KitZone
Let there be light
Pick a lighting kit to fit your needs and budget. Here are our best buys across three categories
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For a home studio setup, or if you’re shooting indoors on location, there’s no beating the power and versatility of a conventional mains-powered flash kit. Prime options include the likes of the Elinchrom D-Lite and Interfit Honey Badger twin-head kits, which are fairly compact and easy to carry around, yet simple to set up and use.
The only real problem is if you want the versatility of being able to shoot outdoors, using a flash head to
supplement natural daylight. Mainspowered kits won’t be much use if there’s nowhere to plug them in. With that in mind, there’s a growing range of battery-powered flash heads, which are vastly more powerful than flashguns. When supplementing the sun or even overpowering it to turn day into night, you’re only likely to need a single flash head, but twinhead kits are also widely available.
Even so, any flash head is useless for shooting video, where the alternative of a constant LED lighting panel reigns supreme. Matthew Richards
THE CONTENDERS
Elinchrom D-Lite RX 4 /4 To Go £769/$800
Powerful and well-engineered
www.elinchrom.com
E linchrom’s D-Lite flash heads and kits have earned a reputation for excellent build quality, ease of use and performance. This range-topping kit includes a pair of 400Ws flash heads, sturdy stands, a 66cm square softbox, a 56cm octagonal softbox, and a translucent deflector that enables a beauty dish effect.
The included EL-Skyport Transmitter Plus radio-frequency trigger enables remote adjustment of flash head settings and has a range of up to 200m. The push-button control panel enables easy adjustment of power output through a five-stop range, in 1/10 stop increments.
Performance
Output is very consistent, and power adjustments are highly accurate.