Godox KNOWLED F200Bi Flexible LED Mat Review

Jul 27, 2023

The Godox KNOWLED F200Bi is a flexible LED that was designed to be quick to set up with the versatility to be used for a wide range of lighting applications.

The Godox KNOWLED Flexible LED Mat lineup is touted as being a fast and effective way to get broad and soft lighting on set, and like most similar style lights, they break down into a reasonable size for traveling. The Godox KNOWLED Flexible LED Mat lineup consists of the F200Bi, F400Bi, and the F600Bi.

The KNOWLED Flexible LED Mat lineup was announced in June this year.

2 x 2′ sized flexible LED panels make for very good traveling lights. Their low weight, versatility, and ability to be powered via flight-safe batteries mean they tick a lot of boxes for shooters who need to travel light.

The Godox KNOWLED F200Bi is essentially two 2×1 panels that are combined to create a single larger (in this case, 2.1 x 2.1′) lighting source.

The Godox KNOWLED F200Bi folds down into a rectangle. The whole philosophy behind the design was to allow the user to create, broad, bright, natural-looking light in an easy-to-travel with package that can be set up in a few minutes.

The light comes with a nicely designed collapsible X-Bracket. This is well made and I like how it collapses down so that it doesn’t take up my space. I will talk about this in more detail further down in the article.

The KNOWLED F200Bi weighs in at 4.03 lb / 1.83kg (Fixture with Cable/Mount). The power supply/controller weighs 6.11 lb / 2.77kg. The entire kit in its case weighs 20.94 lb / 9.5kg.

So how does this weight compare to some other competing solutions on the market? Well, above you can see. The Godox KNOWLED F200Bi is heavier than the competition I have listed.

The Godox KNOWLED F200Bi draws 210W.

You can run the fixture from two flight-safe batteries as it only requires 210W. This is handy for anyone who travels a lot and needs to run the light remotely. Now, there are some caveats to running the light from batteries which I will talk about further down in the review.

So how does this power draw compare to some of the competition? Well, above you can see.

The lighting kit consists of:

The case itself is rather compact, and with everything inside it, it weighs 20.94 lb / 9.5kg.

The case it comes in is pretty well made, but I’m in no position to comment on how it would handle the rigors of air travel. That is something you would only find out over time. The case does come with the light, so you can’t really complain. You can use it if you want, or if you prefer another option you can decide what works best for you.

If you are going to use the case then I would put other items inside there to maximize the space. It is actually long enough that you could easily sneak in a light stand to have a fully self-contained lighting set-up.

The overall build quality of the Godox KNOWLED F200B is very good. Godox has come a long way in the last year or so and their fixtures are now easily as well made as other brands such as Aputure or Nanlite. If you were previously steering clear of Godox because you had experience with some of their older lights you should really be taking a hard look at their new fixtures, because they are so much better.

The F200Bi is rated at IP65 for dust and water resistance, allowing the light to be used in adverse conditions.

The power supply/control unit is robustly constructed and all of the connections are solidly made.

I like how Godox has color-coded the AC PowerCon cable with its corresponding input on the controller/power supply. This avoids confusion and speeds things up. This may be a small thing but it shows that Godox has spent time paying attention to small details.

There is a nice color display on the top of the controller/power supply. This is very easy to see and it shows you clearly and concisely what your operating parameters are.

The buttons and dials are tactile and easy to use. They are also solidly made.

The X-Bracket, as I mentioned earlier in the review, is well-made and very robust. This is by far the best mounting bracket I have come across for any flexible LED light. Usually, the brackets that come with flexible panels are terribly designed and flimsy.

Godox has designed it like a lot of the Bowens mount soft boxes, where it collapses down but then opens up and clicks into place. This saves on space, creates a stronger connection, and is far quicker to set up than other systems I have seen.

The light comes with a decent adjustable mounting bracket that you insert the X-Bracket spigot into.

The Godox KNOWLED F200Bi has a power supply/controller with a built-in AC adapter. As I just mentioned, this is very well made.

The power supply/controller is very intuitive and straightforward to use. You can clearly see all of the parameters on the display screen. A light’s UI doesn’t have to be overly complicated and Godox has recognized that.

