Yeah. I know what you’re thinking. It’s been soooo long since my last update. Rest assured, I’m still alive. I’ve been incredibly busy and (among other things) I’m working on a series of experimental self-portraits which take their meaning from my very most personal and intimate journal entries. At first I was simply taking excerpts from my journal and literally placing the words in the photograph, but that began feeling cheesy and contrived. My focus has since shifted to a much more effective and sophisticated visualization process where it’s more about the concept itself and less about trying to plaster the words on top of an otherwise decent photo and still make it work. The photograph above stemmed from the thought: “I want to go to a place where gravity is dead”.
You can see below a selection of photos showing the process by which we made this, which includes a version I decided not to go with where I’m kind of falling into the tub from above.
p.s. Thanks to Caitie for being my first ever assistant on this series of images and making this photo happen in a quarter of the time it would take me to do it by myself.
Disclaimer: This is NOT going to be a very technical review. If you want numbers and physics and test charts, there are excellent reviews of these lights here and here.
I’m an artist, so I’m going to review these lights based on what is important to me as a working professional. I’m going to show you what I’ve done with these lights, give you some grueling real life examples, and tell you how they work for me.
I’ve had these lights for just under a year now and I can confidently say they are absolutely the best deal for the money. Seriously. Screw speedlights, screw AlienCheese, and especially screw those rubbish ebay monolights. My recommendation: unless you’ve got zillions of dollars, the Calumet Genesis are the lights you want.
Here’s a 24-second video of me unboxing them back when they first arrived in December 2008. I used my D200’s interval timer for this.
The lights look grown-up and professional. The quality of construction is very, very good. They’re not very heavy, but still manage to feel substantial because they are covered in a very nice rubbery material that gives them a wonderful tactile feel. The control layout on the back remains functional while not looking cheesy. These are by no means “professional” monolights, but they certainly won’t make you look like an amateur in front of your clients. I love the design of these lights. They’re sleek, dark, modern and have the best look and feel of any other monolight I’ve ever handled. I’m a sucker for good design, and these lights definitely make me happy.
usability
I have no problem schlepping these around in an unpadded plastic crate (which I do, because I’m crazy). They’ve been to countless shoots over the last year and show no sign of slowing down. I don’t just keep them set up inside some comfy air-conditioned studio, either.
I’ve taken these lights into the wild…
I’ve taken them to a dusty construction site where we shot off fire extinguishers…
I’ve even taken them to the place where you go in between dreams…
…and they’re still alive and kicking.
They also work just fine with my 4x5.
The color temperature remains the same regardless of what power level you’re at. Some other lower-end strobes tend to drift as you muddle with the output, which is really annoying.
reliability
I’ve thrown a lot at these lights. Probably way more than I should have. I tend to be a bit demanding of my equipment (and sometimes a little crazy, see below) so I expect it to hold up. The Calumets deliver. Here’s a photo illustrating what I mean: You can see all the nasty fire extinguisher soot (which is being sucked up into the light via the bottom cooling fan). Gross.
Still though, no problems.
compatibility
The lights have all the usual attachments like the 5/8” mount and the 1/8” sync jack. They are compatible with Elinchrom lighting modifiers (yaay!) which gives you a whole range of options to expand your setup. I’ve used them flawlessly with the AlienWheeze Vagabond II power pack. No problems. They also have user replaceable flash tubes.
problems
Honestly the only problems I have with these lights are just minor annoyances. And seriously, at this price point, you can’t expect too much. But, you wanted to hear it. So here goes.
One nit-picky thing about the strobes is that there is no mechanism to discharge the unit when you turn it off. Higher-end strobes will dump their charge automatically when you turn them off in order to preserve the capacitors. Usually I circumvent this by smashing the test fire button and immediately turning the strobe off.
The included reflectors are of a non-standard (8 inches) size and so are not compatible with grid spots. This isn’t a HUGE issue, since you can get a 7” reflector from Calumet (and grids to go with it), or an Elinchrom one. Either way though, it’s a little annoying.
The handle on the back is thin and difficult to grab (I have enormous hands though). Also, the tilt adjust is a little finicky and if you don’t tighten it down (I mean, REALLY tighten it) then you will be able to tilt the light with your hand or a heavy soft box. It’s not dangerous. I mean, your light isn’t going to implode in on itself as a result of a loose adjustment, but it is a little annoying.
