Godox AD600PRO

HoppyUK said:
Cheers Tel. This video confirms comments above - total light output of the AD600-Pro is the same as the AD600, but more evenly distributed (y)
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He's probably right but I wouldn't rely on that video, the photos are using different reflectors which makes no sense as a comparison.
 
simonbarker said:
He's probably right but I wouldn't rely on that video, the photos are using different reflectors which makes no sense as a comparison.
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I'm sure he's right, if only because I'd be amazed if Godox has been dumb enough not to maintain maximum brightness when it's such an important feature of an outdoor strobe. How hard can it be to measure this reliably, it's like amateur hour on YouTube these days. It's obviously necessary to collect all the light, reflect it, project it and diffuse it evenly, then meter it. That's dead easy with a bare-bulb flash in a double-diffuser softbox, using a low-profile mount adapter which we know the AD600 needs, and that will give reliable results - as he eventually discovered. No other modifier will give accurate comparisons (though reverse-firing softboxes are mostly okay).

It looks like the AD600-Pro may also need the low-profile mount adapter, because while the flash tube mount position has been moved forward, the new circular-shaped flash tube itself sits further back than the old design, negating much of the benefit. There's room in there for a second tube though, to sit in front, if Godox produces a 1200Ws twin-head option (here's hoping).

The little front diffuser that's been added helps to spread the light better, though I'm guessing this may be of most benefit to the modelling LED. It will also absorb a tiny bit of light, as even those frosted glass protection domes that some brands use steal over 1/10th of a stop.

Nobody has tested the HSS output yet. Pretty important I'd have thought, but no one ever checks this.
 
mike weeks said:
He is using the standard reflector for each which does make sense
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I see your point but the comparison highlights the difference between the standard reflectors and not the heads.

Given that we were talking about output and that you're not going to replace all your modifiers it's the latter comparison which is the useful one.
 
simonbarker said:
I see your point but the comparison highlights the difference between the standard reflectors and not the heads.

Given that we were talking about output and that you're not going to replace all your modifiers it's the latter comparison which is the useful one.
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The new one comes as standard with a reflector, in the USA most of the AD600s come with a standard reflector and as you would expect optimal performance with the genuine article then standard is a valid comparison IMHO i.e. no replacement needed

Mike
 
simonbarker said:
I see your point but the comparison highlights the difference between the standard reflectors and not the heads.

Given that we were talking about output and that you're not going to replace all your modifiers it's the latter comparison which is the useful one.
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Yes.

mike weeks said:
The new one comes as standard with a reflector, in the USA most of the AD600s come with a standard reflector and as you would expect optimal performance with the genuine article then standard is a valid comparison IMHO i.e. no replacement needed

Mike
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No. IF the standard reflector collected all the light and distributed it in exactly the same way with both heads, then the comparison would be valid. But since it doesn't, and in fact will be nothing like the same because of the completely different designs of flash tube and back plate, then it's a pretty meaningless test. It's an easy trap to fall into, and hence the different values we see for maximum brightness when bloggers compare AD200, AD360 and AD600. All over the place.

The best/easiest way to test power output is with a medium sized double-diffuser softbox. That's not perfect either and there will still be hot/cool spots which will vary a bit, but it'll be pretty close. In my experience, within a couple of tenths of my quite complex twin face-to-face softboxes rig (that I've described before).
 
@HoppyUK sorry but I disagree, this is not about looking for max power, it is about testing standard kit out of the box and that is a valid test.

I totally agree however that if the test you want to do is max power then you need the same testing rig, also a valid test, but that is a bit measurebation for my real world use, perfect for the comparisons you have to produce

My personal preference though has always been for real world how I will use and that will occasionally be with the standard reflector, but mostly with my softboxes so that is what I need to test and therefore those tests are perfectly valid for me

Mike
 
Okay, so long as you're clear about what it's not telling you - ie, how the two heads compare for total light output - then that's fine. But it won't be a very helpful test for others, as Robert Hall's video demonstrates which prompted this part of the debate ;)
 
mike weeks said:
Just tried something that I may need to use and that is shooting at 10 frames a second it does not miss a beat at 1/16 power, at 5fps i lost one or 2 at 1/8 power but hit everything at 1/16 + 0.7, HSS it just about keeps pace at 5fps at 1/64 but no luck at 10fps

