Talk me out of buying a Elinchrom D-Lite Monolight?

[Frank Petronio]

OK for years I've been the crusty old fart who tells people to shoot portraits with natural light first, then hot lights, then strobe as a last resort... and that 30-year old Dynalite 804s are just fine if you're forced to use strobe, that those Paul C. Buff plastic cans are crappy looking, Strobist techniques are for weenies, blah, blah, blah....

But for $321 I can get a 6-pound plastic fantastic 400-watt Elinchrom entry-level monolight. I can get their Skyport Eco sync transmitter for $91. Other than being plastic and having only 100-watt modeling lamp, what is the downside? It's not like I shoot high-speed, or pours, or anything that stressful... and I can fit 2-3 of these into a small travel case.

So why not? They don't look nearly as corny as Alien Bees or White Lightenings.

Also, while Elinchrom doesn't list anything, is there some sort of inexpensive home-brew battery for these guys?

[Ron Marshall]

Check out the latest model "Einstein" and others from White Lightning. I agree the Alien Bees may not be so robust, but the WLs are solid.

[Martin Miksch]

Dont know what you understand under home-brew battery, if you want to fire your flashes portable you will need a battery and a sinus converter and a loading tool. Alltogether the cheapest working solution is the Tronix XT or Explorer.
Regards
Martin

[Brian Ellis]

If you go to the Lighting Techniques forum in dPreview, and scroll down about 25 threads, you'll see a thread titled "Home Studio lighting (AB vs D-Lite)" which contains a lengthy discussion of Elinchrom and other brands. You might find some useful information there.

[Ari]

Elinchroms are pretty decent quality, Swiss-built, and a not-bad bang for the buck.
At 400 w/s, you'll be straining somewhat to get f11 with 100 ISO, especially if you're shooting through a softbox.
See if you can find Mettle monolights on eBay; they're about the same price, more powerful, and have a built-in rechargeable battery. They're also Bowens-compatible, so you'll have lots of accessories to chose from.
And forget about that fancy-pants Skyport from Switzerland; get a $30 Chinese transmitter/receiver, they work well and last forever.

[Bob Kerner]

Ironic, this question coming from you. I've been incinerating my family a d friends with my Lowels based on your suggestions!

I might be able to answer this over the weekend. I won a 1200ws Elinchrom monolite on eBay a couple of days ago. After days of reading many threads, the Elinchroms seemed like a better purchase than ABs, which allegedly suffer some color casts and inconsistent output. I just couldn't get into the hotlights.

Give em a try. You'll be making money with them and if you're not haply you can resell them.

[Jeremy Moore]

Because I'll sell you a Zeus 2500 pack with ring light for $700 shipped. Add 8x10. Instant star.

[John NYC]

I might be able to answer this over the weekend. I won a 1200ws Elinchrom monolite on eBay a couple of days ago. After days of reading many threads, the Elinchroms seemed like a better purchase than ABs, which allegedly suffer some color casts and inconsistent output. I just couldn't get into the hotlights.


Wondering what you paid for that? You pointed me to the White Lightening 1320ws model and I've been mulling that as I experiment still with just my DSLR mini-setup. The White Lightening seems pretty cheap, and when you add in the fairly affordable battery pack, it is going to be hard to beat that for me for price.

What kinds of results are you getting with half body shots through an umbrella, f/22 ISO 100? Is there significant falloff?

[Bob Kerner]

Wondering what you paid for that? You pointed me to the White Lightening 1320ws model and I've been mulling that as I experiment still with just my DSLR mini-setup. The White Lightening seems pretty cheap, and when you add in the fairly affordable battery pack, it is going to be hard to beat that for me for price.

What kinds of results are you getting with half body shots through an umbrella, f/22 ISO 100? Is there significant falloff?

I haven't received it yet. Will probably arrive Friday. New, that puppy is $1200 at B&H and I could not justify that on one light as a hobbiest. The Ebay item closed at a little over $500. I've been culling through all the monolight/studio strobe threads at the Flickr Strobist forum and the frequent know against the Alien Bees (less so the WLs) is that they can have a color cast. Some people are content to 'Shop them out but I like to try to get it right before I get to post. I also figured I'd rather spend a little more up front and not have to worry about upgrading later.

Oh and the battery pack. The last I looked on the site, it's back ordered...at least the new model is. That's the other knock on his products: they are sometimes not available.

