Lencarta

craigm said:
I was looking at This kit which is pushing the budget ( Well more pushing the wife )

Will be doing mostly people and would of loved to sign up for this Sundays course but am unable to attend which is a shame :shrug:
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Sorry, but apart from the product photography workshop on the 28th November, all workshops for this year are fully booked.

More available from next April (I hope)
 
craigm said:
I was looking at This kit which is pushing the budget ( Well more pushing the wife )

Will be doing mostly people and would of loved to sign up for this Sundays course but am unable to attend which is a shame :shrug:
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At the risk of being accused of being a fanboi - that kit looks excellent both from what you get and the price.

I'm doing a HELP portrait session tomorrow and I'll be loading up with similar gear. I prefer a hilite to a muslin (but that gives "issues" if you want to do full length) but a couple of EP300s, an octa (I have the 150) and some brollies should do me very well. Maybe look into the quick assembly octa - the cheap one is a bit fiddly until you get the hang of it.

For some reason I tend to prefer odd numbers of lights so I'll probably take 3. But 1 is my favourite.

@Garry - hmm, all your classes are always full and always in the north. If only you knew somebody in the south with a ton of your kit that could run something for you........ :D
 
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JonathanRyan said:
@Garry - hmm, all your classes are always full and always in the north. If only you knew somebody in the south with a ton of your kit that could run something for you........ :D
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Yes, boss man wants to talk to a photographer in the south about that, do you know anyone who's any good:)

Not that I'm in the north anyway, I'm bang in the middle of the country...
 
Garry Edwards said:
No, I've never been an employee of Lencarta
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To be fair Garry if anyone phones Lencarta your the only person they get to speak too, i have phoned Lencarta on many occasions and i have never ever spoken to anyone but yourself, and i know this is the experience of others from the forum, even at the focus show at the NEC i only seen you and another assistant on the Lencarta stand, surely on that basis it would be only fair for anyone to assume you either work for or run Lencarta, i'm not having a go but just pointing out some facts.


Garry Edwards said:
Yes, we know that Lencarta uses the rear panel and cases made by Jinbei, Lencarta have been saying that for the last two years, so what does using my photo (without permission) prove?
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Just out of interest what are the actual differences in the Lencarta and Jinbei insides, again not having a go but just curious, on a side note to have a pop at a member for linking to a post to your Lencarta light is very petty, after all if he was linking to it saying "buy one of these there great value" you wouldn't say anything would you, so just take the good with the bad mate ;)
 
craigm said:
I was looking at This kit which is pushing the budget ( Well more pushing the wife )

Will be doing mostly people and would of loved to sign up for this Sundays course but am unable to attend which is a shame :shrug:
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Garry is your man when it comes to specifics, he knows more about this kit than anyone else on here!

BUT just as a user.....

I would personally swap the brolly for a softbox. You could in doing that get rid of the reflector but it is nice to have at least one reflector so I would keep that. So.... [remove brolly -£19.95 & add folding 60x90 softbox SOF002 +£89.95]

If you do not plan on taking the kit elsewhere then I would swap the battery radio trigger kit for the mains version which is the same price. The reason for this is that if you are anything like me you will constantly forget to turn off the radio receiver!

I would also purchase one of their larger 4 in 1 reflectors (most kits include the smaller one but this one doesn't)

All in all should be a nice setup :thumbs:
 
cambsno said:
Anyone used the background reflector?
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I nearly bought one with my last order but the money was getting a little tight. I was hoping that Garry would have one in his studio on Sunday for us to try out :)
 
purenvdesign said:
Hey Guys

I am looking to get the Lencarta ElitePro Professional Portrait Kit.
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You may also want to consider the Elemental range of lights HERE they are excellent bang for buck, and you can also choose different power options too :)
 
cowasaki said:
I nearly bought one with my last order but the money was getting a little tight. I was hoping that Garry would have one in his studio on Sunday for us to try out :)
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Yes, I've got one in my studio
 