Also, the digital readout on the back of these lights is REALLY WEIRD. It’s a green 2 digit LCD readout that goes from 10 - 60. What? Yeah, my thoughts exactly. So, I did a little math and figured out the numbers. Okay, yeah I know I said there wouldn’t be any numbers, but they were just asking for it.
Maybe there’s a really super good and scientific reason for why the numbers go 10-60, but I’m not really sure. 5 f-stops, 1/10th increments. Makes sense. But 10-60? Not sure.
I’ve also heard people complain about the slow recycle time of these strobes, but that’s never been an issue for me. I work slowly and methodically and the lights have no problems keeping up.
the bottom line
These are fantastic lights for the beginner or intermediate photographer just getting into studio photography. Or hell, anyone for that matter. Since they’re monolights you don’t have to worry about power packs and they could be added onto any existing kit. They could be used in a larger studio (convenient especially if you shoot with elinchroms) as a supplement to your more powerful strobes. I’ll say it again: You’re not going to get anything better for the money. Unless you’re like some electronics genius and you can build your own strobes. If you’re just starting out and you’re looking around for some decent lights to get your feet wet, get these. Seriously. Just do it.They’re fantastic.
You’ll thank me.
pros
User replaceable flash tubes.
Very rugged and reliable.
Look grown-up and professional. Your clients won’t think you’re some kid in high school.
Highly expandable: 5/8 stand mount, 1/8 sync port, and compatibility with Elinchrom lighting modifiers.
Small form-factor, compact, adorable.
Very consistent color temperature when dialing down.
cons
Included reflectors are of a non-standard size (8 inches) and an additional one must be purchased if you intend to use grids. (orjustmakeyourown)
No auto capacitor dump on power off. (circumvented by smashing the test fire button immediately before turning the power off)
Digital readout is confusing.
Handle could be thicker and easier to grab
Tilt adjust is finicky
Slow(er) recycle time. (AlienFleas B400 recycles in .5 sec) Interestingly, the European models recycle twice as fast (.5 – 1.5 sec. as opposed to 1 - 3 sec. Screw 120v 60hz :[ ) But if you’re slow and methodical like me, then this is really a non-issue.
I’ve had this crazy idea to start a blog for quite some time now. Maybe before “blogs” even existed, and certainly before their massive proliferation, when everyone found out “Hey, this isn’t so hard after all”. I remember working on this really tacky orange website when I was in the 8th grade where I wanted to post reviews of video games and tidbits about my views on world politics as perceived by a 13-year-old. (by the way, nothing against tacky, orange websites). I’m not sure if that site ever went up, but I am pretty sure that it was way before anyone other than frighteningly geeky people had ever heard the term “blog”.
There is certainly the fear that this blog will fall stagnant due to my real life commitments, which I do have, which have also been becoming exponentially more complicated (and convoluted, sadly) as of late. There is also the fear that this, along with the vast majority of other blogs in existence, will never find its way out of relative obscurity. I try not to think too hard about it, though. Maybe no one will actually ever read this. It’s quite liberating, really. Maybe now I’ll just say whatever I want and not worry about filtering it all for a wider audience. Oh, yes. That’s right, I filter my thoughts for you. Oh my. Shocking news, this. Of course, this is the advantage of having a blog as opposed to a radio show.
Slap me silly.
I’ve had a real obsession with self-help books lately, too. Yep. Whenever I walk into a bookstore I try to avoid it, but I always inevitably find myself wandering over to the self-help section, looking for new and different ways to do things, new ways of thinking and operating, ways to grow and expand and actually get the most out of life (oh, what a war-torn promise). And maybe that’s really, secretly what this blog is for. Originally I was just writing, dumping my thoughts, putting my ideas away for later use. I constructed a humongous repository of information which I’ve dubbed my “Idea Fridge” (more on that later). I began writing advice for myself. Something about having it written down somewhere made me want to actually follow it. So, that’s really what it boils down to. I’m writing a self-help guide for myself. And maybe you can benefit from it too, if you’re crazy enough to listen to me.