Mike
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(y)

Be interesting to see how HSS brightness (total ;)) compares between AD600 and Pro.
 
mike weeks said:
You mean you would like me to test it ;)

Mike
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If you're at a loose end Mike ;)

I have a list actually... :D
- HSS total power compared
- total power comparisons, in both Colour and Speed modes
- flash durations graphs Colour mode
- modelling LED brightness

Hours of fun :eek:
 
Not that I'm about to rush into one of these, but I have two citi600 - would you consider adding the pro to them? in particular just thinking it might be good to have a more useful modelling lamp on your key
 
dancook said:
Not that I'm about to rush into one of these, but I have two citi600 - would you consider adding the pro to them? in particular just thinking it might be good to have a more useful modelling lamp on your key
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There are only a few situations where I would consider needing a pure AD600 PRO setup, so currently just added a PRO to my 2 AD600s - issue is yes brighter LED but smaller capacity battery, so either plenty of batteries needed for teh PRO or just where I know a reduced number of shots available

Mike
 
mike weeks said:
@HoppyUK read this about colour stability mode https://fujiaddict.com/2018/02/18/godox-ad600-pro-review-part-2-ready-for-prime-time/

so obviously a big point to test

Mike
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I read that the other day, and sorry to sound a bit snobby and ungrateful but I don't believe much from a blogger who says things like "one PRO has roughly the same output as the twin H1200" after he's put it in a Broncolor Fresnel head, which is about as obscure and irrelevant as it's possible to get. Even if that was the case, it's just unhelpful and misleading.

There's a lot of interest in the Pro's new colour mode, based on the AD600's apparent shortcomings. But when I tested it just a couple months ago I was very impressed by the colour performance. It's easily as good as most regular studio heads, who's performance has never been cause for concern before, and way better than some direct rivals. I wonder if early production samples were different in this respect? Anyway, I only checked colour temp K though, and didn't have the excellent Sekonic C-700 spectrometer to hand then, which gives a much more thorough analysis. I'm particularly interested in the flash duration graphs that will show how Godox is tweaking it for better colour consistency. And we need to see the graphs as the t.1 and t.5 times could be all over the place, especially if Godox uses a combination of normal flash and HSS output simultaneously, as Profoto does.
 
mike weeks said:
There are only a few situations where I would consider needing a pure AD600 PRO setup, so currently just added a PRO to my 2 AD600s - issue is yes brighter LED but smaller capacity battery, so either plenty of batteries needed for teh PRO or just where I know a reduced number of shots available

Mike
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And another thing :D Can the battery be charged while the head is actually working?

It's an unusual feature, but you could do that with the AD600 and it's very useful when mains power is to hand. I checked it with a half-charged battery by firing the head at very low power on a timer, once every ten seconds I think, just to make sure it was fully alive. Left it running, then noted that both battery charge indicators went up.
 
HoppyUK said:
And another thing :D Can the battery be charged while the head is actually working?

It's an unusual feature, but you could do that with the AD600 and it's very useful when mains power is to hand. I checked it with a half-charged battery by firing the head at very low power on a timer, once every ten seconds I think, just to make sure it was fully alive. Left it running, then noted that both battery charge indicators went up.
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Charger and battery are virtually identical in appearance so I do not see why not, if that is a good idea though is something I would need to ask a battery expert

Mike
 
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mike weeks said:
Charger and battery are virtually identical in aperance so I do not see why not, if that is a good ide though is something I would need to ask a battery expert

Mike
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I wondered about that, which is why I tested it the way I did to make sure that it was both firing as normal while definitely charging at the same time. I don't know enough about batteries either, but this is a concern I've also heard so it's possible Godox has had second thoughts and disabled charging while firing? Or they might have been extra clever and got it to switch off charging for the brief moment of firing and recycling?

