Watch the original strobe review video: ua-cam.com/video/Hz-L6p53igU/v-deo.html&ab_channel=Fstoppers Photography Contests: HTTP://www.fstoppers.com/contests Fstoppers Store: HTTP://www.fstoppers.com/store Photographing the World Japan II: fstoppers.com/product/photographing-world-japan-ii-discovering-hidden-gems-elia-locardi
Thanks for the correction on the previous comparison video. It’s clarity like this that keeps me coming back to watch your content. I also appreciate your candid review of the elinchrom strobe. I have been using their products for 20 years and even though I am used to them, the menu UI on this unit you reviewed I found confusing as well. Most of us that do professional work want simple and easy to use controls as we often need to make rapid adjustments on the fly. So please pay attention manufacturers, this is very important.
Happy to see you mentionned my comment about the Godox AD600 Pro II lowering the flash power when in Freeze mode. I also happen to be an Elinchrom shooter and I would like to say that they are good units and since I have been shooting Elinchrom for many years, I can say I'm not frustrated at all by the interface. In fact, the Five interface (along with the ELB 500 TTL, the ELC 500/125 and the quickly discontinued ELB 1200) have the best interfaces Elinchrom has ever made. If you don't like this interface, you would be screaming at the older units like the BRX line or the RX line. I could go on and on about the advantages and inconvenients of shooting Elinchrom, but I'll try to get some facts from the top of my head : Advantages : - Most Elinchrom strobes have a hole on top or just below the flash tube for deflector plates and umbrellas. That means that you can use deflector plates with any modifier. A godsend, I don't understand why nobody else does that. - The Elinchrom Skyport wireless protocol permits multiple flash units in the same groups to have different power settings. That means you could have 10 flash units in group A, all at different power levels. - The battery on their IGBT flash units are pretty good, so my guess is that the Five battery is as good as the ELB 500 TTL - The Elinchrom power control display is made so that any Elinchrom flash unit outputs the same power ar the same setting. A RX4 at 3.2 is supposed to be the same output as a Five at 3.2. - Many ways to control the power on it : 2 different transmitters, some Sekonic light meters with integrated Skyport and the bridge module which gives an mobile or desktop app interface. Good control on it, you can even remotely change the group of a unit with the bridge unit. Bridge functionnality is also integrated in newer units, like the Five. Disadvantages : - As you said, not much range on lower power settings. No Elinchrom unit goes lower that 0.1 on the Elinchrom scale and that represents 7 joules of power. That is still pretty high if you're trying to shoot by mixing ambient light and flash or shoot at night. Buff Celestial units has 12 stops of range and costs almost a third of the Five. Elinchrom needs to get on with the program on this. - The umbrella hole I talked about is normally made for 7mm shafts, which means, well, Elinchrom accessories. I think the newer units can take normal 8mm shafts, but I would risk it as I broke the internal plastic resistance funnel on an older unit a couple years ago trying to do that. - One thing that makes be a bit crazy is that the Elinchrom wireless Skyport system doesn't allow for turning on or off singular groups. You can fire all of them at the same time or only one of them... but you could not turn off groups A and C and only fire groups B and D. I was hoping an firmware update to the Fusion TLC Raven transmitter could do this on Elinchrom but that update never materialized up to now. - The price for the Five is way too high considering the competition it has right now. Spare batteries are also priced like diamonds. Of course, not as crazy as Profoto/Broncolor. - The Five unit is too bulky and not a good form factor for on location flash. Although I have loved Elinchrom for many years, their latest releases have me scratching my head as they almost obliterated any advantage they have with the One and the Three, which have native Profoto mounts, integrated batteries, no central umbrella holes, no external receiver port, etc. I really hope they can turn things around in the next few years because they made a lot of strange decisions lately.
@@FStoppersInteresting that you say that. I was thinking about writing about flash gear... I have all of the tools to test them like you (color meter, light meter.) I was thinking that I should write about them in depth and submit these texts to you guys 🙂
@@JayJayYUP I didn't, as I don't have this strobe. It was actually Strobepro who did a video on it and mentionned it. It was always my guess from the start because the speed of the strobe at full power made no sense as far as physics go. Only way they could've done that would've been to make the flash go way harder than normal (like 2400j) and cut it off, as IGBT flash do to control their power. I don't think the AD600 Pro II flash tube could take that. I don't think the capacitors could do it either. Maybe this will be fixed in the future with a firmware upgrade, but... my feeling is that Godox wanted to do a bit of a publicity stunt thinking nobody would notice it.
None of that menu system seemed confusing to me. Not being used to something doesnt make it not intuitive. The controls on the light at least seemed perfectly fine.
By definition, having to get use to something makes it unintuitive. Intuitive means being able to use your intuition. You absolutely could get use to that menu system though it
After 8 years of struggling with the Elinchrom mount, my studio abandoned it for Godox flashes which use the much more reliable Bowens mount. The Elinchrom strobes were great and easy to repair, but I will never understand how anyone in that company can justify holding on to that flimsy mount system where the smallest bend in the speed ring means the softbox can no longer mount securely.
