Anyone using Blazzeo Studio Strobes?

Is anyone using theese Blazzeo Studio Photo Strobes (220-240V) I found on eBay?

The 250Ws model is 59GBP shipped, the 180Ws is 39GBP. The larger one looks reasonably well made on pictures.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk …0QQtcZphotoQQcm​dZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk …0QQtcZphotoQQcm​dZViewItem

Any experience?

I have 2 of thier 600w strobes and one 180w.
The build quality of the 600w units is very good and they're very controllable. The cheap wireless trigger is a bit poor though (if you get it with that unit).

The 180w unit is plastic bodied, but feels solid enough and is effective as a fill light. The remote sensor is on top of the unit and works well, though it's a little dome that I'm worried about knocking off.
Also, there's no guard for the modelling light for when it's not in use.
The light is quite small and looks like a 1950's ray-gun - but it does mean that its a good size for using in the lounge etc.
I bought mine with the stand and small soft-box. The stand is very light-weight and wouldn't stand up to much abuse, but is fine for occational use. The soft-box seems fine though.

Thank you for the detailed response Halcyon, that's reassuring.

It seems I'll go with the new 250Ws unit and see how it complements my two Speedlites.

let me know how it compliments your speedlites.

HTTP response: NOT FOUND | MIME changed to 'text/html'

Deleted.

(That smilie sent me off-track. I found out later that it's a "signature". I apologize Paulandre.)

I will.

One of the uses I plan for this strobe is lighting the white background. I wonder if one strobe will be enough for waist-up portrait backgrounds. It might also perform better than a Speedlite in my brolly box.

I just ordered one 250Ws unit.

all good

Well, I received the Blazzeo Swift 250.

It arrived to my place in Slovenia EU 12 calendar days after payment. It would have done it in 2 or 3 days less, had the seller included the invoice to the package. As they didn't, Customs first sent me a registered letter requesting the invoice, which I emailed them.

Contrary to the data from the seller's site, the included specs state it's a 200Ws strobe (with the caption that these values are measured at 220V). Anyway, powered from our 230V mains, the strobe delivers about 2/3 f-stop more light through my brolly-box as compared to the 580EXII set to 24mm zoom. The true recharge time is about 1sec at full power.

The strobe looks and feels pretty well made, with one exception that I'll mention further down. The main section of the body and the reflector shell are metal, the rest is plastic, but nice and sturdy. That goes for the stand/umbrella mount as well.

A spare modelling bulb and spare fuse were included. The mains cable lenght is 5m. The front flange diameter is 95mm.

Even on this new Blazzeo model the modelling bulb still protrudes. I took it off for now, as I have to chimp due to the speedlites anyway.

A nice feature is the "PREF" optical slave mode, in which the ETTL preflash is ignored. The Swift syncs correctly from either a speedlite set to ETTL or the onboard flash, though not from speedlites connected over the master/slave wireless. There's just too much preflashing in wireless, I presume. The "NOR" slave mode requires the speedlites to be in manual, of course.

A word of caution with regard to triggering. I metered a 7.6V triggering voltage, the nominal value (from a seller's response) being 12V, while the safe voltage for EOS cameras seems to be 5V. I have V2s radio triggers as an alternative to the optical slave.

On my copy, the clear dome over the slave sensor had been replaced by a red plastic cap. What bothers me is the fact that they used a cheap press-fit control lamp housing as a makeshift, with the small retaining ribs visible above the surface. Shabby indeed, though an aesthetic issue only - but it somehow spoils the overall impression. Perhaps it wouldn't if I didn't recognize where that cap was coming from.

This is the first and only strobe that I've handled, so I can't compare, but if it lasts, I think the Swift is well worth the price for amateur use. Complementing my two speedlites, I believe it will broaden my lighting horizon.

Can anyone of those who own a Blazzeo Swift 250 please tell me, if the strobes give an audio feedback (buzz) when the flash is fully recovered?

Thank you very much and greetings from germany!

Markus

I haven't used Blazzeo monolights but I have tested and used the Blazzeo 400 Watt second ring flash and portable battery pack. I was actually very impressed by the consistency of color and output. I was not impressed by battery life at high power levels or the fact that they used a proprietary battery that is not readily available in the US.

Build quality was ok but not great but performance made up for it.

Considering the other options for Ring Flash I'd have to say that the Blazzeo was pretty cool for the price and in my opinion is a much better option than the Alien Bees or going to a full blown pack and and ring flash that would cost about 7 or 8 times the cost of the Blazzeo.

I'm not sure I would make the investment in monolights from Blazzeo, and if you're in the US it could be a major pain in the arse to get parts or service.

thought I'd bump with a review seeing as I just got one...


let me preface this by saying, I use it for home use only.
It came with some cheap ebay triggers (TRUST PT-04TMII's)
which actually worked better than I thought they would.
Seems to fire as needed and the recycle time is pretty
short. The strobe fits nicely on my softbox. I had bee
using 285HV's with cybersyncs and dealing with batteries
which given that you're using a couple extra elements
(hotshoe adapters etc) can be a little buggy...

That said, it doesn't seem like they're gig duty but for
what I do, they suit me fine. here's a shot, still learning
to dial it in... It was also at a price point (under $100
including the transmitters) so it pretty much beat the
cost of a flash, cord and adapter needed to mount a flash
to a softbox.

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'text/html' | Byte size: ZERO

Do you have any other example shots from these lights?

I'm thinking about picking up a set to have a play at home. Thanks.