The Celestial Flash Might Be The Biggest Bang for Your Buck!

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Our Gear: 📷 and 🎥Workflow Recommendations:

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In this video, Patrick Hall of Fstoppers does a real world photoshoot with the brand new Celestial Flash Unit from Paul C Buff. In this hands on mini review, we outline the latest features of the Celestial, the Hub wireless trigger, and Buff Photography App, and some of the biggest updates to the latest battery powered flash unit from Paul C Buff. Some of the features include TTL mode, Action mode, High Speed Sync and Color modes, as well as a brand new 120 watt equivalent LED modeling lamp. Also the brand new magnetic gels are showcased and used in the studio session.

[waynedennyphoto]

$200 for that trigger that requires a smartphone to actually work?! That's insanity. Including the phone cost, that makes it the most expensive trigger out of all those models while doing the least! I shoot with Godox/Flashpoint lights, and while their trigger certainly doesn't look at nice as the Profoto one, for $70 it actually does it job which is to fire the flashes and adjust them from the camera. Even my first Flashpoint light came with a cheap R2 trigger included with the light that could adjust power of multiple lights and it has a nicer screen than that HUB one. That trigger is a serious roadblock for anyone honestly considering this lighting system.

[rictar_rat]

looks neat, but surprised they don't have a Sony trigger for it, the fast gels seem nice but i will probably stick with Godox

[DonEvans]

Sad to see they haven't improved their transmitters' usability. I actually switched from Buff a couple years ago because of that. It's like they were designed by electrical engineers, for electrical engineers just in case engineers ever took pictures

[gregmosher]

I hate using a phone to control anything when doing a actual shoot.

the other side note to me at least is you dont need a AD600 for every light in a setup with the godox setup. you could have the AD600 as your main then like 2 of their speedlights for your hair lights or doing a catch light for their eyes.
So in reality a 3 light setup with godox being a couple of speed lights and one bigger heavy hitting light like the ad600 seems like it would be way cheaper. PLUS for bang for your buck that godox Xpro trigger is pretty excellent. I have 2 triggers one for each camera if I am shooting a wedding I can swap back and forth and it works seamlessly.

... I'm not sponsored by godox or anything :P but I have to say I have been blown away by the quality for the price with them.

[AnthonySell]

Can't help but notice you didn't try running more than one light using that app. Based on the reviews that is where the whole system fails. Randomly dropping connections without notification, bluetooth conflicts, forget it. Time to get out of the Paul C Buff system.

[greggeis]

I started doing a lot more flash jobs this year. Showed up to a corporate holiday party had an awesome skyline with Christmas lights basically everyone, exposed for the night skyline dropped my 600 down to min then sort of freaked out when I realized it was about 3 stops too bright! Started scrambling then just moved the softbox back about 10 ft! Hadn’t thought about it until I was in it. Now I would have double diffused or stuck my flash in there but some lessons have to be learned on the fly! Would be super nice to have a lower range.

[ttight]

Very enticing, until ya get to the trigger. I have Einsteins in studio, but typically use Flashpoint for site work, due to the simplicity of the system. I would likely go to Celestial if they made the trigger full function stand alone (no phone required!) PCB has been around long enough (and made similar mistakes often enough) to be embarrassed by this. Outside of the studio, things change quickly and subjects are often more difficult to manage. Having to dig out my phone and fiddle with an app as opposed to directly making changes through the trigger is a show stopper for me.

[hawg]

Looks nice if they can redo the trash trigger.

[timfritzsch]

I like how Profoto allows taking a shot in auto to establish a base flash exposure and then holding the setting while flipping to manual for tweaking. I wonder if the Celestial paired with a TLC Raven would work similarly.

[JandRstudios]

would be nice if it was Bowens mount
the photography community needs to come up with a standard for flash triggers, that way one trigger can work with many manufacturers lights.
of course the individual companies can still make their own with extra features but we should have one with basic functions. should have watched the video all the way through, did not know about the raven trigger.

[wilkbor]

Thanks for the video. ... I'm happy to see that Paul Buff is coming out with new products, despite the shortcomings of its trigger system. I was a little worried Godox might put them out of business. I own both the Einstein and the Digibee 800 and used them side by side.. Although I rarely use the Einstein at full power, it's nice to have that extra light in a pinch. Also, the recycle time is a little faster when the Einstein is at half power and the Digibee is at full power. I've never been a big fan of the Cyber commander trigger system, which seems complex unless you use it all the time. I don't use mine more than once a month and find that I have to look up how to operate it almost everytime I break it out. You don't mention if the new Celestial unit is compatible with the Cyber Commander, but I hope it is. I'm a little surprised that the new trigger system requires a phone, which is an obvious flaw.
I appreciate the stability of PCB products, but have always hated the assembly and disassembly required with each use. You have to slide in the transceiver, which has long pins that I'm always afraid of bending. You need to buy a separate battery unless you work close to an electrical outlet. When finished, you need to store the transceivers in a way that doesn't bend those delicate pins. The batteries need to be stored between 20% and 80% it appears PCB has addressed these issues.

[JustZG]

Seems interesting but not enough camera brand support? I shoot Fujifilm x and gfx series so no support means no buy unfortunately.

[Capturingmoents]

Your review is very informative. Love it

[michael_weliam_photography]

Hello thank you so much for all this amazing videos, please could you explain how this photo shoot taken for ‏montblanc legend

[Jdikmen]

Plan to order one to try on Monday. I shoot mostly products and have 4 PCB X-800's and 3 PCB Einsteins with Canon HUB already. One of the best Celestial features for me is that because of the LED modeling lamp, it runs cool enough to work with the PCB Eclipse Projection attachment (which I already have as well). Having the handle with projection attachment will also be nice.

[AndyBrooks]

I'd love to see David in full colonial attire for a photoshoot... Make this dream happen guys!

[mikecaissie]

Always enjoying your videos you guys put out I feel you guys should have had over A million subscribers Last year you always put out great Product reviews....

[BruceChapman-jp]

So how did you get the OCF Magnum on the PCB Celestial? What adapter did you use?

[angelisone]

ATG says the Link was Buff's failures.
And years later, Buff Hub doesn't have ATG AF assist beam. ATG's has AF assist beam for mirrorless cameras!

[EwaldGruescu]

Not being able to control your flash power from the trigger, not very modern ..