Same thing with the Broncolor mount. Not a great design. I have broken several glass domes because I thought the beauty dish was mounted tight and is wasn't. Profoto and Speedotron Have the best mount system, they are both adjustable and the glass domes don't knock off the flash head and break. Plus the Siros L battery is not reparable or replaceable. New battery each time $350. Profoto and Speedotron battery's can be replaced or re-celled for much less than a new unite. Thinking about getting rid of Broncolor
I used Elinchrom EL500s for years. Power range: full power down to quarter power using a slider control - 2 full stops of power reduction! Somehow we made it work. Today's photographers, with their 9, 10 or 11-stop ranges don't know they're born!
I’ve visited a lot of these company’s headquarters and seen some impressive design and research. That said, it does make me wonder if we are seeing more of China ripping off these innovative brands to release a cheaper priced product OR if the expensive brands are sourcing more from China in the first place. It’s prob a mix of both with some respectable, long term brands sourcing more from China and China also stealing a lot of IP that took a long time to perfect. Unfortunately that’s the world we live in and as someone who has made physical products myself, it’s both scary but also liberating to be able to bring many products to market that couldn’t if they were designed and built in your own country. All that said, the flash units we have available to us right now has never been better. I never wish to go back to my Dynalites or old Alien Bee strobes ever. -P
I mean for sure they're sourcing parts from China. But let's be honest, strobe isn't bleeding edge in terms of technology. Charge up your capacitor, discharge it.... Repeat. I don't get how they can justify decades old tech at these kinds of prices. Sure I've used Elinchrom for decades but still, occasionally I use other brands and frankly, once you set it up right, there's not that much difference in the studio
Seems from the beginning you hated the Elinchrom system period. I’ve used numerous lighting systems having worked for Panavision and owning a still rental house where we had Profoto, Broncolor, Arri etc. We also had Elinchrom location strobes and a variety of Elinchrom modifiers and these were a reliable and profitable product line. Elinchrom also had very good durability and were easy to repair much easier than Profoto or Broncolor. The pro trigger for Elinchrom is actually really easy to use and you don’t actually have to go near the lights everything is controllable from the trigger. Overall this is one of the worse reviews I’ve ever watched and not professional at all.
I fully agree with you. So funny, if you would read the review by Quentin Decaillet on the Fstoppers web site of the elc 125/500 (which has the same menu structure), one of the pros that was mentioned, is the ease of use of the user interface. This dude only had to look at the display to effing READ what the menu and exit buttons are. Duhhh
Yes, this is not a professional review. Neither is the other one... very amateurish and lacking of technical knowledge. I laughed when he compares brightness with a goofy ".8x" or whatever instead of a proper measurement using the head's standard reflector. Spends most of his time complaining about an interface that takes a moment to learn like everything else. No mention of service and support which is kind of important for this type of equipment. When a godox breaks, there is no service available. Elinchrom, profoto, broncolor are common on commercial sets because they work over and over consistently.
Another thing that's confusing to me is that you listed Profoto B10X and B10X Plus at 11 stops of range for flash power. However, Profoto specs on their website list these products at 10 stops of range. Did anything change with firmware updates?
He is basically counting all the power levels as a stop, which is obviously wrong. The Godox has 9 stops, and the Profoto has 10 stops (actually, techically 9.9 stops). 10 to 9 is one stop 9-8 is two stops 8-7 is thre stops 7-6 is four stops 6-5 is five stops 5-4 is six stops 4-3 is seven stops 3-2 is eight stops 2-1 is nine stops and 1-01 is 0.9 of a stops
Just looking at the interface in this video, it takes 5 seconds to understand how the menu works. If you work with a lot of different systems, I can understand it can be confusing. But most people use one brand/system. Could the menu be better, sure. Is it a problem, no.
One of the reasons I stayed with Elinchrom when I last upgraded my strobes was the pro trigger. The trigger is now around six years old! Profoto and Broncolor had nothing close from a functional standpoint at the time. Agree the UI could be better and I still struggle with it. Having said that, the Godox trigger and strobe UIs that many rental studios now offer at no additional cost are not particularly intuitive either😊
I have two Elinchrom BRX600’s, I believe. I’ve had it for probably 15 years. I’ll probably switch to Godox plug-in monolights after my Elimchroms die. I’ve looked at this exact model, and I can’t justify its price.
I have both, The Godox AD600 Pro and ELC500 TTL from Elinchrom. Agree that the Radio Trigger (Skyport Pro) its super confusing and the Range its short. (Elinchrom really need to bring out a new trigger, the current its garbage.) Nevertheless, i find out Elinchrom Lights more reliable than Godox. Godox light randomly changes power settings some times in the middle of a shoot, especially in color mode. Making color mode basicly useless when operating more than 3 lights. You need to manually reset all lights with the trigger from time to time.
@@KingStivan it happend to me so many times in remote locations, where i was alone with a single trigger. For some reason, somatimes they reset to full power. Maybe the trigger is faulty? IDk... In color mode, the problem that i found, its that the flashes change their behavior from IGBT controlled flashes to Voltage controlled, only charging what they need for the pop, but they lack auto-dump and they are slower to charge, so if they fire before ready, they get this error where they tend to overcharge the next shot. This is a problem when firing multiple flashes.
The batteries and battery management. I bought an AD1200 pro and the discharge rate in these batteries is mezmerisingly fast. A charger was faulty which ruined one battery, not charging the second battery for two months killed it because the charger would not start from that low. Two months - one of my 860II have been sitting for half a year and still had juice and would receive a charge. It becomes quite expensive if the batteries and battery management is scheit.