We'll see, but it can be such a useful feature for people like me that often have the modelling LED on for long periods while fiddling about with table-top sets. And being so useful, you'd think it'd get mentioned in the specs.
 
mike weeks said:
I have always found the info given on the Godox lights to be accurate so here are there given durations in standard and colour mode, will obviously test myself as soon as I can @HoppyUK , interestingly as the power gets lower the percentage increase in duration gets greater

View attachment 120941
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I've found Godox specs to be very honest too, but the thing with t.1 and t.5 times is that anything below the 10% or 50% threshold is, quite correctly, completely ignored. So if there is a HSS component in colour mode that runs along at below 10% of peak (it'll certainly be below 50%) then it won't show in those figures but it will certainly be an extra blurring factor in actual images.

I've just had a look for my Profoto B1X oscilloscope graphs to show what I mean, but it looks like they were culled when I got a new PC recently and did a major clear out :(
 
HoppyUK said:
And another thing :D Can the battery be charged while the head is actually working?

It's an unusual feature, but you could do that with the AD600 and it's very useful when mains power is to hand. I checked it with a half-charged battery by firing the head at very low power on a timer, once every ten seconds I think, just to make sure it was fully alive. Left it running, then noted that both battery charge indicators went up.
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Can you use the AD600 whilst the battery is charging???
I did not not that! I thought we needed to buy the AD-AC power adapter.
 
I don't really see the point in paying 20% more for the new version... what am I missing?
Sure, maybe they fixed a couple of small issues (more even/efficient) but introduced new ones (smaller battery)... it's not like the original is "bad" in any way (that I'm aware of).
 
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Really tempted by these over the profit b1x? Half the price nearly the same amount of specs.
 
sk66 said:
I don't really see the point in paying 20% more for the new version... what am I missing?
Sure, maybe they fixed a couple of small issues (more even/efficient) but introduced new ones (smaller battery)... it's not like the original is "bad" in any way (that I'm aware of).
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Like all things it comes down to what you need. I do not need the colour stable mode but will happily have the faster recharging and much brighter LED, better clamp

Mike
 
sk66 said:
I don't really see the point in paying 20% more for the new version... what am I missing?
Sure, maybe they fixed a couple of small issues (more even/efficient) but introduced new ones (smaller battery)... it's not like the original is "bad" in any way (that I'm aware of).
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As Mike said really, and it's still great value, but it sure makes the original AD600 non-TTL version look like a steal - £450 vs £800 :eek:
 
sk66 said:
I don't really see the point in paying 20% more for the new version... what am I missing?
Sure, maybe they fixed a couple of small issues (more even/efficient) but introduced new ones (smaller battery)... it's not like the original is "bad" in any way (that I'm aware of).
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The colour mode, the fixed tilt adjustment, the mount actually being in the correct position for Bowens modifiers and it makes more sense to invest in the pro accessories as you'd assume eventually all the heads will use them.

I'd easily pay 20% more for those advantages but it's not a choice of only 20% as you can find the manual 600 for around £350-400 so it's over double...
 
PauBass said:
Can you use the AD600 whilst the battery is charging???
I did not not that! I thought we needed to buy the AD-AC power adapter.
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Well, I checked it as described and it did, but there's no way the charger would keep up when hammering along at full whack. I think the best you could hope for is it would effectively extend the battery capacity a bit, keep it going for a little longer. Exactly how much longer would be highly variable, depending on use obviously. But not really a substitute for a proper mains adapter or spare battery etc.
 
Being that it takes 2-3 hours to charge, question is will you shoot 350 full power shots over the same period?

Mostly I am using at 1/2 to 1/4 indoors so easily but I think the factor to consider is the LED, if the rate of discharge for the LED can be compensated by the rate of charge it will be a big help

Mike
 
Cheers Mike. No data download? That's a bit mad!

You'd expect Colour and Normal mode to be the same at full power, it'll be around 1/4 to 1/32 mid-range settings where any colour jiggery-pokery is most evident.
 
Rob Hall is releasing a YouTube video tomorrow testing the Xplor Pro vs. Broncolor Siros vs. Profoto B1X. that should be interesting :)
 
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