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okay i went to my local jacobs to get the kit and mount as what it descirbes i thought i could put ot good use... this is my mini review.
First thing is the mount (580 EXII) It fits tight over the flash and no risk of falling off even with the weight of the attachments. the one for the flash above seems to be a rushed job as its finish is not the same as the diagrams and even the box was just handwritten 'for 580 EXII'. the mount i got didnt have the mounting holes for the rods of the softbox to fit in so i couldnt even use that. Not impressed to be fair, it might be a one off but will be returning the whole setup for the following reasons.
The Beauty dish is smaller than i thought and even at the size it is blocks some part of the focus assist beam of my flash meaning that for other flashes if the focus assist beam is any higher then its only good for good ambient light to allow focusing. It does give nice catchlights but you have to be close for that to happen and it the light is still a little on the harsh side.
The globe is huge almost the size of a bathroom light fitting (do you have space for that in your kit bag?). I havent tested it fully but noticed that comapared to bouncing it does cool down the light somewhat in terms of colour temp. However i was testing this inside and the normal bounce maybe having a cast off walls etc.. I dont think i could use it without being laughed at and to be honest i think there are better tools.
The barn doors dont really seem to be shading the light when in use however i have a feeling that manual flash zoom might be in order to correct that to some degree.
the snoots do what the are meant to and had no problems with these and could be very useful, I would be half tempted to buy them as a seperate item.
The softbox, it fold flat for storage which is a bonus and from the instructions a little fidly to assemble, you have to feed the rods through the mount, put the rear of the softbox onto the adapter mount & secure the rods, place the assembled peice on the flash head and then put the diffusing panel over the front of the whole thing, since i wasnt able to test this i dont know how ling it will take to do it all. I did think to my self i would have liked a 2nd internal diffusing panel as well, again with the softbox you might need to manually zoom the flash head to get correct fill in the soft box.
Now i right the above review with a bitter taste in my mouth from not having a working set and my opinion is that it might be worth getting individual items that are better designed and for the £120 it cost me if i cant use at least 50% of the contents and being comfortable using them then its not worth it even at the low price considering how much you get.
feel free to add, comment to this i think i am being very biased on the bad outcome. I really hoped this kit would be good and affordable for the amatuer strobist, its a great idea and thumbs up to interfit releasing it, i think a little more R&D is needed though.
First thing is the mount (580 EXII) It fits tight over the flash and no risk of falling off even with the weight of the attachments. the one for the flash above seems to be a rushed job as its finish is not the same as the diagrams and even the box was just handwritten 'for 580 EXII'. the mount i got didnt have the mounting holes for the rods of the softbox to fit in so i couldnt even use that. Not impressed to be fair, it might be a one off but will be returning the whole setup for the following reasons.
The Beauty dish is smaller than i thought and even at the size it is blocks some part of the focus assist beam of my flash meaning that for other flashes if the focus assist beam is any higher then its only good for good ambient light to allow focusing. It does give nice catchlights but you have to be close for that to happen and it the light is still a little on the harsh side.
The globe is huge almost the size of a bathroom light fitting (do you have space for that in your kit bag?). I havent tested it fully but noticed that comapared to bouncing it does cool down the light somewhat in terms of colour temp. However i was testing this inside and the normal bounce maybe having a cast off walls etc.. I dont think i could use it without being laughed at and to be honest i think there are better tools.
The barn doors dont really seem to be shading the light when in use however i have a feeling that manual flash zoom might be in order to correct that to some degree.
the snoots do what the are meant to and had no problems with these and could be very useful, I would be half tempted to buy them as a seperate item.
The softbox, it fold flat for storage which is a bonus and from the instructions a little fidly to assemble, you have to feed the rods through the mount, put the rear of the softbox onto the adapter mount & secure the rods, place the assembled peice on the flash head and then put the diffusing panel over the front of the whole thing, since i wasnt able to test this i dont know how ling it will take to do it all. I did think to my self i would have liked a 2nd internal diffusing panel as well, again with the softbox you might need to manually zoom the flash head to get correct fill in the soft box.
Now i right the above review with a bitter taste in my mouth from not having a working set and my opinion is that it might be worth getting individual items that are better designed and for the £120 it cost me if i cant use at least 50% of the contents and being comfortable using them then its not worth it even at the low price considering how much you get.
feel free to add, comment to this i think i am being very biased on the bad outcome. I really hoped this kit would be good and affordable for the amatuer strobist, its a great idea and thumbs up to interfit releasing it, i think a little more R&D is needed though.
