Advantage:
More power - TRUE
Disadvantage:
Tied to mains TRUE
Lack of available modifiers - FALSE
Lack of power control - FALSE
As a strobe, it's rubbish because the best things about using mains flash are negated: FALSE
Huge selection of modifiers - TRUE but there is are small selection of softboxes, octoboxes, brollys, snoots, barn doors, honeycombs that are available for the Neewer Strobe.
Fast recycling - 0.5 - 3 second at full power.
Large amount of power control - The Neewer Strobe has 4 Stops of control.
Hi Phil Do you have any evidence to show that Newer are not a reputable brand?
You are forgetting the OP asked for cheap lighting solution. I suppose if the OP asked for a suitable car for a learner you would probably recommend a Lamborghini Aventador
I'll add some real facts to this discussion...
Neewer are in fact made by a reputable Company that also makes good equipment.
The Neewer is an old design that they bought 7 years ago when they bought the factory that made it, it was already several years old. No doubt they still continue it because there are a lot of people who won't spend money on better equipment, there is in fact a vast market for the cheapest lights.
The tooling for the case is however generic, several other (backstreet) workshops use it so the product appears in many guises, all are poor copies of poor copies...
It has a modelling lamp, but it's too dim to be much use
It doesn't have 4 stops of adjustment, it theoretically has 3 (full power to 1/8th) but the actuality is that most of these flashes don't actually adjust when you turn them down to more than half power, so in fact is has 2 stops.
It doesn't have fast recyclying, pretty much all other studio flash heads recycle between 1/5th and 1 second, this is important when photographing people.
True, it does have a limited range of softboxes available to fit, but the built in reflector prevents the softboxes from being lit evenly and fully.
Your analogy with a car may be valid. When my youngest son passed his test he bought a Ford Ka, he hated it but it was a good choice for him at the time. Difference is, it met the required safety standards, and it had control, i.e. it steered and it stopped. The cheapest lights are NOT made to EU safety standards and they don't stop or steer, by which I mean that they are very inconsistent in terms of colour temperature variation and flash energy variation, both throughout their limited adjustment range and from shot to shot. The effect of this is that beginners, who need decent tools to help them get reasonable results, find themselves working with tools that make their lives difficult.
You have your opinion, which you are fully entitled to, and I have mine.
My opinion is based on several years of experience in the lighting industry, and on the fact that I have actually visited the factories that make the lights.
My advice, for anyone who wants to start studio lighting on a very tight budget, is to start with 1 light and a reflector. You can get a perfectly good studio flash for just £110. If that's too much, then try to pick up a good
second hand one, but I would never advise anyone to get one of the really cheap flashes, it's an economy too far.
