LASTOLITE LUMEN8 400W TWIN KIT
This kit is built around heavyweight heads that take a more traditional approach to things
£590/$780
The Lumen8 400Ws heads in this kit are more than twice the weight of any of the other studio flash heads on test, at 3.3kg each. On the plus side, efficient heatsinking means there’s no need for cooling fans, so at least they’re quiet.
Unlike other studio flash heads here, the Lumen8 head has a rotary control knob for output power, rather than push-buttons. This makes fine adjustments trickier, especially as there’s no digital display of the power setting. Accessory fitment is via a Bowens S-type bayonet mount on the front. Two 60cm square softboxes are supplied, and the whole kit packs into a pair of carrying bags.
The Lumen8 heads are the only ones in this test to feature a large 1/4-inch sync socket, rather than the more usual 3.5mm socket. Unlike the Elinchrom and Interfit kits, there’s no RF remote trigger supplied, and no receiver built into the heads. A basic Lastolite Lumen8 Radio Trigger set is available separately, and will set you back an additional £45/$60. As with the Interfit Honey Badger, there’s only a basic slave mode, which precludes triggering from a flashgun that fires pre-flash pulses.
Performance
There’s a nominal five f/stop range in output power, which was borne out in our tests. Minimum and maximum power outputs proved about an f/stop lower than from the Elinchrom and Metz studio flash heads. Recycling speed after a full-power flash takes about 50 per cent longer than for the Elinchrom and Interfit heads, at 1.9 seconds.