After extensive thorough googling and scouring the seedy underbelly of the internet. After intense interrogation & squeezing shop keepers of every last drop of information (with my laughable command of Hindi to boot). And after spending sleepless nights fighting my inner demons & self doubt (ok that may not have anything to do with strobes but it showcases my human side
), I bring to you the fact findings of my long and arduous journey to shine a light on the largely unknown and mysterious world of err studio lights in India.
There are broadly two categories of studio strobes in India -
1) Simpex/Digitek/Photopro- All these are the Chinese OEMs sold in India. What you get are badly designed websites with precious little information or service. The strobes themselves are not too bad and have simple components which means they are easy on the pocket to maintain and use.
Pro - Can be fixed locally and at relatively cheaper prices compared to Elinchrom.
Con - They HAVE to be fixed locally. Good luck finding an official service center !!!
Pro - Some have variable power like the Digitek DSF400 (MRP 15k for full set with umbrellas)
Con - Most do not or have just 2 - 3 power levels.
Pro - The Digitek DSF400 comes with a wireless trigger
Con - Almost all of them do not come with any option of wireless triggers and you will have to buy external triggers (with their own batteries) if you want wireless triggering. Else you have to use slave mode all the time.
Pro - Flash tubes are half the price of Elinchrom and easy to fix yourself (Rs 1600 approx).
Con - Flash tubes are not readily available and may be found in select local shops only.
Pro - Most come with a full set of stands, cables and umbrellas
Con - All of these are of average to poor quality stuff.
2) Elinchrom studio Lights Practically the ONLY well known non Chinese brand available in India that is available for amateurs and professionals on a budget. Some UK branded strobes are being sold in Fort but they have no service setup in India.
HOWEVER they constantly update their models which means current gained from forums might be outdated and they have a India specific mode - FX Ri which finds NO mention on their website which means info on that model is hard to come by.
Elinchrom has a well stocked service center in Mumbai but the catch is that its the ONLY service center in India so you have to ship your strobes every time you want service.
Elinchrom offers a neat wireless trigger (with RX2, RX4, FX Ri 200, FR Ri 400 and Master RX) that allows you to adjust power levels wireless without touching the strobes. You can even adjust power for individual strobes via grouping. All these features means its that much harder to repair locally so you must depend on Elinchrom to fix anything.
Elinchrom accessories are of much better quality and they are the only budget strobe company to offer softboxes as part of the package. All the Chinese guys bundle are low quality umbrellas.
RX4 vs FX RiEarlier there were plenty of negatives for the RX series - no cooling fan, no wireless capability etc. Now Elinchrom has removed a lot of those negatives and they are bundling their Speed transmitter which can adjust the power levels remotely instead of the lower end Eco transmitter bundled with the RX One which is their cheapest strobe.
Cooling fan and wireless capability are now built in.
I have now discovered that the FX Ri and RX strobes use the SAME flash tube. So flash duration and replacement tube costs are the SAME !!!
Even recycle time (as per brochure) is EXACTLY the SAME !!
The BRX strobes which is what the FX Ri strobes are based on use a DIFFERENT flash tube which has a faster flash duration to better freeze movement.
So performance of both the FX and RX strobes are practically the SAME. Which means a better body build quality is about all there is differentiating the two models.
My decision after all this research is that I will go with the RX4 strobes only.