TG. said:
You may also want to consider the Elemental range of lights HERE they are excellent bang for buck, and you can also choose different power options too :)
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I know it's childish....but you've got to like a company that calls its entry level lights "FUGL-E" :D
 
JonathanRyan said:
I know it's childish....but you've got to like a company that calls its entry level lights "FUGL-E" :D
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I very almost commented earlier in this thread when the other Dave was talking about the elite pros ;)

Those are the pants chinese lights that they sell though, their old M series are great, and their new trinity lights look fantastic :)

Good company with good customer support and relations too :)
 
itsdavedotnet said:
their new trinity lights look fantastic :)
.....Good company with good customer support and relations too :)
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Indeed they do and their selling like hot cakes, they have just sold out of the 600 & 800 watt range, just a shame Elemental are not allowed to promote their products on this forum.
 
TG. said:
Indeed they do and their selling like hot cakes, they have just sold out of the 600 & 800 watt range, just a shame Elemental are not allowed to promote their products on this forum.
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afaik they prefer to stay impartial, and have also had, uh, disagreements on here. Less said the better really.

OP, buy lights, take photos :D
 
TG. said:
Indeed they do and their selling like hot cakes, they have just sold out of the 600 & 800 watt range, just a shame Elemental are not allowed to promote their products on this forum.
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To be fair though, that is totally their own fault! Try doing a search and see what Matty said to them last time !!
 
If Jinbei are a good make then it wouldn't bother me even if Lencarta were rebadged and the motor industry is a great example of such.

Anyway, I'm wondering if Elemental are any good?

A statement from their website:

"We have already been awarded the Digital Photo Gold Award for the *Genesis MK 1 heads, against Bowens, Elinchrom, Interfit & Lencarta, and our new MK II heads are THREE TIMES FASTER and fan cooled, so they are altogether in a different league to the competition."

They also do a 3-piece kit with a lot more extras at the same price as Lencarta. I did notice, however, that their guide no is 40 for the entry, and 50 for the next level 200W lights whereas Lencarta has a guide no of 100.

Any thoughts?
 
gman said:
If Jinbei are a good make then it wouldn't bother me even if Lencarta were rebadged and the motor industry is a great example of such.

Anyway, I'm wondering if Elemental are any good?

A statement from their website:

"We have already been awarded the Digital Photo Gold Award for the *Genesis MK 1 heads, against Bowens, Elinchrom, Interfit & Lencarta, and our new MK II heads are THREE TIMES FASTER and fan cooled, so they are altogether in a different league to the competition."

They also do a 3-piece kit with a lot more extras at the same price as Lencarta. I did notice, however, that their guide no is 40 for the entry, and 50 for the next level 200W lights whereas Lencarta has a guide no of 100.Any thoughts?
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I've never commented on 'Elemental' and never will. This is the thread that Cowaski mentioned, read it and judge for yourself

But I can answer your question on guide numbers. Lencarta guide numbers are measured in feet, Elemental seems to use the guide numbers quoted by their suppliers, which are measured in metres. If those guide numbers are accurate (I don't know whether they are or not, but Digital Photo said not) then there is very little difference. There could only be a true comparison of guide numbers between various heads (of any make) if the tests were carried out in the same location and if the various flash heads were each fitted with the same reflector. Guide numbers are a useful measurement - much more useful than stating the amount of stored energy - but they are just a guide.
 
In retrospect I should have used a little hindsight especially when it was concerning a company that is so quick to jump to legal action, which in my eyes justifies why censorship is being used by the mods. I would do the same thing to be honest not just to be safe but also but it saves unnecessary grief.

Nobody has asked me to remove my post btw; it's my own choice which I have done because it probably wasn't fair commenting on a company which can't reply on here, regardless of historical reasons. I wasn't slating the other company either, just going through the whole process logically. :)
 
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gman said:
5. If Lencarta can save on design and panel costs then surely they would be able to undercut other brands who don't do this? It is making me question how Elemental can offer a 3 piece kit at less than Lencarta's 2 piece kit (it's not as if Elemental are a global supercompany with massive purchasing powers etc)
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I cannot say for definite but my research led me to believe that Elemental actually do just use rebranded chinese kit BUT like has been said elsewhere this does not make a jot of difference.

