A budget "studio" flash for the NEX - Neewer 250DI

[John Bean (UK)]

I prefer natural light for most static subjects indoors but sometimes wished I had more control, so I started to look for a suitable flash. I am wary of cheap strobes but this one caught my eye for several reasons:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190552996725&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

1. It is available all over the place (including Amazon) and seems to be free of any obvious issues.
2. This seller is very cheap for a UK source, about !0% below Amazon.
3. Stepless power adjustment - I like that.
3. It has a built-in slave with two positions. Hmm. I wonder...

Anyway, I bought it Monday and it arrived this morning - excellent service, both cheaper and faster than Amazon

First impression is good; it's far better made than I expected from a cheap Chinese strobe, better fit and finish than many I've seen at several times the price. It comes with good quality and long (5m) cables with proper BS standard UK fused plug rather than the dodgy unfused things I'm used to seeing from China - apparently they're the norm in their domestic market. It has a standard IEC connector at the strobe end.

Second impression is even better. The slave works perfectly with the NEX flash (I have covered mine to filter out visible light), the strobe can be set to ignore the first flash. Everything else also works just as it should; overall it exceeds expectations by some margin.

Bottom line is that if you don't have a studio strobe and are thinking of getting one, this is an option worth a close look and I can certainly recommend this ebay seller - it's my first purchase from them but it won't be my last

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John Bean [GMT+1 aka BST]

 

[Bid]

sounds like an infomercial, lol

 

[John Bean (UK)]

sounds like an infomercial, lol

Well it's not. If it's of no interest to you then just move on.

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John Bean [GMT+1 aka BST]

 

[anaksatawo]

interesting. can we ask for product shots and sample images taken with the setup?

 

[John Bean (UK)]

interesting. can we ask for product shots and sample images taken with the setup?

I'm sure they will be forthcoming, I only received it a few hours ago ;-)

Of course I did a few tests to see how it worked, but none that are noteworthy. After checking it worked all I have done is tested available power using diffused light, in this case by shooting at full power through white nylon. Absolutely no attempt at creative lighting:





Shot with EL-Nikkor 80/5.6 enlarging lens on bellows.

It achieved f/22 which is good enough for me

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John Bean [GMT+1 aka BST]

 

[guyv]

Thanks for the link, it looks very nice.

One question: the specs say 120v 60Hz, just like on their US ad. Is the model you received 220v and 50Hz?

Guy

 

[John Bean (UK)]

One question: the specs say 120v 60Hz, just like on their US ad. Is the model you received 220v and 50Hz?

Yes, 220v 50Hz is exactly what it says both on the strobe itself and the box it came in. I imagine the ebay ad text was a cut and paste error.

--
John Bean [GMT+1 aka BST]

 

[dac38]

I had problems with there NEEWER/BOWER products before. Had those smallish slave flashes (AA Battery Operated) and both the units failed to fire after 15-20 flashes.

A good advise would be to poke around for real user reviews for these units - although these look sturdy to me at first glance.

 

[blue_skies]

I had problems with there NEEWER/BOWER products before. Had those smallish slave flashes (AA Battery Operated) and both the units failed to fire after 15-20 flashes.

A good advise would be to poke around for real user reviews for these units - although these look sturdy to me at first glance.

Same here, quality is not stellar for the small units.

Different observation:

The NEX seems to measure light during the pre-flash. If the slave flash only fires during the second flash, the metering will be off. Two cheap slave flashes should work - one for the pre-flash and one during the second-flash - as long as they are same strength/settings.

Has anyone tried this yet?

--
Cheers,
Henry

 

[dac38]

Yes, and thats why i love and hate these slave flash NEX combos, sometimes at the same time.

I switched to a combination of YN460 and YN460II . Both of them fire twice with each NEX image capture. They cant detect the preflash (Or i dont know how to make them do that) and hence the correct exposure is always metered in NEX. However, You can only use them at 70% power as beyond that, the recharge time for the capacitors becomes a factor in the sub 200ms 2nd flash.

