Think im going to buy lencarta safari

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bryan elliott

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So I'm going to get myself a Xmas pressie, and I want battery power flash, between 400/600ws power, I've looked at ranger quadra, it's too expensive, but very good, quantum qflash, too complicated(baring in mind I might need models/ wedding guests to turn power up or down, walimex, can't control power output enough from what I can see(YouTube vids all german), so it's down to Jinbei discovery and lecarta safari li on, which look very similar .
The Jinbei can be imported for around £600 including vat and tax etc, the safari will set me back £800.

However after sales support for the Jinbei it's going to be great and if it brakes, I'm going to pay not only costs for shipping back to china, buy probably import costs for when it's fixed and on it's way back to me, so before the Cc gets hammered , am I missing something is there anything I've missed, products, reasons for or against

Cheers Bryan
 
Hi

Are you looking at the Li-on in preference to the classic safari due to size?

Danny
 
I'm keeping out of this in the sense that I'm involved with Lencarta and so am often perceived to have a vested interest - but feel free to ask any questions about it
 
bryan elliott said:
Erm, not really, any honest opinions , would you buy 1
Click to expand...

Like Garry - people are to think that anything I put here is a result of the fact that I occasionally do work for Lencarta. But......yes.

So far I've found a couple of niggles that I don't like but nothing serious. For example, I wish the pack was an inch shorter so it would fit in a particular bag I have ;)

The only thing I've used that comes close at anything like the price is the EID500 which would cost about 20% more for a 2 head kit - though you could also use it on mains.

I've used Elinchrom Quadras on a few occasions and unless you are for some reason committed to the Ely mount then so far I've found the Safari Li-On superior in every way. (Though I'll stress I haven't done any tests on flash duration or colour accuracy with either system.)
 
I've watched the tests lencarta have done, on colour accuracy and power consistency, there both better than the interfits I use in the studio, my current lights are s mount , but for me that's not really an issue, it's alot of lolly for 1 light, just want to make sure I get it right lol, I tend to buy things an then comes along a better, cheaper alternative, although I don't think there will be, Garry by all means give me your opinion, my minds pretty much made up, I've watched the YouTube video with Michael sowells(no idea if that's how to spell his name) about a hundred times, it's just what I want (I think and pray) lol
 
Michael Sewell hasn't got one of his own, he used my test model - but from the conversation we had last week I won't be surprised if he buys his own:)

That test model has probably had more use in the 7 months I've had it than most people will subject it to in a lifetime; a number of location shoots, studio shoots, using the modelling lamps for video shoots, all of the crazy, boring testing work to see just how many flashes it can produce without overheating and how many it can produce before the battery dies at several different power settings (no, I don't stand around pressing the button ad nauseum, I just use the intervalometer on my camera and count the frames:) and I'm satisfied that it has no real faults other than
1. The carry handle, see below
2. The battery life indicator - 3 lights that are a bit like a Ford petrol gauge. When the top one goes out and is replaced by the middle one the battery is about to die. I don't know what the bottom one is for, by the time it comes on the battery is empty. But it does take an enormous number of flashes before it comes on.

Personally I will be very surprised if anything comes along that's better in the forseeable - the Lencarta Safari Li-on is a direct competitor to the Elinchrom Quadra ranger at a much lower price and I honestly believe that it's better in every way except that it doesn't have a built in Skyport - something has to give when there's a massive difference in price.

As for colour temperature and flash energy consistency, the figures speak for themselves. So does the battery life. The one thing about it that I personally don't like is the carry handle - I need to get smaller hands:)

I believe that it's the best product by far that Lencarta has ever had, with the possible exception of the folding softboxes.
 
To be fair, the handle issue makes you frown the first time you try and flip it up from it's folded position. But then I go back to the Safari Classic with it's permanently upright handle, that can also cause problems when trying to tuck the generator out of sight, and I think I'd rather have the more compact Li Ion solution.
If it caused me that much of a concern, I'd put a tab of gaffer tape on the handle to give it something to tug on but I doubt I'd bother.
 
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