Subscribed and by the way I own that set up and love it!

Thanks! And it’s definitely a very interesting setup!

Oh...I actually tried to mount one of those to my AD-B2 last summer in a pinch and couldn’t get it to stay on. Ended up having to use some huge zip ties to secure it 😂

@@WesPerry So you're the guy who uses those guaranteed-to-fall-off springy folding softboxes! Not to worry, Wes. Your secret is safe with us.

It was a tough situation. I was traveling to a wedding in Grand Rapids, and the two stores that rented equipment when I was making my plans stopped renting equipment by the the time I arrived there (super annoying). And neither of them even carried softboxes anymore (pretty sorry state of photography gear selection for a decent sized city like that). One of the stores still had this old, beat up, softbox leftover in a corner of the their warehouse after selling off their rental stock, and sold it to me for $5. It was the best I could come up with! Haha.

Well...once you put everything together I think it’s a tiny bit bigger than an AD400. But it is certainly more modular, and easier to flat pack.

But 2x ad200 gives you more flexibility, compared to one AD400... Just to say

hi is this good if i dont have a ad600 but still want to compete w the sun outdoors?

Competing with the sun is all about distance and modifiers. The further away your flash, and the bigger the modifier, the more power you need. If you want the soft modifier not right next to your subject, you pretty much need the 600. If something smaller or closer, you can do the AD-B2.

@@WesPerry Thanks Wes. In your first review video I thought you said two 200's were stronger than the 600 when combined, or perhaps I am incorrect and need to rewatch it .. Also, considering recycle time, would a photographer be better off with 2 200's or one 600 for their first purchase, for outdoor sunny portrait model photography . Thanks !

Depends if you’re talking regular 200 or pro. The regulars can be really slow to cycle, especially in HSS at high power levels. The 600’s don’t struggle with HSS quite so much.

@@WesPerry Never had an issue

No reason not to try!

They are indeed Much brighter on the AD-B2. I use them for video work regularly.

@@WesPerry awesome! thank you very much.

Yes, they definitely go in a certain way. There’s a smaller leg that goes in the smaller hole.

Just did the math and with both lights and batteries installed AD-B2: 2.4kg AD400: 2.1kg Close, but the 400 being a more streamlined setup is both smaller and lighter.

@Wes Perry Amazing! Thank you very much 🙏 Now I don't know - should i sell 2 of my 4 ad200 and buy a 400pro or go with adb2....hmm

Well, I know that the Cheaper option is. Haha

I think you’re going to have to look at the directionality of the light in your testing. Where it’s more powerful is when you put it in a well diffused soft box. The fresnel head fires directional light straight ahead, so often fools people testing it with a light meter by generating a central hot spot that gets metered high. In actual practice, though, in a double diffused soft box, the AD-B2 yields more light overall. Not just one really bright hot spot.

@@WesPerry fair enough, good point. I bought adb2 to have more power when I need it for family group photos at the weddings. I normally don't have time to set up a softbox but it's really fast to put a 7inch reflect with a sock on adb2. So will do another test to see if adb2 spread of light has more power in comparison to ad200.

@@MI-ni1ck also the fresnel head doesn't allow the use of many of the modifiers.The light from the bare bulb exits in all directions and is suited for reflectors. To use a fresnel head with a the 7 inch reflector is not taking full advantage of how the reflector is designed to distribute light.

Just set them to the same group and then they operate as one. Easy peasy.

@@WesPerry thanks Wes - great review. I think they make a couple of AD200 look a lot more useful. 👌

Yes, you can mix and match them, but I’ve heard the Pro is very tight in the bracket (but does fit)

Interesting. Thanks for the heads up. I’ll remove it and check again.

Not yet, no. Maybe soon, since people have been asking. It’s literally just my kitchen, so it’s not actually super interesting 😂

Wes Perry just wondering what light and/or modifier it was. It looks great. Keep up the great vids.

Nothing fancy at all. In this vid it’s a cheap Neewer LED ring light as the main light, and then the AD600 Pro modeling lamp and stock reflector for the side light.

In my more recent AD200 video I put an umbrella in front of the ring light to reduce the “head glare” 😏

Not quite, no. The AD600 pro meters as F11 +9/10, while the AD-B2 meters at F11 +5/10. An even bigger difference, though, is the cycle time. At max output, the AD600 cycles a tiny bit faster, and doesn’t overheat for a long time. The AD200’s will overheat pretty quickly when fired at 1/1 repeatedly.

Great comment 👌🏻😏

Yes, you can ;)

@@WesPerry Waiting for my AD-B2 to be delivered from @StrobeproStudio

Interesting idea!