There have been many instances when these factors above caused a lot of embarassment(flash didnt fire, fired once, bad exposure, subject light interference etc). There have been others where I got exactly what I wanted. The hit ratio is about 50% with this system.

I have decided not to spend any more on these triggered flash systems till i get a proper training as a strobist.

I had problems with there NEEWER/BOWER products before. Had those smallish slave flashes (AA Battery Operated) and both the units failed to fire after 15-20 flashes.

A good advise would be to poke around for real user reviews for these units - although these look sturdy to me at first glance.

Same here, quality is not stellar for the small units.

Different observation:

The NEX seems to measure light during the pre-flash. If the slave flash only fires during the second flash, the metering will be off. Two cheap slave flashes should work - one for the pre-flash and one during the second-flash - as long as they are same strength/settings.

Has anyone tried this yet?

--
Cheers,
Henry

 

[John Bean (UK)]

The NEX seems to measure light during the pre-flash.

That's the only purpose of the pre-flash... ;-)

If the slave flash only fires during the second flash, the metering will be off.

I think we have different mindsets on this. It's a "studio" strobe - the idea of trying to use any kind of camera AE with it didn't even cross my mind.

--
John Bean [GMT+1 aka BST]

 

[John Bean (UK)]

After a little playing about I realised I needed a softbox, and a boom to allow proper placement. Hmm... after looking around the cheapest boom I could find was nearly £20 (and that was from China) and a 50x70cm softbox was almost as much. Then I spotted this:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/270800606934

Hardly more than the price of a softbox and boom but with a stand and a strobe thrown in for good measure. Unbelievable; too good to be true. But I bought one anyway

Arrived this morning. Excellent stuff, although it came from the Netherlands not the UK as advertised and as a result had the wrong plug on it; no big deal at this price.

The strobe is clearly from the same maker as the Neewer I bought last week although it's not printed on it, but it is smaller, less powerful and has only a "dumb" slave sensor that doesn't work with the NEX. I have a separate slave trigger that does work so I'll use that instead - the flexibility of having two heads is well worth the tiny amount extra it cost compared with buying just the boom and softbox.

Anyway, I put it together and tried a simple test using only one strobe (the "free" one!) with softbox and a couple of strategically placed bits of white paper for fill. Then I drank the subject before posting its image here for posterity





--
John Bean [GMT+1 aka BST]

 

[BayAreaWZ]

Thanks for your efforts. I found the same seller for the first item in the US, but the second deal is not available here.

 

[guyv]

Same here. There is this at twice the price:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330593287600&fromMakeTrack=true&ssPageName=VIP:watchlink:top:en#ht_3399wt_922

Thanks for your efforts. I found the same seller for the first item in the US, but the second deal is not available here.

 

[John Bean (UK)]

Same here. There is this at twice the price:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330593287600&fromMakeTrack=true&ssPageName=VIP:watchlink:top:en#ht_3399wt_922

And it has a smaller (presumably cheaper) strobe than the kit I bought. Aside from that it's priced at about what I'd expect, which is why I thought the one I bought was too good to be true - but for once it wasn't.

Chinese or not I don't know how they can do this sort of stuff at the price I paid - £40 including delivery - especially considering that here in the UK it had already been subjected to import duties and 20% VAT (sales tax) on the bottom line. If it had been sold in the US at the same nett price it would have been about $50.

After a much closer look and some more photographic tests I'm still happy. I opened up the head to have a look inside (mainly to check electrical safety) and it's surprisingly well made; the body is solid extruded aluminium (properly earthed) and the electronics look well put together using good quality components and connectors. Electrical safety is good; I'd have been happy if I'd paid £40 for the head alone.

It all gives me something to play with on dull, rainy days (like today), plus I like learning new photographic skills, even after more than half a century of practice

--
John Bean [GMT+1 aka BST]

 

[MiL0]

that is an astonishing price - I'll be picking one up on pay day!

so what would I need to trigger this? can I trigger it with my NEX flash?

