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

**Frank Petronio** · 9-Feb-2011, 07:37

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** · 9-Feb-2011, 08:18

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** · 9-Feb-2011, 08:23

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** · 9-Feb-2011, 09:01

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** · 9-Feb-2011, 10:13

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** · 9-Feb-2011, 17:25

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** · 9-Feb-2011, 18:06

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

**John NYC** · 9-Feb-2011, 18:38

Originally Posted by Bob Kerner

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** · 9-Feb-2011, 18:56

Originally Posted by John NYC

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** · 9-Feb-2011, 20:17

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?