Advice needed for new lighting kit please.

TG.

TG.

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I'm thinking of investing in a lighting kit in a few weeks, thing is i've never used studio lights before, so very little knowledge of what to go for, but i want something that's reasonably powerful and will last, and be suitable for home/small studio work, originally i was looking at the interfit EX150 MK2 but i think in the long run this could prove to be false economy as i think i would want to upgrade a lot sooner, so these are what i've been looking at, the Lencarta kit HERE, and the D-lite kit HERE, your opinions and advice very much appreciated :)
 
By the time you've added a radio trigger (don't get an infra red trigger) + a 5 in 1 reflector kit the Elinchrom is slightly more expensive, but very little in it until you add lighting modifiers, which are much more expensive in Elinchrom fit. It's the lighting modifiers that really matter when it comes to studio lighting. Please see this article, which is the first of a series on modifiers.
 
Thanks Gary, anymore thoughts, does anyone here have one of these setups, who could possibly give some personal thoughts on them both :)
 
The Elinchrome D-Lite's are excellent, although unless you have plenty of disposable income, or are going to be using them to make a fair bit of cash, the Lencarta kit would be much more suited in my opinion. For a home studio setup you'll not get any better light from the Elinchromes.
 
Garry Edwards said:
(don't get an infra red trigger)
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Can you please explain the above, also what is the difference in the recycling time of both Elinchrom and Lencarta flash kits, i've googled but couldn't find any info, and are the extras for Lencarta that much cheaper than Elinchrom, many thanks for the info, and to all other's who have contributed :)
 
Infra red triggers require line of sight (more or less, although the signal sometimes bounces off of reflective surfaces) and has a very limited range. It also requires fairly dim lighting conditions. Radio jdoesn't require line of sight, is unaffected by light levels, doesn't have any recharge time, in short it just works.

Recycling time of Lencarta EP300 is 1.17 sec at full power, much less at lower settings. Don't know the Elinchrom times

Accessory prices: Take a look at Warehouse Express, probably the cheapest for Elinchrom, just a couple of examples...
Snoot with honeycomb: Elinchrom £55 Lencarta £29.95
Background reflector: Elinchrom £81.11 Lencarta £39.95
70cm beauty dish: Elinchrom £219 (no honeycomb available) Lencarta £109.95
 
just bought the EX150 MK2 kit and find it very good. I agree that the infra red trigger is useless in bright conditions so have a purchased an Interfit radio kit at £39 (Int 412)
YOu will also need a light meter - I bought the sekonic L308S which seems highly recomennded and it is easy to use. The EX150 is about half the price of the D lite kit by Elinchrom:wave:
 
The EX150 kit is fine. Infra red trigger in bright conditions useless:wave:
 
Garry Edwards said:
Infra red triggers require line of sight (more or less, although the signal sometimes bounces off of reflective surfaces) and has a very limited range. It also requires fairly dim lighting conditions. Radio jdoesn't require line of sight, is unaffected by light levels, doesn't have any recharge time, in short it just works.

Recycling time of Lencarta EP300 is 1.17 sec at full power, much less at lower settings. Don't know the Elinchrom times

Accessory prices: Take a look at Warehouse Express, probably the cheapest for Elinchrom, just a couple of examples...
Snoot with honeycomb: Elinchrom £55 Lencarta £29.95
Background reflector: Elinchrom £81.11 Lencarta £39.95
70cm beauty dish: Elinchrom £219 (no honeycomb available) Lencarta £109.95
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Thanks for the info Gary, and yes points taken on the accesories, a hell of a difference between the two price's :thumbs:
 
merv said:
just bought the EX150 MK2 kit and find it very good. I agree that the infra red trigger is useless in bright conditions so have a purchased an Interfit radio kit at £39 (Int 412)
YOu will also need a light meter - I bought the sekonic L308S which seems highly recomennded and it is easy to use. The EX150 is about half the price of the D lite kit by Elinchrom:wave:
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Indeed the interfit is a good price, but i think the Elinchrom and the Lencarta kit's are far superior, not so sure you actually need a light meter as i'm sure many on here don't use them, but i think other user's will confirm that, thanks for the post though :)
 
The Elinchroms are excellent lights, not used the Lencarta ones. What about Pro Line Apollo's?
 
