Light is everything in photography, and we believe that every photographer should know how to use it. Portrait photographers, wedding photographers, photojournalists, and others need to learn lighting. And for the most part, you’ll get more from a light when you get a strobe or a flash vs an LED. You’ll spend a lot less time doing post-production. And you’ll also thank yourself for being more organized in the first place. Take a look at our tests for the best lighting for photographers under $1,000.
The Phoblographer’s various product round-up features are done in-house. Our philosophy is simple: you wouldn’t get a Wagyu beef steak review from a lifelong vegetarian. And you wouldn’t get photography advice from someone who doesn’t touch the product. We only recommend gear that we’ve fully reviewed. If you’re wondering why your favorite product didn’t make the cut, there’s a chance it’s on another list. If we haven’t reviewed it, we won’t recommend it. This method keeps our lists packed with industry-leading knowledge. Some of our stories include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of these links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Pro Tips on Lighting for Photographers
Here are some professional tips on lighting for photographers:
- There’s good news! Strobes often have constant lighting built into them. So you can use that. When it comes to lighting for photographers, LEDs just aren’t all there yet. Trust us, we’d know as we’ve tested a lot of them.
- All of these lights are under the $1,000 mark and are designed to be super dependable for tons of photography applications.
- The important things to look for are the watt seconds and guide number. The greater it is, the more powerful the flash or strobe is.
- Flash duration is also incredibly important when it comes to lighting for photographers. This acts almost as a second shutter speed of sorts.
- Always make sure your light can do high speed sync.
Elinchrom One
Tech Specs
- 131 Watt seconds
- 5 stops of power
- 1/1 to 1/16, but I was also able to shoot are very small numbers
- 1/7000 flash duration max
- Up to 0.9 second recycle
- Fan cooled
- Charges via USB-C
- 2700-6500k LED color
- Manual, TTL with HSS, HSS, and TTL
- Up to 200m radio range
- Touchscreen
- Bluetooth to phone and computer
- One head is $899
- Transmitter is $249.99
- 725 full power flashes until the battery dies, according to Elinchrom
In our review, we state:
“The Elinchrom One is a pretty good light in a sort of odd place. Elinchrom makes comparisons to the Profoto B10, but it is also like the A1x in some ways. It’s much better for indoor shoots and photojournalism than it is for location work. In some ways, it also works like Canon’s older E-TTL rather than the newer E-TTL II system. Plus, it’s available at an excellent price and boasts a touchscreen.”
Flashpoint eVOLV 200 Pro TTL Pocket Flash
Tech Specs
- Maximum Watt/Seconds: 200ws
- R2 Wireless (Slave Unit Mode): Nikon, Canon, Sony, Fujifilm, Olympus, Panasonic and Pentax
- Flash Modes: Wireless off, M/Multi, R2 Slave unit, TTL/M/Multi
- Compatible Cameras as R2 Radio Slave: Nikon cameras (R2N as master unit), Canon EOS cameras (R2C as master unit), Sony cameras (R2S as master unit)
- Connectors: 3.5 mm Sync Input, Wireless Control Port, USB-C Port
- Guide No. (ft/m ISO 100): Speedlite flash head: 170ft/52m (ISO 100) 35mm coverage, Bare bulb flash head: 196ft/60m (ISO 100, with the standard reflector)
- Cooling System: Vented Air Flow
- Flash Duration: Speedlite flash head: 1/220 to 1/15380 seconds, Bare bulb flash head: 1/220 to 1/13150 seconds
- Mount System: 1/4″-20 Female Threads
- Replaceable Flashtube: Bare Bulb Head only
- Power Range: 9 stops: 1/256 ~ 1/1 in 1/10th stop increments
- Stroboscopic Flash: Up to 90 times, 99Hz
- Flash Exposure Compensation (FEC): Manual. FEB: ±3 stops in 1/3 stop increments
- Sync modes: High-speed sync (up to 1/8000 seconds), first-curtain sync, and second-curtain sync
- Delay Flash: 0.01~30 seconds
- Mask feature: Yes
- Audio Tone: Yes
- Modeling Lamp (LED): Fresnel Head and optional Round Head
- Optic Slave Flash: S1/S2
- Flash Duration Indication: Yes
- Wireless Flash: R2 2.4GHz radio and optical sensor reception
- Wireless flash function: Slave, Off
- Controllable slave groups: 5 (A, B, C, D, and E)
- R2 Radio reception range (approx.): 330ft/100m