The power supply/controller also has a little V-mount style receptor quick-release plate on the side, however, for some reason, the kit doesn’t come with a lightstand receptor mount to use with it. You have to purchase that separately.

One negative aspect I came across is that the head cable that goes from the LED Mat to the power supply/controller is, in my opinion, too short. If you have the light out on a boom arm you can’t put the power supply/controller on the ground because the cable isn’t long enough. Now, this isn’t the end of the world because Godox does sell a 5m / 16.4′ DC cable called the F-DC5A.

The power supply/controller has two V-Lock battery plates. I don’t believe there is an AB Gold Mount available.

You can power the light from camera batteries, or even a single camera battery. What is nice is that Godox allows you to use either 14.8V or 26V batteries. This is the first time I have personally seen a power supply/controller that allows you to do this.

Now, there are a few caveats to operating the light via camera batteries.

You can’t use a single V-lock battery to power the light at 100%. In fact, a single camera battery will only power the light at 40% output.

If you are going to use a single battery you do need to use the specific side that has the yellow label and the yellow V-mount battery release tab.

It doesn’t matter what the capacity of that battery is, 40% is all you will get when using a single battery. I tried using a SWIT PB-H290S 290Wh 14.4V/28.8V battery and I was limited to 40%.

If you use two batteries, again, regardless of how high their capacity is, you are limited to 80% output. I am not quite sure what the reason behind this is, especially since the light only draws 210W.

On paper, one of the appeals of the Godox KNOWLED F200Bi is that you can power it from two flight-safe batteries. If you are traveling a lot then this is a big deal, however, you need to be aware of those caveats I just mentioned.

What is nice is that the power supply/controller has a 3-pin 48V DC input so you could run it off something like the SWIT TD-R230S 48V 750W Light Stand Power Adapter and a couple of high capacity 28.8V V-mount batteries. This is a great solution because you can run the Godox at 100% output continually for more than 4 hours without needing mains power.

The power supply/controller isn’t too large or too heavy, but in saying that, it isn’t like it is tiny either.

Flexible and foldable LED mats are great because they are compact and lightweight, but they still require power like any other light. They can’t magically produce a lot of output without a fairly large power supply.

The Power Supply/Controller has the following inputs & outputs:

There is a 5-Pin XLR DMX In and DMX 0ut. Additionally, there is a USB-A Port.

The power supply/controller does have an in-built fan, however, there are no fan controls or options.

The fan noise is basically non-existent and the light is extremely quiet which is fantastic.

The power supply/controller has one large dial that you use to navigate between and adjust CCT and Dimming.

There are also four buttons:

The MODE/LOCK button toggles between the CCT mode and the Effects mode.

Once you are in the Effects mode you can make various adjustments such as intensity, CCT, and automatic or manual operation.

In the PRESET mode, you can save your own presets that you would like to recall at a later time.

You do this by pressing on the main dial. It will then ask you if you want to Save that preset.

Once you save the preset it is then identified by its CCT and brightness level so it is easy to know which preset is which.

The MENU button brings you to, you guessed it, the main menu.

DMX allows you to change the Address, pick the DMX Mode, turn on/off the Extend DMX, and select commands for when the DMX is lost.

BLUETOOTH allows you to turn on/off the Bluetooth or reset it.

WIRELESS lets you turn the wireless on/off, select the group and channel and turn the ID on/off.

DIMMING CURVES lets you select between the usual assortment of dimming curves.

QUICK BOOT is a setting where if you have it activated the light will automatically turn on when it is connected to power.

Overall the UI is very easy and intuitive to use. You don’t need a manual to be able to work out how to use this light. This is always a good thing, especially if you are handing the light off to someone who hasn’t used it before.

As well as making adjustments directly from the power supply/controller you can also use the free Godox Light Andriod & iOS Bluetooth app to control the light remotely.

Now, here is where I ran into an immediate problem. The app would not detect or recognize the KNOWLED F200Bi. It didn’t matter what I did, I couldn’t get it to work. I tried reinstalling the app, resetting the Bluetooth on the power supply/controller, and turning my phone’s Bluetooth on and off, but nothing worked.

I eventually found some advice online from someone who had experienced similar issues when trying to connect up Godox fixtures. What I had to do to get it to work was to:

Apps shouldn’t be this complicated and users will get frustrated if something doesn’t work the first time.