Could you do a comparison of strobes in the 100Ws-300Ws range? These strobes are particularly popular among event, wedding, and outdoor photographers. The Elinchrom Three and One models might be competitive in this category. SMDV strobes are also interesting, as are Geekoto. Geekoto can actually use Godox triggers. And please also measure the HSS loss. Not all strobes are the same.
I can kinda answer that as I am a Elinchrom and SMDV shooter, but I'm in the process of switching to Godox. While I don't have and never used the Elinchrom One and the Three, I can say for certain that Lee would be harder on them than the Five. Why? Simple, they got some of the problems that the Five has, but many other problems than the Five doesn't : - Integrated batteries (non-user replaceable). That means that if you forget to charge your strobe before going on a job, you are toast. You can still charge it via USB-C while you are using it... but that kinda defeats the purpose of a battery operated flash unit. The Elinchrom Five doesn't have that problem. - They still won't go lower than 7j in power. And that means, since they are lower at maximum power, that the One has just a bit above 4 stops of range and the Three has just a bit above 5 stops of range. Lee was already stunned by the lack of range of the Five, these 2 units are worse than that. - They don't have the usual hole for umbrellas/deflectors near the flash tube, which is, to me, one of the biggest advantage of other Elinchrom strobes. The Five has that hole, like all other Elinchrom units. - Native Profoto mount. Why a company would make a product that is used better with modifiers from another company is a head scratcher to me. Now, the One comes with a rubber adapter that seems very flimsy, and the Three comes with a better "Profoto to Elinchrom" adapter, but still. My guess is that Elinchrom thought they could go after Profoto users by selling them cheaper strobes with open bulb design. Problem is : They already had a lot of people using the Quadra system and many people already had the Quadra adapters. It's like they decided to go after a new crowd instead of keeping their customers that already invested in their ecosystem. My guess : they didn't win many new customers and lost some that were already invested. - These strobes don't have any 3.5mm plug for external receivers. I often use PocketWizards when I get too many misfires as the PocketWizards are way more reliable than any integrated wireless system since it uses 433Mhz range instead of the crowded 2.4Ghz range. I could not do that with the One and Three since they have no way to plug the PocketWizards. The Elinchrom Five doesn't have that problem. - Since the design is open bulb, it's harder to gel them inside a softbox than recessed bulb designs. Gelling a low power strobe is very convenient when you need to mix flash and ambient light. Also note that the fact that these units won't go lower than 7j in power will make mixing flash with ambient a lot more cumbersome. - A lot of people reported "drooping" of the holding bracket when mounting large modifiers on them. My guess is that the bracket is too far towards the middle of the strobe and physics make it work way harder than it should. The Five should be way better for that as the holding bracket is almost flush near the front of the strobe. I might be forgetting a few things that I didn't like about the One and Three, but these are the main points. As for SMDV, I invested a lot in that. I got a few B500, B240 and B120 units. There's a lot I like about these units, but they are very basic in how they work, and a few of the problems I have with them are reasons for me to move towards Godox : - The wireless protocol that SMDV uses is probably the worst I've ever used. I get so many misfires when working that I now don't ever bother with it and always get PocketWizards when working with them. I tried many channels and many things... but I was never able to find a way for it to be reliable. This is my main frustration with them. - They can only be adjusted in thirds of a stop. Not a big deal, but I sometimes wish I could go in between. - They don't have any kind of freeze mode. Otherwise, the SMDV are good choices for the very low price, their modeling lights on the B120/B240 are surprisingly powerful for such small strobes, built quality is robust, batteries are very good/cheap/long lasting. One other thing that's nice about them is the mounting system for the B120/B240 which locks into their modifiers. They still have magnetic accessories, but they don't use the magnets to mount them to a softbox, for example. Their mounting system is way more secure than using magnets.
@@YogueDaddy Thank you for sharing your experience. However, it was meant for Lee to finish his strobe comparisons, ensuring the series is comprehensive for everyone. I simply suggested a few additional options beyond the obvious ones. I’ve been a satisfied Godox user for many years, and in my opinion, their best offerings are in the 100-300Ws range.
It’s wild you find the pocket wizard radio frequency better than the 2.4 bandwidth. I remember thinking my pocket wizard triggers were unusable because they were on longer wave lengths. Maybe something changed over 10 years and PW are reliable again. I’d imagine the whole spectrum is more crowded today but who knows. -P
@@FStoppers PocketWizard PlusIII and PlusIV, especially with the E-Release firmware, are the most reliable triggers I've ever used. I was able to trigger a flash 550m (1800ft) away with a river between me and the flash with no problem in normal mode. I then did another test and was able to trigger another flash that was on top of a building and I was on top of another building in my city from 2.25km (1.40mile) away in long range mode. No 2.4Ghz integrated system could do that. Of course, there's no reason to trigger a flash that far away, you don't even see anything besides the flash pop. It's just a testament to the range and reliability. That's why PocketWizard is still the standard for sports shooters who fire cameras remotely. You won't ever see them use 2.4Ghz systems, even though they could, technically. The PocketWizard with E-release firmware combined with the Fusion TLC Raven are an awesome combination, too. If you had problems with PocketWizard units, my guess is that you were using the FlexTT series. I heard there was many problems with these. I don't think the frequency range used was the cause of these problems, though, except maybe for some Canon speedlites that created interference with the FlexTT units or something like that. The most basic PocketWizard triggers are rock solid.
