A New Bare Bulb Flash Arrives

Yep never had a problem yet in the heat up to 120 degree / 25mph Winds / sands in the High Desert of California

I primarily shoot weddings and a few seniors. I currently have 3 Nikon SB-700s and a full PocketWizard system for them. I'm not totally happy with the results I'm getting. I worked with a photographer last weekend that used the Cheetah 360s and fell in love with the lights. We were both on the same system and they fired consistently and had plenty of power to them.

Do you think that the 360s will give me enough power or should I wait for the 600s?

Thanks!

SMJ,
I use 360s for receptions and rarely have them more than 1/32nd power.
I tend to shoot higher ISO so I can keep ambient in the image for atmosphere.
The 600s are nice lights as well but probably a bit less versatile for weddings.
The 360s also are good for fill outside in the sun. Or as a key to pop the shot in the shade.

This is all with Fuji X system cameras. When I was shooting with Canon 5DIII I used 600EX-RTs. They were fine inside but a bit iffy outside. So, I used the 360 outside with them. Sometimes in H mode with Cells Ilc transmitter.

YEP YEP what David said
the 360 is compact and more portable
the 600 has faster recycle times and handles modifiers right out of the box
both are good and have their own uses.

dmward wrote in post #17107338
SMJ,
I use 360s for receptions and rarely have them more than 1/32nd power.
I tend to shoot higher ISO so I can keep ambient in the image for atmosphere.
The 600s are nice lights as well but probably a bit less versatile for weddings.
The 360s also are good for fill outside in the sun. Or as a key to pop the shot in the shade.

David,

If you don't mind me asking, how many 360's do you use for a reception, and do you use just the standard reflector with them?

I used several 360s and a V860 recently for an Athlete portrait session. Here's Katelyn, who was a ranked SoCal tennis junior player now on a full scholarship to Univ of Toledo, Ohio. Any CC (comments/critiques) are welcome. Thanks.

Gotta love how quickly and portable to setup and move all these units around; not to mention quickly and easily change power with FT-16 trigger.

1) Single 360 w/22" BD.

^^^Excellent example of what these lights are capable of!!

^ curious, was the tennis shot staged? the grass seems kind of high for a grass tennis court. Nice rim lights and good use of the godox strobes.

My bad for not crediting the location. This was actually shot on a golf course, Los Serranos Golf Country Club in Chino Hills. It was owned by the late tennis legend, grand slam champion, Jack Kramer. His family still own and operate the club and as a tribute to Jack, a tennis court was propped in front and next to both 1st tees of both North and South courses. It was very nice of the Kramer family to allow me to use the facility for this shoot.

http://www.losserranos​countryclub.com/-club-history

EmaginePixel wrote in post #17107919
My bad for not crediting the location. This was actually shot on a golf course, Los Serranos Golf Country Club in Chino Hills. It was owned by the late tennis legend, grand slam champion, Jack Kramer. His family still own and operate the club and as a tribute to Jack, a tennis court was propped in front and next to both 1st tees of both North and South courses. It was very nice of the Kramer family to allow me to use the facility for this shoot.

http://www.losserranos​countryclub.com/-club-history

May I ask your lighting setup for pic #2? Specifically the main and fill. I'm guessing the 360 main camera right and the speedlight was back cam left for rim?

EmaginePixel wrote in post #17107717
I used several 360s and a V860 recently for an Athlete portrait session. Here's Katelyn, who was a ranked SoCal tennis junior player now on a full scholarship to Univ of Toledo, Ohio. Any CC (comments/critiques) are welcome. Thanks.

Gotta love how quickly and portable to setup and move all these units around; not to mention quickly and easily change power with FT-16 trigger.

1) Single 360 w/22" BD.

On this picture you used to much flash power and also remember that hands are whiter than the rest of the skin and when put the closest to the flash it doubles the whiteness.

flowrider wrote in post #17107939
May I ask your lighting setup for pic #2? Specifically the main and fill. I'm guessing the 360 main camera right and the speedlight was back cam left for rim?

If i remember correctly, it's setup like this. I can't remember how much power the BD was set but it was pretty far away just to fill in scene.

mmmfotografie wrote in post #17107994
On this picture you used to much flash power and also remember that hands are whiter than the rest of the skin and when put the closest to the flash it doubles the whiteness.

