What problems?

Derek.Laurence

Derek.Laurence

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Derek
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Hey

With a little Xmas money to spend I had been looking about and stumbled across this

http://biSPAM/14zcGml

I have no issue with buying cheapo and upgrading as I go along.

My question is really what issues am I going to run into if I were to purchase this?
( I currently only have one yongnuo, a light stand, a shoot through umbrella and a 5in 1 reflector)
 
Real world problems:

  • Adding to the modifiers offered. You might be able to find a converter to s fit, but the light will be in the 'wrong' place for them to be a perfect match. (It's difficult to know whether the converter will work as you'll be measuring it all yourself)
  • Recycle times aren't as good as cheaper heads from better companies
  • They don't have the power adjustability of cheaper heads from better companies
  • The cheap stands aren't really stable enough for anything other than what you're buying.

More theoretical problems (you're hardly likely to notice just shooting portraits),
  • Light temperature varies more than it ought
  • Output power varies more than it ought
 
Thanks for your reply Phil. Thorough as ever :-)
At the level I'm operating at these are realistically all the modifiers I'm going to need until I'm further down the line and can afford to upgrade

Again, for current needs, recycle times I can live with.

Power adjustability...... Yep good point. This must surely be a workable issue though (off top of my head, increase distance from source to subject?)
 
Derek.Laurence said:
Thanks for your reply Phil. Thorough as ever :)
At the level I'm operating at these are realistically all the modifiers I'm going to need until I'm further down the line and can afford to upgrade

Again, for current needs, recycle times I can live with.

Power adjustability...... Yep good point. This must surely be a workable issue though (off top of my head, increase distance from source to subject?)
Click to expand...
Modifiers? It depends on your creativity, I was quickly frustrated by just crap softboxes and shoot through brollies. And I'm not exactly what you'd call 'an artist', closer to 'a wedding hack'

Recycle times do frustrate, as the flash has just fired and your subject cracks a fantastic smile, you hit the shutter button; no flash!

Power adjustability, you can't change with subject distance, because that changes the nature of the light. You can increase power with ISO, but reducing it is a real bind, you're looking at ND filters, or using higher apertures for non-artistic reasons.

You asked for real issues, I'm giving you the real issues. If I had the choice to make I'd buy a one light setup from a better manufacturer and build from there.
 
Thanks for your answers Phil. I appreciate your time (and as always honesty). :-)
 
May I hijack slightly? I was in fact looking at the same kit, and then started to think of the kits with the Pegasus P-300a head in instead, as at least these heads appear to have had some reviews. (And their recylce time is quoted as 0.2-2s rather than 0.5-3) (unfortunately the £205 kit seems to have now gone to £305 :( )

Was this a typo?
Phil V said:
  • Recycle times aren't as good as cheaper heads from better companies
Click to expand...

Currently I have a two flash (speedlight) setup, without modifiers. To get a third flash, of the one I would like would be £190 (the Canon 430 EX II). But I started thinking that a three light studio setup might make more sense as ther would be 'better' modifiers, and even if the kit was cheap I could build on it (as per the OP)

If the above wasn't a typo, could you say which companies/heads would be cheaper/better? The P-300a appears to be ~£60
 
As Phil says really, though power seems adjustable over a claimed 3-stops. Ridiculously good value for money, apart from £44 delivery.

If you know what you're doing, good results are certainly possible. But I would find them limiting and frustrating, with questionable robustness and reliability, and a dead-end as far as development goes. They look similar to the ones used in my local Timpsons, when their shoe repairers turn their hand to kiddy pics!

My advice: if you're keen and want to learn and progress, these lights will soon end up in the bin. If you're not that committed, just want some straightforward high quality portraits, then less is more - one good light is better than three, they will just look a mess of conflicting shadows.

So: one decent quality studio head like Lencarta Smartflash or Elinchrom D-Lite One, stand, trigger, three brollies (white, silver, shoot-through - for different effects, cheap as chips), white/silver reflector. You can add to and develop a system like this as far as you like, and similar sort of money to those ebay specials.
 
coldpenguin said:
May I hijack slightly? I was in fact looking at the same kit, and then started to think of the kits with the Pegasus P-300a head in instead, as at least these heads appear to have had some reviews. (And their recylce time is quoted as 0.2-2s rather than 0.5-3) ...
Click to expand...

The recycle times of the cheap heads from decent companies rarely strays above 1 sec. And usually with a genuine 4 stop range or higher. Once you've got them dialled down recycle is almost instantaneous, whereas it's genuinely an issue with these cheap units.
 
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