When Lee presses the central button on the transmitter, thinking it would trigger the flash, he says it does nothing. But that's not really true, it does something : it turns on or off the modeling light. You can see it happen in the video in the umbrella hole on top of the screen. That's one thing I find to be a bad interface choice as this button is also used to lock the controls on the transmitter if you hold it for 2 seconds. So, you have to press it two times because if you try to lock the controls with only one long press, you turn on the modeling lights. Also, this is problematic when you try to have only some modeling lights on.
You know the feeling, when you are a particular brand user, and you can't say a thing against the arguments? 🙂 I think that any such reviews are a wake-up call for the Elinchrom. We use RX600 over 11 years already in our studio and those never failed on us. Tried to switch to Profoto, got one B10 and A1, and my wife ended keeping just A1 for weddings. Profoto makes great and modern stuff, but is too expensive to have like 3-5 lights in a studio, at least for us. So now I am debating myself, if we upgrade with Elinchrom, or switch to something else. Would it be Godox? The worst thing is, that you need to replace it at once, due to difference in trigger systems.
Great you made a correction about the heap of laurels you handed to Godox, but you didn’t summarize once again taking into context how that error impacted the whole result. Truth be told, the error questions the validity of the entire test exercise. Lastly , I may be wrong but I think that Elinchrom suck abit in Lightinga but excel in light modifiers particularly with their Litemotiv range, they are amazing
The problem since the late 80's is the mount - it is horrible - we now use Profoto and that has issues on location - however for the money you can't get softer consistency - top fact the Eli Ones use a Profoto ring
Honestly, I just assumed they were out of the running at this point. 15 years ago they were creating pretty amazing stuff for the price, but now that China has entered the game, I'm not sure they can compete.
@@tonydenver I did a review of their newest flash and the trigger alone made it worth not getting. Everything had to be run through your phone app and it was just a hot mess. Celestial is what it is called -P
I've got a selection of older Elinchrom strobes and I like them. I really dislike the latest mount lock with the little sliding switch (it feels super cheap and like it will break at any moment.) On the D-Lites which have that newer mount, the lock and unlock positions are indicated by tiny pictograms just embossed into the plastic and hard to see) - NOT impressed. The older mount with the ring is way better - but still not as easy as Bowens or Profoto. Also, I really dislike modern high-tech triggers with LCD screens & complex menus. The older Skyport Plus trigger (manual power only) is very simple & is my favourite. It has just one central hot shoe contact and works on nearly all camera brands. My older Elinchroms (Style 300S/600S & BRX 500 are all really nice. Basically with Elinchrom studio strobes: the Older, the Better I.M.O.
I woudl say Profoto and Broncolor is seen as the leading bands for commerical shoots, not Elinchrome. And then you have Briese lights which is even more rare and sought after
The photography industry is now flooded with sub standard products, over priced and simply underwhelming. Poor engineering quality and forethought. It’s like it’s been thrown together by a group of oompa loompa’s ! And….. how much !!!!! 😂🤣😂 at least you had the integrity for an honest review.
Elinchrom has gone down hill since the original Ranger. At one point all Elinchrom stuff was Swiss made. The remote has been around for forever. Most people switched to Profoto or Godox by now,.
In short, the navigation concept is brain-dead, the product design looks cheap and the technical data are at the lower end of the competition. There is a huge problem in the development department.
Kinda hilarious they reached out for a review.... probably knowing the product is confusing to use for people. You would think a company would compare its own product internally against competition before releasing something to the Market 🤷
There's only : 1. Godox 2. Jinbei (Westcott) All the others are not very good and don't dominate anything. My estimate is that Godox now sells 80% to 90% of flash units sold in the world at that point in time.
Watch the original strobe review video: ua-cam.com/video/Hz-L6p53igU/v-deo.html&ab_channel=Fstoppers
Photography Contests: HTTP://www.fstoppers.com/contests
Fstoppers Store: HTTP://www.fstoppers.com/store
Photographing the World Japan II: fstoppers.com/product/photographing-world-japan-ii-discovering-hidden-gems-elia-locardi
Thanks for the correction on the previous comparison video. It’s clarity like this that keeps me coming back to watch your content. I also appreciate your candid review of the elinchrom strobe. I have been using their products for 20 years and even though I am used to them, the menu UI on this unit you reviewed I found confusing as well. Most of us that do professional work want simple and easy to use controls as we often need to make rapid adjustments on the fly. So please pay attention manufacturers, this is very important.
Happy to see you mentionned my comment about the Godox AD600 Pro II lowering the flash power when in Freeze mode.
I also happen to be an Elinchrom shooter and I would like to say that they are good units and since I have been shooting Elinchrom for many years, I can say I'm not frustrated at all by the interface. In fact, the Five interface (along with the ELB 500 TTL, the ELC 500/125 and the quickly discontinued ELB 1200) have the best interfaces Elinchrom has ever made. If you don't like this interface, you would be screaming at the older units like the BRX line or the RX line.