Good call... you're right on the lighting. Should have dialed it down a bit. And thanks for the tip and reminder on the hands.

EmaginePixel wrote in post #17108032
If i remember correctly, it's setup like this. I can't remember how much power the BD was set but it was pretty far away just to fill in scene.

Thanks. I guess the V850 was bare direct or bounced off something on the ground?

flowrider wrote in post #17108039
Thanks. I guess the V850 was bare direct or bounced off something on the ground?

it was sitting on the ground with the head angled up about 45*.

The only issue I ran into was missing modeling light. It got so dark that I had to use my handy, dandy LED video light. One CL-600 light where the BD was would have been perfect.

Cheetah 360 Light Modifier Combination Test Results

Attached is a spreadsheet showing the various f/stops achieved using the Cheetah CL360 light and 14 different light modifiers I own at 3 power settings and 3 distances from subject. My goal in doing this was to find what combinations would give me Sunny 16 (f/16) sun equalization on typical days and those that do are in bold type on the chart. I do a lot of desert and beach shoots and having this info in a easy to use chart is very helpful. (I print the chart, laminate it and carry with my lighting setups). I originally did this back in March, but reran all the test combinations this past weekend to include 2 new Fotodiox light modifiers recently purchased.

The testing was done in my garage studio with minimal ambient, each flash was 100% contribution per the meter reading. The Avenger C-stand was set up with the CL360 in a S bracket and the stands shaft centered over 3 taped marks on the floor at the different distances from a white wall. This means the light was in the same position for all the light modifiers, even though the front of some modifiers may have been closer to the wall than others. Of course for the shoot back umbrellas, Buff PLM and Westcott modifiers, the light is reversed and pointing away from the wall, which means the light traveled a tiny bit more, but this is how I chose to run the test for uniformity. I set the Sekonic L-358 light meter to ISO 100 and a shutter speed of 1/200, as this is typically what I use in the field. The light meter was held against a tape mark on the wall, equal to the same height as the light, (about 5’ 6” high). The light was triggered by the Cheetah transmitter/receiver set. - BTW 100% fire rate, no misfires during both this, and the AD180 test.

What the results show (to me) is that the CL360 is just adequate to use mid day in Sunny 16 situations. With a few select modifiers; the Godox metal reflector, Elinchrom Maxilite, and bare PLM, Orb, Qbox and 48” Octa at 5’ 6”, you can overpower the sun by 1 stop (f/22 or maybe 1 stop more). But if you want a diffused light at f/22, so as to not have harsh lighting or reduce oily skin shine, only the Godox metal reflector with diffuser will achieve this. Shooting earlier/later in the day, or in shaded/diffused situations, and the CL 360 has a whole raft of light modifiers with diffusers that will work fantastically, just witness the brilliant work of Jesus Padilla and others displayed in this thread.

Other observations: The Westcott Apollo is the weakest modifier, slightly less than shoot thru umbrellas. However the Westcott Orb is pretty darn efficient and at the top of the fold up types. Best bang for the buck is one of the 24 inch pop up softboxes. I have both the Cheetah Q box and Lastolite Ezy-box which tested nearly identical except for 1 reading. Most surprising, the Maxilite is a light cannon like the Godox metal reflector, however put a diffuser on it and it wimps out. The diffuser I used is the one from the 16” Cheetah metal beauty dish, it only takes away 2/3 of a stop of light on the Cheetah BD. But put that same diffuser on the 16” Maxilite and it eats 2 stops! I tested this twice, but this is what it reads.

Also some concerns have recently come up about the batteries for these lights. I used the CL 360 - L4500 battery until the power indicator read 3 out of 4 blue lights. That was approximately 275 shots at full, 1/2 and 1/4 power. It certainly could have lasted further, but I wanted to make sure battery loss of power did not affect the test. Then I switched to a MH 4500 battery from my AD 180 light and finished the remaining 10% of the CL 360 test and all of the same sequence shots with the AD180, about 350 shots total. The MH 4500 still reads 4 out of 4 lights on the indicator! My lights were bought in Feb.-March 2014 and have not had any battery issues. They can go multiple days in my normal shooting, where a lot of the shots are at 1/4 or less power, before needing to be recharged.

Hope some of you find this chart as useful as I do.