Godox EX600: First Dibs

Hey there! First off I want to apologize for not being able to post some new material for quite some time. I have been a busy bee these past few weeks. Anyway I'd like you guys to know that I finally got myself a monolight that I bought from Photozuela. I have tested it out and so far I'm happy with it since it runs on batteries (and it is somewhat heavy which is perfect for an additional weight to the light stand) so I can take it on-location wherever and whenever.

So, first off let's start with the stuff inside the case which by the way also comes along when you buy the monolight! (Isn't that awesome?)

Well the obvious ones are the charger, flash head cover, trigger and receiver
(its there somewhere), cables, car charger and a carry bag for the battery pack

Battery pack & 600ws flash head

The flash head without the reflector

Big ass battery

Everything seems to be in order, built quality is not that stellar since the mount in the flash head is plastic so if you are planning to attach a 7-8ft softbox then you guys better think twice or better yet get a flash bracket and mount the flash head there. For umbrellas its a different story, the flash head has a built-in umbrella holder there I tried my 55" parabolic umbrella and surprisingly it can handle it nicely but I have to see it outdoors if it can manage the umbrella with some winds.

As for the power output of the flash, I tried it and I would say that it is freaking powerful! At full power it sort of blinded me even though I am indirectly looking at it. I tried shooting with the monolight at full power to the lowest at f1.8-2.8 without my ND500 filter and it produced overexposed images and this is indoors, just imagine if you are shooting on a 2pm-4pm sunlight on a summer day. Sadly the 9 stop adjustment doesn't have a lot of difference so I have decided to just use 3 power levels which is 9 for full power, 5 for middle and 1 of the lowest.

For the purposes of showing the color consistency problem check out the 1st image (the one where I looked like Wall-e).

A lot of us photographers are iffy about color consistency from the lenses that we use to the labs that print our images and as a photographer it is probably safe to assume that you know the phrase: "you get what you pay for". As it turns out the flash has a color consistency problem but its easily fixable at Photoshop, just a slide with the color balance and you are set. Other problems that I see on the flash is that the modelling light is a bit slower to recharge than the flash tube and the only easy fix is to turn the modelling light off which also helps the longevity of the battery.

So there you guys go! I haven't done a really thorough test with the Godox EX600 but hopefully soon I'll have it tested outdoors in a real shoot. For now I can say that the Godox EX600 is a good step-up from the flash gun if you are looking for more power and portability on the cheap.

The monolight is priced at PHP 17,990 with 3 months of warranty from Photozuela.

Stay tune for a in-depth review of the Godox EX600!

My new baby and my sort of first commercial shoot.

Finally my very own shoot through umbrella system!

Check out my kicks! Okay let us not stray away from the topic.

Canndice and her new buddy.

Thank god for salary because I now have this! A shoot through umbrella that I have been craving ever since I started shooting fashion and portraits way back. I just wish I have more money to buy that 5-in-1 reflector but then again I need to save up for another flash and a receiver of course not to mention another light stand but yeah that will be later on once I got to master how to use this one. 

Will upload some photos soon on my first ever commercial shoot since I have 200+ raw photos to process.

Baby Portrait and other things

Its been quite a while since my last update, I'm still fine and dandy though gained a few pounds and eye-bags got wee bit bigger I guess. Man, I had a hard time making this wonderful baby smile after a few experimenting of things that will make him smile I finally got to make him show is cute gums and all through the use of a tissue talk about little simple happiness :)

Anyway today I got to shop again in Hidalgo courtesy of Mayer for a few gears that I needed for my thesis. So here they are: 

Dicapac Waterproof SLR Case, LENS Pen Cleaning Cloth
and Generic Blower

Here's a test shot of the Dicapac Waterproof SLR Case:

And oh I will be heading to Romblon this coming Saturday to shoot for my thesis, I just hope for great blue skies and wonderful sunsets  :)

New piece of glass.

I got my new lens which is a Sigma 70-300mm APO DG Macro a lightweight compact telephoto zoom macro well not really macro but more of close-up but still awesome for photographers whose looking for a affordable telephoto zoom lens. 

I'm gonna try this baby out today :D

More accessories for Canndice

I got my newest set of gears for Canndice namely the Kenko Pro 1D Circular Polarizer, Citiwide 720nm IR filter and a Benro A300 Ex tripod from Filters Exchange.

I could say that these babies are bang for a buck because not only they are effective but they used mostly by pro photographers. 

I just can't wait to try these babies out tomorrow.

Edit: Here are some of my shots using these babies out. I regret that I haven't tried the IR filter yet because of the unpredictable weather.

Today's mood was a wee bit bluish because it rains and I couldn't shoot more photos oh well might as well be happy on how things came out.