Elinchrom D-Lite 2's or 4's

NorthernRMK

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First time poster, long time reader. I usually find what I'm looking for just by reading, but not this time. I am looking at buying an entry level lighting kit, namely the Elinchrom D-Lite kits, but I am unsure of the power I want/need. My fear is that I buy too much power for my needs and render the lights useless. I would be mainly using these around the house photographing my daughter, and the biggest room I have is about 15'x20'. I do not want to be limited to say F11 a the lowest power setting, I'd like to use the full gamut of power and various aperatures to learn more about lighting and techniques. I would also like to mess around with creating high key photos as they work great for children. Having said all this, I think I am leaning towards the 2's. Thoughts?
 
Yeah if you want to use the higher apertures than definitely stick with the 2's.
I have the 4's and they are pretty much useless around the house.
 
I'd say to start with a 4 kit and then get a couple of 2's as you can. Most studio apps today are done with at least 3 lights.

Just starting with one, you are going to need more power because you are going to need to bounce some light off of the reflectors you'll be getting/making. There are a number of good DIY reflector plans out there.

With the high key look using a single strobe in the middle, hidden behind your subject, to light your background is doable but they have to remain static. It's easier to have one on either side of the background. The reason you care is that you need even lighting and still don't want to dump too much light into the room because if you do then your photos will look washed out. (you are also going to want to get/make some flags to help with spillover light)
 
I'd say to start with a 4 kit and then get a couple of 2's as you can. Most studio apps today are done with at least 3 lights.

Just starting with one, you are going to need more power because you are going to need to bounce some light off of the reflectors you'll be getting/making. There are a number of good DIY reflector plans out there.

With the high key look using a single strobe in the middle, hidden behind your subject, to light your background is doable but they have to remain static. It's easier to have one on either side of the background. The reason you care is that you need even lighting and still don't want to dump too much light into the room because if you do then your photos will look washed out. (you are also going to want to get/make some flags to help with spillover light)

Are you taking into account the wattage of the units, size of room, use of aperture? because its not possible with 4's.
 
Do they not have a 5 stop range as advertised? The advertisement I saw gave a range from 25ws to 400ws. If this is true then you should easily be able to manage them, especially if you're going to drop 2 stops with the softbox.
 
yeah, if you move furniture in your biggest room you can manage them with little room for background space, but to comfortably use the lights in your home you're going to want the 2's.. to me its like, whats the point in having 5 stops if you can only use the lights at 3.0
 
Do they not have a 5 stop range as advertised? The advertisement I saw gave a range from 25ws to 400ws. If this is true then you should easily be able to manage them, especially if you're going to drop 2 stops with the softbox.

This is basically what I am wondering, is 25ws still too strong for a single (and small) subject in a small room? Is 25ws low enough for low key photographs and larger aperatures? Is 200ws enough for high key photographs and smaller aperatures?

All input is much appreciated.
 
25ws is pretty low, like a really weak flash. And if it's still too strong you can always diffuse it with a gel or some ripstop nylon. It's a LOT cheaper to eat light than to create it. IOW you can spend $30 or so for diffuser/NG material and get everything you want or you can buy a smaller light and then have to turn around and buy another light when you need bigger.
 
200 w/s is really limiting.

I say go for the 4's... you can always add a softbox to diffuse the light if necessary and/or move the lights back.

As an example, this is shot with 2 - B1600 (2 x 640 w/s) on my kitchen table.

The soft boxes are ~ 3' away, one at 1/16, the other at 1/8 power. 12-60mm lens @ 49mm, f10, iso 100, 1/200.

Ribs12-60Studio.jpg


Cheers, Don
 
Is portability important?
Is the ability to light more than 2-3 people important?
--------------

If you are making a studio in your basement and the room is 20 X 20 or smaller, studio strobes are overkill... even the 200 W/s ones. This is the world of speedlights.

If you want to light groups of people, or one person at apertures over F/8, I would not waste time on the DLite2s, but go straight for the DLtie4's.

