kalibre
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- Doug
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Unboxed the new kit over the weekend and had a few hours play time. Along with the 3 head kit I also ordered another softbox and a barndoor set. I will be uploading some pics soon of both the setup and the actual subject, but I'm away on business now for a week or so.
The Kit
First impressions out of the bag; very nice. Build quality seemed quite good and each head has a nice rubberised finish to it giving you the impression it could take a knock or two without breaking, although I doubt it would bounce.
The air damped stands were also of very good quality considering the low price. The only critacism would be that the background lighting stand (the little one) doesn't go really low and is still 18 inches high at it's lowest setting, but that's a small point.
The softboxes and umbrellas also seemed well built and pieced together without any major issue. Similarly the barndoor set is sturdy and the honeycomb insert was nice and solid. The snoot however was a little disapointing; the ring fitting is a bit of a fight to fit into the head and the cap over the small end fits metal to metal meaning it gets stuck very very easily, even with some WD40 applied. The snoot 'gels' supplied are very very thin and I imagine can get lost or creased easily. All that said, it works as it should so can't really complain!
The included backdrop isn't that bad actually. I expected it to be mega dire but it's more than adequate if you like that kind of thing. I've already got white and black muslin backdrops so I was able to test most shooting setups.
Shooting
By this stage I'm suitably impressed, so now for some shooting.
First off I'm shooting with the sync lead straight into the D300 and relying on the key light to trigger the sensors on the second and third units. This setup worked flawlessly for me the whole shoot, even when the trigger light wasn't pointed directly at the other heads. With that said, the cable got to be a bit of a pain when changing lighting configurations so I've now ordered a Skyport wireless set.
I was shooting in my dining room so had 10' by 26' feet to play with in total and by the end of the day I was glad that I had that length in order to separate the backdrop from the subject and the camera from the subject. In the end I probably used a space 10x16 for the 3 head setup. Ceiling height was just about good enough (circa 9 feet) for a classic 45/45/45 soft box shot although it was a bit of a squeeze.
For some immediate guidance I had the prophotolife.com website fired up on my laptop. I simply stepped through the video tutorials in order to put the lights through their paces. Nothing complicated but I thought this would be a good little test.
Initially when researching which set to buy I was concerned with power outputs, but I can assure you that within this sort of space that 150w is more than adequate. Most of the time I had problems with too much light and ended up shooting at f8/10 a lot of the time. I shot in manual at a s-speed of 200 to cancel out any ambient filtering through from windows and doors etc. (None of which was direct by the way).
I was blown away with the quality of the light if I'm honest. After just 30 minutes of tinkering I was getting perfectly exposed 'venture' type shots with minimal light spill. (The little bit of spill that was present was no doubt because the walls are cream coloured.) I also used the included backdrop for some more traditional portraits with 1,2 and 3 head setups. The results were equally as good. My favourite setup/result was probably the most complicated; using a key light with soft box, a big silver reflector, another softbox at the rear as a hair light and finally the third light behind the subject (my wife) down low with the snoot on to produce a circular highlight on the backdrop.
One concern I had prior to use was the potential colour temp difference between the heads when set to different power levels. Luckily I didn't experience any real notible problems. For the high key shots the background light was set quite high whilst the softbox were on relatively low power, however I was still able to find a nice overall WB setting without any unwanted tinges.
Thoughts
Overall I'm chuffed with the purchase and will be looking forward to getting them out again soon for some more shots. I will also be doing some stuff outside and will feedback my findings.
In summary:
Pros
Surprisingly good build quality
Sensors worked perfectly
Audible 'ready' beep was very useful
Additional barndoor set was great
150w more than enough power (for now)
The price. (Ordered from Karlu.com without issue)
Cons
Included snoot was a bit frustrating
Little stand didn't collapse really low
'Command Hook' background system is actually just 2 sticky hooks
TP Challenge
If I shoot with a red gel in the snoot or barndoor set then I get a red backdrop. If I shoot with a blue gel then I get a blue background. So I thought I would be able to shoot with both together and get a purple background. However, I can see the bright flash (and it is purple) but there is absolutely no visible light recorded on the camera?!? This happens with both the snoot and the barndoors and I'm just curious as to what phenomenon would cause this?