Anyway, once It finally did display the fixture I could go ahead and select it.

Once it was paired I could then access the controls page. The control page is fairly basic and it allows you to adjust CCT, intensity, and change the dimming curve.

If you click on FX you can choose what effects you want to use and adjust their speed and intensity.

I also ran into issues where it was hard to get it to connect back up again after turning the light off and then back on again. Half the time it would tell me that the fixture was still turned off when it wasn’t.

Overall, the app is very basic, but it gets the job done. I just wish it was a lot easier to add fixtures than having to constantly reset the Bluetooth and turn the power supply/controller on and off all the time.

The biggest downside of using a lot of flexible or foldable LED lights is that they are a pain to set up. You normally have to construct up frames and mounts and then hook them up to controller units and power supplies.

As I mentioned earlier, the Godox KNOWLED F200Bi comes with a nicely made X-Bracket.

This folds open and snaps into place, in the same way, a lot of Bowens mount softboxes do. This saves on space when you are storing it and it provides a much quicker solution than having to install or construct frames.

This makes setting up the fixture a breeze. You just click the arms out, and attach the X-Bracket to a lightstand. The next step is to insert the hooks at the end into the grommets on the LED mat.

The X-Bracket is nice and robust and it creates a firm platform for the LED mat with the added benefit of keeping it nice and taut.

As the LED Mat has grommets, you could use those for mounting purposes as well if you didn’t want to use the X-Bracket.

If you are working by yourself or in a small crew you need to be able to set up lighting quickly. The Godox KNOWLED F200Bi can literally be set up in a couple of minutes by a single person.

If you use the included diffusion and diffusion frame then you will have to factor in a bit more time to construct and install that.

Speaking of the diffusion, it now needs to be attached to a fold-out mounting frame that you need to attach to the LED Mat using velcro. As I just mentioned, this adds extra time to the set-up process.

The light does also come with a basic honeycomb grid that you can velcro to the front of the diffusion frame. This works reasonably well, but it is a lightweight material and it is hard to get it to stay taut.

It is nice that Godox includes the frame that you attach the diffusion to because it allows you to create a softer lighting source because the diffusion is further away from the LED source. While it is not overly deep, it still manages to do a good job.

What is interesting is that the LED Mat does have a type of lightweight diffusion already on top of the LEDs. This certainly does help to create a slightly softer source and it is a little different from other similar-sized flexible panels I have seen in the past.

One of the downsides, as I mentioned earlier with flexible LED lights, is you have to carry around a frame, controller/power supply, the LED Mat, and a bunch of cables and accessories. Although, I think the positive aspects of using a flexible LED panel light of this size outweigh the negatives.

A big factor for a lot of people when buying a light is how much output it can produce.

Godox claims that the light puts out 8,300 lux @ 1 meter when it is set at 5600K. That is a lot of output for a light that draws just 210W.

Well, let’s put that output claim to the test. I tested the lights output at a variety of CCT settings both running on mains and battery power using a Sekonic C-800 at a distance of 1m (3.28ft) in a controlled environment; you can see the results below. With any diffusion or attachment, I measure from the end of it and not from the light source. I do this with all my measurements for lights.

Above you can see the Godox KNOWLED F200Bi recorded an output of 9610 lx (893 fc) when set at 5600K and run off mains power. This is higher than the claimed output from the manufacturer. 9610 lx from a flexible LED light of this size and with a power draw of just 210W is impressive.

*Manufacturers’ claims (not independently tested)

As a comparison, above you can see how that output compares to some of the competition. Please note that some of these lights like the Intellytech LC-160 2.0 have a significantly lower power draw. The Godox KNOWLED F200Bi has considerably more output than the amaran F22x 2×2 and Falcon Eyes RX-24TDX III.

The F200Bi produced a CCT reading of 5513K, which was a decent result.

As a comparison, the Intellytech LC-160 LITECLOTH 2.0 produced a CCT reading of 5666K

Above you can see the light’s output when it was set at 3200K. It produced 8020 lx (745 fc), which is 16.54% less than the 9610 lx it produced at 5600K.

*Manufacturers’ claims (not independently tested)

As a comparison, above you can see how that output compares to some of the competition.

