Neweer 300D, the light itself.

     So now that I have had some time to play examine and use the new strobes, I have reached a few snap judgement conclusions:

     First and foremost, we have to keep in mind that these lights are currently selling for $59.32 ($47.94 for the 250 w/s version) on Amazon. That is a great price for any studio light that works. So these are not going to be Profoto, Hensel, Alien Bees, or even Flashpoint (an Adorama offering also sold under the brand name Mettle elsewhere) quality. They cab also be purchased as a 3 light kit with stands and modifiers (softboxes, umbrellas, etc...)

    You might recall from my earlier post that they Studio Kit and the additional light arrived in a largish box with NO packing materials whatsoever to cushion the product. Currently, there are two working properly, 1 is dead-on-arrival, and the fourth works but the modeling light goes off after 5 minutes and doesn't come on till you shut the unit off and let it sit for ten minutes or so. (update: four hours later: the modeling light no longer works at all)   (2 days and about 100 flashes later the second light is completely dead as well)

     At least one of the units made some SERIOUS electrical popping noises the first time I turned in on. I should have marked them 1-4 so I could have kept track of which one it was, but I wasn't being very scientific. After the first few pops I waited to see if it was going to start a fire. It didn't, and after having the three working units plugged in and turned on for several hours they seem  to have settled down. (the one still doesn't have a working modeling lamp but it strobes just fine). I wouldn't recommend leaving them unattended unless your homeowners is paid up though.


     The light measures 3.75" in diameter across the nose, and right at 9.25" from nose to the back of the power control knob. The front and back caps are plastic. The casing appears to be metal (specs say aluminum) and is non-magnetic (I waved a large speaker magnet at it). The mounting bracket is permanently affixed to the bottom, and seems to fit my existing light stands snugly. The Umbrella shaft hole fits all my existing umbrellas. I haven't tried the new ones yet. 


     To mount modifiers on the front, it uses the "circle with four nuts" method. You basically just slide it on and tighten it down. It seems to work well enough. I haven't had the softbox fall off just yet. Here is a picture of the back of the softbox in the kit:

     I get a a consistent flash sync rate of about 1/160 using the single supplied remote trigger and optically firing any other units I am using. I did occasionally get up to 1/250 (the sync rate listed for my camera), but it was hit or miss. 

     The instruction sheet (yes, a single sheet front and back) is rife with mistakes and errors. Trust nothing in it. Experiment a little with the controls. Everything is fairly common sense. If i get some spare time, I will try to come up with a proper diagram.


      You can NOT turn off the recycle beep. Despite what the instruction sheet advises, I have yet to accomplish turning the beep off.


      The modeling light does track with the strobe output, but it is not much of a variance between low and high, in my opinion. The modeling light will cycle off if you crank it to high, while the flash capacitor is building up, then come back on. Just like if you had cycled the strobe. Oh, and the strobe will not automatically dump the power going from high to low. So make sure to hit the test button after you lower to power.


     The optical Slave does not play nice with the TTL preflash on modern cameras. The trick to this is to go into the camera menu and set the flash to MANUAL, and dial the on camera flash down to 1/128 so it will not contribute to your exposure (unless you want it too, then set it for whatever you need it to be). Alternatively you can use remote flash triggers (pocket wizard, cyber sync, yongnuo, cactus, etc...), and that works very well. I'll touch on the trigger included in the kit later on.