Comparison of Elinchrom 39" Deep Octa and Pro Studio Solutions 36" EZ Pro Octa

First some observations of the modifiers.

The Eli DO fabric is thin with a pebbled silver surface on the interior.
The speed ring in proprietary and it was easier to assemble than I anticipated.
The inner diffusion panel snaps into place and nearly covers to the side walls
The outer diffusion panel slips over the outer edge of the DO and is held in place with a couple of velcro patches.
The DO arrives with a deflection disk which was not used for this comparison since the lights used did not accommodate its mounting method.

The DO is 39" across and 24 inches deep.

The DO is $314.99 on Adorama's website and arrives with a nice carrying case.

To mount the DO on the Einstein I used a Kacey Enterprises Eli adapter.

The EZ Pro fabric is a bit thicker feeling and has a smooth silver interior.
The EZ Pro has an umbrella like mechanism so it opens with a simple push to lock.
The inner diffusion panel is held in place with velcro strips and there is a bout a one inch gap between the panel and the side walls
the outer diffusion panel can be set back into the octal about 3 inches to make room for a grid.
There is a grid available for the EZ Pro but its not very well made.
The EZ Pro comes with a plastic silver deflection disk that slides over the center post and can be adjusted in or out along the post.
It was not used for this comparison.

The EZ Pro is 36" across and 19" deep.

The EZ Pro is $69.00 on the Amazon's website and comes with a cheap sleeve type case.
The EZ Pro has interchangeable speedring adapters available for about $10 each. It took me about 2 minutes to change the AB adapter for the Elinchrom adapter.

The camera was a 5DII with 24-105 Zoom at 105mm. ISO 100 at F11 with 1/200 shutter to eliminate ambient influence.

I set up the test in my garage, the white ceiling is about a foot above the top of the DO and the garage door (white) is about 6 feet camera right.

The wall behind the subject is also about 6 feet away. In other words, the subject is nearly in the center of a two car garage with predominately white walls and ceiling.

Two light sources were used; an Einstein 640 and a Genesis 300B. Power was adjusted to get an F11 meter reading at the subject position.
The Macbeth gray card was used to adjust white balance and exposure. The EZ Pro octabox was appreciably bluer than the DO. I expect that is due to brightener in the diffusion panels.

I adjusted white balance and exposure, as well as not labeling the 6 test images, to encourage an objective evaluation.

I was careful to keep the light in the same position for all the shots. I changed modifiers without lowering the light. The front panel of the DO was measured to 39" from the top of the gray card. I would liked to have been able to get the subject position exactly the same for all the test images but that was a bit much to accomplish. Even so, I think this is a reasonably good comparison.

The full frame shot is to provide reference for position of gray card.

It will be interesting to see what you all think.

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Thanks for posting this.

I am looking at the first picture. I see a pretty big difference
I think the ones on the right have a HUGE hot spot / blown out on the forehead. As you go down on the left cheek/(more so) chin they are both exposed similarly. It looks like the one on the left is more even on the lighting.

does the DO have both layers of diffusion on? are you using a deflector for either?

My vote is for left. I like that they are not labeled

Sig,
The ones on the right do have a bit of a hot spot on the forehead. That, I think is head position. In all of the ones on the right the head is tilted down just a bit. Its not blown out but hot.

None of the images have a deflector installed. I couldn't use the Eli deflector because of the way the umbrella mounts are located on the two lights.

Both modifiers have both layers of diffusion fabric.

The column on the left is with one light source and the column on the right is the other light source.
Each column includes the DO and EZ Pro, once with front diffusion set in about 3 inches (normal position) and once with it at outer edge. Trying to duplicate DO configuration as much as possible.

Edit after reading your response haha. Always wondered if that gap between the sidewall and the inner diffuser made a big difference as there is a sizeable gap in the PCB large octa I use.

dmward wrote in post #12837776
Sig,
The ones on the right do have a bit of a hot spot on the forehead. That, I think is head position. In all of the ones on the right the head is tilted down just a bit. Its not blown out but hot.

None of the images have a deflector installed. I couldn't use the Eli deflector because of the way the umbrella mounts are located on the two lights.

Both modifiers have both layers of diffusion fabric.

The column on the left is with one light source and the column on the right is the other light source.
Each column includes the DO and EZ Pro, once with front diffusion set in about 3 inches (normal position) and once with it at outer edge. Trying to duplicate DO configuration as much as possible.

David,
I am on my work computer and the monitor is not the best. I believe you that it is hot and not blown out. I do see the very slight down position. I am looking at the nostril for that. It is pretty darn close thought good job on that!!!

