Review: ANGLER Parasail Parabolic Umbrella

Very few photographic umbrellas have had me confused like the ANGLER Parasail Parabolic umbrella–but after working with this umbrella, its nuances started to become a bit more clear. I mean, look at the thing. It doesn’t look like any sort of umbrella. It’s shaped more like a Roman Centurion’s shield and has the relative rectangular design of a softbox. In a world where light modifiers seem to be changing, innovating and overlapping, the target audience for the ANGLER Parasail Parabolic umbrella seems to be those that sometimes need an umbrella and sometimes need a softbox. With its convertible design to be a very soft silver reflection type or a thick opaque white shoot through configuration, the ANGLER Parasail Parabolic umbrella’s best feature is its versatility due to being suspended on a rod and its easy ability to turn one way or another.

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Review: Profoto B1X (Sony TTL Version)

If you’re a working photographer that uses studio lighting, then chances are that you’ve been considering a light like the Profoto B1X since first hearing about it. Profoto lights are already at the top of the game and all the studios use them, and what makes the Profoto B1X so special is the added versatility over the original Profoto B1 monolights. For example, the modelling light has 50% more power for video users. Then there’s the ability to do high speed sync at up to 1/8,000 and with a flash duration of 1/19,000. That’s pretty insane! And then you have to remember Profoto’s color consistency assurance, their Air Remote TTL system, and the solid build quality. I can go on and on about Profoto and how great their lights are and how little extra post-production work you’ll need to do because of how good they are, but the truth is that some folks still have no problems with extra long post-production that I sometimes find to be unnecessary.

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Review: Fujifilm EF-X500 Flash (Fujifilm X Series)

The Fujifilm EF-X500 flash may be an option for photographers who want and need to use a flash when documenting and doing photojournalistic work; but it absolutely baffles me that a camera company with a fantastic medium format camera system hasn’t started to work with some sort of third party lighting manufacturer like Profoto to get some sort of integration into their system. To be fair, this isn’t Fujifilm alone. Canon’s radio system is crippled. Nikon’s isn’t what it used to be. Sony’s flash system is laughable. Olympus and Panasonic have never had such a great option. Pentax? Don’t even get me started.

But Fujifilm–a company with such a decorated history and an entry in the medium format camera system, doesn’t have a solid flash system. The Fujifilm EF-X500 is the company’s answer and attempt at this market but in many ways the company failed out of the gate. But in other ways, they’re not doing such a terrible job and I’m just being extra critical and venting via my own blog.

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These Are The Speedlights We Recommend For Lighting Up Your Party Photography

As you have noticed lately, we have been exploring the arena of party and event photography, specifically the gear and tools needed to get great results in that genre. So far we have covered cameras and lenses, the two most critical aspects of a party or event photography kit.

Today we change our focus from the image capturing gear to another incredibly important piece to a party and event photography kit – the lighting. Specifically, we will be looking at our top speedlight recommendations, a list that will cover high-end (expensive) options as well as more budget-friendly options that also get the job done.

Ready to shed some light on your event photography kit? Let’s get this party started… Continue reading…

Review: Interfit Honey Badger Monolight (NSFW)

Today, Interfit is announcing their new Interfit Honey Badger Monolight that is designed to function as an affordable option for someone that needs both a monolight and a constant light. In fact, we’re talking about a $299 price point with a softbox included. Now, the Interfit Honey Badger doesn’t have a built in battery–which would put it over the top. But if you’re right by a power source it shouldn’t be that difficult to work with. Instead, the Interfit Honey Badger will appeal most to the photographers who work in a given studio location that doesn’t really change vs those who do location work. To add extra value to the Interfit Honey Badger the light can be controlled with their transmitter wirelessly and also act as a constant light. It doesn’t offer TTL output and only has a flash duration of 1/900th; but if you’re shooting in a studio then you’re doing everything you can to control the light output as it is.

So let’s dive into this review.

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Review: FlashQ Q20 Miniature Flash/LED Light

The FlashQ Q20 is a response to the need for small, simple to use flashes that also do double duty as LED lights. For today’s creative content creator, it’s a dream–but the implementation of the FlashQ Q20 is something far more likely to be in the hands of an amateur or photographer getting started than an actual working photog. To be fair, it doesn’t seem like it was designed to take on the likes of Adorama’s Flashpoint, B&H Photo’s Impact, Godox, Yongnuo, etc. Instead, the FlashQ Q20 sort of fills a totally different niche. Though it’s marketed as being versatile and easy to use, my independent analysis believes the opposite to actually be true–to a point.

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Review: Westcott Flex Bi-Color Mat

There has been a growing trend in photography leaning more towards working with constant lighting vs strobe; and the Westcott Flex Bi-Color mat seems to really cater to that thought process. I mean, just look at lots of the photography out there and how much it’s involving the use of neon lighting with a portrait subject these days. There’s sure a look there that isn’t very easy to do with strobe. Though for what it’s worth, the Flex Bi-Color isn’t really designed to deliver “that” look. Instead, think of it as a giant Rogue Flashbender with LED Lights built in, a very solid frame, and a very simple control interface.

Then consider that the light temperature works in the same way that color temperature works with none of the tinting abilities and absolutely no reasonable way to gel the light.

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Review: Pictools Folding Beauty Dish (47.25 inches)

There’s been a trend in beauty dish creation over the past few years that the Pictools Folding beauty dish really adheres to: good quality while being easy to put together and use. To boot, the beauty dish is also fairly compact when fully collapsed. It goes into its own bag and can be assembled fairly quickly if you’re just a bit patient with some of its oddities.

What you’ll be rewarded with is a pretty awesome beauty dish that I personally feel works better as an octabank; and quite a sturdy one too!

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