After a little playing about I realised I needed a softbox, and a boom to allow proper placement. Hmm... after looking around the cheapest boom I could find was nearly £20 (and that was from China) and a 50x70cm softbox was almost as much. Then I spotted this:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/270800606934

Hardly more than the price of a softbox and boom but with a stand and a strobe thrown in for good measure. Unbelievable; too good to be true. But I bought one anyway

Arrived this morning. Excellent stuff, although it came from the Netherlands not the UK as advertised and as a result had the wrong plug on it; no big deal at this price.

The strobe is clearly from the same maker as the Neewer I bought last week although it's not printed on it, but it is smaller, less powerful and has only a "dumb" slave sensor that doesn't work with the NEX. I have a separate slave trigger that does work so I'll use that instead - the flexibility of having two heads is well worth the tiny amount extra it cost compared with buying just the boom and softbox.

Anyway, I put it together and tried a simple test using only one strobe (the "free" one!) with softbox and a couple of strategically placed bits of white paper for fill. Then I drank the subject before posting its image here for posterity





--
John Bean [GMT+1 aka BST]

 

[John Bean (UK)]

that is an astonishing price - I'll be picking one up on pay day!

so what would I need to trigger this? can I trigger it with my NEX flash?

Not directly unfortunately. The more expensive strobe in my original post will trigger directly from the NEX, but the strobe in this kit will not - it fires on the pre-flash rather than the main flash, nor does it have any way of disabling the built in sensor. But it's not all bad...

To trigger it from the NEX flash you'll need a "digital" trigger (one that can be made to ignore the pre-flash); I already had one (expensive!) but if I was buying another I'd buy a "Seagull SYK-5" (Chinese, look for it on eBay) as the cheapest option reported as reliable by actual NEX users, for example: http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1042&message=37948395

To use the external trigger you simply connect it using the lead that comes with the strobe and cover the built in one with something (I used black tape). Then it works perfectly with the NEX flash

--
John Bean [GMT+1 aka BST]

 

[MiL0]

That's very helpful - thanks.

Would I need to get multiple digital triggers for each external flash that I want to use? or would one digital trigger be enough to trigger a couple of external flashes by itself?

that is an astonishing price - I'll be picking one up on pay day!

so what would I need to trigger this? can I trigger it with my NEX flash?

Not directly unfortunately. The more expensive strobe in my original post will trigger directly from the NEX, but the strobe in this kit will not - it fires on the pre-flash rather than the main flash, nor does it have any way of disabling the built in sensor. But it's not all bad...

To trigger it from the NEX flash you'll need a "digital" trigger (one that can be made to ignore the pre-flash); I already had one (expensive!) but if I was buying another I'd buy a "Seagull SYK-5" (Chinese, look for it on eBay) as the cheapest option reported as reliable by actual NEX users, for example: http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1042&message=37948395

To use the external trigger you simply connect it using the lead that comes with the strobe and cover the built in one with something (I used black tape). Then it works perfectly with the NEX flash

--
John Bean [GMT+1 aka BST]

 

[John Bean (UK)]

That's very helpful - thanks.

Would I need to get multiple digital triggers for each external flash that I want to use? or would one digital trigger be enough to trigger a couple of external flashes by itself?

They can be wired to a single trigger using a suitable "splitter" - a simple little adapter that plugs into the PC outlet of the trigger and provides two or more PC outlets to allow connection of more than one flash at the same time.

I recently bought a couple of them along with some flash extension cables (used) on eBay for a couple of pounds but they're readily available new for about a fiver. For example: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Multi-3-Way-Terminal-PC-Sync-Cord-Splitter-Adapter-/250867065913?pt=UK_CamerasPhoto_CameraAccessories_CameraFlashUnits_JN&hash=item3a68d7a439

--
John Bean [GMT+1 aka BST]

 

[Skei]

You say you've managed to get the strobes to ignore the preflash - I haven't succeeded, and thus, I've had to switch my flash to Manual to disable preflash. Otherwise, the strobes fire too early and don't illuminate the shot. Can you let me know what you've done to make them ignore the preflash ? Thanks.