The Battle of Monolights: A Beginner Studio Strobe Review

Battle of the Monolights. A Beginner Studio Strobe Review:

Welcome to a new segment on Photigy where we will be providing in-depth reviews on affordable studio photography equipment. We've partnered with B&H Photo to give our readers a hands on look at various different lights, modifiers, and other studio gear.

In our third review we take a look at some "serious" studio lighting for beginners. In this beginner studio strobe review we discuss the Impact VSD 300 Digital Monolight, the Interfit EXD200 Digital Flash, and the Wescott Strobelight Monolight. This review is not meant to be a comprehensive technical review, but rather more of a conversational one. Which of these beginner studio strobes will we recommend? Watch the video and read more below to find out.

The Impact VSD 300 Digital Monolight is a nice light with a lot of great features. This is a 300 W/s light that has a digital read out (no sliders or knobs) and all button control layout. The light has touch-pad function control buttons and even has a cool "Auto Dump" feature which automatically fires the strobes when you set the light to a lower power setting.

The Interfit EXD200 Digital Flash has very similar features to the impact light. Eerily too similar, the button layout is a little different, but the functions are all the same and so is the color of the molded body and the back panel. This light also has different slave flash modes which allow for infrared triggering or pre-flash triggering (I suspect the impact has these same features, but they are not advertised nor were they in the instruction manual).

The Wescott Strobelight Monolight is the least expensive of the lights we tested. While boasting a 300 effective W/s we found that this light in our tests may actually be closer to 200 W/s. The light has very manual features (which may be good in some cases) and is very simple to use. The light does not have an auto dump feature, so you have to manually discharge the light every time you change the power settings.

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[essellar]

The reflector mount on the Interfit unit is the Elinchrom mount -- with one minor problem. I happen to like the Elinchrom mount; for large modifiers, especially where the light mounts to the modifier rather than the modifier mounting to the light (like the large, indirect softboxes or the Fresnel unit), it's the sturdiest mount currently available (and it isn't particularly fussy to work with once you're used to it). The big Style 1200RX unit is about 3.5kg/7-1/2 pounds, and it has no trouble hanging from the mount inside an EL Octa without additional support. But the lack of an in-head umbrella socket nearer the flash tube means that you can't use the centre diffuser or deflector disks (necessary with the Elinchrom Softlite "beauty dish" reflectors -- which are amazing and quite unlike the "cake pan" or Mola-type beauty dishes -- and helpful with the direct softboxes).

As for the "effective Watt seconds" in monolights, that goes back to a time when there was a lot of electrical loss in the cable of a pack-and-head system (still a problem in lower-end pack-and-head units). You would lose half or more of the flash's potential power in the resistance and reactance of the cable, so a monolight would usually produce about twice the light output of a pack-and-head system of the same absolute power/energy. Everybody knew that you could get more light out of a 1200WS monolight than you could out of a 1200ws pack and head, but as I recall, Paul C. Buff was the first to use the "double" value as part of the model name. (The "White Lightning 1200" was a 600ws monolight; the Elinchrom EL1000 Compact was a 1000ws light. And yes, I was using Elinchrom 30 years ago.) The better pack-and-head systems now use heavier cables (less resistance) that are laid out in a way that minimizes reactance at the frequency of the flash pulse's leading edge (so it's more like a data cable than just a power cable). There's still a loss, of course, but it's nowhere near half of the energy anymore (more like 10% or so).

[arkie]

I bought a pair of the Impact lights in December. Within a month, both had failed. On one the up/down buttons that countrol output quit working. On the other the display on the back faded out to be almost invisible. Sent them back and ordered some Paul C. Buff Einsteins, which I love, so far.

[njrivetelite]

I have recently got a great deal on a Pair of Bowens Gemini 500R with the "S" Mount.
I wanted a 3rd mono-light and wanted something with the same mount, I may pick up one or 2 impact 300w/s for the background and maybe to use one as a hairlight.. 

[romanovj]

I have been using the alien bee lights in studio and on location for years because they are reliable and offer an important feature that none of the other lights offer. The alien bee lights are fan cooled. they will not overheat in a location shoot or in the studio were i need to run them for hours on end.I might think of switching to another light because of the light modifiers availabe but only if it has a fan...

[gerars]

Thanks for the video and article!!! I wish I would have had this video when I started buying monolights without knowing what I was doing... Now I have a great guide I couldn't find anywhere else. 

[Pepingco]

Wish I watched this when I started my studio - I wasted to much money going from Chinese brands using a unique mount to another mount and replacing all my modifiers etc.

Great video - love your work - would love more like these for intermediate and advanced light kits etc.

[gustavocampos]

Man, you really improved your presentation since the last time! Congrats! And thanks for the video also. :) 

You guys forgot to mention about color temperature... :)

[dpsycho]

the interfit type of mount is used even for lightbulbs (in europe) it's called beyonette as another friend also wrote

[jaidamann]

Alien Bees are great lights. But the light leak is horrible when using anything other than an umbrella. I use the AB1600, plenty power, but I have to cover the gap between the reflector and housing.

[colonyshots]

been reviewing flashpoint budget studio 300w monolight strobe product weeks now and it seems to be a great starter kit for beginners and more so a great kit for seasoned shooters the only problem i have why i haven't jumped and bought a kit yet is it seems this product has no protective covering that would fit the front parts of the strobe and no speed ring attachment so that i can add a soft box or other light modifiers to include a beauty.so its kind of pushing me to get a more expensive unit which my BUDGET do not cover at this time please someone could you assist me with some information.

[barkyvonschnauzer]

Man! This helped me a lot, I'm upgrading from speed lights and so wanted to get a studio light. I'm edging toward the Interfit EX D200 looks nice.. Thanks

[SkyNEDD]

Hi Alex, for freezing motion (splash photography) which one from these are eligyable and if none which one then, on budget, of course. Budget range 150-200$. Thanks

[VISUALspectrum]

Regarding the mount on the interfit: It looks very similar toe the Speedotron Brown Line light head reflector mount system.

[DanielOrtegoUSA]

This was very useful as I'm just now ready to buy a studio lamp.  Knowing there is more to this topic than output alone I remain confused. I was all set to buy the Einstein but after seeing the light spill and lack of commonality, I need to rethink the topic. Still, ease-of-use is high on my list and the Einstein seems to have others beat in this regard.

[SteveSearches]

The Westcott Strobe does discharge when you turn the power down. Why his didn't on this video, I don't know but I've used these for years. The one drawback to them is they have heat issues with the model lights. If you leave the model lights on they can cause deformation that makes it difficult to get modifiers on and off. Yes, the mounts are quick and easy to use, but don't stand up to the heat from the model lamps.

[fatfro]

This might sound like a dumb question, but are studio strobes capable of high speed sync?

[tombrooks]

i was hoping you would get into physical construction at some point. are all the units made from plastic or do any have a metal body? great review, very informative, thank you.

[reneejohnson]

Photigy I have a question i have L.S Flash strobe lighting kit and it comes with no directions and i have no idea how to use it and i have complained to the company about this kit and Unfortunately i cant get my money back on this kit i wish someone would put a video on here on how to use this kit from start to finish thank you for your time

[roberttjohnson]

I like the PCB Alien Bee 800. One thing that you did not mention, remote control, the Alien Bee's can be controlled by the PCB Cyber Commander and the Radiopoppers Jrx. 

[amarg]

Inter fit 250 pro is my favorite light. Bought for 75 dollars