This fall, I was ready to finally make the plunge into studio strobe territory, upgrading from my small Canon speedlite flash system. I have been pleasantly surprised by the Godox AD200Pro after my friend Theo Stroomer put me onto the Godox company’s popular and affordable line of flashes. There is a lot that I like about the Godox AD200Pro and little that I dislike.
There were a few things I was looking for in particular, which the Godox AD200Pro hit quite well. I wanted something affordable as well as something small and easy to travel with, whether on a plane or to a local location for portraiture. I don’t have a studio space (yet) and at this moment I believe I will still want to do most of my work on-location. I am a huge fan of traveling light and keeping a low profile with my gear. The AD200Pro is great for that. It’s not much bigger than a standard little speedlite flash and the case, which holds a charger, accessories, etc., is only about 6″ x 8″ x 4″.
Another important factor is the power that the flash puts out, which is about three times as much as my little Canon 580EX. The final selling point was the ability to easily use adapters for Bowens-mount light modifiers. That is where I can really start to enjoy the benefits of using studio strobes. For some reason, I’ve been obsessed with getting a beauty dish. Ha.
The flashes were going for about $350 over summer and fall, and slightly more for Adorama’s version of the exact same flash, branded as the eVOLV 200. There are currently some Black Friday/Cyber Monday/holiday deals on major sites that put the flash at about $280. It’s a great deal and convinced me to pick up a third one.
Another great thing that saves you money and stress: The wireless receivers are built-in, so you don’t have to mess with Pocket Wizards. Those things are expensive and it’s just another thing to be dangling around from your light stand. You will need to buy a Godox transmitter for your camera, but it is wonderful and affordable. The XProC (for Canon cameras) is $57 and allows remote adjustments to flash power, and you can turn off specific lights at the push of a button. It’s great.
You may be wondering, is this thing powerful enough? Especially outdoors to overpower the sun? The power is fine, and what’s great in having two or three flashes is that you can double them up in the dual power Bowens adapter. This thing is cool because you also get a LED modeling light in addition to the dual-flash ability. The adapter can accept one flash as well, if you only want to use one at a time. I also have a couple single-unit Bowens adapters to round out my kit in case I want to use three Bowens-mount modifiers at once.
That said, below are my recommended accessories and other toys that I’ve used to build out my kit. Good luck and hopefully this Godox AD200Pro review was helpful …
- XproC transmitter (this is for Canon, but they are available for other major brands)
- Dual power flash bracket and Bowens adapter
- Single unit flash bracket/Bowens adapter (this can accept smaller speedlite flashes in addition to the AD200Pro)
- 7″ reflectors and grid set
Snoot set for VB-series bare bulb flashes(edit: I’m not liking this one. My homemade one is actually way better. Details here.)- Rosco color effects filter kit – gels can be expensive but will hold up better than the cheap ones
- Beauty dish
- Standard umbrellas
- 7′ umbrella with silk
- Glow 38″ portable softbox with grid
- Glow 42″ 5-in-1 reflector
- Black foil (this stuff is great for fine tuning and shaping light)
- Flashpoint sandbags – I love the Adorama in-house brands like Glow and Flashpoint. The stuff is totally fine for things like that and lightstands
- Impact c-stand and grip head – This is from the B&H in-house brand … also great …