Ahhh OK I have not used an einstien yet. I have only played around with the genesis. Both are good lights

This is the only thing I have a problem with on your review. The DO is a pain in the ass to assemble the first time You must have had some crazy expectations

So, what happened to Mannie? Is he on vacation?

So, if I understand you correctly, all the images on the left column were taken using only one light source, for example the Einstein, and the other column using the other light source, for example the Genesis?

And in each column, one image was taken with the Eli DO, one with the EZ Pro with the outer panel inset 3" and the third with the EZ Pro outer panel flush with the front edge of the modifier (like on the Eli DO), correct?

To be honest, I don't see much of a difference among the different images in each column and can't tell which was taken with which modifier. And I don't find that surprising. When you have two layers of diffusion panel between the light source and the subject, if the modifier size is relatively the same size and in the same position, I would not expect to be able to see much of a difference between two different brand modifiers.

Here is a close up crop of the nose and eye to make it easier to see the shadow transitions.
These are crops of the three images in the left column.

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sigma pi wrote in post #12837862
David,
I am on my work computer and the monitor is not the best. I believe you that it is hot and not blown out. I do see the very slight down position. I am looking at the nostril for that. It is pretty darn close thought good job on that!!!

Ahhh OK I have not used an einstien yet. I have only played around with the genesis. Both are good lights


This is the only thing I have a problem with on your review. The DO is a pain in the ass to assemble the first time You must have had some crazy expectations

Sig,
After all the stuff I read about how hard the DO is to assemble I expected to spend hours doing it the first time.

I put the ring into the fabric, then place 4 rods into ring and bent then inward (away from fabric to get plastic tip into pocket. Then did the last 4 rods. The pushed the rods down one at a time to engage the thingy in the ring. Whole thing took maybe 3 minutes. Getting it apart just now seemed to take longer than putting it together.

PacAce wrote in post #12837924
So, what happened to Mannie? Is he on vacation?

So, if I understand you correctly, all the images on the left column were taken using only one light source, for example the Einstein, and the other column using the other light source, for example the Genesis?

And in each column, one image was taken with the Eli DO, one with the EZ Pro with the outer panel inset 3" and the third with the EZ Pro outer panel flush with the front edge of the modifier (like on the Eli DO), correct?

To be honest, I don't see much of a difference among the different images in each column and can't tell which was taken with which modifier. And I don't find that surprising. When you have two layers of diffusion panel between the light source and the subject, if the modifier size is relatively the same size and in the same position, I would not expect to be able to see much of a difference between two different brand modifiers.

Leo,
You got it. Configuration of the six images is just as you clarified.
Same modifier in each row, same light source in each column.

And yes, I also agree about the likelihood that there will be similar outcome from similar modifiers.

I'm waiting for a front diffusion panel for my small PLM. When it arrives I am going to add it to the comparison. It complicates things a bit because its indirect source and the octaboxes are direct.

I think, in an attempt to keep things a much apples to apples as possible I'll do the PLM at 50 inches since that's its diameter.

When I do that comparison I'll also do a comparison without diffusion. I also think, that given the similarity between the Einstein and Genesis examples I just do the Einstein to reduce confusion.

so you bought the DO, huh? I plan to add that very soon! just got the 69", so now I need the smaller size

dmward wrote in post #12837957
Sig,
After all the stuff I read about how hard the DO is to assemble I expected to spend hours doing it the first time.

I put the ring into the fabric, then place 4 rods into ring and bent then inward (away from fabric to get plastic tip into pocket. Then did the last 4 rods. The pushed the rods down one at a time to engage the thingy in the ring. Whole thing took maybe 3 minutes. Getting it apart just now seemed to take longer than putting it together.

You can have a business assembling them!!! God knows I would have sent you mine after the first 30 mins. ONly thing is I do not disassemble I just fold it down.

Here is an addition without diffusion panels.
The two Octas were 39 inches from the gray card.
The 51 inch Silver PLM was 50 inches from the mounting flange to the gray card.

The crops beside the full face shot makes the shadow transitions easier to see.

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Geoff,
Yea, I got it to see what all the fuss is about. That's also what is motivating me to do this comparison.

Leo, Manny refuses to leave his sanctuary in the basement for a hot garage in the summer.

So, I had to go to a really exclusive modeling agency to find someone with some facial character and a willingness to let me photograph them for the test. You can't begin to imagine what this guy is costing me.

Chris,
Based on this I don't think the gap makes a difference.