TG. said:
Indeed the interfit is a good price, but i think the Elinchrom and the Lencarta kit's are far superior, not so sure you actually need a light meter as i'm sure many on here don't use them, but i think other user's will confirm that, thanks for the post though :)
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I'd have to disagree, you can manage without but a light meter takes away a lot of the guess work and is well worth the money imho.

Also have a look at what Elemental have to offer (www.studio-flash.com), the entry B-Series and Pro M-Series are both good value. They were both reviewed recently against other similarly priced brands a fared very well, links to the reviews are on Elementals website I think...
 
Kerioak said:
To bring a different make into the equation, what about Bowens? These will take third party accessories available from ebay which I don't think Elinchrom do (or didn't).

I bought light meter but very rarely used it, prefer trial and error :D
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Elemental's M-Series are Bowen's S fit :D
 
Those Elemental lights do look good for the price, does anyone on here use them ?
 
TG. said:
Those Elemental lights do look good for the price, does anyone on here use them ?
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I know Dino f does, I have a couple of the M Series and 3 of the B-Series lights, along with a selection of their softboxes, umbrella's, stands, reflectors, bags etc etc...
 
psenior1 said:
I know Dino f does, I have a couple of the M Series and 3 of the B-Series lights, along with a selection of their softboxes, umbrella's, stands, reflectors, bags etc etc...
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Thanks, so i'm guessing the extras are also cheaper, any idea how the kit compares to the Elinchrom and Lencarta one's mentioned, ie can you stop the power down, also are the lights fan assisted, thanks again :)
 
I have an Elinchrom D-Lite 2 kit. Always wanted Elinchrom. Very pleased with it.

Plenty of power, and fine control which I think is actually more useful. Elinchrom soft box is lovely, and easy to put up and down, but if you're shooting fast it can overheat my non-fan-cooled units due to lack of ventilation. They soon recover though. Light from a shoot through umbrella is very similar, but I like the square reflections with the SB, and I sometimes don't like the spiders web giveaways with brollies.

I use a cheap Prolinca IR trigger which works fine, but buying again I'd probably get a Canon ST-E2 as it also works with Canon Speedlites. Or radio - the new Pocket Wizards are wicked and do everything, but not on a tight budget.

I would also get a flash meter. Although you can get by with a bit of experience and lots of histogram checking, it's so much easier to set lighting ratios, eg if you want a background or back-light just so.
 
TG. said:
Thanks, so i'm guessing the extras are also cheaper, any idea how the kit compares to the Elinchrom and Lencarta one's mentioned, ie can you stop the power down, also are the lights fan assisted, thanks again :)
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have a look at the website, there's link to a review done by Practical Photrography comparing the M-Series, Elinchrom and Lencarta I think. Both models have all the features you'd expect, the B-Series aren't fan assisted, the M-series are...
 
I have a studio set from the Elemental M series, (lights, softbox, stands, umbrella reflectors etc etc ) I have only used them a few times , but their quality and ease of use for me is very good.

I had used a Portaflash system before which in comparison feels quite flimsy, the flash heads are made from toughened aluminium, and I imagine will withstand most photographic conditions, the heads have an in built umbrella bracket too.

The in-built stabilizer ensures a consistent power output regardless of variations in the AC supply ( this was important to me as we do suffer from voltage fluctuations / power cuts more than the norm), a fan removes heat quickly and quietly from within the strobe. Power levels can be set from 1/32 to 1/1 steplessly. The strobes will automatically dump excess power when lowering the output - gave me a fright first time it flashed as I reduced the power!

You can via a "DIM" button on the rear of the strobes, switch the modelling lamp off when the flash is triggered. This helps prevent heat build up and prolongs the life of both flash tube and modelling lamp.

