[Dave]

For £200 this kit seems a bit of a bargain. It's just received the Gold award in latest group tests in DP Mag.

Digital Photo Magazine March 2007 said :

"This kit represents absolutely stunning value for those looking to set up a home studio for their first home studio. Costing less than a good on camera flash, the Interfit EX150 provides you with everything you need to get going, and enough power to produce decent full length shots on mid aperture setting. "The Interfit EX150 Offers a practical and affordable solution" another 5 star rating in the overall ratings. The light gave an even coverage and some serious power"



This entry level flash kit offers ample power for the "home studio user" at a budget price. The kit comes complete with two 150 watt/sec flash heads, two lighting stands, a 60x60cm softbox, a white translucent umbrella, power cables and sync cord, all in a carry out carton. The flash units which offer a healthy guide number of 30 in metes at 100 ISO can be adjusted to any required power level between full and one eighth power. Excellent choice as additions to the kit are INT410 Flashmeter, and INT411 Infra red trigger which will allow you to work without cables in the studio however we do supply sync cables with the kit to fit most cameras with a PC sync. Alternatively you can purchase a Hotshoe adaptor from most good Photographic stores

[Dave]

If I had the space at home I would be tempted to give this a go. Anyone else tried the above kit, or have a good experience of something else in a similar price bracket ?

[sillyconguru]

Originally Posted by Dave

Anyone else tried the above kit, or have a good experience of something else in a similar price bracket ?

Yup, I have this kit. It does the job well. The quoted recycle times are something like 4-6 seconds but mine "beep" (approx 80% charged) after 1-1.5 seconds. Interfit are supposed to be making extra accessories such as barn doors or snoots available but these strobes can take Elinchrom accessories if you wish (same fitment), extra brollies of just about any make can be used as the fitting is standard. The stands are quite nicely air dampened but the "carry out carton" (cardboard box) isn't much good, the handle broke after a few weeks.

I did have one of the units die inside the warranty period (it wouldn't charge and just gave out a continuous beep) but 10 out of 10 productions sent out a replacement next day and I was able to sent the unit back upon receiving the new one.

Not the best strobes on the market (at this price how could they be?), but they are a good starter set.

[Dave]

Cheers SC....have you any example shots taken with it ?

[Rob Barron]

Photography monthly also did a write up on this kit about 6 months ago. They too gave it a Gold Award and I have since seen it in use and it really is fantastic for its money. I am not going to say it matches a Bowens or something but then it doesn't match the Bowens price tag either. The EX150 wouldn't be much use as a professional kit as it wouldn't be good for continual use each day but for a relatively low user situation it is ideal.

I'd love to see any photos that anyone else has got using this kit. Thanks for highlighting this one Dave, I am very tempted by it myself. I have a pair of 500w tungsten lights but not flash heads so this could be perfect.

Cheers,
Rob

[Dabhand16]

Going a little off topic, has anyone got any thoughts on the Interfit system that uses 5 x 24 watt 'cool' bulbs per head? They have an ad in DP, and their kit is £299.99 for 2 x heads, 2 x stands, 2 x wide beam reflectors, 2 x 60cm softboxes and all cables. You can switch all bulbs individually.

[sillyconguru]

Originally Posted by Dave

Cheers SC....have you any example shots taken with it ?

Yes, I have ("Vamp" in my gallery). I don't see how looking at an image taken using these strobes would help in any way though, it could've been made using many other light sources.

[skin_2]

I have a Nikon D80. I bought one of these outfits from Warehouse Express, but one of the flash heads was faulty. Warehouse Express were very good and replaced it instantly with a new set which was fine. An issue that you may find with Nikon cameras is that if you use the sync lead supplied with the EX150, then you will get one flash, and then no more flashes until you disconnect the sync lead and plug it back in again, or switch the flash unit off and back on again. One workaround that I discovered is to insert a 1000 ohm resistor in the sync lead. you can fit this inside the jack plug that goes into the flash head. I contacted Interfit Photographic about this and their solution which was to reverse the contacts in the plug didn't work. I later wrote to them to tell them how to deal with this problem, but they did not even have the courtesy to reply.

The other option is to use an infra red trigger, or use a radio link or the camera flash to trigger the EX150.

Having said that, the flash kit is excellent value for money and ideal for a home studio. It doesn't have the build quality of Bowens or Elinchrom, but it's a fraction of the price, so you wouldn't expect it to. I've been very pleased with the results that I've had with it so far.

[andrewc]

I got this set for Christmas. Ideal for the budget-concious beginner.

However, set aside some money for a tutorial book as you only get a 1 page sheet, with little information on how to get going - you'd think for a set aimed at a novice there would be some examples or suggestions.

If you have a 350D for example, you'd need to purchase a hotshoe adaptor with PC sync socket, or an Ebay cheap wireless system.

All these photos were taken with it. Panto at the OK Corral
Background was a white sheet of paper which was largely edited out in photoshop.

[Hacker]

I've got this kit although I've only used it a couple of times, certainly good enough for my ability. A couple of examples....

[Davetherave]

Hacker nice shots i would be interested to know were you placed the lights for these shots (roughly how far from the left and right of the model) what exposure etc. Just to give me an idea where to start as like Andrew says in post 5 the information privided on how to use/set up is almost none existant considering these are aimed at beginers.

Any info would be well appreciated

Thanks
Davetherave

[andrewcliffe]

I set mine up with experimentation - manual, f9 and 1/125 and adjust power and checked histogram. I've since bought a Sekonic Lightmeter (L358 - from Hong Kong via Ebay)

I found that the 350D I was using then, if using the onboard flash as a trigger didn't work - they triggered but there was a preflash. Using a hotshoe adaptor and the cables worked, and then I got a cheap wireless trigger, again from Ebay.