- This topic is empty.
Questions re buying Lighting equipment from scratch
-
I am currently looking at home studio lighting kits – and specifically at elinchrom though I have not decided at this point.
I have been looking at DLite 2/ 4 or perhaps the FX 400.
The only thing putting me off D Lite 2 / 4 is that I tend to do long shoots of up to 6/7 hours and as the D Lite are not fancooled I am wondering would they get intolerably hot for working an enclosed enviorment ?
I have come across this before in non ventilated studios where the temperature hits unworkable levels after a few hours so I was wondering is this an issue for this kit ?
Also does the lack of air cooling affect life expectancy of the equipment ?
Another consideration is how would I add a wireless solution for the D-Lite kit ?
I currently have no studio lighting gear and would like to avoid the sorts of purchasing mistakes that others may have made so any advice/caveats/ or recommendations from people who have made these purchases would be appreciated.
I am looking to build up a cohesive solution from scratch – one that I can currently use in a semi/mobile capacity.
Eventually moving to a permanent setup and in a way that each purchase compliments the existing gear if you know what I mean (I think modular is the word I am looking for).
Gerard,
I got the D-Lite 2 kit from Paddy Barker about a year ago and have to
say I’m pretty pleased with it. I’ve never used them for 6/7 hours at a time,
though I have used them for 3/4 and have never found an issue with
heating despite the lack of fan cooling. It’s all quite compact and portable
and very effective for my needs. I usually use a sync cable to fire one,
which fires the other via a photosensor at the back of each unit, though
both can be fired wirelessly using your onboard flash.Rob.
Cheers for that info.
Could I ask – after having it for a year if you had the same choice would you re-buy the same setup or would you go for anything different ?
I think you’re choice is going to come down to Bowens or Elinchrom at the end of the day as these are the two major brands in use here in Ireland and while there are better systems available, they are also more expensive and probably harder to get.
I bought a 2-head Style 600 R kit from Paddy a few years ago. It doesn’t get very heavy usage as I’m principally an outdoor shooter. There are two principal reasons I bought the Elinchrom over Bowens – the vast range of accessories available and the fact that they were being supplied by a local supplier meaning that if I ever had a problem with them I could drop them in to arrange for service. Because of the light use they get and because I handle my kit very carefully, I’ve not had a flash tube go on me yet, but if and when I do I’m going to have to send the unit in for service. The newer units however, have user replaceable flash tubes so if you have a problem you’ll get back up and running much quicker. As far as I know, Bowens are distributed in Ireland by DML and being Dublin based that might just swing the decision for you.
I’d suggest having a look at the Bowens UK website and also that of The Flash Centre to compare Bowens and Elinchrom units and see what range of accessories are available for each.
A few things to keep in mind on the accessories front. The accessories you get now will not be the ones you will want in a year or so (or perhaps sooner) as you get more familiar with the lights. For example I now find myself wanting accessories such as a beauty dish and strip lights instead of the regular soft box and umbrellas that I have. I think this ought to be as much of a deciding factor as the lights themselves. Another thing I like about the new Elinchrom units is the new Elinchrom Skyport system which when hooked up to the correct lights allows for the control of those lights remotely.
Hope that’s of some help.
Thanks all for the info thats exactly the sort of thing I was looking to find out – plenty of material to consider there. Cheers.
Hi Gerard,
I am D-Lite-d you are considering Elinchrom for your lighting solution. There are three Elinchrom lighting ranges at different price / feature points.
The D-Lites (2 or 4) – Basically for home /e-bay use and lighter Professional use.
The BX Range is so much better value than the FX range (tiny price difference) that we strongly recommend the BX for Professional use.
At the Upper end we do the RX range which have all the features – Like ultra short flash duration and a Remote computer interface for full remote control.
ALL our lights can be used with Radio triggers and Elinchrom do a really good 8 Channel “SkyPort” kit for ?149 Inc Vat.
You can check our our Elinchrom options at: http://www.barkerphotographic.ie/flash-heads-and-kits.htm
I am loading a PDF ( ? Euro prices should be: ?595, ?1245 and ?1895 (Inc Vat) which will clearly guide you to the best heads for you, but I think the BX kit sounds to be the best option.
The D-Lite is a very competent head and a recent PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER magazine review said:
“There is a clear winner though, the ELinchrom D-Lite 2 kit offers more control and ease of use than the Bowens…” and ” We have no hesitation in recommending the Elinchrom D-Lite as our favourite entry level lighting kit. It’s a great buy.”
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
