Use Vagabond Mini Lithium With Continuous Lighting

Bionic963 • Contributing Member • Posts: 683

Video test firing Godox SK400II on Vagabond Mini Lithium battery.

Jul 10, 2020

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Just purchased a Godox SK400II. I have had the Vagabond Mini Lithium battery for years, since it was 1st released. I was curious exactly how the SK400II would perform on the Vagabond mini.

Here is a short video I made showing the Godox SK400II recycle time for full power flashes without the modeling light on, and some with the modeling light on at 100%. The flash is powered by the Paul C. Buff Vagabond Mini Lithium Battery.

If you would buy this same setup, the Godox SK400II was $139, and if you buy a new Vagabond Mini Lithium those cost $240. Total $379. As opposed to the Godox AD600 Non TTL that costs $549. I think if I needed a battery powered strobe and did not already own the Vagabond Mini Lithium I would not buy this setup new. I would just go with the AD600 Non TTL instead.

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Brook

Re: Video test firing Godox SK400II on Vagabond Mini Lithium battery.

my foray into cheap AC strobes for my basement studio setup was to purchase a few of Neewer rebranded Tolifo strobes even if they didn't have built in Godox receivers (use photo eye or pc sync triggering) for two reasons

- they were cheap at $49 cdn each ($36 usd) for the 250ws ones and $225 (165 usd) for the 600Ws

- they went from 1/1 down to 1/32

They work well for enough for low volume studio. The cheap 250Ws units would probably melt down in a production environment.

I've successfully shot them outdoors attached and recycling normally to a Cyberpower true sine wave computer back up UPS battery unit ($102 usd) and have had fun experimenting with long tail hyper sync techniques with them outdoors (using a delay setting in a Godox X1T trigger). But using sync cords outdoors and full power hyper sync isn't exactly simple or quick or easy. It's fun, but quirky.
If I was buying AC strobes today, it'd probably be Godox MS300 units and / or Gemini series (both go to 1/32) or DPIII series.

So for outdoor, I pretty much only use a Godox AD200 and TT685 / TT600 flashes. (and recently found myself wanting more power in a backlit sunset situation).

So found myself looking at adding another light / more powerful light for outdoor.

Considered another AD200 + AD-B2 (which would give me 400Ws but not another light / or the ability to have a two light setup) but preferably with extension heads to get the weight lower.
- $395 cad (290 usd) for AD200, $79 for AD-B2, $59 for EC200 extension heads x2
or AD400pro at $850 cad (625 usd).

A couple of days ago ended up finding and ordering a new open box AD360ii instead for $410 cad (302 usd). It's an older option often derided totally obsoleted by the AD200, but hey, more power and a defacto extension head for cheaper? Ticks the boxes for me.
(also picked up the newer S2 bracket, a light stand battery clip and a wide angle diffuser dome to use the metal reflector back plate to avoid power loss in an s-bracket).

OP Bionic963 • Contributing Member • Posts: 683

Re: Video test firing Godox SK400II on Vagabond Mini Lithium battery.

markintosh13 wrote:

I've successfully shot them outdoors attached and recycling normally to a Cyberpower true sine wave computer back up UPS battery unit

What!!! i can't believe I have never thought about trying this.. I have several of these sine wave batteries.. I use them at my house and at my studio for the IT related things. I have never even thought about using them to power monoblocks..

I have bought the AD600 watt non ttl, as well as the AD200. I bought all the accessories to go with them as well. I found the AD600 was overkill in a studio setting, then with the AD200, I found it wasn't quite powerful enough in some instances.. I have returned both. I was going to try the DP400III's next, but when I saw the price of the SK400II and the fact that the SK400II's umbrella mount included a thumb screw tightener, I had to give it a shot.

Yesterday I shot in studio all day with the SK400II with no problems. I do have 1 concern though. I am concerned with the plastic lightstand mount & it's plastic tightening handle. I feel that it will not withstand years of tightening it down to support the heavy umbrellas boxes or softboxes that I use. I am looking to see if Godox offers replacement parts for this, and if they do, and if I decide to keep the SK400II's, I will probably by at least 1, if not 2 of the replacements light stand mounts to keep on hand as backups.

I see the Godox DP400III is only $179.  So I need to find out if the light stand attachment and tightening mechanism on the DPIII's are plastic or metal, and if they "feel" like they will be able to take 10 years of use.   If I can't find any info pertaining to this, I will just order 1 from Amazon to test.

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Brook

ryanfrentint.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4503259