Godox AD200 with flashmeter

C

Clickr

Senior Member
Guys, I recently had a situation wherein I needed to shoot in bright sunlight, where in I used my AD200 attached to a parabolic softbox, and when I tried metering it with flash mode on in the light meter, the Sekonic L-308, could not meter any reading. But when I tried to meter it in shade, it could correctly meter the flash light. I am confused if the sunlight overpowered the flash light power and could not meter the flash light, is this a usual thing to happen? Kindly help me in this regards.


Thank you.
 
Needa

Needa

Senior Member
Challenge Team
I suspect you are correct. Did you get a flashing error or it just didn't record? If it didn't see the flash (ambient brighter than flash) it would just remain ready.

From the manual:

"When firing a flash, if the flash brightness is low compared to
the ambient light, the meter may fail to detect the light. In this
case, make measurements using cord flash mode."
 
hark

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
I too think you are probably right. Does your flash meter allow both reflective metering as well as incident metering? if so, then try switching to the other to see if a meter reading is possible.

If the sun is behind your subject (one of the best options which leaves their face somewhat shaded and makes the sunlight become a rim light), you *should* be able to get a meter reading. But again it will depend on just how bright it is. If the sun is shining on their face, position them so the sun falls on one side of their face - then the sun will become your main light. That means you will use the strobe on the shaded side of their face to be the fill light. Try taking a meter reading from that shaded side of their face.

If the sun is behind you and is shining directly onto their face, most likely you won't be able to get a meter reading. At that point, what some photographers do is to diffuse the sun with a scrim (it's a frame with white material to diffuse the sunlight which will lower the overall amount of light on your subject). Or use a large silver reflector (like a 5' rectangular one) to block the light and place your subject in the shade.

Please keep in mind the AD200 isn't overly strong when it comes to portraits in direct sunlight. That's why some photographers choose the AD600. Or the other option is to use a Neutral Density filter which cuts the amount of light reaching your sensor. Once again an issue with this is the AD200 still isn't overly powerful so it might require a really strong ND filter. In that situation, you won't be able to focus through the camera with the filter in place. It will require focusing without the filter before putting the filter on and taking the photo. So a tripod is a must in those situations.

Lastly, down the road you might want to consider adding a second AD200 as well as an AD-B2. That is a bracket that holds two AD200 units together which actually gives off about 1/3 stop more light than an AD400.
 
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C

Clickr

Senior Member
I did not get any error, just the aperture value stayed zero and did not change at all. Thanks a lot...


Needa said:
I suspect you are correct. Did you get a flashing error or it just didn't record? If it didn't see the flash (ambient brighter than flash) it would just remain ready.

From the manual:

"When firing a flash, if the flash brightness is low compared to
the ambient light, the meter may fail to detect the light. In this
case, make measurements using cord flash mode."
Click to expand...
 
C

Clickr

Senior Member
Yeah my meter allows both reflective and incident metering but just I did not have the presence of mind to check that way but what you suggested was a great troubleshooting technique. thanks a ton for pouring ur valuable suggestions, this will help me a lot...


hark said:
I too think you are probably right. Does your flash meter allow both reflective metering as well as incident metering? if so, then try switching to the other to see if a meter reading is possible.

If the sun is behind your subject (one of the best options which leaves their face somewhat shaded and makes the sunlight become a rim light), you *should* be able to get a meter reading. But again it will depend on just how bright it is. If the sun is shining on their face, position them so the sun falls on one side of their face - then the sun will become your main light. That means you will use the strobe on the shaded side of their face to be the fill light. Try taking a meter reading from that shaded side of their face.

If the sun is behind you and is shining directly onto their face, most likely you won't be able to get a meter reading. At that point, what some photographers do is to diffuse the sun with a scrim (it's a frame with white material to diffuse the sunlight which will lower the overall amount of light on your subject). Or use a large silver reflector (like a 5' rectangular one) to block the light and place your subject in the shade.