As far as CCT accuracy goes, it recorded an almost perfect reading of 3204K. The light is more CCT-accurate at 3200K than it is at 5600K.

Again, as a comparison, the Intellytech LC-160 LITECLOTH 2.0 produced a CCT reading of 3319K

Godox KNOWLED F200Bi

The light’s output wasn’t overly consistent across its CCT range. The output across its CCT range varied by 23.72%. Although, in saying that, from 4500K to 8500K it only varied by 8.7%. While there is nothing wrong with having a higher output at certain CCT settings, on really good lights the output is almost identical no matter what CCT setting you select.

The results also show me that the light is pretty accurate when it comes to CCT reproduction from 2700-6500K. Only at 8000K and 8500K was it a little off. The CCT was excellent at both 3200K and 4500K.

Above you can see that when the light had diffusion attached it recorded an output of 5370 lx (499 fc). This was 44.1% less output than when using the light open face. I am assuming that the diffusion being used by Godox is about 1 stop.

Now, the diffusion did alter the CCT slightly, but in a good way. With the diffusion, the CCT reading was 5615K which was actually better than the 5513K it recorded with no diffusion. As most people are more likely to use a LED mat with diffusion, it is nice to know that when doing so, the CCT will be very accurate.

Above you can see the light’s output when it was set at 3200K and using the diffusion was 4560 lx (424 fc), which was 43.1% less than the 8020 lx it produced when used open face.

As far as CCT accuracy goes, it recorded an almost perfect reading of 3199K. I am impressed that Godox is using diffusion that doesn’t alter the CCT values as I have seen on so many other lights in the past.

Godox KNOWLED F200Bi Diffusion

The results show me that the light’s CCT accuracy when using diffusion is excellent from 3200K to 6500K. It was no more than 156K off at any setting. Between 3200K and 6500K, it was only off by a maximum of 31K, which is outstanding.

Ok, so now let’s see what happens to the output if I try running the Godox KNOWLED F200Bi via a single V-mount battery.

Above you can see that when the light was running off a single V-mount battery it recorded an output of 4140 lx (385 fc). This was 56.9% less output than when using the light open face. This output was to be expected because the light will only run at 40% output when you are using a single V-mount battery, regardless of its capacity.

The light recorded a reading of 5474K which was 39K different from the 5513K it recorded when running via mains power.

Above you can see the light’s output when it was set at 5600K and running off two V-lock batteries was 7890 lx (733 fc), which was 17.89% less than the 9610 lx it produced when used open face. As I mentioned earlier in the review, the light can only run at up to 80% output when using two V-mount batteries, regardless of their capacity.

The light recorded a reading of 5493K which was just 20K different from the 5513K it recorded when running via mains power.

Now, what you should always do when testing lights is to see if the CCT remains consistent when dimming the light. Just because you set a light at say 5600K, that doesn’t mean that the CCT will remain stable as you start dimming the fixture down. I also wanted to see how linear the dimming curve was.

I decided to do a series of tests at 100%/75%/50%/25%10% to see if the CCT being recorded changed. This was done at a distance of 1m / 3.3′ using a Sekonic C-800. These tests were done at 5600K with the light being used open face.

The Godox KNOWLED F200Bi maintained very good CCT consistency as you start dimming the fixture. My testing showed that the CCT readings varied by 110K from 100% to 10%.

As far as how linear the output is when you start dimming the light, at 50% output it had 49.63% less output than when used at 100%. At 25% it had 72.63% less output than when used at 100%. At 10% output, it had 86.05% less output than when used at 100%. This shows me that the light’s dimming curve is reasonably linear.

So now that we have seen how much output the Godox KNOWLED F200Bi produces, how does it perform when it comes to replicating accurate colors?

Above you can see that when the light was set at 5600K and used open face it recorded an average CRI (R1-R8) of 96.3 and an extended CRI (R1-R15) of 95.46. For replicating accurate skin tones it recorded 97.5 for R9 (red), 98.4 for R13 (closest to caucasian skin tones), and 97.5 for R15 (closest to Asian skin tones). These were outstanding results. Only R12 (Blue) was below 90.

The light when set at 5600K also recorded a TLCI score of 98.