The Kit
First impressions out of the bag; very nice. Build quality seemed quite good and each head has a nice rubberised finish to it giving you the impression it could take a knock or two without breaking, although I doubt it would bounce.
The air damped stands were also of very good quality considering the low price. The only critacism would be that the background lighting stand (the little one) doesn't go really low and is still 18 inches high at it's lowest setting, but that's a small point.
The softboxes and umbrellas also seemed well built and pieced together without any major issue. Similarly the barndoor set is sturdy and the honeycomb insert was nice and solid. The snoot however was a little disapointing; the ring fitting is a bit of a fight to fit into the head and the cap over the small end fits metal to metal meaning it gets stuck very very easily, even with some WD40 applied. The snoot 'gels' supplied are very very thin and I imagine can get lost or creased easily. All that said, it works as it should so can't really complain!
The included backdrop isn't that bad actually. I expected it to be mega dire but it's more than adequate if you like that kind of thing. I've already got white and black muslin backdrops so I was able to test most shooting setups.
Shooting
By this stage I'm suitably impressed, so now for some shooting.
First off I'm shooting with the sync lead straight into the D300 and relying on the key light to trigger the sensors on the second and third units. This setup worked flawlessly for me the whole shoot, even when the trigger light wasn't pointed directly at the other heads. With that said, the cable got to be a bit of a pain when changing lighting configurations so I've now ordered a Skyport wireless set.
I was shooting in my dining room so had 10' by 26' feet to play with in total and by the end of the day I was glad that I had that length in order to separate the backdrop from the subject and the camera from the subject. In the end I probably used a space 10x16 for the 3 head setup. Ceiling height was just about good enough (circa 9 feet) for a classic 45/45/45 soft box shot although it was a bit of a squeeze.
For some immediate guidance I had the prophotolife.com website fired up on my laptop. I simply stepped through the video tutorials in order to put the lights through their paces. Nothing complicated but I thought this would be a good little test.
Initially when researching which set to buy I was concerned with power outputs, but I can assure you that within this sort of space that 150w is more than adequate. Most of the time I had problems with too much light and ended up shooting at f8/10 a lot of the time. I shot in manual at a s-speed of 200 to cancel out any ambient filtering through from windows and doors etc. (None of which was direct by the way).
I was blown away with the quality of the light if I'm honest. After just 30 minutes of tinkering I was getting perfectly exposed 'venture' type shots with minimal light spill. (The little bit of spill that was present was no doubt because the walls are cream coloured.) I also used the included backdrop for some more traditional portraits with 1,2 and 3 head setups. The results were equally as good. My favourite setup/result was probably the most complicated; using a key light with soft box, a big silver reflector, another softbox at the rear as a hair light and finally the third light behind the subject (my wife) down low with the snoot on to produce a circular highlight on the backdrop.
One concern I had prior to use was the potential colour temp difference between the heads when set to different power levels. Luckily I didn't experience any real notible problems. For the high key shots the background light was set quite high whilst the softbox were on relatively low power, however I was still able to find a nice overall WB setting without any unwanted tinges.
Thoughts
Overall I'm chuffed with the purchase and will be looking forward to getting them out again soon for some more shots. I will also be doing some stuff outside and will feedback my findings.
In summary:
Pros
Surprisingly good build quality
Sensors worked perfectly
Audible 'ready' beep was very useful
Additional barndoor set was great
150w more than enough power (for now)
The price. (Ordered from Karlu.com without issue)
Cons
Included snoot was a bit frustrating
Little stand didn't collapse really low
'Command Hook' background system is actually just 2 sticky hooks
TP Challenge
If I shoot with a red gel in the snoot or barndoor set then I get a red backdrop. If I shoot with a blue gel then I get a blue background. So I thought I would be able to shoot with both together and get a purple background. However, I can see the bright flash (and it is purple) but there is absolutely no visible light recorded on the camera?!? This happens with both the snoot and the barndoors and I'm just curious as to what phenomenon would cause this?
