NPhoto

What to look for with lighting

Choices, choices… Mains or battery, flash or constant lighting?

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o adjust the power output of studio flash heads, you increase or decrease the voltage to which the capacitors are charged. When they discharge to give the flash output, greater levels of charge result in a more intense flash.

Battery-powered flash heads are increasing­ly dropping variable voltage control in favour of IGBT (insulated-gate bipolar transistor) technology. As used in flashguns, this acts as an ultra-high-speed switch for turning power on and off. The capacitors are fully charged and the transistor controls the duration of the output. At the minimum power setting, the pulse of light will be very short. At the max power setting, IGBT remains inactive, 1. MAINS POWER

All kits here can be powered from the mains, apart from the Honey Badger Unleashed. With mains power you avoid the worry of batteries running flat.

4. MODELLING LAMP

The Elinchrom, Interfit and Profoto battery-powered flash heads have strong LED modelling lamps – useful for shooting short-range video and stills.

2. BATTERY POWER

The three location flash kits are supplied with Li-ion battery packs. Optional battery packs are also available to buy for the three LED panels on test.

5. BI-COLOUR LEDS

The LED panels have bi-colour LEDS, and the GVM adds RGB colour control. The Profoto flash head has a variableco­lour LED modelling lamp.

3. RF RECEIVER

All the kits besides the Neewer and GVM LED panels have built-in RF receivers, for use with compatible hotshoe-mounted remote controller­s and triggers.

6. ACCESSORIE­S

The Elinchrom and Interfit studio flash kits include lighting stands and softboxes. However, none of the location flash kits come with stands.

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