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BOLING Studio and Portable Flashes

Beto Pêgo

New member
Does anyone have ever used (or heard about) BOLING brand of lighting equipment?
Considering it's low-budget... Is it reliable?
Any information about the performance of Boling flashes (AC powered or battery) are very welcome.
 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Beto,

I found this there.

cthumb.jpg

This is just a small reference but does have a link to a supplier, gino@boling.com.cn

This particular flash is triggered, if you wish, by low voltage synch cord, (or else I expect radio slave), but most interestingly but your on camera flash. If the ambient light is too high it can go off by itself. It could be that the trigger function involved could be switched off. If not, that's a disadvantage to most photographers.

Now looking at the specs of all their flash units that I could find, the series has ranges of 200-400 W.S., stepless power variation, 300-600 WS stepless power variation and two 800 W.S. which is adjustable down to 1/8 power, presumably in steps.

The recycle time in the above units is said to be 4.2 sec, 5.8 secs and for the 800 W.S. units 3.2 secs.

In comparison, the Lumedyne system I use has full recycle times:


W.S.------ Sec------ XSMX booster Sec

25 ---------- 0.2------ 0.08
50 ---------- 0.4------ 0.16
100--------- 0.7------ 0.28
200--------- 1.3------ 0.52
400--------- 2.5------ 1.0

Source. These times are reduced to 40% by simply using a high speed module, XSMX. As keen be seen, the recycle times with any Lumedyne system, (except the sports kit which is already boosted for speed), above, become reduced substantially. That's useful in work with people where waiting around is not helpful to the shoot. for product or architecture, it might not matter to have to wait around. For even higher W.S. needs, the Lumedyne units can be increased with boosters up to 2400 W.s.


so the 4.2 sec for the 200-400 WS model is on the face of it slow for me. The top unit, with 800 W.S. is rather fast at 3.2 sec.

However, in most of our work, we need low power capability and these units do not allow for that! Starting with 100 W.S. is rather high, in my honest opinion with studio work. The W.S. designation of these Chinese units might be equivalent to a different power output than my own flash system. Of course, one has to actually use the gear, but not being able to get down lower than "100 W.S.", if that is really reflective of the flash out put would be an issue for me. Guide numbers would be helpful, but one would need a similar light modifier for comparison.

What I like about the Lumedyne system is that it's modular, the company is amenable to contact and responsive.

There's another issue, that of safety. AFAIK, the Chinese system doesn't conform with U.K. safety standards. Not that the equipment is considered unsafe. Who knows, it could be safer than other system we are familiar with like Hensel, Profoto, Lumedyne etc. However, I'd check the unit out for good grounding before use.

We do need low cost flash units. However, the major companies we use are known as to the pluses and minuses and how to get around them. It's really great you have found this option. Still, I'd consider a used Norman, (ask Will Thompson here on this forum) as he has rebuilt ones for sale sometimes and also can advise on you getting one at a good price from Ebay or elsewhere on the web.

For me, I'm into Lumedyne and can light a 10x10 room or a 10 story building. But that's just my own path and there are many equally valid. The advantage of Lumedyne is that it's adaptable endlessly.

Asher
 
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