Selens Triple Flash Bracket Review

I got a Selens triple flash bracket, a bracket with three hotshoes to allow you to use three speedlights at the same time.

$100 Monolight: Godox e300 Preliminary Review

Chinese lighting products have been steadily improving while offering incredible prices, and studio strobes are no exception.  Godox's e300 is a monolight that has pretty good specifications on paper, including 300 watt seconds of power.  The kicker is that it's available at under $100 - comparable to the cost of an inexpensive speedlight, making it attractive to hobbyists and casual shooters, especially first-time strobe buyers.

I just got a Godox e300 and in this post, I provide my first impressions.

Unboxing the Godox e300 ($100 Monolight)

Is it possible to get a decent monolight for the price of a speedlight?  The Godox e300 is a monolight that seems to promise just that.  Check out the specs:

• 300 watt-seconds of power
• 150 watt modeling lamp
• compact size (20.3 cm long) and light weight (1.45 kg)
• radio-based wireless remote adjustment capability with separate FT16 accessory (~$30)
• available for less than $100 on eBay

For comparison, the Alien Bee B800, already one of the most affordable monolights, has 320ws of power and costs $280.

I ordered one last week and just got it yesterday.  Here is the unboxing:

I conducted preliminary tests last night and will post my first impressions soon.

Spectacular Strobe Sale: Flashpoint Rovelight (Profoto D1 clone)

The Flashpoint Rovelight is a clone of the well-regarded Profoto D1 monolight, a self-contained monolight that includes a built-in battery in its body.  While the Profoto D1 costs around $1000 for the 500ws model, the Flashpoint Rovelight RL-600 offers similar functionality at just $600.

Abstract Fun

In one of the rare times I put effort and setup a light stand and an umbrella to shoot my girls, I decided to make use of this burst of energy and shoot some artificial flowers that we bought recently to decorate the house. It has an interesting shape and some glittery material applied. Click through to read on.

Lighting A Geomag, The Lazy Way

So how do you light a Geomag in an interesting way while keeping all these lightstands and modifiers tucked away in their bags? Click through to know how.

Are You Ready for AlienBees?

In the last several years, speedlights have been roped into tasks that have traditionally been filled by studio strobes.  The underlying premise is that speedlights are much more compact, and easier to bring to and set up for a location shot.  Combined with their TTL and high-speed sync capabilities, plus their lower upfront cost, speedlights do offer practical advantages over studio strobes.

At some point though, we run into barriers that remind us of the natural limits of speedlights.  The most significant limit is of course power.  Another is the speedlight's reflector design, which sends light only forward.

It is possible to engineer solutions around those obstacles.  For example, if we need more power, we can combine two or more speedlights.  However, sometimes those solutions create problems of their own.  If we gang four speedlights, we indeed get more power but then we limit our options for light modifiers (there are only a few softbox designs that can accommodate 4 flashes).

Instead of going to extreme lengths to stretch our speedlights, however, perhaps we could reconsider using a studio strobe instead.  One particular studio strobe stands out for its dependability and very high power-to-cost ratio: AlienBees.   Hit the jump to learn more about AlienBees and whether they are right for you.

Flash Series - Part 2: Home Made (DIY) Gels & Gel Holder

In this second part of the flash series (here's the first one) I will discuss home made gels and how do they perform in the real world, I might get a little philosophical (i.e. non-scientific) during the article, so please excuse me. Hit the jump for details and a bonus gel holder idea.

Flash Series - Part 1: Canon Speedlites Chat (580EX II vs 580EX vs 430EX)

Left: 580EX, Right: 580EX II

This post is the first in a series of posts where I will be talking a lot about flashes and their accessories, if all goes as planned I will post about the following:

• Canon Speedlites Overview (430EX, 580EX, 580EX II)
• DIY Gels
• Rogue Grid for Speedlites
• Built-In Wireless Flash Commander Limitations + Ebay triggers
• Lumiquest SB III
• Cheap Chinese Studio Strobes
• Directional Popup Flash Followup

Today I am going to talk a bit about my Canon speedlites, it will not be a purely technical post but rather my story and experience with them, I also made a measly effort at a comparison video, so we'll see how will the viewers respond. Click through for the full story.

Intro to Studio Strobes

Lately I've been thinking about doing more setup shots, especially location shots.  Outdoors you usually need more power because of the much brighter ambient conditions, especially with the days getting longer (at least in the northern hemisphere).  In terms of capacity to overpower the sun (even with a large modifier), a studio strobe is much more powerful than hotshoe flashes.  If you don't know anything about strobes, this post is for you.

BTW, strobes can mean different things to people.  I use the term to refer to big flashes.  First, I'll discuss their advantages and disadvantages compared to hotshoe flashes.  Next I'll talk about the main types of strobes.  I'll then discuss the strobe that I'd like to get, then finally I'll talk about remote adjustment options.