It still gives me a thrill.
Going down the shops, pressing my nose against the window and ogling the latest gear in the camera store.
I guess I’m a bit of a gadget freak.
Love all the bits and pieces that go with the job of taking pictures.
Those yummy golden boxes marked Nikon which successfully reflect the small fortune you’ve just spent on a new lens.
Today I’ve spent some money.
For sometime now I’ve needed to add to my lighting arsenal. Some of the trusty old Elinchrom mono-blocks are showing their age and repairs are prohibitively expensive. They’ve served me well and I’d like to find a stud farm where they can serve out their remaining years in peace.
For a while I’ve been eyeing up a portable system.
For photographers who know about these things it’s the Elinchrom Ranger Quadra RX
Great bit of kit.
£3000 eek !
But it costs quite a lot !
Every time I visited the Flash Centre they would have to wipe my greasy nose marks off the window and the dribble off the pavement.
No doubt it’s one of the market leaders in terms of power, build quality, reliability and integration into the Elinchrom family. If I had a spare £3000 I would be there.
But who, these days, has “spare” wads of cash?
So I took advantage of a mistake my wife made:
She forgot to buy me a card AND anniversary present … TWO years running.
I didn’t.
No, I turned up on the morning of September 18th clutching a card and a tasteful present and a happy, loving smile.
Of course poor wifey had let things slip. Forgot card and present.
Ha Ha – she walked straight into my trap.
Putting on my best Spaniel expression, right down to the wet little nose, doleful eyes and floppy ears, I looked hurt.
You have to be careful not to overplay your hand and the temptation was certainly there to go for the Larry Olivier and the full Thespian treatment of injured pride and biting back the tears.
“Well why don’t you buy something for yourself ?” she offered by way of appeasement.
The rest, as they say, is history.
I set myself a ceiling of £1200 to get some new lights – the studio needs them and it is a after all justifiable expense.
A lot of research later I had narrowed it down to a selection of brands, all originating in China, but with good pedigrees.
The internet is a wonderful if arduous resource. Tracking down reviews of equipment and comparing one thing with another is a tricky business.
Are people telling the truth ? Do they know what they’re talking about ?
On top of that there is so little opportunity to actually get “hands on” with some of this kit ‘cos it’s just not available here.
Finally narrowed it down to these four kits:
The Strobeam DL 250 Kit 2 flash heads and battery power. Some very clever functions too.
If the company that’s importing them into the UK had not hit some financial problems I may well have bought these two weeks ago.
The Lencarta Safari Li-ion – which is a wonderful rival to the Elinchrom Ranger kit and beats it in many ways. This is the one I very nearly closed on.
Being distributed in the UK by Lencarta who badge and import it from China.
Lencarta strikes me as a solid company who are keen to build a professional client base of happy customers. The Safari is going to be very popular in the months to come – so popular in fact that they can’t get enough into the country.
Good company though and my regret in not buying from them lies in the knowledge that I would have been able to go back to them for good service and support.
A more traditional looking flash head from NiceFoto (great name eh !) and now imported into the UK by Mr Cad the Wireless Flash 680a
Those of you who have fond memories of Mr Cad’s store in Windmill Road in Croydon will be pleased to know that nothing has changed except the location.
Now in a smart side street near Victoria Station and still being run by the ineffable Mr Alex Falke
The store is still full of reminiscences of the days of film – for those of you who miss the smell of the hypo it’s worth a visit just to see all the gear they have. But lurking in there they have this flash system which is quite cutting edge.
Once again a very clever bit of design with some novel features – well worth a close look.
But you can get them direct from China at better prices.
But Finally, and the one I went for is the Godox system from China.
The 600Ws Portable flash head and battery pack
Getting two of these units. ! Yippee !!
Yup I’m buying them off the internet.
A Chinese Ebay store no less !
Am I mad ? Well I guess we’ll see.
I’ve had good experiences buying stuff from China in the past so I’m happy to give them a go again.
The various reviews of this kit are good and once again it’s quite an innovative design and has some clever features.
Despite some communication problems with the store, just down to the language, we did the deal and hopefully two of these units are now winging their way to me as I write.
My review will be the one to read –
Then I’ll explain the features that has made this such an attractive choice for me.