My previous kit was from Studio Imaging. The chap that runs Studio Imaging is a seriously nice guy and even well outside of the warranty period sent me new parts! His kit is all rebranded chinese stuff too!

It doesn't matter a bit as far as I'm concerned BUT if you take an existing product and basically re-engineer it with new parts it is not the same product. There are probably parts that are the same between several of the makes things like caps, bulbs etc.

Also what is right for one person is not necessarily right for everyone.
 
[cough]
 
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speechless.

This was actually a pretty civil thread until... this.
 
Oh my god it's full of stars asterisks..........
 
btw how much was it or do we need to wait till april, I mean I wanna know how much it costs to get 'nikon' banned
 
david1701 said:
I'm tempted to go all melodramatic about gold sapping from knaves but I'm not sure the whole membership would understand

so in more eastendersy langauge - it was a bung
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Do you actually read the forum or are you always quick to shout crap from the rooftops?

Im incredibly offended that you suggest there is any 'bung' or 'favouritism' towards Lencarta.
Im bloody fuming now.
 
Marcel said:
Im incredibly offended that you suggest there is any 'bung' or 'favouritism' towards Lencarta.
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To be fair Marcel (and i'm not saying this is the case in this instance) it does sometimes come across that any thread detrimental to Lencarta seems to get locked down when people give negative opinions, as in my own thread and 2 other members from here, i know a lot of members on here do swear by Lencarta and won't have a bad word said about them and that's there opinion so fair enough, however for the ones that haven't had a decent service surely it's only fair that they post there opinion so people can see the overall picture without fear of the thread being locked down, and just to add i'm not suggesting in any anyway shape or form that TP has taken any type of bung from Lencarta as i know that's ludicrous, i'm just trying to put another slant on things as sometimes how folk perceive things whether right or wrong can make all the difference :)
 
No problem :) I understand what you're saying.
I can promise you we have absolutely no favouritism towards advertisers in that way. Heck we've even suspended advertisers before now ;)
 
David (and anyone else that this applies to)
I once met 2 of the Admins for about a minute. They were on their way to meet other TP members and I was working, we said Hi and they were gone.

Other than that, There have been some PMs, when someone who shall be nameless was threatening TP with all sorts of dire consequences over something that I didn't do. That's as far as my relationship with TP goes. To suggest some kind of deal, corrupt relationship or anything else is not only offensive but incredibly stupid and immature.

My own views don't count because I don't run the forum, but personally I'm very happy for their name to show in threads.
 
bit odd that you can't mention another company - I can understand banning someone but if a person has experence of using a piece of equipment they should be allowed to discuss it.
 
Marcel said:
Im incredibly offended that you suggest there is any 'bung' or 'favouritism' towards Lencarta.
Im bloody fuming now.
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That is what it looks like if you haven't read the explanation thread, and money always makes stuff like that complicated.

I only know a handful of people on TP well enough to read between the lines and see what they meant with any degree of accuracy so I was working on the fairly reasonable basis that you were protecting your interest. You say otherwise fairly plainly so I have to believe that.
 
people can discuss what they like, but when those discussions lead to us getting legal threats then we will do what is necessary to prevent it - as said elsewhere, you dont know the ins and outs, so dont jump to conclusions.
 
Me and my big mouth. :bonk:

Well, in the spirit of not being biassed and because I'm an impatient git when it comes to buying things, if no stock comes in next week then I'm confident enough to try the 'unspeakable' brand unless of course I'm offered Elite Pro (in stock) at SmartFlash prices....:naughty:
 
I just bought a set of Trinity lights from Elemental. They arrived on Monday this week but I did not get around to testing them until Wednesday. I was disappointed to find that two of the four lights would not pop, although the modeling lights worked perfectly and all the controls seemed to operate as expected. I phoned up Elemental and they were quick to offer immediate replacement, with the courier picking up the faulty units when delivering the new ones. All this was planned for Thursday despatch and Friday delivery, given the Wednesday window for shipping had already passed. So in terms of customer service the response was excellent.

