-CL-360 in a 43" softbox umbrella + 42" white reflector
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-Brittnie Rae
-Sun + 42" diffuser + 42" white reflector. This is my default setup without flash.
-Control shot, in shade without flash (I triggered before the capacitors charged)
-All shots are taken on the same shoot with a 5DII Canon full-spectrum mod + 930nm IR filter + 85mm f/1.2.
-Photos are not retouched.
-Full resolution + Exif data can be found in my secondary flickr stream:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/94410435@N03/
[Pro]
-Bare bulb fills an umbrella evenly.
-Nice belt clip on the battery. It looks nice on the belt. It's light, and lighter than the head. The capacity indicator is an appealing design.
-Compact enough to fit the flash head + cable with my grape-fruit lens and 5DII in a Nova 180 AW Lowpro bag
-Side threads
-Non-hotshoe bottom
-Small battery-less receiver
-Love hearing that capacitor charge during power-up
-Durable, thick cables
-I like the dial, much like Canon's prosumer goods
-The top halve tilts below the 90°, though it does not make contact with the bottom except at its joint. Taping 0.5cm objects between the gap can redirect the weight evenly.
-I like how it looks like a Pocket-Wizard ii. With a nice large hotshoe locking ring, the Cells II doesn't have the PW logo, but it's good enough for me.
-Simple operation. In HSS, light control is intuitive, even for a newby like myself. Already at the minimum power of 1/8, I stacked paper on bulb to balance the light on the model with the light in the leaf background (with the BG a few stops darker). Then I use the shutter speed (between 1/800 and 1/3000) to properly expose, just like without flash.
-Fast email communication/support
-Powerful, though I haven't drawn upon the unit's full potential yet
-Strobes' reviews cover many positives. My points are the impressions fortified after use.
-Designed in Texas[Con]
-The fat CL-360 loses the slick curves of its CL-180 form.
-There is only one expensive international shipping option, though it arrived in 5 work days. Surprisingly, the gear I ordered at the same time from eBay/Asia arrived with Cheetah's stuff at the same time.
-In HSS, 1/8 power takes equally long to charge as 1/1 (two seconds which cripples my speed)
-HSS can't set below 1/8 power. The CL-360 is too powerful for me atm. I had to use 5 layers of paper as a ND filter. The paper is an insulator, and is unhealthy for the bulb. If it isn't a plain paper, the ink will liquify at 1/1 power, on top of a depressing burning smell.
-The protruding dialing wheel and the dials on the transmitters/receiver are vulnerable to bumps.
-The USB receiver is vulnerable.
-The test button on the Cells II is large and shallow, resulting in a lot of misfires when dismounting from the hotshoe.
-The hotshoe mounting-plate screws need an exactly matching screw driver. I was lucky my old man had an appropriate Philip set on the night before the shoot.
-The locking mechanism on the batt is plastic-ish, and may eventually wear down.
-As a flashaholic, the 2x red 5mm LED's err me. A red (or even a warm-white) Cree XP-E driven at 4W with low-high levels would be a proud addition.
-The Cells II test button is too large and shallow; there were at least 5 accidental triggers during my last shoot. Like many said, I hope power-remote + HSS get combined in the next transmitter design.
-A bit expensive at around 1 grand, though the halved weight compared to a Alien Bees/VML setup is the correct choice for me, as I plan to secure a second unit and have to carry everything during transit.
-The bulb slot is black. A white surface would reclaim light, and resist heat build up.
-The battery pack feels a little hollow, meaning it can be made smaller or can be filled with more lithium + components. [Note]
-On the CL site, the initial stated shipping cost was $130 to Canada, but the actual cost was only $67 after placing the order. The price does not include pre-paid taxes and duties.
-Addicted to torches through flashlight photography, and bought a few Li-on cells, the chemistry has its risks, namingly fire and its toxic smoke. Even 2 tiny CR123's after exploding have enough hazardous gaseous material to hospitalize someone with lung and kidney damage, subsequent to breathing that stuff in for 30 minutes. I can't tell if the Cheetah lithium uses 4x 18650's or a single RC battery pack, but 11V 4500mah is good energy density; in either case, the increased size (by comparison to a 6P torch) improves the capacity, current draw, and safety.
[Setup]
-Swivel mount hadn't arrived. With its side screw centering it to the umbrella, the CL-360 directly mounted the lightstand at 90°.
-43" silver umbrella with built in diffuser. I stuffed 3 sheets of white paper behind the ribs to diffuse the light more. It still collapsed well. The shaft was really in the model's face. The detachable rod of a Softlighter II is in my next purchase list. The light source size from the 43" was effectively less than of a 42" diffuser + sunlight— maybe it was the rod that distanced the umbrella. The 43" produced a pretty creamy light, though I was unknowingly overexposing during the shoot. A 42" white reflector was inadequate to balance the light. I'll try the silver next, hoping a mirroring of soft light is still soft light.
-The umbrella was mounted via one reusable ziptie.
-The umbrella light was much more solid without looking like it's coming from a bare-bulb. Sometimes sunlight through a diffuser make the skin too translucent to be acceptable.
-A 60" Softligher will better use the flash's abundant power.
