Lighting Tips on a Budget by Rogue and 15% Discount Offer!

Rogue Flashbender 2 Portable Lighting Kit

My friends at Rogue have been creating awesome products for flashes that have been all the rage for years now, but their web site has been rather simplistic to say the least. To address this shortcoming they’ve launched a new site this past April that now features a bunch of videos and blog articles to help you to master their full suite of affordable light modifiers.

However, the really cool part is that they’ve extended the ronmartblog.com 15% off discount from their old site to this new site so you can save on their huge lineup of products.

Cool Videos Filtering Feature

Isn’t it frustrating when you watch videos that don’t really apply to you because they use too many products you don’t have or want? Wouldn’t it be great if you could filter the videos to only include what you have or what you are interested in? Well here’s a great solution on Rogue’s Video Page:

How to save 15%

Click here to see their full list of products and add any items you want to the cart, then begin the checkout process which begins with an order summary like this:

Be sure you click the link to enter the discount code. Once you’ve done that, enter my discount code which currently is ronmart09 and CLICK APPLY as shown below. If that doesn’t work then check my discount coupon code page for the latest code. If that still doesn’t work then contact me.

If you did everything right you should see the discount code and the amount deducted along with a summary at the bottom similar to this:

What’s new for FlashBender 2

If you’ve already been using FlashBender products or have read my previous reviews, then you’ve probably wondered what’s new for version 2. To help with that I’ve created this slightly underexposed image to highlight the difference in the reflective surfaces:

New (left) vs Old (right)

While it is immediately obvious that the new system to attach the FlashBender to the flash is smaller and more secure, what’s less obvious at first glance is that the material used on the reflective surface is lighter and thinner – but just as effective. The net result is a lighter and more secure product.

If you’ve used the first version of the Rogue XL Pro Lighting Kit that I reviewed, you’ll be happy to know that the new one uses the new FlashBender 2 system and includes an egg crate grid as shown below:

New Egg Crate Grid Feature on FlashBender 2 XL Pro Lighting System

The left shot shows it attached and the right shows that this is the same system as v1 with a carrying case a egg crate attachment.

Be sure to use my previously mentioned coupon code to pick any of these up on the Rogue website or at B&H.

Other articles you may enjoy

If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy these:

• KelbyOne Training Review and Discount
• Rogue Gels (Color Correction Only Version)
• Rogue Grid
• Rogue Softbox and Diffusion Panels
• Rogue XL Pro Lighting Kit
• Tripod Recommendations
• Variable Neutral Density Filter Comparison (B+W, Bower, Hoya, Singh-Ray & Tiffen)
• Canon 600EX-RT Flash First Look (ST-E3 RT)
• Discount Coupon Code Page
• Ron’s Recommendations 

Disclosure

If you make a purchase using links found in this article, I may make a commission. It doesn’t cost you a penny more, but it does help to support future articles like this.

REVIEW: Rogue XL Pro Lighting Kit by ExpoImaging

ExpoImaging Rogue XL Pro Lighting Kit

When the ExpoImaging Rogue Small Soft Box Kit came out I was an instant fan as it’s a nice compact alternative to my EzyBox. As much as I enjoy it, I did wish it was much bigger so I was pleased when I found out that a larger version was coming in the XL kit. With a surface area that’s nearly as big as my portable softbox, I can get nice studio light with a configuration that easily fits in my Think Tank Photo camera bag.

Sample Images

I managed to talk my wife into stepping into the studio for a quick 15 minute shoot so I could show you what kind of light you can expect to get from the Soft Box featured in this kit. The following images were taken with a Canon 1D X but would have looked the same way had they been taken with a 6D, 5D Mark III, or even a Nikon D600. I used Canon 600EX-RT flash so I could take advantage of the radio trigger from my Canon ST-E3.

I chose to shoot in Manual instead of ETTL just so I could have a little more control of my light power. My flash was set to 1/32 power most of the time and my camera was set as shown. I intentionally went a little hot with the flash on these as the brighter light makes my wife happier than lighter light which brings out more skin detail. ;-)

I had my black background already up so I decided to go for a dark one-light look just for fun, so don’t let the dark look fool you – it had nothing to do with the lighting modifier.

Canon 1D X 1/160 sec at f/4.5, ISO 100 at 70mm (24-70mm f/2.8L II)

In the Shadows Sepia Toning done with Topaz B&W Effects (bundle on sale here) Canon 1D X 1/125 sec at f/4, ISO 100 at 70mm (24-70mm f/2.8L II)

Here’s the basic I used for the two images above, but I moved the soft box to the opposite side & to the side for the Sepia shot

Canon 1D X 1/160 sec at f/6.3, ISO 100 at 70mm (24-70mm f/2.8L II)

The shot above was done with a Lastolite Triflector (now only available as a kit), but any reflector would do if positioned properly.

Configurations

Strip Box

Soft Box

Reflector (Silver & Black attachment not shown)

Conclusion

Personally I had no use for the strip box, but that’s a personal preference other photographers most likely do not share with me. I supposed if I wanted to I could have used it as a hair light or used it for the In the Shadows shot, but I didn’t feel the need to. I consider the strip box to be an extra included in a kit that I consider to primarily be a big portable soft box/reflector kit – which is a good thing!