I could go on and on about the advantages and inconvenients of shooting Elinchrom, but I'll try to get some facts from the top of my head :
Advantages :
- Most Elinchrom strobes have a hole on top or just below the flash tube for deflector plates and umbrellas. That means that you can use deflector plates with any modifier. A godsend, I don't understand why nobody else does that.
- The Elinchrom Skyport wireless protocol permits multiple flash units in the same groups to have different power settings. That means you could have 10 flash units in group A, all at different power levels.
- The battery on their IGBT flash units are pretty good, so my guess is that the Five battery is as good as the ELB 500 TTL
- The Elinchrom power control display is made so that any Elinchrom flash unit outputs the same power ar the same setting. A RX4 at 3.2 is supposed to be the same output as a Five at 3.2.
- Many ways to control the power on it : 2 different transmitters, some Sekonic light meters with integrated Skyport and the bridge module which gives an mobile or desktop app interface. Good control on it, you can even remotely change the group of a unit with the bridge unit. Bridge functionnality is also integrated in newer units, like the Five.
Disadvantages :
- As you said, not much range on lower power settings. No Elinchrom unit goes lower that 0.1 on the Elinchrom scale and that represents 7 joules of power. That is still pretty high if you're trying to shoot by mixing ambient light and flash or shoot at night. Buff Celestial units has 12 stops of range and costs almost a third of the Five. Elinchrom needs to get on with the program on this.
- The umbrella hole I talked about is normally made for 7mm shafts, which means, well, Elinchrom accessories. I think the newer units can take normal 8mm shafts, but I would risk it as I broke the internal plastic resistance funnel on an older unit a couple years ago trying to do that.
- One thing that makes be a bit crazy is that the Elinchrom wireless Skyport system doesn't allow for turning on or off singular groups. You can fire all of them at the same time or only one of them... but you could not turn off groups A and C and only fire groups B and D. I was hoping an firmware update to the Fusion TLC Raven transmitter could do this on Elinchrom but that update never materialized up to now.
- The price for the Five is way too high considering the competition it has right now. Spare batteries are also priced like diamonds. Of course, not as crazy as Profoto/Broncolor.
- The Five unit is too bulky and not a good form factor for on location flash.
Although I have loved Elinchrom for many years, their latest releases have me scratching my head as they almost obliterated any advantage they have with the One and the Three, which have native Profoto mounts, integrated batteries, no central umbrella holes, no external receiver port, etc.
I really hope they can turn things around in the next few years because they made a lot of strange decisions lately.
Wow what a comment. You should write for Fstoppers!
@@FStoppersInteresting that you say that. I was thinking about writing about flash gear... I have all of the tools to test them like you (color meter, light meter.)
I was thinking that I should write about them in depth and submit these texts to you guys 🙂
How did you happen to catch Godox's nonsensical move with the Freeze mode? Very interesting revelation.
@@JayJayYUP I didn't, as I don't have this strobe. It was actually Strobepro who did a video on it and mentionned it. It was always my guess from the start because the speed of the strobe at full power made no sense as far as physics go. Only way they could've done that would've been to make the flash go way harder than normal (like 2400j) and cut it off, as IGBT flash do to control their power. I don't think the AD600 Pro II flash tube could take that. I don't think the capacitors could do it either.
Maybe this will be fixed in the future with a firmware upgrade, but... my feeling is that Godox wanted to do a bit of a publicity stunt thinking nobody would notice it.
Does the FIVE allow one to shoot and freeze liquids?
None of that menu system seemed confusing to me. Not being used to something doesnt make it not intuitive. The controls on the light at least seemed perfectly fine.
By definition, having to get use to something makes it unintuitive. Intuitive means being able to use your intuition. You absolutely could get use to that menu system though it
After 8 years of struggling with the Elinchrom mount, my studio abandoned it for Godox flashes which use the much more reliable Bowens mount. The Elinchrom strobes were great and easy to repair, but I will never understand how anyone in that company can justify holding on to that flimsy mount system where the smallest bend in the speed ring means the softbox can no longer mount securely.
Same thing with the Broncolor mount. Not a great design. I have broken several glass domes because I thought the beauty dish was mounted tight and is wasn't. Profoto and Speedotron Have the best mount system, they are both adjustable and the glass domes don't knock off the flash head and break. Plus the Siros L battery is not reparable or replaceable. New battery each time $350. Profoto and Speedotron battery's can be replaced or re-celled for much less than a new unite. Thinking about getting rid of Broncolor
I used Elinchrom EL500s for years. Power range: full power down to quarter power using a slider control - 2 full stops of power reduction! Somehow we made it work. Today's photographers, with their 9, 10 or 11-stop ranges don't know they're born!
I dont have the 5 but I do love my Elinchroms 😎
Thank you for your honest review!
11:13 I laughed out loud!!!
Lee on camera: it’s very hard for me to recommend this flash.
Lee off camera: $1700?? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!?!?
Exactly! The profit margin is insane given there's no R&D investment, it's a decades old technology in New packaging
We are living in a time that "cheap" brands can compete and in some cases dominate these high end brands. It's a good time to be a photographer!
I’ve visited a lot of these company’s headquarters and seen some impressive design and research. That said, it does make me wonder if we are seeing more of China ripping off these innovative brands to release a cheaper priced product OR if the expensive brands are sourcing more from China in the first place.