- Channels: 32 (1~32)
- ID function: OFF, 01~99
- Power Supply: Lithium, 14.4 V / 2900 mAh, Power remaining indicator
- Number of Flashes @ Full Power: Approx. 500
- Recycle Time: Approx. 0.01-1.8s
- Battery Indicator: Yes
- Power Indication: Power hibernate automatically after approx. 30 minutes of idle operation
- Sync Triggering Mode: 3.5mm sync line, Wireless control port
- Color Temperature: 5600° ±200°K
- Stable Color Mode: 5600° ±100°K over the entire power range
- Dimension: 6.8 x 2.1 x 2.9in / 172 x 54 x 75mm (flash head not included)
- Net Weight: 20.8 oz / 590 g Without Flash Head and Battery
In our review, we state:
“With the Flashpoint eVOLV 200 Pro, you’re able to bring studio-quality strobe lighting on location in situations that traditionally would’ve limited you to speedlights. This is very helpful when shooting solo or with a skeleton crew. The eVOLV 200 Pro has a new Stable Color Mode that keeps light output within ±100K of the 5600K range. Truth be told, I found the colors consistent enough with the eVOLV 200 Pro’s standard settings to never need Stable Color Mode. The quality of light produced by the Flashpoint eVOLV 200 Pro is consistent regardless of the flash head used. As someone who typically shoots with a custom white balance, the eVOLV 200 Pro delivered reliable and uniform results every time. Here are some images lit with the Flashpoint eVOLV 200 Pro, modified by a variety of octaboxes and parabolic umbrellas. All these images were captured using either the Sony A7R III, Sony A7R IV, Canon EOS R, or Olympus O-MD EM-5 Mark III.”
Nissin MG80 Pro
Tech Specs
| Power / Guide Number at ISO 100 | GN 60 at 200mm, 83-watt seconds |
| Continuous Flash Speed | Up to 10 shots / sec |
| Modeling Light | 8 watt LED modeling light |
| Power Source | 4x 14500 Li-ion Rechargeable Batteries
4x AA NiMH Rechargeable Batteries |
| Recycling Time | 1.2 sec with 4x Li-ion Batteries
3 sec with 4x AA Batteries |
| Number of Flashes (Approx.) | 360 times with 4x Li-ion 1000mAh rechargeable batteries
250 times with 4x AA 2450mAh rechargeable batteries |
| Radio Specifications | NAS 2.4GHz ISM Band |
| Flash Channels | 8 |
| Flash Groups |
8 |
| Wireless Transmission Distance | Up to 100 meters |
| Flash Exposure Modes | TTL Mode: +/- 2EV compensation in 1/3 EV steps
Manual Mode: 1/1 to 1/256 in 1/3 EV steps |
| TTL Exposure Control |
Canon E-TTL & E-TTL II Nikon i-TTL Sony ADI / PTTL |
| Flash Sync Modes |
HSS (up to 1/8000 sec) |
| Flash Zoom | Auto Zoom, 24mm, 28mm, 35mm, 50mm, 70mm, 85mm, 105mm, 135mm and 200mm |
| Bounce Head | 0˚ – 90˚ |
| Swivel Head | Swivel left 0˚ – 180˚
Swivel right 0˚ – 180˚ |
| Special Features | Modeling light on remote flash, Advanced groups, TTL memory |
| AF-Assist Beam Effective Range | 0.7 to 5 meters |
| Display | LCD Color Display |
| Firmware Update | User upgradeable with Micro SD / SDHC |
| Weight | 520g / 18.3 oz (without batteries) |
In our review, we state:
“We tested the Nissin MG80 Pro for product imagery as a constant light source. And in our opinion, it did an excellent job. However, the continuous light is still weak compared to the power of the full flash. And if you’re going for the absolute most in the details, I need to strongly advise against using it as a constant light. But if you don’t mind, then be my guest. In my opinion, though, the Nissin MG80 Pro is at its fullest potential when being used as a flash. The party images in this blog post were subjected to a bit of color editing. But otherwise, that’s it. We’re pleased with the image quality it can produce.”
Interfit Honey Badger
Tech Specs
- Recycles in only 1 second at full power
- 7-Stop power range allows you to dial in exposure with absolute precision
- LED modeling lamp is strong enough for use as a stand-alone continuous light
- Wireless control – Compatible with the Interfit manual remote and all Interfit TTL remotes
- Versatile Modifier Mount – Compatible with Bowens® S-Type modifiers and pop-up softboxes
- Includes a 24″ Pop-up softbox
In our review, we state:
“With 360 watt seconds of power output, and when using this light for simple portraiture, I never found myself going beyond 7.0 in terms of power output. That’s a whole lot of light output you can use easily with a large parabolic umbrella or nearly anything else. It can light up most rooms or even bars with no trouble.”
