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Lighting

This was the World’s Best Flash for Photographers

Chris Gampat
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Last updated on 06/08/2026
08/05/2026
3 Mins read
A LumoPro camera flash unit with a digital display, placed on a khaki bag with a buckle.
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In 2013, Lumopro released the Lumopro LP-180 flash. I personally reviewed it all the way back. I was 26 years old and loved having the extra manual control over my images that so many people who simply just push a shutter don’t exhibit. It wasn’t until I was recently working on my review of the PocketWizard Plus VE transceivers that I even thought about it again. With them being super cheap on eBay, I bought one and was reminded of era of photography that I truly don’t miss.

Below is an update that I’m making to the review. The full review can be found here.

The LumoPro LP-180 Flash in 2026

So what was so great about the LumoPro LP180? Well, there were several things that really make it stand out. For starters, it had 1/4 20 slots on two different sides so that you could mount the flash directly on a light stand. It also had adequate sound ports so that you could hook up radio transmitters to them. Right there, that might sound weird. These days, nearly every flash has radio transmission built into it unless it’s really meant to be just in a hot shoe and nowhere else. More importantly, they’re all really affordable.

So that means that if you’re using the flash, you need to go over to it and manually adjust the power output. You can’t do it from your transmitter on top of your camera. Otherwise, you’d need to adjust your camera’s exposure settings because the light is all manual. There is no TTL at all. This means that you need to read the light meter (not the exposure preview), use a low ISO, and understand how the aperture affects the flash output. Plus you need to think about your subject’s distance from the flash.

Trust me when I say that even typing that out sounded daunting. But luckily, I’ve still got those skills. So I used the Lumopro LP-180 with my Nikon D850, 28mm f1.8, and the PocketWizards.

Woman in a denim jacket taking a selfie in a pizza shop with stacked pizza boxes in the background.
A man in a cap holding food stands with others in a brightly lit restaurant or café.
A slice of spinach and cheese pizza on a paper plate sits on an orange table next to an empty plate.
Young man wearing glasses and a green hoodie stands in a cafe with a menu board behind him.
Trays of rectangular pizzas labeled Meatballs and Soppressata & Calabrian Chile in a display case.
Man in a white hoodie making a peace sign, standing outside a brick building with a camera around his neck.
A smiling couple with name tags stands together against a patterned wall; the woman wears sunglasses.
A slice of pepperoni pizza with cheese on a plate, next to a small pastry on a separate plate.
Two people smiling and posing in front of a tall stack of pizza boxes; one person flashes a peace sign.
Two people standing indoors, one holding a drink, both posing and smiling for the camera.
Six young men sit at a restaurant table eating pizza and drinking soda, smiling and enjoying the meal together.
A man in a cap enjoys eating a slice of pizza in front of a brick wall.
Man in glasses enthusiastically eating a large slice of pizza inside a restaurant with a menu in the background.
Man in a tan jacket takes a big bite of pizza in a busy pizzeria with pizza boxes in the background.
Two men sit at a table in a dimly lit room, smiling at the camera with drinks and snacks on the table.
Woman in a red sweater eating pizza indoors, with other people and shelves in the background.
Man wearing a tan cap and scarf enjoys eating a slice of pizza indoors, eyes closed in delight.
Woman holding a plate of food, standing outside with a group of people on a sunny day.
A person wearing glasses smiles while taking a bite of pizza.
Three smiling women pose together on a sunny city street, with buildings and people in the background.
A person wearing sunglasses eats a sandwich outdoors on a sunny day, with autumn leaves in the background.
A man wearing glasses takes a big bite of a cheesy slice of pizza in a warmly lit room.
Three people eating pizza outside on a sunny day, wearing sunglasses and holding pizza slices on paper plates.

This type of setup is very specific to a certain era of photography. It was when Joe McNally would go around making lots of really innovative images using off-camera flashes. Flickr groups would have their own strobist photographers and critiques too. By all means, it was a good time. But you also really had to rely on the idea of sometimes fixing it in post-production. The reason for that really was true more for event photography than still portrait photography.

Sure, you can call the images, “too hot” or not balanced enough. But the truth is that it’s a vibe. And the aesthetic adds to the fun of the moments. I could do this because I’m skilled enough to be able to know how to work with lights. If my memory serves me correctly from years ago, the Watsons would have to have their lights set up for them on each press trip. And I can imagine that’s still the case with tons of the influencers out there.

The Lumopro LP-180 isn’t a simple light to use. With that said, I wouldn’t at all recommend it for a content creator. But I think that photographers making real photographs will love it.

At the same time, I will say with the fullest expression of my heart that I do not miss this era. These days, I typically make images using in-camera color profiles, TTL lights, a bag of tricks, and working with my subjects to make unique images. This ultimately means that when I get home, there’s no real post-production to do and I deliver everyone’s photos to them within 24 hours — and usually within two hours. Then I get my life back to play video games, go eat, hang out at bars, play my bass guitar, make chai, read, or do literally anything else like soak in my bathtub to lower my cortisol levels.

But trust me when I say this: this era of photography that the LumoPro LP-180 is from is also seriously the most fun.

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Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
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