It’s prob a mix of both with some respectable, long term brands sourcing more from China and China also stealing a lot of IP that took a long time to perfect. Unfortunately that’s the world we live in and as someone who has made physical products myself, it’s both scary but also liberating to be able to bring many products to market that couldn’t if they were designed and built in your own country.
All that said, the flash units we have available to us right now has never been better. I never wish to go back to my Dynalites or old Alien Bee strobes ever. -P
I mean for sure they're sourcing parts from China. But let's be honest, strobe isn't bleeding edge in terms of technology. Charge up your capacitor, discharge it.... Repeat. I don't get how they can justify decades old tech at these kinds of prices. Sure I've used Elinchrom for decades but still, occasionally I use other brands and frankly, once you set it up right, there's not that much difference in the studio
Seems from the beginning you hated the Elinchrom system period.
I’ve used numerous lighting systems having worked for Panavision and owning a still rental house where we had Profoto, Broncolor, Arri etc. We also had Elinchrom location strobes and a variety of Elinchrom modifiers and these were a reliable and profitable product line. Elinchrom also had very good durability and were easy to repair much easier than Profoto or Broncolor.
The pro trigger for Elinchrom is actually really easy to use and you don’t actually have to go near the lights everything is controllable from the trigger.
Overall this is one of the worse reviews I’ve ever watched and not professional at all.
I fully agree with you.
So funny, if you would read the review by Quentin Decaillet on the Fstoppers web site of the elc 125/500 (which has the same menu structure), one of the pros that was mentioned, is the ease of use of the user interface.
This dude only had to look at the display to effing READ what the menu and exit buttons are.
Duhhh
Yes, this is not a professional review. Neither is the other one... very amateurish and lacking of technical knowledge. I laughed when he compares brightness with a goofy ".8x" or whatever instead of a proper measurement using the head's standard reflector. Spends most of his time complaining about an interface that takes a moment to learn like everything else. No mention of service and support which is kind of important for this type of equipment. When a godox breaks, there is no service available. Elinchrom, profoto, broncolor are common on commercial sets because they work over and over consistently.
Another thing that's confusing to me is that you listed Profoto B10X and B10X Plus at 11 stops of range for flash power. However, Profoto specs on their website list these products at 10 stops of range. Did anything change with firmware updates?
He is basically counting all the power levels as a stop, which is obviously wrong. The Godox has 9 stops, and the Profoto has 10 stops (actually, techically 9.9 stops).
10 to 9 is one stop
9-8 is two stops
8-7 is thre stops
7-6 is four stops
6-5 is five stops
5-4 is six stops
4-3 is seven stops
3-2 is eight stops
2-1 is nine stops
and 1-01 is 0.9 of a stops
Just looking at the interface in this video, it takes 5 seconds to understand how the menu works. If you work with a lot of different systems, I can understand it can be confusing. But most people use one brand/system. Could the menu be better, sure. Is it a problem, no.
Celestial Paul C Buff please
celestial, einstein and lumedyne
One of the reasons I stayed with Elinchrom when I last upgraded my strobes was the pro trigger. The trigger is now around six years old! Profoto and Broncolor had nothing close from a functional standpoint at the time. Agree the UI could be better and I still struggle with it. Having said that, the Godox trigger and strobe UIs that many rental studios now offer at no additional cost are not particularly intuitive either😊
Hmmm, clunky unit setup, I didn't see that coming. I always wondered how they compared. Thanks for the honesty!
ay thanks man! I was one of those pesky commenters haha much appreciated
I have two Elinchrom BRX600’s, I believe. I’ve had it for probably 15 years. I’ll probably switch to Godox plug-in monolights after my Elimchroms die. I’ve looked at this exact model, and I can’t justify its price.
Super helpful, I've been thinking about moving away and stepping up from my AD400 kit. Elinchrom was on my list, but I guess not now.
We need celestial, einstein, jinbei and lumedyne in this table
Another great strobe review!
I have both, The Godox AD600 Pro and ELC500 TTL from Elinchrom.
Agree that the Radio Trigger (Skyport Pro) its super confusing and the Range its short. (Elinchrom really need to bring out a new trigger, the current its garbage.)
Nevertheless, i find out Elinchrom Lights more reliable than Godox.
Godox light randomly changes power settings some times in the middle of a shoot, especially in color mode. Making color mode basicly useless when operating more than 3 lights. You need to manually reset all lights with the trigger from time to time.
godox flash ONLY do that if u have multiple triggers on multiple bodies and thats fair tbh
@@KingStivan it happend to me so many times in remote locations, where i was alone with a single trigger. For some reason, somatimes they reset to full power. Maybe the trigger is faulty? IDk...
In color mode, the problem that i found, its that the flashes change their behavior from IGBT controlled flashes to Voltage controlled, only charging what they need for the pop, but they lack auto-dump and they are slower to charge, so if they fire before ready, they get this error where they tend to overcharge the next shot. This is a problem when firing multiple flashes.
The batteries and battery management. I bought an AD1200 pro and the discharge rate in these batteries is mezmerisingly fast. A charger was faulty which ruined one battery, not charging the second battery for two months killed it because the charger would not start from that low. Two months - one of my 860II have been sitting for half a year and still had juice and would receive a charge.