As a comparison, I compared the color rendering of the Intellytech to the Aladdin Bi-Flex2 Bi-Color LED Panel 1×2 and the Intellytech LC-160 LITECLOTH 2.0. The Aladdin and Intellytech both have excellent color rendering scores and I personally consider them to be a benchmark for flexible LED panels.

Above you can see a head-to-head comparison against the Aladdin Bi-Flex2 Bi-Color LED Panel 1×2 and the Intellytech LC-160 LITECLOTH 2.0 when used at 5600K. The Godox KNOWLED F200Bi stands up very well to the Aladdin and Intellytech, which, as I just mentioned, is what I consider to be the industry benchmark for flexible panel lights when it comes to color accuracy.

Above you can see the scores for when the light was used at 3200K open face. It recorded an average CRI (R1-R8) of 98.1 and an extended CRI (R1-R15) of 96.84. For replicating accurate skin tones it recorded 92.5 for R9 (red), 99.5 for R13 (closest to caucasian skin tones), and 98.9 for R15 (closest to Asian skin tones). Just like at 5600K, these are excellent results. Only R12 (Blue) was just below 90.

The light, when set at 3200K, recorded a TLCI score of 98.

Above you can see a head-to-head comparison against the Aladdin Bi-Flex2 Bi-Color LED Panel 1×2 and the Intellytech LC-160 LITECLOTH 2.0 when used at 3200K. Again, just like at 5600K, the Godox stands head-to-head with the Aladdin and Intellytech.

Above you can see that when the light was set at 5600K and used with its diffusion it recorded an average CRI (R1-R8) of 96.3 and an extended CRI (R1-R15) of 95.25. For replicating accurate skin tones it recorded 94.6 for R9 (red), 97.9 for R13 (closest to caucasian skin tones), and 96.6 for R15 (closest to Asian skin tones). These were outstanding results. Only R12 (Blue) was below 90.

Above you can see how those scores compare to when you are using the light open face.

When using the diffusion it certainly doesn’t have any big effect on the color rendering performance. While it isn’t quite as good, it isn’t far off.

Above you can see that when the light was set at 3200K and used with its diffusion it recorded an average CRI (R1-R8) of 98.1 and an extended CRI (R1-R15) of 96.66. For replicating accurate skin tones it recorded 94.7 for R9 (red), 99.2 for R13 (closest to caucasian skin tones), and 99.3 for R15 (closest to Asian skin tones). These were outstanding results. Only R12 (Blue) was below 90.

As you can see above, the diffusion does not affect the color rendering performance.

The CC Index displays the CC correction value and whether any magenta or green need to be added or subtracted. 1 CC corresponds to 035 Kodak CC values or 1/8 Rosco filter values. Any reading less than +1.00 or -1.00 and you’re probably not going to need to make any kind of adjustment. The ⊿uv is the value to show how much this light is away from being an ideal light source (black body radiation = incandescent lamp). As with the CC Index you want this number to theoretically be zero. Kelvin is not a linear value, so we need to convert from Kelvin to MK-1 to compare the values of color temperature. To calculate from Kelvin to Mired is MK-1= 1*1000000/Kelvin. While this may sound confusing, it is the only way of measuring if the Kelvin shift is significant enough to warrant having to use a filter for correction. Below are the results for the Godox KNOWLED F200Bi:

These figures might look confusing, but what it tells me is that the light is very CCT-accurate at all of its settings between 3200K-9999K. Any MK-1 score that is under -9/9 means you wouldn’t have to use any color correction gels. The MK-1 scores for this light were excellent. Any MK-1 score that is under -6/6 is a very good result. At 3200K and 4500K the scores were close to being perfect. The only anomaly was at 2700K where the MK-1 score was one of the worst I have seen from an LED light.

Ok, now let’s look at the CC INDEX & ⊿uv.

These were very good results across the board. There was nothing here that anyone should be concerned about and the ⊿uv scores at 3200K and 6500K were outstanding. At 2700K it does lean a little green, however, there was nothing high enough here to be of any real-world concern. The ⊿uv scores were right up there with some of the best lights I have reviewed.

TM-30 is a relatively new color rendering standard that was developed to deal with the limitations of CRI. TM-30 looks at 99 individual colors. These 99 colors are categorized into seven groups: nature, skin color, textiles, paints, plastics, printed material, and color systems.