Everything is contained in robust storage bags - my only small gripe is that I find dismantling / assembling the softbox a tad hard, this is not unique to Elemental, and probably explains why most people leave their softbox assembled.
 
psenior1 said:
have a look at the website, there's link to a review done by Practical Photrography comparing the M-Series, Elinchrom and Lencarta I think. Both models have all the features you'd expect, the B-Series aren't fan assisted, the M-series are...
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Ok thanks again for the info, and to everyone else who has given input :thumbs: i may actually take a trip up there and have a look, as there only about a 20 minute drive in Bedford :)
 
Don't go to Elemental this weekend as they are out testing new products and so are shut until Tuesday 7th July.

Regards
 
lostsoulal2 said:
Don't go to Elemental this weekend as they are out testing new products and so are shut until Tuesday 7th July.

Regards
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Ok thanks for the heads up :thumbs:
 
TG. said:
Thanks Garry, interesting read particularly about the ABS which they describe as not as good as the cast metal, i think i'm leaning more towards the Lencarta kit now, particularly for the cheaper priced "light shaping tools", which is a lot to consider over time, if you have a link to the AP review of the lencarta lights could you please post here, many thanks :)
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This is the review The model has been upgraded since then, with twice the range of adjustment but other than that it's basically the same.
 
Garry Edwards said:
This is the review The model has been upgraded since then, with twice the range of adjustment but other than that it's basically the same.
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I have to say the specs of the Lencarta kit look excellent, epecially the sync speed...

Bit confused myself now though as my M-Series lights def aren't Aluminium/metal, feels like plastic/ABD to me :thinking:
 
I took Garry up on the offer and travelled to Bradford to look/use the lights. To cut a long story short I purchased a set there and then.

I have used Bowens and Elinchrom too and they are fine - but all things considered Lencarta are a very good buy.
 
After a fair bit of research i ordered an "ElitePro Twin Head Softbox Kit" today for delivery tomorrow,as i think all things considered these should fit my needs,so looking forward to getting these tomorrow and having a proper play the weekend as i have a couple of guinea pig's lined up for some portraits :D
 
How have you got on with the Lencartas.
I am trying to decide between the Elemental and the Lencarta
thanks
Steve
 
Hi TG

I've only just picked up on this post.

In our studio (http://www.islstudio.co.uk) we use Elemental lighting.

In our largest studio, we shoot with 2 x 600W and 2 x 300W heads. This is plenty of light for our shooting area. We rarely use full power on the 600's unless we're doing some snoot work (with will give you a nice F8 @ 1/160 / ISO100) 6m away from the subject.

In our new second studio, we have 3 x 300W heads which in a shooting space 4m x 8m is still plenty!

We went with Elemental for the following reasons:

1: Cost! Setting up a studio and buying accessories/triggers/props etc is an expensive game. We wanted maximum value for money and compatability with other accessories out there. These being compatible with the bowens type adapters meant more accessories out there (and more bargaining power!).

2: Build quality. Our budget was fairly tight - so realisation hit that our Bowens shopping list @ £5k was never going to happen! Having used a lot of Elinchrom products in my time, I wasn't convinced with them. They always feel plasticy to me! At the time, I hadn't seen any Lencarta kit - but the Elemental came recommended. Danny who runs the company has his own studio and uses the gear - was willing to do a deal, available on the end of the phone when required etc.

So how do they compare? Well, they've been running now almost every day (some days for 10 hours!) since January. Have they missed a beat? Not once! Little can be said for the Elinchrom skyports we purchased to run with them - they are forever dying!

The lights stand the test - both from modelling lamps to strobes. The recycle time is more than adequate for fashion/family/kid work too. We've taken them out of the studio and used them outside on battery packs with no drama and everyone who has used them has never moaned about them :)

I'd like to point out - this is an ubiased review based on using the products for long hours. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with any other product - these just seem to work for us!

ISL Studio
 
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