It becomes quite expensive if the batteries and battery management is scheit.
Could you do a comparison of strobes in the 100Ws-300Ws range? These strobes are particularly popular among event, wedding, and outdoor photographers. The Elinchrom Three and One models might be competitive in this category. SMDV strobes are also interesting, as are Geekoto. Geekoto can actually use Godox triggers. And please also measure the HSS loss. Not all strobes are the same.
I can kinda answer that as I am a Elinchrom and SMDV shooter, but I'm in the process of switching to Godox.
While I don't have and never used the Elinchrom One and the Three, I can say for certain that Lee would be harder on them than the Five. Why? Simple, they got some of the problems that the Five has, but many other problems than the Five doesn't :
- Integrated batteries (non-user replaceable). That means that if you forget to charge your strobe before going on a job, you are toast. You can still charge it via USB-C while you are using it... but that kinda defeats the purpose of a battery operated flash unit. The Elinchrom Five doesn't have that problem.
- They still won't go lower than 7j in power. And that means, since they are lower at maximum power, that the One has just a bit above 4 stops of range and the Three has just a bit above 5 stops of range. Lee was already stunned by the lack of range of the Five, these 2 units are worse than that.
- They don't have the usual hole for umbrellas/deflectors near the flash tube, which is, to me, one of the biggest advantage of other Elinchrom strobes. The Five has that hole, like all other Elinchrom units.
- Native Profoto mount. Why a company would make a product that is used better with modifiers from another company is a head scratcher to me. Now, the One comes with a rubber adapter that seems very flimsy, and the Three comes with a better "Profoto to Elinchrom" adapter, but still. My guess is that Elinchrom thought they could go after Profoto users by selling them cheaper strobes with open bulb design. Problem is : They already had a lot of people using the Quadra system and many people already had the Quadra adapters. It's like they decided to go after a new crowd instead of keeping their customers that already invested in their ecosystem. My guess : they didn't win many new customers and lost some that were already invested.
- These strobes don't have any 3.5mm plug for external receivers. I often use PocketWizards when I get too many misfires as the PocketWizards are way more reliable than any integrated wireless system since it uses 433Mhz range instead of the crowded 2.4Ghz range. I could not do that with the One and Three since they have no way to plug the PocketWizards. The Elinchrom Five doesn't have that problem.
- Since the design is open bulb, it's harder to gel them inside a softbox than recessed bulb designs. Gelling a low power strobe is very convenient when you need to mix flash and ambient light. Also note that the fact that these units won't go lower than 7j in power will make mixing flash with ambient a lot more cumbersome.
- A lot of people reported "drooping" of the holding bracket when mounting large modifiers on them. My guess is that the bracket is too far towards the middle of the strobe and physics make it work way harder than it should. The Five should be way better for that as the holding bracket is almost flush near the front of the strobe.
I might be forgetting a few things that I didn't like about the One and Three, but these are the main points.
As for SMDV, I invested a lot in that. I got a few B500, B240 and B120 units. There's a lot I like about these units, but they are very basic in how they work, and a few of the problems I have with them are reasons for me to move towards Godox :
- The wireless protocol that SMDV uses is probably the worst I've ever used. I get so many misfires when working that I now don't ever bother with it and always get PocketWizards when working with them. I tried many channels and many things... but I was never able to find a way for it to be reliable. This is my main frustration with them.
- They can only be adjusted in thirds of a stop. Not a big deal, but I sometimes wish I could go in between.
- They don't have any kind of freeze mode.
Otherwise, the SMDV are good choices for the very low price, their modeling lights on the B120/B240 are surprisingly powerful for such small strobes, built quality is robust, batteries are very good/cheap/long lasting. One other thing that's nice about them is the mounting system for the B120/B240 which locks into their modifiers. They still have magnetic accessories, but they don't use the magnets to mount them to a softbox, for example. Their mounting system is way more secure than using magnets.
@@YogueDaddy Thank you for sharing your experience. However, it was meant for Lee to finish his strobe comparisons, ensuring the series is comprehensive for everyone. I simply suggested a few additional options beyond the obvious ones. I’ve been a satisfied Godox user for many years, and in my opinion, their best offerings are in the 100-300Ws range.
@@hiepvophan As a new owner of a few AD200 Pro II, I totally agree with you. This unit is so versatile and useful.
It’s wild you find the pocket wizard radio frequency better than the 2.4 bandwidth. I remember thinking my pocket wizard triggers were unusable because they were on longer wave lengths. Maybe something changed over 10 years and PW are reliable again. I’d imagine the whole spectrum is more crowded today but who knows. -P
@@FStoppers PocketWizard PlusIII and PlusIV, especially with the E-Release firmware, are the most reliable triggers I've ever used. I was able to trigger a flash 550m (1800ft) away with a river between me and the flash with no problem in normal mode.
I then did another test and was able to trigger another flash that was on top of a building and I was on top of another building in my city from 2.25km (1.40mile) away in long range mode.
No 2.4Ghz integrated system could do that. Of course, there's no reason to trigger a flash that far away, you don't even see anything besides the flash pop. It's just a testament to the range and reliability. That's why PocketWizard is still the standard for sports shooters who fire cameras remotely. You won't ever see them use 2.4Ghz systems, even though they could, technically.
