Should I go with all Cheetah lights?

I love Cheetah light products and am thinking of going to an all Cheetah light system. The more I think about it the more I want to use just one system for my off-camera flash work. I only have 2 lights currently (Cheetah 360 and my 580 EX II). But I plan on adding another hotshoe flash soon, probably the Cheetah V850. And I'm also thinking about a CL 600 for more power.

I mostly do on-location portrait work and here in Florida there is usually a lot of sun to deal with. I love the customer service from Edward at Cheetah, and I also really appreciate the products. He seems to introduce new lights (from the mother brand Godox obviously) and modifiers on a consistent basis.

I don't have a huge budget, so I appreciate the cost savings with Cheetah as well. Seems to be great bang for your buck. Would I be happy long-term with Cheetah products for OCF work and HSS as well if necessary? I understand there are more and more alternatives in the marketplace being introduced / improved. Phottix comes to mind, although their prices are higher than Cheetah gear.

I'm thinking about selling my 580 EX II and maybe my YN 622C's and just going all Cheetah lights / transmitters / receivers.

Thoughts everyone? Has anyone else gone all Cheetah?

Thanks!

For hobby work sure. For work that you gain considerable income on, no. People pay the big bucks for Profoto/Elinchrom/Cano​n not for specs but for reliability.

BlazingSkies wrote in post #17712820
For hobby work sure. For work that you gain considerable income on, no. People pay the big bucks for Profoto/Elinchrom/Cano​n not for specs but for reliability.

That makes no sense.
Cheetah/Godox lights work just fine for paying gigs. There are a lot of us that use them often to earn money.
They are as reliable as any other hybrid strobe system.

In the end, a light is a light. Its what a photographer does with it that makes the picture.

BlazingSkies wrote in post #17712820
For hobby work sure. For work that you gain considerable income on, no. People pay the big bucks for Profoto/Elinchrom/Cano​n not for specs but for reliability.

I've had no problems with the reliability of my Cheetah lights and gear, everything is built rock solid and pro grade, and customer service is superb, so I'm not worried about that.

I am very happy with the Cheetah lights on location. No issues at all.

I'm pretty much "All Cheetah" and have been for more than three years. I still have my Photogenics studio lights but only because I like to leave them set up in my studio. But for location work (which is the bulk of my business) I use my four Cheetah lights.

Going from speedlights to a set of CL 360s was the best move I have ever made. Spectacular sales and service support, not a single misfire in thousands of pops, utterly reliable on the road. I take my spare lights along on gigs just in case, but I'm seriously thinking about leaving them home because they never get used. I always take a spare bulb and battery for the 360s, but that's just in case of an accident.

dmward wrote in post #17712880
There are a lot of us that use them often to earn money.
In the end, a light is a light. Its what a photographer does with it that makes the picture.

GregDunn wrote in post #17717647
Going from speedlights to a set of CL 360s was the best move I have ever made.

^^100% agree with these statements!

New kid on the block: http://flashhavoc.com …ii-c-ttl-flash-announced/

Will also come to Cheetahstand in due time.

mmmfotografie wrote in post #17718455
New kid on the block: http://flashhavoc.com …ii-c-ttl-flash-announced/

Will also come to Cheetahstand in due time.

I was checking that out late last night. Looks interesting and exciting!

I would strongly consider trading in my current simple manual CL-360 for the flexibility of these if they
a) come out with a Nikon version
b) maintain compatibility and manual operation so as to work with mirrorless cameras from Olympus, Sony, or Fuji, for example.

The beauty of the manual CL-360 is that you can use it with ANY camera body with a standard hot shoe.

Ulysses01 wrote in post #17718861
The beauty of the manual CL-360 is that you can use it with ANY camera body with a standard hot shoe.

And the utter simplicity of setup and use. I was very nervous about going to all-manual strobes until I tried a pair of CL360s at an event. With TTL, I was getting good exposures but occasional misfires (verified with more than one flash and trigger brand, i.e., Canon, Yongnuo, Pixel). With the 360s and the FT triggers, not one single misfire in thousands of pops. It must have something to do with the timing sequence, preflash, etc. in the locations where I used it. I still use TTL, but only where I can afford the occasional miss. Manual was not nearly as hard to master as I feared; and if the subject is a little closer or further away, it's very quick to raise or lower the power accordingly.

GregDunn wrote in post #17720782
And the utter simplicity of setup and use.

If I'm being honest, I used to think manual flash was for nerds. But since I myself am a great nerd, I was driven to eventually check out these super-flashes. I was not disappointed, and I learned to really enjoy manual flash at the same time!

The one downside for me is that assembly and tear down is a bit tedious, especially during a busy event where timelines can be quite tight. The fewer pieces I need to gather and assemble, the better. Due to a lack of storage space in my vehicle, I can't normally have a lot of the gear pre-assembled. It's a little thing, but at least for some photographers it will be a consideration before committing to them.

I also have the Phottix Indra system, and it's noticeably simpler and quicker to assembled tear down because there are fewer parts to chase after. That said, I would probably rate the consistency of the Cheetah Lights somewhat higher. Interesting, isn't it?

GregDunn wrote in post #17720782
... With TTL, I was getting good exposures but occasional misfires (verified with more than one flash and trigger brand, i.e., Canon, Yongnuo, Pixel). ...

In my experience, if I look at the "occasional misfire" I can see the outside influence that led to the unusual meter reading that caused the "misfire".

Its the same as the occasional "off" exposure when shooting in Av or Tv mode because the meter is fooled by something over influencing the metered exposure.

The only "real" difference between manual flash and TTL flash is the same as the only difference between M, Av, and Tv exposure modes. Its either meter once and shot repeatedly without metering or meter every shot immediacy before exposure and rely on the meter to get it close. Both approaches have advantages and risks.

dmward wrote in post #17721306
In my experience, if I look at the "occasional misfire" I can see the outside influence that led to the unusual meter reading that caused the "misfire".

Its the same as the occasional "off" exposure when shooting in Av or Tv mode because the meter is fooled by something over influencing the metered exposure.

Many times it will be in the exact same location with near-identical subject/background (skaters with dark uniforms against a gray wall). There is essentially no ambient - it's at least 4-5 stops below a usable exposure, which is why I'm using flash in the first place. It's not for fill.

I've never been able to link the misfire to a metering issue; in fact, when it misfires, I really mean "I get no flash" in the captured image from at least one of the strobes. It's not like one is 2-3 stops down from the other or one overexposes; in fact, I've positioned myself such that I can see both strobes out of the corner of my eye and on numerous occasions, both have fired but one or both delivered no light to the subject. This strongly indicates to me that it's a timing issue and the pop is occurring slightly before or (most likely) after the shutter.

Operating my triggers in manual mode almost certainly reduces the delay in firing (no preflash, on two strobes), and I get a huge increase in successful shots which I don't think is a coincidence. Now as to why two different branded triggers (Yongnuo and Pixel) and two different strobes (Yongnuo and Canon) would have flaky timing issues I don't know; so it's only a hypothesis.

jcolman wrote in post #17713174
I'm pretty much "All Cheetah" and have been for more than three years. I still have my Photogenics studio lights but only because I like to leave them set up in my studio. But for location work (which is the bulk of my business) I use my four Cheetah lights.

Have to agree here! I remember years ago you posted a photo of the three 180's on FM and I sold all my shoe mounts and purchased the cheetah brands. Ed has become a personal dear friend!!