Yes and if you need to use three Bowens mount modifiers 1 ad400 pro 1 each ad200 pro and adapter x2 Basically gives you almost 50% more light than s brackets plus modeling lights Helps on those important portrait shoots

If you’re Always using a Bowen’s modifier, I’d say go with this. Then get another AD200 someday.

I sometimes put a cheap Bowens reflector on it that came with some honeycomb grids to narrow it down when needed.

You can mix and match to your heart’s content ;) each side is a separate circuit.

This one was shot on a Sony a9 with the Sony/Zeiss 35 1.4

It’s not possible. It’s usually the case with Godox’s battery powered products, to prevents running the batteries down dangerously far.

Oh wow, those didn’t last long. I so wish the AD600 Pro reflector cover/cap fit on it. That thing is great and super versatile. I actually had to buy mine on eBay since I’m in Canada: rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.ca%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F253403534501

Wes Perry - Thanks.

Although I have no personal experience with this, I’ve heard that the wire placement was changed slightly in a silent V2 revision of the EC200’s to allow them to work with the AD-B2

@@WesPerry Correct, that was to allow the use of 2 EC200s(v2) at once with the AD-B2, because EC200(v1) had the cable coming out in such an angle that prevented that. But my issue/sugestion is not with the EC200 extension, its with the electrical pins of the AD-B2 interface itself being exposed inwards facing each other, living a little/minimal gap to clip the second AD200 after one AD200 has already been clipped onto the AD-B2. If any of those AD200s has a plate (arca Swiss style) attached then it becomes impossible to clip the second AD200 in place. I use a PeakDesign standard plate (thinner than a standard Arca Swiss plate) attached to each of my 2 AD200s (on the wide side) to allow for quick snap on/off onto mini tripods with mini-ballheads and quick release clamps or my PeakDesign camera capture clip on my belt. These PeakDesign plates are tightly fixed in place and require a tool to be removed, with makes it that much more of an hassle to do if/when I want to attached both my AD200s on the same AD-B2. If the AD-B2 electrical contacts would be facing outwards instead then I would be able to slide then in place from the outwards without needing to remove the plates from both AD200s as those would now be on the external side away from each other.. EDIT: I realised that the reason that the pins are placed the way they are might be because of the need to have the AD200's optical sensors facing outwards in case one was to trigger them in optical-slave (S1/S2) mode.

@@WesPerry I have the ADB2 and 2 x EC200 but can't use both the EC200 at same time because the ports on the ADB2 face the wrong way. I bought them recently. The EC200 are not marked V2, how do you know which version your buying ?

It’s actually really hard to tell whether or not you have the V2. It’s pretty annoying, really. I had figured that they’d be out of V1’s by now, though.

@@WesPerry My mistake, I have the V2. It does fit. I was just being dumb and rushed the way I tried to fit it. All works Ps great channel. I love your reviews

The standby feature of the AD200 is just with regard to the flash unit itself. It’ll still turn off the LED’s after 15 or so minutes.

@@WesPerry thanks for the reply. I was looking to see if there was a way to turn that off but didn't find. I guess it is what it is...

I think it’s overheating protection, so probably would be best to not turn it off. It doesn’t have a fan like most powerful LED lights. 🔥

Yeah, I suppose you could I can’t say that I’d recommend doing that, though.

@@WesPerry kzfaq.info/get/bejne/a652fduhsdm1mZ8.html pretty sure that the leds would be using the same connectors after all they both connect to the ad200. the other thing might be to use the ad-b2 separate to the ad200. i think i will buy the ad-b2 anyway since the led head + bowens mount would be around the same cost.

well no go on the ad-b2 but was able to power up the modeling lamp on the fresnel head

I’m not sure what “narrow Bowens Mount” is.

@@WesPerry Some Cheetah softboxes have been much praised by a few pros for having a narrow profile bowens adaptor that allows the light bulbs to end up being deeper inside the softbox (closer to its ideal optical focus point) and not having too much of the light exiting sideways from the bulbs being wasted hitting the close-by metal ring of the deep/standart bowens mount. With S-brackets one can simply push the single AD 200 deeper inside to place the bulb there but with the AD-B2 one looses that ability. Also interesting if you could refer the potencial to use the AD-B2 with 2 ER200 extensions on a boom rod and use the 2 AD200s as counterweights on the rear end of the boom.

Did a little looking and it would seem that this Won’t fit the Cheetah low profile Bowens.

Yep! I still use it in the studio every week!

