thanks for sharing your pics and all of the details of where you had the lights set up, since that really helps understand how you used them to get the results we are seeing.
Looks like these things are approximately 3 times as powerful as a 580II (180 w/s vs 60 w/s). Given that the 580s or 680s are supremely flexible in terms of features and trigger options, the only thing I see in this thing's favor is the power. If you find yourself short on power with the 580s, these should make a very nice alternative without opting for a monolight.
Right now I'm rocking 580s with the Yongnuo 622C triggers for full ETTL/HSS, along with full adjustments from the camera's built in flash menu. I don't see these lights replacing that setup, but they would be a great option to have in the bag for when you really need more power.
deepbluejh wrote:
Looks like these things are approximately 3 times as powerful as a 580II (180 w/s vs 60 w/s). Given that the 580s or 680s are supremely flexible in terms of features and trigger options, the only thing I see in this thing's favor is the power. If you find yourself short on power with the 580s, these should make a very nice alternative without opting for a monolight.
Right now I'm rocking 580s with the Yongnuo 622C triggers for full ETTL/HSS, along with full adjustments from the camera's built in flash menu. I don't see these lights replacing that setup, but they would be a great option to have in the bag for when you really need more power....Show more →
More power is a great feature (however they are not three times more powerful than a 580) but that is not the best feature. Having a tremendous battery reserve, HSS, open bulb design and the ability to use either the Cheetah radio trigger or any other radio trigger is a huge advantage.
Cool looking light for sure, I just wish there was ONE company for the transmitters that everyone could adapter to. It seems there are a ton of great lights, but they all use their own proprietary radio system to control the power levels. It's completely understandable, but having to keep 2-3 different trigger systems can get annoying. While this looks a heck of a light lighter than the Einstein, I'm afraid I'd still be left wanting more power in the long run, but might be worth snagging one...hmmm.
Interesting, specs show a guide number of 160.....AT ISO 200....that's cheating....that's only a 114 gn at iso 100...tricky, tricky...my sb-800's, sb-28's and sb-25's do roughly the same output..and when i need more, i have an AB800...that REALLY DOES do f/16 at iso 100 at 10 feet.....obviously i havent tried em...they look sick, price isnt terrible...i'd just like to see an ACTUAL showdown with these and sb-800/900's....
Fwiw, i shoot an entire wedding with one set of AA's in my speedlights...full power?? What's that??
jcolman wrote:
More power is a great feature (however they are not three times more powerful than a 580) but that is not the best feature. Having a tremendous battery reserve, HSS, open bulb design and the ability to use either the Cheetah radio trigger or any other radio trigger is a huge advantage.
I thought I read somewhere these lights are approximately 180w/s, but it looks like I was mistaken. The website claims 153w/s. Regular 580s are right at 60 w/s.
Edit: And now that I think about it, I can see the lack of a zooming head as being a big disadvantage. With a 28mm reflector, oftentimes a LOT of light gets wasted if you are a large distance away from your subject. With a speedlite you can zoom in to ~100mm or so and get much more efficient use of the power you have.
I see to remember a similar issue back when I used an Alien Bee B400 (160w/s) for on-location portraits. Good power, but with the standard reflector (90 degree), the spread was too large much of the time and a lot of light got wasted. With a B1600 I never lacked power, but I was stuck carrying around a really heavy monolight all day long.
NathanHamler wrote:
Interesting, specs show a guide number of 160.....AT ISO 200....that's cheating....that's only a 114 gn at iso 100...tricky, tricky...my sb-800's, sb-28's and sb-25's do roughly the same output..and when i need more, i have an AB800...that REALLY DOES do f/16 at iso 100 at 10 feet.....obviously i havent tried em...they look sick, price isnt terrible...i'd just like to see an ACTUAL showdown with these and sb-800/900's....
Fwiw, i shoot an entire wedding with one set of AA's in my speedlights...full power?? What's that??