The PocketWizard with E-release firmware combined with the Fusion TLC Raven are an awesome combination, too.
If you had problems with PocketWizard units, my guess is that you were using the FlexTT series. I heard there was many problems with these. I don't think the frequency range used was the cause of these problems, though, except maybe for some Canon speedlites that created interference with the FlexTT units or something like that. The most basic PocketWizard triggers are rock solid.
When Lee presses the central button on the transmitter, thinking it would trigger the flash, he says it does nothing. But that's not really true, it does something : it turns on or off the modeling light. You can see it happen in the video in the umbrella hole on top of the screen.
That's one thing I find to be a bad interface choice as this button is also used to lock the controls on the transmitter if you hold it for 2 seconds. So, you have to press it two times because if you try to lock the controls with only one long press, you turn on the modeling lights. Also, this is problematic when you try to have only some modeling lights on.
I never shoot Elinchrom. I use the Godox line, but again user error. Simple read and look and there is no problem.
You know the feeling, when you are a particular brand user, and you can't say a thing against the arguments? 🙂 I think that any such reviews are a wake-up call for the Elinchrom. We use RX600 over 11 years already in our studio and those never failed on us. Tried to switch to Profoto, got one B10 and A1, and my wife ended keeping just A1 for weddings. Profoto makes great and modern stuff, but is too expensive to have like 3-5 lights in a studio, at least for us. So now I am debating myself, if we upgrade with Elinchrom, or switch to something else. Would it be Godox? The worst thing is, that you need to replace it at once, due to difference in trigger systems.
Stick to Elinchrom and you can add or replace a light at a time.
Great you made a correction about the heap of laurels you handed to Godox, but you didn’t summarize once again taking into context how that error impacted the whole result. Truth be told, the error questions the validity of the entire test exercise.
Lastly , I may be wrong but I think that Elinchrom suck abit in Lightinga but excel in light modifiers particularly with their Litemotiv range, they are amazing
Perfect light for Sony users, because they are already used to terrible settings menus. 😂
The problem since the late 80's is the mount - it is horrible - we now use Profoto and that has issues on location - however for the money you can't get softer consistency - top fact the Eli Ones use a Profoto ring
I am sure you have been asked this a million times but what about the Paul C Buff flashes?
Honestly, I just assumed they were out of the running at this point. 15 years ago they were creating pretty amazing stuff for the price, but now that China has entered the game, I'm not sure they can compete.
@@tonydenver I did a review of their newest flash and the trigger alone made it worth not getting. Everything had to be run through your phone app and it was just a hot mess. Celestial is what it is called -P
That’s a lot of money for all these issues 😢
I've got a selection of older Elinchrom strobes and I like them. I really dislike the latest mount lock with the little sliding switch (it feels super cheap and like it will break at any moment.) On the D-Lites which have that newer mount, the lock and unlock positions are indicated by tiny pictograms just embossed into the plastic and hard to see) - NOT impressed. The older mount with the ring is way better - but still not as easy as Bowens or Profoto. Also, I really dislike modern high-tech triggers with LCD screens & complex menus. The older Skyport Plus trigger (manual power only) is very simple & is my favourite. It has just one central hot shoe contact and works on nearly all camera brands. My older Elinchroms (Style 300S/600S & BRX 500 are all really nice. Basically with Elinchrom studio strobes: the Older, the Better I.M.O.
man i love elinchrom but i think i'm biased cause i'm family related to who's in charge of the company 🙂↕️
Why is elinchrom the leading flash for commercial photography when it preforms so badly. And godox is seen as the non commercial photographers flash?
Lights for big commercial shoots are typically rented. And most rental houses stock Profoto/elenchrome/broncolor.
I woudl say Profoto and Broncolor is seen as the leading bands for commerical shoots, not Elinchrome. And then you have Briese lights which is even more rare and sought after
The photography industry is now flooded with sub standard products, over priced and simply underwhelming. Poor engineering quality and forethought. It’s like it’s been thrown together by a group of oompa loompa’s ! And….. how much !!!!! 😂🤣😂 at least you had the integrity for an honest review.
Great Video
Elinchrom has gone down hill since the original Ranger. At one point all Elinchrom stuff was Swiss made. The remote has been around for forever. Most people switched to Profoto or Godox by now,.
Thank you for this honest review and corrections, you saved me from buying the Elinchrom, thank you.
That thing is just weak everywhere, especially when you factor in the price. That shouldn't be priced more than $500.
In short, the navigation concept is brain-dead, the product design looks cheap and the technical data are at the lower end of the competition. There is a huge problem in the development department.
Kinda hilarious they reached out for a review.... probably knowing the product is confusing to use for people. You would think a company would compare its own product internally against competition before releasing something to the Market 🤷
Let’s make a list of all the “Cheap Chinese” brands that now dominate on every level the legacy brands.
Ok you first.
There's only :
1. Godox
2. Jinbei (Westcott)
All the others are not very good and don't dominate anything.
My estimate is that Godox now sells 80% to 90% of flash units sold in the world at that point in time.
@@YogueDaddy what about Aputure? DJI? SmallRig
@@RicanStudio I thought you were talking about flash photography.
@@YogueDaddy no. The same thing that happened with flashes is happening everywhere. Chinese companies are really catching up and innovating.
No, it can’t.