Please keep in mind the AD200 isn't overly strong when it comes to portraits in direct sunlight. That's why some photographers choose the AD600. Or the other option is to use a Neutral Density filter which cuts the amount of light reaching your sensor. Once again an issue with this is the AD200 still isn't overly powerful so it might require a really strong ND filter. In that situation, you won't be able to focus through the camera with the filter in place. It will require focusing without the filter before putting the filter on and taking the photo. So a tripod is a must in those situations.

Lastly, down the road you might want to consider adding a second AD200 as well as an AD-B2. That is a bracket that holds two AD200 units together which actually gives off about 1/3 stop more light than an AD400.
Click to expand...
 
Needa

Needa

Senior Member
Challenge Team
hark said:
Or the other option is to use a Neutral Density filter which cuts the amount of light reaching your sensor. Once again an issue with this is the AD200 still isn't overly powerful so it might require a really strong ND filter. In that situation, you won't be able to focus through the camera with the filter in place. It will require focusing without the filter before putting the filter on and taking the photo. So a tripod is a must in those situations.
Click to expand...

Maybe I'm thinking about this wrong. Won't the ND filter cut the output from the flash also and equally, so ratio of ambient to flash will remain the same? Or would you then be able to SS to control the ratio?
 
hark

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Clickr said:
Yeah my meter allows both reflective and incident metering but just I did not have the presence of mind to check that way but what you suggested was a great troubleshooting technique. thanks a ton for pouring ur valuable suggestions, this will help me a lot...
Click to expand...

You're welcome. When I first delved into learning flash for portraits, this info was all new to me - so I included it not only for you but also for the benefit of other members.

If you use HSS or full power non-HSS on the Godox AD200 (or any Godox ADxxx strobe), keep in mind you will get a limited number of shutter actuations before the thermal protection warning kicks in. That will cause the strobe to stop working until it cools down. I don't know the number offhand, but I *think* it's somewhere between 15-30 images. My point is the number of images with HSS or full power without HSS is very low. If you are planning to take a lot of images, then an ND filter would be a better option although it has it's drawbacks as I mentioned above. From what I've read, many portrait photographers who use an ND filter tend to prefer the variable ND filter instead of a fixed ND filter. A downside to the variable ones is your lens hood won't fit with the ND filter in place. But the good thing is you can focus through it then rotate the filter to the desired marking (usually there are dots on the edge of the filter to show the number of stops) - of course keeping the camera on a tripod to not alter any distance for focusing.

Even with an AD600, it too would require HSS, full power non-HSS, or an ND filter in really bright conditions. The downside is its weight. However, if you are shooting a lot during the midday hours with really bright sunlight and are using the AD200, then a scrim or some type of diffuser between the sun and your subject might be an easy solution to avoid overheating your strobe. Even if you aren't using HSS, firing the strobe repeatedly at full power will also overheat the unit causing the thermal protection notification to appear.

From what I hear, Profoto strobes seldom run into this overheating problem...but then again, their prices are :eyetwitch:.
 
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hark

hark

Administrator
Staff member
Super Mod
Needa said:
Maybe I'm thinking about this wrong. Won't the ND filter cut the output from the flash also and equally, so ratio of ambient to flash will remain the same? Or would you then be able to SS to control the ratio?
Click to expand...

Usually with an ND filter, the meter reading might require f/22 without the filter. So an ND filter is added - but before taking any photos - the aperture is compensated by opening up the same number of stops that is dialed in on the ND filter. So in essence, by doing this, it compensates for the ND filter.

When using HSS or an ND filter, people do it so they can shoot wider open for a shallow depth of field.

So if I wanted to shoot at f/5.6 for its bokeh but my meter tells me I have to stop down to f/22, then when using an ND filter, I need a 4-stop filter (or dial a variable ND filter to 4-stops). This will avoid going into HSS. BUT if it still requires the strobe to fire at full power, then lower the strobe to shoot at half power and use a 3-stop ND filter to compensate. That way the strobe will now fire at half power and won't go into overheating like it would at full power or HSS. No matter whether using HSS or an ND filter, sometimes there is a juggling with the ISO to get a good exposure dialed in.

Learning this DID require wrapping my brain around the concept. Let me see if I can find a good video which explains this - but it will take some time to find one that does a good job of explaining the process.
 
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