Godox AD1200 Pro Strobe with Flaws In-Depth Review Lightweight Head Heavy Control Box Tested

Comprehensive Review of the Godox AD1200 Pro Strobe

Today I'll be diving into a full review of the Godox AD1200 Pro. It's a super powerful strobe light that offers some great features, but also comes with its fair share of quirks. Let’s get started!

Godox AD1200 Pro Strobe Review

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tneV055MDRw

Build Quality & Portability

The AD1200 Pro strobe light head is impressively lightweight, weighing in at just 1.3 kilograms with the reflector attached. It’s so light, in fact, that you can move it around effortlessly — almost like it could fly with you!

However, there’s a catch: the control box that powers the strobe is quite heavy, weighing 5.8 kilograms with the battery included. This can be cumbersome, especially if you frequently need to change the light position on set. You or an assistant will likely have to lug the control box around with the light. Luckily, the battery is easily removable, which makes the control box a bit easier to carry when necessary.

User Interface & Controls

One thing I really appreciate about the AD1200 Pro is the backlit buttons on the control box. This makes it super easy to change settings in low-light conditions, which is often the case during shoots. Godox also smartly includes T.1 flash duration display, which is helpful for understanding how fast you can freeze motion with each shot.

You can choose between two power step displays on the control box, depending on your preferences, making it versatile for different situations. The modeling lamp is bright enough to work in a dark studio, but it has a major flaw: it doesn’t turn off during long exposures, which can ruin shots unless you manually disable it — definitely not an ideal design choice.

Performance & Handling

The cooling fans on both the lamp head and control box are another drawback. They’re quite loud and start spinning as soon as you power on the system, with no option to turn them off manually, which can be distracting.

On the plus side, the 3.5-meter cable gives you good flexibility to move the light around your set. However, if the cable is damaged, it’s integrated into the lamp head, meaning you’ll have to send the whole head in for repairs.

As for the connectors, they are well-designed and easy to connect and disconnect. They’re also very similar to the Broncolor system, which is convenient if you're familiar with that. The angle adjustment is another strong point — it’s easier to tilt the light when using large modifiers, thanks to the smart placement of the braking system in front of the lamp head.

Though, I must say, the braking system itself can be difficult to lock and release, but once it’s in place, it’s strong enough to support heavier modifiers. The umbrella holder is thoughtfully included, and the Bowens mount is secure, making it easy to switch between different light modifiers.

Color Temperature & Light Output Testing

Now, let’s talk about color consistency. I tested the color temperature and light output across different power settings:

• Full power (1/1): The color temperature fluctuated within ±26 Kelvin, with a green-magenta shift of around 0.6%. Out of 100 shots, I missed five. While the temperature was quite stable, the green-magenta shift jumped around unpredictably.

• 1/16th power: Here, the temperature varied within ±24 Kelvin with a 4.7% green-magenta shift. I missed four shots. The color temperature remained impressively stable, though.

• 1/256th power: The temperature was ±10 Kelvin but the green-magenta shift became more problematic at 10.1%, with three missed shots.

Overall, the color stability was good across the range, but the green-magenta shift could be better.

I also ran tests with Color Temperature Stable Mode activated. Here’s what I found:

• Full power: The color temperature fluctuated within ±33 Kelvin, with a 0.3% green-magenta shift. While it stabilized the green-magenta shift, it ironically made the color temperature a bit less stable than when the mode was off.

• 1/16th power: We saw ±35 Kelvin fluctuation and a 3.3% green-magenta shift, but again, Color Temperature Stable Mode didn’t stabilize the color temperature as well as without it.

• 1/256th power: Temperature variation was ±38 Kelvin, and the green-magenta shift increased to 16.7%, which is far from ideal.

In conclusion, while Color Temperature Stable Mode helps to manage green-magenta shifts, it doesn't provide much added stability for color temperature, especially at lower power settings.

Flash Duration Testing

Next up, we looked at flash duration, particularly for freezing fast motion. Here’s what I found:

• 1/8th power: This setting couldn’t freeze fast motion, like water drops, resulting in blurry images.

• 1/16th power: Slight improvement, but still not great.

• 1/32nd power: This finally gave me sharp results, but at a cost of using only 37 watts of power.

When comparing the Godox AD1200 Pro to competitors like Broncolor (specifically their 800W strobe), Broncolor outperforms the Godox in flash duration. If you turn on the Color Temperature Stable Mode, it gets even worse, with a two-stop loss in light for the same flash duration.

Final Thoughts

In summary, the Godox AD1200 Pro is a powerful and capable strobe light, but it comes with a few downsides. The color temperature is quite stable, but the green-magenta shift can be erratic, and flash duration struggles at higher power settings. It's a great option for many scenarios, but if you're looking to freeze super-fast motion, Broncolor might be a better choice.

Thanks for reading my review, and I hope this helps you decide if the Godox AD1200 Pro is the right strobe for you!

Godox AD1200 Pro Strobe Review