If feel that if you cannot use the D4's, then save yourself some serious money and go the speedlight route... because the D2s are only marginally stronger than speedlights and NOT portable to boot.

Have you ever visited the strobist group? There are people out there that are doing INCREDIBLE photos with one battery powered light source. This is not the answer for anyone, but I feel that if you are just starting out and do not even know what you want... start with a single speedlight, master that and at the same time, get to know what direction you want to go. This is where I suggest that you start... 1 speedlight then perhaps a couple more as needs change. Once they become inadequate or you start shooting large groups of people outdoors, or want to overpower the sun... then start looking at studio strobes.

With a single SB-800 set to 1/2 power and ISO 200, when placed in a 50 inch Apollo softbox (the 50" is an example, you may find it too large to work with in a small room), I am getting F/5.6 and lighting an entire wall from 8 feet away at these apertures. Place that softbox 3 feet away from the subject, set strobe power to 1/4, and we are still looking at apertures of F/8. Cut power down to 1/8th and you have about F/4 apertures... all with wonderfully diffused light (and tons of leeway to go up or down on that one speedlight to boot).

You will find it hard to beat the versatility of speedlights in a small area... and a 20 X 20 foot working area, is pretty small for more than 2 people portraits (well you can start to cram, but you know what I mean). Anyways, even with a 20 X 20, you will rarely be using all of it, as most people will place the light source 10 feet away or closer to the subject and rarely is the photographer going to be 20 feet away leaned against the back wall with the subject pressed against the front wall... makes for "not the best" versatility in a room. Most times you will want to lightly blur the background or darken it compared to the subject, and that means placing your subject 8 or more feet away from the rear wall, leaving you about 6-12 feet to work in, and that is ok for 1 person portraits, but a little tight with 2-3 people.
 
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200 w/s is really limiting.

I say go for the 4's... you can always add a softbox to diffuse the light if necessary and/or move the lights back.

As an example, this is shot with 2 - B1600 (2 x 640 w/s) on my kitchen table.

The soft boxes are ~ 3' away, one at 1/16, the other at 1/8 power. 12-60mm lens @ 49mm, f10, iso 100, 1/200.

Ribs12-60Studio.jpg


Cheers, Don

Not trying to pick on anyone intentionally but to me it looks like the light wasnt quite soft enough for this shot and imo this looks rather flat
 
Just an FYI, I run Metz 60s and 45s with a couple of speedlights for specialty lighting. The Metz 60 (guide number 60 meters) puts out just over 300ws and I occasionally find myself doubling up when shooting groups.
 
Are you taking into account the wattage of the units, size of room, use of aperture? because its not possible with 4's.

Sure it's possible... with F/64 apertures, a few (10-20 ND) filters stacked and power set to 1/64th... lol

I love speedlights, but sometimes nothing beats the bigger guns. My next light purchase is a minimum 1000 W/s head and the vagabond battery unit for portability. :mrgreen:
 
Just an FYI, I run Metz 60s and 45s with a couple of speedlights for specialty lighting. The Metz 60 (guide number 60 meters) puts out just over 300ws and I occasionally find myself doubling up when shooting groups.

Metz have been around for decades and are a well respected in the market, but they are not exactly priced like the Vivitar 285's... lol

I have a Metz 45 and it does come in handy now and then. I find that model a little large, though.
 
Not trying to pick on anyone intentionally but to me it looks like the light wasnt quite soft enough for this shot and imo this looks rather flat

No problem, move the lights back and/or reposition them to suit your taste, pun intended....

The point was you can turn down "larger" lights, you can't turn up small ones.

Cost wise, a name brand flash is equivalent to a entry level strobe.

Size wize, a flash's footprint, ie. with stand and umbrella, etc. is the same as a strobe. Yes, the strobe is heavier and longer but it's footprint isn't any different.

Portability. A strobe is maybe four pounds and the size of a half gallon of milk. Yes, you need a plug in or battery pack.

Go for the D-lite 4 kit...

Cheers, Don
 

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