TM-30 scores go from 0 – 100. The higher the score, the more accurate a light is at producing colors. Any TM-30 Rf score in the ’90s is considered to be good. What is interesting and something that you need to be very aware of is that two separate light sources with the exact same CRI scores can render colors very differently. A light with a high CRI rating could have a low TM-30 score. Conversely, a light with a good TM-30 score could have a bad CRI score.

Now, there are two measurements associated with TM-30, Rf and Rg.

Rf (Color Fidelity)Rg (Color Gamut)

With Rf value, ideally, you want a score in the 90’s.

With Rg value, a score below 100 indicates that the light source renders colors with less saturation than the reference source. Any score above 100 means it is over-saturating colors. So ideally you want this score to be 100.

Above you can see the scores for the Godox KNOWLED F200Bi at various CCT settings. Below I have listed the figures as well.

Here are the results:

The TM-30 scores were very consistent across its CCT range and it shows me that the light is very consistent at replicating accurate colors with full saturation. However, you can see that it did have a tendency to over-saturate magenta/red colors at 4500K-6500K.

SSI (Spectral Similarity Index) was developed by the Sci-Tech Council of the Academy. SSI gives me the ability to set any light as a standard, or use predefined standards (such as CIE D55), and then give other lights an SSI score based upon how well they will match standards such as CIE D55 measure spectral response and compare it directly against an ideal light source.

SSI is a much better way to judge an LED light than CRI or TLCI, although they don’t tell the full story of any light and you can’t judge a light by SSI scores alone.

SSI is useful to see how well different lights will play together. As the Sekonic C-800 Spectromaster can measure SSI, I decided to test out the Godox KNOWLED F200Bi to see how it performed.

Above are the scores for the light when used at 3200K. The scores show that the light does a very good job of accurately replicating a 3200K (Tungsten) source. Any score in the mid to high 80’s is outstanding for an LED light.

Above are the scores for the light when used at 5600K. The scores show that the light does a reasonably good job of accurately replicating a CIE D55 source. A score in the low to mid-70s is very typical for a 5600K LED light.

The main reason we want to record SSI scores is so we can see how well they match with other lights. For example, let’s see how well the Godox KNOWLED F200Bi matches the ARRI Orbiter and Prolycht Orion 675 FS at both 3200K and 5600K. Below you can see the results.

As you can see the Godox KNOWLED F200Bi is a decent match with the Prolycht Orion 675 FS when used at 5600K. It isn’t quite as good of a match with the Orbiter, however, a score of 89 is still pretty good.

At 3200K the Godox is a fairly similar match to the Prolycht and ARRI as it was at 5600K.

As another comparison, let’s see how it matches two other flexible LED panels made by Intellytech, in this case, the MEGA-6 and MEGA-8 LITECLOTH 3.0.

As you can see the Godox KNOWLED F200Bi is a very good match with the Intellytech MEGA-6 and MEGA-8 LITECLOTH 3.0 fixtures when used at 5600K.

At 3200K the Godox is almost a perfect match to the Intellytech MEGA-6 and MEGA-8 LITECLOTH 3.0 fixtures when used at 3200K. You could use all three of these lights together and they would look indistinguishable to the human eye.

Being able to measure SSI in advance and compare different lights you may be using together is a great way of finding out what lights will work together and what adjustments need to be made.

Because I like to be thorough, let’s have a look at how the Godox KNOWLED F200Bi when used open face matches itself when we use its diffusion.

As you can see the Godox KNOWLED F200Bi is basically an identical match to itself regardless of whether you use diffusion or not. If you had two of these lights and you were using one open-faced and the other with diffusion, they would be virtually indistinguishable.

Just like at 3200K, when the light is used with or without diffusion, it is essentially a perfect match when set at 5600K.

Above you can see the spectral distribution of the Godox KNOWLED F200Bi when it is set at 5600K. The spectral distribution is decent and there aren’t any spikes where you wouldn’t expect there to be.

As a comparison, let’s compare that against the best LED light I have ever tested at 5600K, the Maxima 3.