These put out more light than any Nikon speedlite... and by a substantial amount. You're ignoring the effect of the zoom head. This light's guide number is measured with the standard 28mm head while the Nikon speedlite is measured with the head zoomed in.
sboerup wrote:
Cool looking light for sure, I just wish there was ONE company for the transmitters that everyone could adapter to. It seems there are a ton of great lights, but they all use their own proprietary radio system to control the power levels. It's completely understandable, but having to keep 2-3 different trigger systems can get annoying. While this looks a heck of a light lighter than the Einstein, I'm afraid I'd still be left wanting more power in the long run, but might be worth snagging one...hmmm.
Cheetah lights is coming out with a CL-360 soon. Twice the power of these lights. I will pick up one or two.
NathanHamler wrote:
Interesting, specs show a guide number of 160.....AT ISO 200....that's cheating....that's only a 114 gn at iso 100...tricky, tricky...my sb-800's, sb-28's and sb-25's do roughly the same output..and when i need more, i have an AB800...that REALLY DOES do f/16 at iso 100 at 10 feet.....obviously i havent tried em...they look sick, price isnt terrible...i'd just like to see an ACTUAL showdown with these and sb-800/900's....
Fwiw, i shoot an entire wedding with one set of AA's in my speedlights...full power?? What's that??
I don't use full power either (unless I'm outside in the full sun) but I can't shoot an entire wedding with speedlights on one set of AA's without running into issues waiting for my lights to recycle. That's why I started using mono lights during the reception. But using mono lights brought on it's own set of problems. That's why these lights are the best solution for me.
deepbluejh wrote:
I thought I read somewhere these lights are approximately 180w/s, but it looks like I was mistaken. The website claims 153w/s. Regular 580s are right at 60 w/s.
Edit: And now that I think about it, I can see the lack of a zooming head as being a big disadvantage. With a 28mm reflector, oftentimes a LOT of light gets wasted if you are a large distance away from your subject. With a speedlite you can zoom in to ~100mm or so and get much more efficient use of the power you have.
I see to remember a similar issue back when I used an Alien Bee B400 (160w/s) for on-location portraits. Good power, but with the standard reflector (90 degree), the spread was too large much of the time and a lot of light got wasted. With a B1600 I never lacked power, but I was stuck carrying around a really heavy monolight all day long. ...Show more →
I did some testing with the CL-180, the Canon 580EX I and Sunpack 383 lights. I measured the output with my Sekonic flash meter. The lights were set up 3' from the meter and full power. ISO was set to 100 on the meter.
The CL-180 with the standard reflector gave me a reading of f/45. Recycle time was 2 sec.
The Sunpack 383 measured f/22 Recycle time was 5 sec.
The 580 EX at 24mm measured f/22 Recycle time was 5 sec.
The 580 EX at 105mm measured f/32.
So zooming the head on the 580 makes a difference of one stop. But where the real difference in terms of performance comes in to play is recycle time, at least for me. Additionally, the ability to remove the reflector and go "bare bulb" really makes a difference if you're using an umbrella. The light will fill the entire umbrella instead of hitting a smaller part of it like it does when using speedlights. This, of course, gives you much softer light.
Interesting... .so it looks like they are twice as powerful as a speedlite. And you should have tested the recycling with a CP-E4 battery pack. That would have brought the recycle time of the 580 down in line with the CL-180.
Agree on the usefulness of a bare bulb (at times).
deepbluejh wrote:
Interesting... .so it looks like they are twice as powerful as a speedlite. And you should have tested the recycling with a CP-E4 battery pack. That would have brought the recycle time of the 580 down in line with the CL-180.
Agree on the usefulness of a bare bulb (at times).
I have a CP-E2 that I never use so I pulled it out, put in fresh batteries and tested the recycle time of the 580EX. It dropped to 3 seconds.
One of the other benefits of the Cheetah battery pack is that it has two ports on each battery if you want to connect two lights. You can also use a splitter and connect up to four lights on one pack.
God...I'm starting to sound like a salesman for this product.
Ziffl3 wrote:
Coolman,
When you say bare bulb, like foto #5, is this without the standard reflector?
Thanks.... interesting stuff.
I should have been more specific. I did leave the reflector on for that shot but I did not use any other modifier. When I use a bare bulb in an umbrella, I take the reflector off so as to spread the light over the entire umbrella.
