Review - Elemental Ultra G3 Kit

I promised hoge-fan in this thread http://www.dyxum.com/dforum/studio-flash-kit-recommendation_topic50708.html a review of the Elemental Ultra G3 kit - Triple 250w Complete Studio Kit I recently purchased.

Its a bit late but I have had an extremely busy week even tho I had the week off work lol

I was after a home studio flash kit as I was taking more and more portraits of my children and getting more and more requests from friends and family for pictures of there children grandchildren etc

As it was primarily just to get better portraits of my own children I was on the lookout for a cheap but adequate soloution, something that wouldn't break the bank so to speak but not so cheap it would be unreliable and fall apart.

I searched high and low across the WWW and read as many reviews as I could find. When I found a product which interested me I saved it to my favourites. I did this over a period of around 2 months before I settled on the Elemental brand. They have very good reviews and there customer testimonials looked very good.

I decided on the G series even tho it had only just come out this month and there were no reviews on it yet, I was confident to make my purchase of the G3 3 head kit as it looked to be the best kit to suit me and my budget.
I placed my order online and 2 days later I had 3 large boxes in my living room.

So what do you get for your L519

Kit Contents:

3 x G Series 250w Heads
3 x Spill Kills
3 x Modelling bulbs
3 x Cables sets (sync cables and power cables)
3 x WT8051a Cushioned Stands
1 x 40" Black/Silver Umbrella
1 x 90cm Octagonal Softbox with secondary diffuser layer
1 x 24" x 24" Softbox
1 x 80cm 5 in 1 Reflector
1 x 8 Channel AC Radio Trigger System Reciever
1 x 8 Channel DC Transmitter (hotshoe mountable or PC Sync connection)
2 x Armoured Studio Bag
1 x Background Support Stand
1 x Support stand case

and this is how it all looks when unpacked


I was suitably impressed with what you get for your money to say the least.

What about build quality?




Again I'm impressed theyre very solid small units which look pretty good too and have all the features you would expect to find on more expensive named brands, such as fully variable flash power from 1/32 to full power, the modelling bulb also is fully variable from 0 to full 150 watts. They have the Bowens S fitment so there is a huge range of compatiable attachments.

Power: 250w
Guide Number (100 ISO): 56
Recycle Time: 0.2 - 1.5s
Colour Temp: 5600k /- 100k
Model Lamp: 150w/3200K
Lamp Holder: Bipod Socket
Adjust: 1/32 - Full (five stop range) infinite variation
Triggering: Photocell, slave cell, sync cable, test button
Voltage: 220 - 240v - 50/60hz
Trigger Voltage: <5v

8 Channel radio trigger
Transmitter - Top View


Transmitter - Bottom view


Note with the Sony system you will need a hot shoe adapter if you want to mount the transmitter on your hot shoe or you can just plug it into your camera's pc sync with the included cable as I did, its very light and I just let it hang from there.

The AC Receiver

Very simple to setup and has worked without fail all week

I use the Sekonic L-358 Lightmeter and connect the transmitter to it to take my readings, works very well.

The softboxes are very well made and both have an internal diffuser layer which is removable and its own speed ring. They take some strength to setup the first few times but that should ease as the material gives a little.

The umbrella again looks well made. I was unable to use it tho as none of the reflectors had a hole for the umbrella to pass through.
That was my first issue. (PLEASE NOTE all kits do now ship with the correct reflector dish and as I said below was corrected very quickly)

Background support system
The top bar is in 4 pieces which lock together, You can use 3 of them which will allow a 7ft background cloth or all 4 which will then take a 10ft background cloth (I actually measured it to be 9ft 10inches)

There was no background cloth in stock when I ordered but I was fully aware of this as it was in bold yellow highlighted writing in the kit description and the price reflected this.

The background stands, pretty standard spring cushioned stands.
Thats where I had my second issue, the knob which locks the legs on one of the stands was broken, it still worked fine but had a sharp edge where a bit of the plastic was broken off.

The light stands, again spring cushioned and no issues with them at all.

The Studio Kit bags, very well made with plenty of stiff rubber foam armoured padding.

Background support bag, again well made with 3 foam lined pockets.

Ok as you have read I had 2 issues so lets test customer service

I rang Elemental on Wednesday and let them know about the broken knob and the problem with using the umbrella, they were extremely helpfull and were already aware of the reflector issue and had just received a delivery of replacements that were automatically being sent out to everyone who had purchased a G series kit. They were very sorry and appologetic to hear I had a broken knob (hey get your minds out the gutter) and they would replace it and send it out with the replacement reflectors.
Friday morning they arrived as promissed. Top marks.

Ok how does it all perform

Single head with 24" x 24" softbox


2 heads 1 with the softbox and 1 lighting the background


As above but using the 80cm silver reflector to fill


3 heads 1 to camera left with the octagonal softbox 1 to camera right with standard reflector dish and 1 on the background


2 heads 1 with octagonal softbox and one with a snoot as hair light


Well I couldn't be any more happy with the results and the product/service I have received from Elemental and I can whole heartedly recomend the G series to anyone on the look out for a home studio soloution.

Elemental Ultra G3 Kit

I have never reviewed anything before so take it easy on me and if you have any questions please fire away

Many thanks
JSW

Edited by jet_set_willy - 03 September 2009 at 16:24

Your most welcome

willy, is the wireless transmitter reliable enough?

Great review!

And good value as well, especially if you also get the background/stand.

I want one. :)