However, first thing on Thursday morning, before packing the heads up for return, I tried jiggling around with the strobe tubes, swapping between units to see if the problem was the heads themselves or simply the bulbs. Lo and behold everything burst to life and several pops later there were no further problems. Now, I'm not sure what that episode implies for the quality of the units as shipped, or if it is common for things to get a little out of whack during shipping, but I can't fault the way the company endeavoured to get me sorted out. In fact, they were not certain that they had more stock of the 600 head for immediate replacement but offered me a 400 head temporarily until they could supply a new 600 head. As it turned out they did have stock, but it was a "bend over backwards" sort of effort just to make sure I at least had a full set of lights that really impressed me.

Fortunately I was able to cancel the replacements before they were shipped, but I feel confident that if I encounter a problem down the road then they will certainly do their best to make sure I am well looked after.

As to which brand is better, or offers better customer service, I could not say, but I made my choice based on perceived value and what I hope turns out to be more precise and rapid adjustment with the digital controls, so that if I want a 0.2 stop adjustment it will be easy to make. So far I can't fault Elemental on customer service. Let's hope the product turns out to be just as good.
 
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tdodd said:
p.s. Since most of us here are adults, is it really necessary to turn a certain company's name into a series of asterisks? If I've missed the reasoning behind that little stunt then I'm sorry, but to my mind it does not appear in the least constructive.
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If you knew the background then you would know why Elemental have been banned from TP and why they have a bad reputation in relation to certain practices! I appears to have been done to protect TP which is paramount.

2 lights not working does seem rather poor quality control BUT these things happen and HOW they deal with the customer and putting things right is very important.

Buying something and then having the wait whilst it is delivered only to find it faulty is VERY frustrating but having to wait for it to go back and be tested then be sent again would (and I have had this in the past with other things) much worse. In this case they have done everything they can do by arranging a swap and this is completely to their credit :thumbs: I have no axe to grind but I watched the previous Elemental thread prior to it being cleaned and would say that I would never buy anything from them based on the company owners attitude.

I have never used their kit myself but having spoken to others I would put it at a big step above the cheap Ebay stuff but a step below the Lencarta stuff. Clearly there are steps above the Lencarta stuff and given a totally limitless budget I have seen some Elinchrom lights with remote power adjustment etc which are lovely (but would have cost me £2000+ for the equivalent of the mains studio lights/modifiers etc that I have bought from Lencarta).

I hope you are happy with your Elemental lights and get a chance to have a really good play with studio work which I find really very rewarding.
 
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Banning the company is one thing. Making an absurdity of posts which refer to the company is something else. I really don't see how it is helpful to anybody.
 
tdodd said:
Banning the company is one thing. Making an absurdity of posts which refer to the company is something else. I really don't see how it is helpful to anybody.
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It might not be helpful but said chap appears very litigious and TP having to deal with that based on what a another member might say is not really on. It is not at all unreasonable for them to protect themselves in this way.
 
OK. That makes sense. What a pity it has come to this. Some of us just want to buy good gear, not get involved in argy bargy, politics and lawsuits. Ho hum. :(
 
2 lights not working does seem rather poor quality control BUT these things happen and HOW they deal with the customer and putting things right is very important.
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except as he said later in his post, the tubes doubtless just got knocked out of position during shipping...

I have never used their kit myself but having spoken to others I would put it at a big step above the cheap eBay stuff but a step below the Lencarta stuff.
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dot dot dot.

btw, ISL are selling off their studio kit, at least 15 M-series ********* lights. they're taking offers so drop them an email with offers :)
 
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