Bowens or Elinchrom?

I guess you have to decide whether you're buying the kit for the lights, or the stands and wheelie case.

P.S. AFAIK, the "To Go" kit comes with light stands and carry cases, as well as Portalite softboxes, etc...

Rudi wrote in post #10905558
I guess you have to decide whether you're buying the kit for the lights, or the stands and wheelie case.

P.S. AFAIK, the "To Go" kit comes with light stands and carry cases, as well as Portalite softboxes, etc...

The light stands are optional in the "To Go" kit (at least for the kit directly from Elinchrom). However, they are relatively inexpensive so, personally, I would not make that the ultimate deciding factor.

Rudi wrote in post #10905558
I guess you have to decide whether you're buying the kit for the lights, or the stands and wheelie case.

P.S. AFAIK, the "To Go" kit comes with light stands and carry cases, as well as Portalite softboxes, etc...

I guess it comes back to the above, doesn't it?

Rudi wrote in post #10905722
I guess it comes back to the above, doesn't it?

Yes, indeed.

Rudi wrote in post #10905558
I guess you have to decide whether you're buying the kit for the lights, or the stands and wheelie case.

P.S. AFAIK, the "To Go" kit comes with light stands and carry cases, as well as Portalite softboxes, etc...

Hey, Rudi said what I was going to say!

The way I look at it (FWIW, IMHO, ETC) is that you can buy the addons like cases, etc, at a later date for a relatively low cost, but if you want to upgrade your lights, then that a major expense. I'd buy the KEY factor out of the gate and build the other stuff around it when you can.

mickeyjuice wrote in post #10908499
Hey, Rudi said what I was going to say!

The way I look at it (FWIW, IMHO, ETC) is that you can buy the addons like cases, etc, at a later date for a relatively low cost, but if you want to upgrade your lights, then that a major expense. I'd buy the KEY factor out of the gate and build the other stuff around it when you can.

Hear! hear! I second that.

I used the Bowens 1500 Explorer for 2 shoots.
For location work, the Elinchrom Ranger RX (what I use now) is much better. Built better to handle the elements and in Australia the pricing difference makes it very hard to justify the Bowens.

Cheers guys, some good advice that I really should have reminded myself about.

I already have some pretty solid and good quality light stands, and they are not that expensive.

At the end of the day I just need something simple and dependable.
Based on that the Bowens kit is about 2/3 the cost of the Elinchrom kit once you add in light stands, hard case with wheels etc.

But, I'll go and have a look the Elinchrom kit this week and see what they have to say about it and what it can do

An update:


I did a bit of a cost benefit analysis and the extra features of the Elinchrom kit wasn't worth the extra cost.
But, I went into the Elinchrom shop just to have a look and see what I would be missing out on.
Then I walked out with a set of Elinchrom BX 500Ri's, stands, brollies and transmitters.
They matched the price of the Bowens kit, and when I saw how small the carry bag is for the Elinchroms I couldn't say no.

I also picked up a Sekonic 308s.

Moppie wrote in post #10924928
An update:


I did a bit of a cost benefit analysis and the extra features of the Elinchrom kit wasn't worth the extra cost.
But, I went into the Elinchrom shop just to have a look and see what I would be missing out on.
Then I walked out with a set of Elinchrom BX 500Ri's, stands, brollies and transmitters.
They matched the price of the Bowens kit, and when I saw how small the carry bag is for the Elinchroms I couldn't say no.

I also picked up a Sekonic 308s.

They made you an offer you couldn't refuse, huh? Congrats!

Moppie wrote in post #10924928
An update:


I did a bit of a cost benefit analysis and the extra features of the Elinchrom kit wasn't worth the extra cost.
But, I went into the Elinchrom shop just to have a look and see what I would be missing out on.
Then I walked out with a set of Elinchrom BX 500Ri's, stands, brollies and transmitters.
They matched the price of the Bowens kit, and when I saw how small the carry bag is for the Elinchroms I couldn't say no.

I also picked up a Sekonic 308s.

You can't beat hands on (as opposed to reading spec sheets) and a reduced price!

Good stuff, you won't regret it.

Moppie wrote in post #10924928
An update:


I did a bit of a cost benefit analysis and the extra features of the Elinchrom kit wasn't worth the extra cost.
But, I went into the Elinchrom shop just to have a look and see what I would be missing out on.
Then I walked out with a set of Elinchrom BX 500Ri's, stands, brollies and transmitters.
They matched the price of the Bowens kit, and when I saw how small the carry bag is for the Elinchroms I couldn't say no.

I also picked up a Sekonic 308s.

Cool, Moppie! If that strobe is anything like the Elinchrom strobes that I have (I don't have the BXRi models specifically), then I'm sure you won't regret your decision.