Above you can see the spectral distribution of the Godox KNOWLED F200Bi when it is set at 3200K. The spectral distribution is nice and full and the light only has the slightest bump in green.

As a comparison, above you can see what the spectral response of an ARRI Orbiter looks like when used at 3200K.

As I always say, photometric scores only tell you part of the story. So do the scores from the Godox KNOWLED F200Bi translate into real-world performance? Well, let’s find out.

As far as how the light looks, it really does produce a beautiful soft source. With the included diffusion you get this lovely quality of light.

If you want to see how much output the light has, above are some comparison frames. I have kept the camera settings the same for all of the shots.

I found that even without using any diffusion at all I could still create a very flattering light source. The Godox KNOWLED F200Bi isn’t too large, but it is still very capable of spreading light out of a decent-sized area.

I also found it really nice to have a lightweight fixture of this size with lots of output. This light certainly punches well above its weight and I found that it could easily be used instead of a powerful 2×1 LED light that is being punched through diffusion.

Above you can see a couple of quick frames when using the KNOWLED F200Bi with its diffusion when it is placed just to the right of the subject.

The light does create some cross-hatched shadows if you use it without diffusion.

Above you can see what the light looks like when it is positioned out over a table using the diffusion and honeycomb grid. By using it with or without the honeycomb grid, you can choose how much spill you want.

The included diffusion is reasonably strong, and because it sits away from the light source it can create nice soft light. I would have liked to have seen Godox sell diffusion in various strengths.

Like most lights, you could use the Godox KNOWLED F200Bi for lots of different applications, but the fixture is certainly being targeted as a high-output, portable light source that can be run off flight-safe batteries.

The Godox KNOWLED F200Bi is likely to appeal to solo shooters and small crews who are looking for a travel-friendly and affordable lighting solution. The only real caveat is the reduced output when powering it via camera batteries.

Godox makes a few accessories for the KNOWLED F200Bi:

The Godox KNOWLED F200Bi is available for $639 USD. This makes it competitively priced and in line with a lot of the competition.

Other alternatives include the Falcon Eyes RX-24TDX III, Intellytech LiteCloth LC-160 2.0, and amaran F22x 2×2.

*Currently on sale at B&H as of the 30th June 2023.

Above you can see how the price compares to some of the competition.

The Godox KNOWLED F200Bi is a solidly made, well-thought-out fixture with a ton of output and good color rendering scores.

It produces a beautiful soft light, especially when used with its diffusion. The output is extremely impressive given the light’s small size and power draw. That high output really helps when you want to create a more diffused lighting source, but you still require a decent amount of punch.

It is nice that you can run it via flight-safe batteries, however, as I mentioned in the review, there are the caveats of reduced output.

The X-Bracket makes the light super quick to set up which a lot of users will appreciate. The X-Bracket is well made and a lot better than anything else I have personally seen.

The photometric scores across the board are impressive, however, the light doesn’t have consistent output across its CCT range. This is probably not a big deal for most people given the light’s high output.

I like that the diffusion Godox has used doesn’t alter the CCT readings. This is a big deal because a lot of diffusion I have previously seen with lights like this alters the CCT readings quite considerably.

The Godox Light app is problematic and I wish they would look into fixing it. I had problems pairing some of their KNOWLED fixtures in the past, and with the F200Bi I ran into the same issues.

The Godox KNOWLED F200Bi is a versatile lighting solution that can be used in numerous different ways and that is one of its biggest appeals. Being able to create a soft lighting source from a fixture that doesn’t require massive lighting stands or a big power draw makes it seriously worth considering.

No one light is going to be suitable for every application, but you ideally want to buy fixtures that are multi-versatile.

Godox has done a great job with the KNOWLED F200Bi and it is very hard to fault. It is an impressive fixture that ticks a lot of boxes if you are looking for a mid-sized flexible LED panel with a ton of output.

Matthew Allard is a multi-award-winning, ACS accredited freelance Director of Photography with over 30 years' of experience working in more than 50 countries around the world.He is the Editor of Newsshooter.com and has been writing on the site since 2010.Matthew has won 48 ACS Awards, including five prestigious Golden Tripods. In 2016 he won the Award for Best Cinematography at the 21st Asian Television Awards.Matthew is available to hire as a DP in Japan or for work anywhere else in the world.