Lencarta - trying to avoid speding £ twice

thejollytog

thejollytog

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If there is a dedicated thread for Lencarta products then apologies in advance.

I'm looking to invest within the next 6 months (sales of some old gear pending!) on studio lighting. I currently use strobe guns with varying degrees of success byut would now like to move to a proper system (no offence strobists).

My dilema, as I am not studio based, a large percentage of my shoots have been location based to press and to that end, have had little or no access to mains power. When investing in a new lighting system, do I go for something like the Safari (for obvious reasons) or do I go for (the cheaper) mains powered lamps?

Now I should add that I will continue to shoot outdoors, I enjoy it. However I will also be moving home (expanding) in the next 6 months also, so the need for home based studio gear would be also a factor.

Yes I could use the safari indoors as well as outdoors but surely they are out performed by lamps n the elite range when it comes to indoor studio work surely?

Not neccessarily looking for 'the' answer here, besides budget may have a lot to do with it, you never know! Just interested in opening this one up for debat / discussion!
 
lencarta are just about the cheapest battery powered option worth having

I am considering a paul c buff einstein and vagabond because it offers much more control, but is much less portable, also for a single head its more expensive

also no cheap s fit mods
 
thejollytog said:
Yes I could use the safari indoors as well as outdoors but surely they are out performed by lamps n the elite range when it comes to indoor studio work surely?!
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You can compare all Lencarta lights HERE :)
 
thejollytog said:
Yes I could use the safari indoors as well as outdoors but surely they are out performed by lamps n the elite range when it comes to indoor studio work surely?
QUOTE]
Yes, there are big advantages to using he Lencarta ElitePro when indoors - very fast recycling, powerful modelling lamp, 5 stops of adjustment without compromising on colour temperature.

The Safari has plenty of power and takes the same S-fit accessories so will do the same job, but not with the same level of convenience. It's really a matter of either buying both or choosing which is the more important - in your case the greater need seems to be for the Safari.
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consider the Jinbei RD system - it used NiMh battery pack and they come in 400, 600 & 1200 watt powers.

you could get two RD600 portable systems for under £1000
 
never had a problem with my really old Jinbei portable units.

are you talking from experience here or hear say?
 
I know that Lencarta have better internals, because I have been looking at lighting for awhile, the number of capacitors is what makes the difference.. I got the chance to use a Safari system with a 70cm beauty dish and honeycombe and was mightily impressed.

I am not saying the Jinbei would be a bad choice, just that internals are better suited to western standards..

What do you do for warranty issues etc with Jinbei kits.. Not a brand that I have seen freely available here..
 
Rough Edges said:
I know that Lencarta have better internals, because I have been looking at lighting for awhile, the number of capacitors is what makes the difference.. I got the chance to use a Safari system with a 70cm beauty dish and honeycombe and was mightily impressed.

I am not saying the Jinbei would be a bad choice, just that internals are better suited to western standards..

What do you do for warranty issues etc with Jinbei kits.. Not a brand that I have seen freely available here..
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mine is so old its not got a warrenty anymore lol

but I bought it from a UK supplier so I never had any problems if something went wrong. there is an EU distributer so no problem there either.
 
Over the years i have had Bowens Monolights, Bolites & Geminis, Elinchrom 500S, 750S and 1500S, Elinchrom Lencarta Safaris and I currently have some Lencarta SmartFlashes.

I bought a Quantuum 300w/s +R Dual Power Flash Head a couple of weeks ago as I wanted another portable battery powered Studio Flash unit, including the battery/postage it cost £215.

It takes Bowens S-fit modifiers and I am very impressed with both the build and light quality . I have only used it a couple of times to date but have found it to be excellent. The dual power facility is great, so much so that I have also ordered a 600w/s version too at a cost of just under £300. The battery charge does not last as long as the Safaris, but the battery pack is much smaller and lighter and a couple of hundered shots is still sufficient for most shoots.

One other thing the power adjustment is now 5 stops from 1/1 to 1/32 power.

I will do a full review of both the 300w/s and 600w/s in a couple of weeks after having had a better play with them.

Can be bought from here! as they are in Poland no additional vat or duty to pay! Can also be found on ebay (search quantuum).
 
EdBray said:
Over the years i have had Bowens Monolights, Bolites & Geminis, Elinchrom 500S, 750S and 1500S, Elinchrom Lencarta Safaris and I currently have some Lencarta SmartFlashes.

I bought a Quantuum 300w/s +R Dual Power Flash Head a couple of weeks ago as I wanted another portable battery powered Studio Flash unit, including the battery/postage it cost £215.

It takes Bowens S-fit modifiers and I am very impressed with both the build and light quality . I have only used it a couple of times to date but have found it to be excellent. The dual power facility is great, so much so that I have also ordered a 600w/s version too at a cost of just under £300. The battery charge does not last as long as the Safaris, but the battery pack is much smaller and lighter and a couple of hundered shots is still sufficient for most shoots.

One other thing the power adjustment is now 5 stops from 1/1 to 1/32 power.

I will do a full review of both the 300w/s and 600w/s in a couple of weeks after having had a better play with them.

Can be bought from here! as they are in Poland no additional vat or duty to pay! Can also be found on ebay (search quantuum).
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The actual heads here look like they use the same casing as the elemental lighting M series, which is certainly robust and solid... will look forward to your review. A series of shots comparing any colour and exposure variation over the charge cycle would be really good if possible? And also a check whether the flash duration is slower than 1/250th when at full power? One of the 'offbrand' systems that dave hobby tested recently took about 1/125th to dump the full load :/ shame, as it looked a very neat system.
 
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