Godox AD300 Pro has same output as Godox AD100 Pro??

[Pasto]

I just bought an AD300 Pro because I like the AD100pro and thought about expanding my flash capabilities. I received the flash today, started testing it (after fully charging the battery), and was very disappointed to find that it is not more powerful than my AD100 Pro. It was not a scientific test but it convinces me that something is wrong. I mounted one strobe at the time on a light stand, stood a fixed distance from the strobe, and triggered the strobe with the Godox trigger while holding my flash meter on my chest (at about the same height as the strobe on the stand). Both flashes generated a reading of f 11.3 at full output. The AD100 pro was set at the 28mm zoom setting. If I set the AD100 Pro at the 85mm zoom setting, I got a reading of f 11.6. I got virtually the same readings with both my Sekonic and Minolta meters set to no-cord flash mode, every other setting was identical. The possible interpretations that I can think of are:

1) I'm doing something wrong
2) There is something wrong with the AD300 Pro that I bought (maybe the flash tube is defective)
3) The 2 strobes are actually the same power (GN) despite their different power consumptions.

Any ideas would be appreciated before I decide whether to return the AD300...

Thanks.

 

[neilt3]

I'm not familiar with either flash , but do they have a sensor on them for automatic flash exposure?
In which case , if your stood the same distance away and don't alter anything, then they would have the same output .
Is there a daily on it for setting ISO, aperture to be used , A for auto , M for manual setting ?
If so do the same test with both set to N for manual and set to their highest level , 1:1 .

Looking at the back of the 300 and WEXs website , there's plenty of buttons to alter the settings .
I suspect the power output settings have been altered .

 

[Pasto]

Thanks neilt3. Both strobes have TTL and Manual modes. I've been testing them at full power. This morning I tested them through a softbox and an umbrella. In both cases I did get a difference between the two but barely one stop in favour of the AD300. This is not quite what I was hoping but....

 

[koraks]

Well, nominally the AD100 is a 100Ws (max) flash unit, whereas the AD300 is, wait for it...300Ws.

In both cases I did get a difference between the two but barely one stop in favour of the AD300.

The anticipated difference would be a little over one stop. From 100Ws to 200Ws is one stop, the additional 100Ws is less than 1/2 of another stop. So between 1 and 1.5 stops difference is what you'd expect.

Light modifiers can of course significantly alter the results; I see you're mentioning things like zoom, and this will most definitely have a very severe impact - if you let one flash cast a much wider circle than the other, evidently this is going to impact the intensity of the light in the exposed area. This difference may still hold up in part when you fire into a softbox due to light losses in the 'walls' of the softbox.

 

[Pasto]

Thanks koraks.

 

[patrick_muz]

Thanks neilt3. Both strobes have TTL and Manual modes. I've been testing them at full power. This morning I tested them through a softbox and an umbrella. In both cases I did get a difference between the two but barely one stop in favour of the AD300. This is not quite what I was hoping but....

Using modifiers, one f/stop difference between AD100 and AD300 flashes seems correct.

 

[patrick_muz]

I get a 3/4 f-stop difference between the AD200 and AD360 flashes using the same reflector.