The LED head is only 3.6Watts, while the AD-B2 LED’s are 20W each. The latter is Much brighter.

@@WesPerry awesome thank you 🙏🏼

It’s the light button on the back corner of the flash unit, or by using the control on an XPro.

There’s only so much free music to go around, apparently 😏 I’m using continuous face detect autofocus on the a9 at f/1.6, not manual. Makes life super easy when you can just trust it to do its thing!

Thanks, very sharp. No hunting :) Im a big Godox fan, have most of there gear and currently selling all my mains stobes as I can get some AD-B2 and make up two 400watt stobes. As long as batteries hold up, which I have spares, I will be far more portable/lighter and won't trip over cables lol

“Some” AD-B2’s?? How many do you need? Haha

Well, if or when I sell my two 400w mains strobes I will buy a 4th AD200 and a couple of B2 and that will make up 2 x 400w portable units. When I do event photography I wont need to use mains and trip over cables! Godox have reinvented lights. Dont need my quantum battery packs, don't need my 4 pocket wizards and dont need my mains strobes ( yes I have 4 !) Pretty annoying thou!!!

AD200’s are definitely great for event photography. Most of the time they have enough power on their own as well. As long as you’re not firing them much past 1/8 power they’ll recycle like crazy.

This is quite a bit brighter than the round head. Also has a better LED colour (round is yellower).

BUT be aware no matter what the AD200 light only stays on for about 15 mins before automatically shutting down, regardless of battery life.

You press the Sun/HSS button on the bottom right hand corner of the back of the AD200. Each time you press it it cycles through one of the power output settings.

@@WesPerry Thank You very much!

That’s what I’m here for! 👍🏻

I bought a bowens bulb cover for this on eBay, and also asked godox why they don’t make one “Why would we?” “Uhh… because people want one?” “They can buy one on eBay.” BUT … UGH

@@WesPerry Wow. I'm pretty convinced they don't have photographers working at Godox, just engineers and bureaucrats. They're relying too heavily on KZfaqrs (no offense) to explain and sell their often flawed/limited/gelded products. And low-profile covers aren't really available on eBay...mostly 3D custom printed ones on maker-spaces.

Yes, but I’ve heard it’s a bit of a tight fit (I haven’t tried it myself).

I haven’t tested it yet, but the longest I’ve run them is 45 minutes I think. I doubt you could get more than an hour out of them, though. They have 41 watt hour batteries, so with no efficiency losses, that would be a max of 2 hours (each LED is 20W). So somewhere between 1 and 2 hours in all likelihood. They shut themselves off after about 15 minutes, which can be a bit annoying, depending on what you’re doing. The AD600 Pro does the same, though.

@@WesPerry Thank you, that is extremely useful. I shoot personal headshot sessions that normally run around 30 minutes each so, in theory at least, I could use the modelling lights during a typical session without the batteries running down on me. Thanks again, you have been a great help.

Yeah, you should be fine as long as it’s not a marathon session :)

Haha yeah The two sides of the B2 are technically entirely different/independent units.

@@WesPerry Awww yeah! Although, if you said no, they both need to be the same, I'd have the perfect excuse to buy TWO pros! haha Thanks mate

Hahaha. I wouldn’t want to stop you, but…maybe save a buck or two. Lol

No, the bulbs are too large as far as I know

I haven’t done it myself, but I’ve been told “yes, but it’s a bit tight”

It’s rated at 5600K +\- 200

@@WesPerry Thanks, it looks great! I'm about to purchase one.

Yes, but they only stay on for 10-15 minutes before shutting off automatically (you can turn them right back on again) I used to use it all the time for video, actually, before I got my hands on more “real” video lights.

@@WesPerry Thanks!!!

50% more light and slightly larger?

@@WesPerry sorry I meant the ad-b2 set up with two ad200s in comparison to the ad400pro

Ohh sorry. Wrong video in my head ;) The AD400 Pro will have slightly faster recycle times and slightly better light/color consistency.

At the same power level the AD400 will have wildly faster recycle times (ie < 1 sec vs 2.5 sec @ full power), + some people state if you hammer the AD200's at full power, their battery doesn't cope as well as the AD400/600's will.@@karaokekingskingdom

Hi Walo: I tried his Amazon US link and they do not know if they will ever have the cover again. I tried his Amazon CA link and it took me to EBAY where the covers are available. Like 9,00 dollars.

Yeah, I seem to have caused a North American clearout of them. Haha. Have to find a new source...

👀

That’s crazy!

Permutation without repetition. 3! Or 3x2x1 =6