocks from Godox will if you shoot rapidly.
About color accuracy I have a Minolta color meter and a flash meter, so I tested.
On a Godox speedlight I found on full power it varied less then 1/10 of a stop and 30 Kelvin.
I just don’t believe in this Broncolor Profoto myth that they are supreme.
Of cause the CRI I don’t know but flashes don’t have that good quality, not any brand.
For that you need Tungsten witch are with CRI of 100%.
Build quality is diffent issue. But you still can get and use Bowen gold moonlights, they just where build better back then. Not only other European brands.
If you turn the flash down in power it will give different kelvin but still consistent.
It’s not clear to me in which case +- 200 kelvin, but it must be from high to low power.
Robert Hall, where are you? :)
Man I'm out of the loop, I didn't even know they had made a pack system.
Oh yeah actually I've also missed that point. Nice!
Not only the 1200 Ws pack shown here, but also a 2400 Ws system (at a much higher price though).
It's had an AC power option since it was launched £105 from Pixapro
There's a mains only 2400Ws pack with two outputs that has been announced but is not shipping yet. That one lacks HSS and TTL
Thanks, Scott.
How would one combine that with existing Elinchrom flashes? Is there a way to do trigger them together somehow? I noticed a colour temperature of 5600K (+- 200K), while Broncolor and Elinchrom deliver 5500K (+-50K). Could that be an issue? I found an adapter to mount Elinchrom modifiers. It is for the AD400. Does this work on the AD1200 too (couldn't find an answer in the web).
The easiest way would be to use manual triggers such as pocket wizards or yongnuo.
Buy a Godox X2T and stack the Elinchrom trigger on the hotshoe on top of it.
Thank you. That is the solution.
"when it came to lights and modifiers, I'd only use Broncolor"
Light is light, as long as it's consistent. The Move pack is superior no doubt (2 sockets, faster t.1) but the Godox gets the job done for much less. It's built well, and the battery can be replaced with an AC adapter. The price difference is good enough to buy you a Para 133 (or a truck load of no-name parabolic modifiers and what not).