Roger Hicks’s “Pro Lighting Report” is part of our continuing series of reports from the photokina show. With a giant hall filled with lighting products, Roger reports here on what caught his eye and what he saw as the key trends at the show. We will continue with new lighting product reports in coming issues, with a special report coming out of the WPPI show held in March, and will catch up on more new products not mentioned here then. We consider lighting a key issue for all photographers and will have more tests ahead throughout the year.—Editor
Phottix’s 500 watt-second Indra500 TTL Studio Light merges speedlight and monolight technologies and is controlled by the company’s Odin TTL Flash Trigger that works with Canon and Nikon SLRs. (Indra is the Hindu warrior god of sky and rain.)
Designed with many of the same features that made the original Odin so popular, the Phottix Odin II TTL UI and control system are now faster and easier to use. This updated model offers a 2.5 GHz frequency (with a range of 100m), 32 channels (with a digital ID code), 5 groups (A, B, C, D, E), group buttons and a convenient control dial for fast power changes, a manual power control (1/1 to 1/256), a flash zoom control, high speed sync (up to 1/8000s), an AF assist beam, a modeling light control (Indra500 only), second curtain sync and a TTL power control +/- 3EV.
One of the reasons you might consider a “third-party” shoe mount for your camera is simple—it’s usually less expensive, sometimes considerably so. Saving a few bucks is good, but perhaps some features are missing, or the construction isn’t as robust, or the resale value will be lower. But sometimes it just may be a smart choice, as I found when testing the Phottix Mitros flash for my Nikon.
The Phottix Odin is a radio frequency-controlled system, or simply radio remote. The basic package includes two units: a transmitter and a receiver. Additional receivers are optional. You only need one transmitter to sit in the camera’s hot shoe and trigger compatible i-TTL strobes, but you need a receiver for each off-camera flash. And recently, Phottix introduced a new combo pack that includes one additional receiver—perfect for my two-speedlight setups. The unit tested here is for Nikon and I worked with my Nikon SB-900 speedlights.
This year we’re seeing a surprising number of new ringlights plus lots of accessory light modifiers, dedicated cords, flash brackets, and continuous LED lights which are helpful when making videos with multipurpose D-SLR cameras.
Aputure’s Trigmaster makes controlling a studio strobe or Speedlight wirelessly easier at distances of up to 300 feet with 16 different...
This year saw few major product launches in studio lighting, although we did manage to uncover some interesting lights and accessories nonetheless.
Dot Line Corp./RPS Studio introduced the Complete 7-in-1 Reflector. This folding reflector comes with a translucent panel, white, silver, sunlight (a mix of gold and silver), and gold reflectors, plus an 18 percent gray target for...
PocketWizard has just made their FlexTT5 TTL radio remote system available to users of Panasonic’s mirrorless cameras. When used with the Panasonic DMW-FL360L and DMW-FL580L flash units, the FlexTT5 TTL enables a full range of flash sync speeds up to 1/8000.
For the studio photographer on location or shooting environmental portraits, connecting a studio strobe to a battery pack, battery-driven power pack, or pure sine wave inverter frees one of the constraints of plugging into an AC outlet and worrying about tripping circuit breakers or blowing a fuse, and it removes wires that could prove hazardous (combined with wireless syncing of the flash, I might add). And wedding and event photographers who rely on portable strobes that run entirely on external battery power are well familiar with the benefits—power that lasts and keeps pace with the event. There are countless choices, whether you’re just starting out or looking to upgrade or expand your lighting system.
When you need the power and versatility of a studio strobe for location shooting and environmental portraiture but don’t want to schlep around a large, heavy studio system, you can turn to a portable lighting kit.
“Look Ma, no cords!” That’s right; the Priolite does not have a power cord. It is run strictly off battery power. Each unit has its own interchangeable and removable battery, plus a built-in receiver to work with a Priolite transmitter. And, unlike most monolights, it has a usable modeling light even on battery power.
We reviewed the Profoto B1 500 AirTTL battery-powered studio light earlier this year and while we, generally, loved this portable strobe solution the one thing missing was high-speed sync. Profoto corrected that this morning by offering a new High-Speed Sync (HSS) feature to the B1 that’s available now via a free firmware update.
I had the opportunity to spend a couple of weeks with the Profoto B2 Location Kit. Said kit contains one power supply with two batteries, two flash heads, a carrying bag, and more. Profoto also sent me a bunch of light-shaping tools to experiment with.
Recently I had an opportunity to test Profoto’s D1 monolight and their HR Softbox 1.5x3. To check out the combo the company sent along a Profoto D1 Air Kit that includes two D1 monolights, stands, umbrellas, and a case. I did not have the Air Remote to control the units from camera position.