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This beginner’s guide to using strobes will help you decide what to buy and how to use it

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Speedlights and strobes can be quite intimidating to new photographers who’ve never had personal experience with them before. Particularly strobes. They’re really not all that difficult to get to grips with. There is a learning curve, for sure, but it’s a fairly short one to get going with the basics.

Photographer Mark Duffy recently gave a tutorial on the basics of strobes in a live stream for UK gear distributor, Transcontinenta. Not wanting to limit the information contained within to just the live stream viewers, Mark’s also shared a copy of the stream to his YouTube channel for everybody else to enjoy, too.

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You can save a ton of space in your lighting bags with Godox mount modifiers

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Over the past several decades, the Bowens mount has become the ubiquitous modifier mount for lights. Created, naturally, by Bowens decades ago, before they went bust, it seems to have been adopted as the defacto standard for the photography industry – and even video lights like those from Godox, Aputure and others have taken up the trend.

But Godox actually has their own modifier mount, used on the Godox AD300Pro and AD400Pro strobes as well as the new ML60 continuous LED (review coming soon!). But why make a whole new mount? What’s the point when Bowens is so popular? Well, primarily, the purpose here is the size and weight advantages, as Francisco Joel Hernandez illustrates in this video.

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How to fix the biggest problem with the Godox AD400/AD600 Pro strobes

Photography equipment has come a long way in recent years; staggering megapixel counts, blisteringly fast AF systems, and low-light performance that was unheard of not long ago. But in my opinion, one of the most useful and underrated advancements has been in off-camera lighting, notably portable, battery-powered strobes.

Gone are the days where I hauled my 30kg case that housed my 3 Bowens Gemini lights and the rats nest of 10 metre power cables and PC Sync cords to every assignment, I no longer need to search high and low for power outlets and risk clients tripping over cables, nor do I need to spend every pound earned on a physiotherapist to repair my back from the labour of it all.

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High Speed Sync vs Neutral Density – Does it really matter which you use?

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It’s the age-old question. If I’m shooting outdoors in bright conditions and I want a shallow depth of field with flash, should I go high speed sync or just stick an ND filter over my lens?

This time, it’s Gavin Hoey’s turn to try to answer the question. In this video, Gavin shoots a series of identical images using both 3 & 5-stop ND filters as well as the Godox AD400Pro strobe to see how the methods compare and what the advantages and disadvantage of each are.

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We’re not saying the Westcott FJ400 and Jinbei HD-400 are the same strobe, but they sure look similar

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I’ve seen a few posts recently about Westcott’s new FJ400 strobe, with a couple of sites labeling it the “best value strobe” on the market. We even covered the announcement here on DIYP and it looks fairly impressive, holding up to competitors like the Godox AD400Pro quite well in many respects.

But is it really Westcott’s new strobe? Or is it Jinbei’s HD400, released over a year ago, just with “Westcott” stamped on it? WE are not saying that it is, but we are saying that there are some striking similarities.

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TurtleRig bulb extensions say they provide up to a whole stop of extra light with Godox strobes

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One of the big problems with the Godox AD600 and AD600 TTL was the position of the bulb relative to the modifiers. It just sat a little too far back into the head, and many people felt they weren’t getting the power they should. Godox largely solved this problem with the AD600Pro and AD400Pro, but there are still many AD600 owners out there.

TurtleRig has now announced its newest solution to this problem, with their version 3 bulb extensions. Essentially, they’re shims which sit between the strobe head and the bulb, offering extension pins to bring the bulb out further from the modifier. They’re available for the original AD600 models as well as several other Godox strobes.

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2018 DIYP Gift Guide – Lighting

We’ve had cameras and lenses so far in our 2019 seasonal gift guides, so this time we’re turning towards lighting. Whether you shoot photography or video, you need it. And when the natural light isn’t giving you what you need, you need flash or good continuous lights. There is a wide range of flash and continuous lighting available these days, and here are some of our favourites.

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The Godox AD400 Pro is the best value for money strobe Godox has ever made

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The Godox AD400 Pro is the newest portable all-in-one strobe from Godox. It’s basically a 400Ws version of the AD600 Pro. It has a few design differences and a little less power, but basically an identical feature set.

I’ve been playing with the AD400 Pro over the last couple of weeks to see how it handles and how it compares to some of the other portable strobes in the Godox product range.

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The Godox AD400Pro is official, here’s what you need to know

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A few days ago, some photos leaked out of a new strobe claiming to be the Godox AD400Pro. It seems the photos were accurate, as Godox announced the strobe earlier through their Facebook page. Following on from the AD600Pro design, the AD400Pro is about as we expected it to be, but now the details are official.

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New Godox AD400Pro strobe photos leaked on Facebook

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Well, people have been wondering what would replace the Godox AD360II in the Godox flash lineup ever since the AD200 was released last year to replace the AD180. Now it seems we may have an answer, thanks to some photos posted to Facebook by “Rainbow Store-Camera“. The post and photos claim to show a new AD400Pro strobe unit.

If it is a fake, whoever’s made the images has gone to great lengths to trick everybody. so I would imagine that it’s likely real. As to when we’ll hear an official announcement, though, is anybody’s guess.

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