[patrickjames]

I used to own a bunch of Elinchrom gear, and still own a Ranger. I have used all of the top gear from ProFoto, Broncolor etc and the quality of the light coming out of the Elinchrom is right up there. Most of the people who say just get ABs or something similar haven't really seen or understood how great the light produced by one of the top systems is. I am not familiar with the particular strobe you are talking about, but Elinchrom is generally good stuff. You might want to look at the "Style" units used. I had a few of those and they were pretty convenient. There are secondary battery packs available out there that will work with just about any monolight. You could also drag a generator with you, but that is pretty lame.

In the end though, you will probably sell it in a month anyway, so why bother?

[Two23]

I have two Alien Bee B1600 and six White Lightning x3200 lights. I am seriously considering selling everything and buying six of the new Einstein lights. They are state of the art and a real bargain. As for Skyports, I have the original ones--simple triggers. I replaced them with CyberSync triggers (I have 12) to get more range and a better build quality. What I like about Alien Bees/White Lightning is they hold resell very well, and customer service is impeccable.


Kent in SD

[Phil Hudson]

I think there is a significant difference in build quality between the Swiss manufactured Elinchrom professional stuff and some of the newer budget Elinchrom models (I understand that the latter are made in India, not that that is a bad thing in itself).

Having said that, I have a D-Lite 2 that I keep for use with a fibre optic attachment that works quite nicely. It's just not as robust as some other Elinchrom stuff but you would expect that for the price and save weight to boot.

[Struan Gray]

I have a pair of D-lite 4s, and like them. The burn time can get a bit long as you turn down the power (with digital small format I've seen fidgety children blur) but that's less likely to be an issue with LF. I've used them 'on location' to do wedding pics and team portraits for my kids' teams, but always with an extension lead.

Were I in the U.S. the Buff Einstein + lithium battery pack + Cyber Commander would look very sweet. In Europe the Buff distributer seems more interested in gouging buyers on shipping than actually getting any stock ready to sell. Elinchrom was a better bet for me. It didn't hurt that the various Skyport trigger kits seem to be dropping to more reasonable prices, although I limp along on an 80% reliable eBay trigger.

Lots of modifiers adapt to Elinchrom mount, so that's not a big issue, although the strength and design of the Elinchrom mount worry some, and the D-lites are not as robust as the mid- and top-range units. On the other hand, D-lites are plenty strong enough to support their own weight inside an indirect modifier, so it's really the mid-size modifiers which are likely to cause problems.

[Bob Kerner]

Did we succeed in talking you out of purchasing?

[Frank Petronio]

lol there is a Noblex I'm bidding on, the strobes might wait.

[Bob Kerner]

lol there is a Noblex I'm bidding on, the strobes might wait.

They make those in 4x5!?

My Ebay Elinchrom 1200 arrived last night. Typical Ebay purchase for me: light looks nice but didn't ship with a power cord or modeling lamp. But those are cheap replacements. Having never used a studio strobe, all I can say is that the light is blinding. The build quality is excellent.

[Steve M Hostetter]

isn't that Noblex one of those fixed-focus jobs we been hearin so much about? :D

for 2 grand + that must be some mighty sweet hunk of extruded plastic,,, don't forget to post em in tiny format section!:D

[Ben Syverson]

Frank, I've been shooting with the D-Lite 400 for the past 2-3 years, and I like it a lot. Through a giant softbox, it still gets you LF-able f/stops. Much more oomph than a speedlight. It's cheap, easy and good. Plus, if you don't like it, you can flip it easy.

Paul C. Buff lights have more bells and whistles, but cheat their w/s ratings ("effective w/s" is bulls#!t). I can't help it, but I hold that against them.

Of course, you can go crazy with 3200W packs and heads if you need to capture a troupe of dancers mid-jump at f/64. Actually, I would love to see you shoot that. :)

[Frank Petronio]

I have a (actually a couple of) good friends with full studios and even HMIs if I want them. That I don't... sums it up.

But give me a day with some dancers and elephants and Avedon's old studio ;-)

[John NYC]

Frank, I've been shooting with the D-Lite 400 for the past 2-3 years, and I like it a lot. Through a giant softbox, it still gets you LF-able f/stops. Much more oomph than a speedlight. It's cheap, easy and good. Plus, if you don't like it, you can flip it easy.



Did you use that on those half body portraits you did? Seems like there was more light than just that? I think I remember you shoot at f/9 though.

[Ben Syverson]

Did you use that on those half body portraits you did? Seems like there was more light than just that? I think I remember you shoot at f/9 though.
Most of them were shot with the D-Lite, at f/9 or f/11. Although a few of them were shot with a little Nikon SB-26!

Big studio guns are sometimes necessary, but other times, it really helps to be able to pack your entire setup (including camera, tripod, light, light stand and film) into one backpack. :)