hey everyone today i'm going to compare the profoto b10 with the godox ad300 pro superficially
these are very similar flashes and because of that i'm going to skip some specifications on the two
units where i don't think they'll form part of a buying decision for anyone they certainly didn't
form part of the buying decision for me at the end i'm going to tell you which i decided to go
with and why build quality and overall design the build quality and the industrial design are
probably the hardest ones for me to talk about in any level of depth i'm not an engineer so
i can't comment on the circuitry or the bulbs or anything that is held within the units
but i can comment on how they are to hold how they are to use what peripherals feel like and
on that basis the pro photo is clearly a cut above the godox every single aspect
of the profoto is nicer and feels more premium than the godox the dials and the buttons are
of a nicer quality the screen is clearly far far far superior the plastics used on the body as well
just nicer plastics even small things like what the light comes with for example this
mounting bracket is way nicer than the godox one it is made of metal or if it isn't if not
just a very very nice plastic and it locks in place in a way that i
have never been able to get the godox one to lock in place because it has little teeth on the inside
of the hinge here this kind of quality just coming with the lights it should be expected at the price
point that the profoto comes in of course but it's still a difference and it's a difference that
i think matters when you're on a shoot and i say that because on shoots where i've used the
ad300 pro before modifying the bracket that came with it just like robert hall suggested
with a rubber washer my light was drooping and with the profoto this bracket it simply works
and it does so completely reliably i honestly cannot fault it but like i said
my comments on build quality they can only go so far you know the the profoto is the
nicer lights to me on the outside but that's about as far as i can take that
user interfaces the user interface is where these lights stand apart again the
pro photos interface is modern clean fully spelled out like something from the future
of photographic design and the godox's is like something from the past of photographic design
it's a bit like the difference between the top mounted displays on old school dslrs
versus the new more modern displays on mirrorless cameras it's not that one is
necessarily bad and one is good but just one is fine and one is delightful to use the triggers
is where it gets a bit more complicated and i think more down to personal preference
the profoto trigger is very expensive yet offers less information and less functionality than the
godox one the godox one shows you all of your settings gives you every option you would have
if you were accessing the light directly but the profoto one while seemingly offering less
is sort of different as well and i think by offering less it offers a more streamlined
experience i'd read before buying the pro photos that not seeing the number of your flash power
on the actual trigger was terrible and that you'd have no idea what you was using because
all you see is what you're adding you don't see the number you're actually shooting at
but in practice i found that it doesn't really matter i'm judging based on what
the subject looks like i'm not judging based on what 1/16 should be by just adding power
i'm thinking more in terms of the finished image than actual power of the flash and i've seen it
written in forums that the profoto trigger is way more reliable than the x-pro trigger from godox
and frankly that just hasn't been my experience i have shot with the godox for two years
and basically never missed a shot really the user interface point comes down to personal
taste i'm fairly ambivalent about them i'm happy when something i own has a nice interface
but it doesn't need to have a nice interface for it to be a great product so now let's move on to
what the profoto offers that the godox doesn't the ad300s missing features i said at the beginning
of this review that i wasn't really going to focus on specs because to me the lights are very similar
i'm fairly confident that you could put them in the same situation and get very similar results i
don't really believe in the light quality argument that i've heard people make because it's been
largely disproved by robert hall and a very fancy bit of technology that measures such things
but the b10 does have two features that the ad300 pro does not and those features matter to me
personally but they might not matter to you i do photo and video so these are very relevant to me
firstly you can charge the battery while using it that's extremely useful if you are going
to be in a location for a while and needing to shoot for quite some time you won't be thinking
about your battery level you won't be worrying that you need to swap them out and charge them
and you can shoot without concern the light will just keep going and secondly the video lights
function or just the very bright modeling lights is actually useful it's not very bright but it's
enough to be a nice little hair light as it's here and it's plugged in as you can see the charger
here attached to the stand and that kind of dual function is very appealing to me having the b10s
has basically meant that aside from buying or renting much more powerful video lights i can make
do with the b10s that i have and like my videos reasonably well having those two things together
mean the profoto is just more likely to get used and more likely to make a contribution to my work
than the ad300 is in a wider variety of situations the cost what someone is willing to spend on a new
bit of gear depends on a lot of factors where your business is at how much value you think you're
going to get out of it and whether you can charge it back to clients every single time you use it
now i've mentioned before that the value i'm getting out of these goes across photo and video
and i like the functionality i like the design the build quality it's all there for me in terms
of spending a bit more after all i can understand why they might cost more the light itself is made
in sweden sweden has higher labor costs higher taxes higher rents profoto has a very robust
marketing presence and a support network every single bit of the profoto duo kit
is delightful the bag they come in is now my main photo bag am i personally a bit annoyed that even
the trigger even the umbrellas even the soft boxes are enormously more expensive than competition
yeah that's a bit annoying i'm not yet convinced that their modifiers are significantly better
to justify that level of cost increase but there are alternatives so i can live with that
the actual flash itself i think justifies its higher cost but that's not to say again that the
profoto is much much much better than the godox at the basics not at all the godox does the job
but i can see personally why the profoto costs more and i can understand why and i think it is
for the most part justified why i choose profoto i think it's pretty clear from what i've said
before which light i prefer but the reason i prefer the b10 is down to more than specs
first of all in general if i can afford to buy a nicer product that's more delightful
to use better built i will do that second i just like profoto more as a company
i find their master classes their community outreach their video explainers the behind
the scenes stuff better than godox's so if i can back the company that has that kind
of mentality about photographers in the community then again if i can afford it i will do that third
if i want to expand my lighting kits for a bigger job and really light a massive scene
i know that the profoto trigger will work with them i know that my modifiers will work with them
and i know that i'll have a consistent experience if i need to expand my kit ever and fourth and
probably the most important is that every single professional photographer that i have met or
worked with has sung the praises of profoto in general and then sometimes the b10s in particular
so to me the choice was fairly clear partly based on the fact that i could afford to do this
and partly based on the fact that they came so highly recommended from people i respect
thank you for watching i'm curious in the comments below let me know if 'made in china'
versus 'made in sweden' means anything to you and whether you're willing to pay
five times more for a better build quality and user experience even if the raw spec is
basically the same or even slightly worse in some situations and actually the bag that my
duo kit came in is really interesting would you be interested in seeing a review of that bag and
whether it's worth buying as a standalone camera bag not just as a sort of kit with the lights
i'm happy to put that together if it's something you're interested in and of course if you have
any other questions or comments please leave them below and i'll get to you as soon as i can
i've got other videos on the leica m262 and the pentax lx so if you're interested in those cameras
do check that out anyway that's probably all i can do today so i will see you in the next video