Godox AD200 TTL Pocket Flash Strobe, 200Ws 2.4G 1/8000s HSS Flash Bare Bulb/Speedlite Fresnel Flash Head with 2900mAh Lithium Battery, 500 Full Power Flash, 0.01-2.1s Recycle Time (AD200)

Product Information

The rear LCD screen is on the bottom of the flash. It's small but functional and the buttons are logically placed. The buttons and dial feel nice and responsive. The EC200 is an extension cable which allows you to mount the detachable head on top of a light stand and the head unit at the bottom. It’s takes more time to set up but having the weight at the bottom helps the stability if you use lightstands. In practice I found it a bit of a faff to set up at weddings. Magmod At weddings, the Godox AD200’s are my main flashes for pretty much everything. Outdoors for groups. Portraits. Indoors, I use them to light speeches, first dances and occasionally if the situation demands, wedding ceremonies. Three years on and competitors have tried to copy the AD200. The Yongnuo YN200 and the Geekoto GT-200 are two that spring to mind. But in my opinion, none are really challenging the Godox AD200. The Technical Stuff

So if you still wondering if you should buy the Godox AD200 for weddings then I would have to say without any hesitation. YES! Absolutely! In fact don't just buy one, buy two! A Small favour.....Otherwise I just don't use it. Instead I prefer to put the AD200 with the Fresnel head into the Magmod Magbox for situations where I want a large softbox. Godox AD200 Vs Godox AD200 Pro It’s no secret I’m a huge fan of the Godox AD200’s. In fact I own three now with one AD200 pro. The latter I only bought since it was at a really good price. Otherwise I wouldn’t have done so. For portraits, my favourite combination is to modify the fresnel flash head with the Maggrid and magsphere. I do realise this will not give me the kind of soft light a large softbox would. But as I have said before, weddings are often a compromise between speed and portability. Overall the LCD is perfectly usable. My only minor quibble is I'd like to have seen the rear LCD to be a little brighter. It can be hard to see in bright sunlight but it's not a big deal.

Thanks to Profoto’s marketing campaign. There has been a rush to release round head flashes due to the ‘better’ lighting pattern. In practice it’s not a biggie unless you like to fire flash unmodified directly at your subjects. Using this head, the quality of light is indeed better compared to bare Fresnel head. The downside is you lose a bit of power. For weddings, I simply don't use it. Godox EC200 - Extender cable For me the most exciting change was really the flash holder/umbrella mount. That says a lot really! Godox have added a couple of small holes in the chassis which the flash holder now fits into when tightened up. The flash will no longer accidentally come loose and rotate around like with the non-pro version. This is a big improvement and had this been on the original AD200, I would have never have bought the Magshoe’s! I no longer take the bare bulb head out to weddings with me. The only times I’ve used it in the last two years were for commercial headshots where I can put the barebulb head into a softbox. And more recently for a destination wedding where I opted to take the AD-S7 softbox due to its small, portable size. To get into the custom menu, long press the C.Fn button which is also the test fire button. One of the first things I recommend you do if like me you will be using this for weddings is switch off the beep. This is F01 and it should be set to OFF.The on/off switch at the side has been changed. The original AD200 switch was not easy to find if you don't know what you are looking for. I've had assistants who have never used the AD200 be unable to find it. The Pro switch feels a bit better and more obvious. It's a small improvement but hardly groundbreaking. Pre-AD200. I was using the Godox AD360. This was a popular flash amongst wedding photographers. However, the was external bare bulb flash only. This meant I had to use a light modifier and usually large one like a softbox or beauty dish. In the field it wasn’t always the most practical solution. It was also quite an intimidating set up to hand to a bridesmaid or best man if you needed help during a wedding. So no real surprises. The AD200 is less powerful than the AD360 but more than the normal speedlight. However, It may surprise some that there is only a 1/3 stop difference between the AD200 and the AD360. Whilst in percentage terms that seems a lot (ie. 33%), the AD200 of course is much more portable with the integrated battery. What people generally mean is. Can the Godox AD200 overpower the sun on a REALLY sunny day at a certain distance? Again, it all depends on how far you are away and how bright the sun is. At high noon on a summer’s day? You could struggle, even if you're a 3-4 meters away. Sunset with the golden sunlight then you should be fine. But you would have problems if you wanted to light them up from across the lake.

There! If you are a stats nerd then fill your boots! 🙂 Suffice to say it pretty much has all the features you'd expect from a modern flash and some you'll probably never use. Interface If you are mounting AD200's on a light stand. Then my strong advice is to either have someone hold it or use a weight like a sandbag to stop the stand from toppling over. Top of the list for me was Magmod. Suddenly I could use their innovative lighting solutions and still pump out much more power than a single speedlight. But more on this later!I remember vividly when it was announced. I remember thinking “This looks like the perfect flash for wedding photography” In my first review I concluded that it was the best flash you never knew you needed. Since then a lot has changed. There are now quite a number of accessories available for the AD200 and Godox have built an entire ecosystem of flashes and add-ons you can buy.

If you’re not familiar with the Godox AD200 flash. Prior to the AD200, if you wanted a portable flash solution for location shooting. Your choices were extremely limited. Sure you could use a single speedlight but outdoors the humble speedlight was limiting. Combining them together was a cumbersome affair.The WB29 battery is charged using a supplied mains charger. Battery life is excellent and I’ve yet to run out of power during a wedding. That said, I have turned up a couple of times to weddings with only one bar left after forgetting to charge them up! Three years after their release, there are imitators but no-one close to competing with this innovative flash. The Godox AD200's really are the perfect mix of flexibility, portability as well as being great value for money. It is worth noting that the AD200 Pro does have a recessed LCD screen which should help though I still remain sceptical it would survive a 2m drop. Technically not a Godox AD200 accessory but I think it’s fair to say that this is the light modifier of choice for most wedding photographers. Even with the introduction of the Godox AD300 which are much more like the Profoto B10's, I am not remotely tempted to switch. The fact they fit neatly into my camera bag. Slip into my think tank pouch so I can carry one on my hip when I am walking to take photos. It’s just perfect for a wedding photographer on the move.