I liked the compact size, but I did find that with the Rogue FlashBender being this larger that weight becomes a bit of an issue so it would slide down on my flash head from time to time while I was shooting. I found this to be annoying, but I eventually tightened it up enough where it stopped. A piece of gaffer’s tape would have done the trick too. It also means that you’ll probably want a sandbag on your stand to avoid it tipping over (a problem I didn’t have indoors), but realistically you should always do that when you use stands anyway.

Those issues aside, I was very happy with this product and the results. I’m glad to have a more compact and portable option to my EzyBox.

Where to order

Click here to order the ExpoImaging Rogue XL Pro Lighting Kit from the B&H web site. My friends at Adorama have it available here.

Special Offer Direct from Expoimaging

You can purchase ExpoImaging Rogue XL Pro Lighting Kit direct from ExpoImaging and get a special discount:

NOTE: You MUST provide your credit card info before the Redeem button will work!

Click here and use the coupon code ronmart09 to learn more and save.

Codes change so check the discount coupon code page for the latest code if this code doesn’t work.

Other articles you may enjoy

If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy these:

• Rogue Gels (Color Correction Only Version)
• Rogue Grid
• Rogue Softbox and Diffusion Panels
• ExpoImaging ExpoDisc (Color Balancing Tool)
• Canon 600EX-RT Flash First Look (plus ST-E3 RT)
• Home Studio on a Budget
• Things You Need AFTER You Buy Your New Camera - Must Have Photography Accessories
• Which books should I read?
• Light It, Shoot It, Retouch It
• Flashpoint Soft Box (vs Lastolite Ezybox)

Disclosure

If you make a purchase using links found in this article, I may make a commission. It doesn’t cost you a penny more, but it does help to support future articles like this.

REVIEW: Rogue Small Soft Box Kit & Diffusion Panels

The ExpoImaging Rogue Small Soft Box Kit is what I used for this review

The ExpoImaging Rogue Small Soft Box Kit is a game changing product in the overcrowded field of small flash light modifiers. It’s so simple and subtle that you don’t expect it to make a huge difference, but I honestly think it does – and I love it! In fact, I’ve used mine so much since I got it that I’m months late doing this review because I couldn’t force myself to shoot a flash without it to give you some comparison images. I just love the results I get from it like this unprocessed shot (okay, so her cheek needs a slight touch up but that’s my bad – not the product):

Canon EOS-1D X, f/4.5 @ 88 mm,1/160, ISO 100
Canon 600EX-RT straight upwards with Rogue Small Soft Box Kit

This is a solid result with a flash on the camera but when you take it off it gets even better as you have a small portable softbox which we know improves as you put your softbox closer to the subject!

Comparing different flash techniques

All of the following shots are in-camera JPEG’s with a .25 exposure boost, a +7 temp & clarity boost and a +48 vibrance boost in Lightroom 4.2. All were taken with a Canon EOS-1D X, f/4.5 @ 98 mm, 1/160, ISO 100, Auto White Balance (AWB) and Standard picture style. I intentionally didn’t do my typical editing so you can get an idea of your starting point with each of the following three flash techniques. Naturally I’d fix the hotspot on the cheek and skin soften a tad to remove some skin glow and a few other things if I were to edit this shot, but I’ve left them mostly as they came out of the camera so you can see what you’d get using each method.

Canon 600EX-RT pointed directly at model with no diffusion

This first image is where you put the flash on the head and point it directly at the model for a nuclear blast of light. Surprisingly it isn’t too bad (beyond the obvious hot spot we get from Juliet’s rounded cheeks <g>) but there’s not much catch light sparkle in her eye and the shadows in the neck are harsh.

Canon 600EX-RT angled upwards with white card bounce

For this second shot we do the classic tilt up and get some indirect bounce with the white card up. As a starting point for a raw image it’s certainly usable, but the light fall off on the face is bad and the catch lights are lacking. The outfit feels a little dark to – especially the scarf. Overall this is my least favorite.

Canon 600EX-RT straight upwards with Rogue Small Soft Box Kit

Now for this shot with the Rogue Small Soft Box Kit we get nice even light throughout the body, soft shadows on the neck, good catch lights and well lit hair. This is the magic of this product even in very difficult conditions outdoors where there’s no walls for the light to bounce off. This product makes the most of your on-camera flash power!

I’m sure someone out there will disagree with me, but personally I like the Soft Box Kit version the best which mimics my real-life experience. I LOVE this product and use it whenever my Canon 600EX-RT flash goes on my camera now.

Off-Camera Flash Experiment

Now the cool thing about softboxes is that as you get them closer to the subject the wider and softer the light gets, so here’s a simple test that shows the result of setting the flash on a stand next to the camera to light the 1D Mark IV with the softbox and with the flash techniques previously discussed:

	Rogue Softbox
	Bounce Flash
	Direct Flash

Notice how the softbox shot at the top gives nice even light whereas the bounce drops off and the direct just sucks? Ever noticed the two problems with your on-camera flash? The Rogue Softbox helps to distribute the light more evenly and effectively which makes life so much better indoors with one of these things on your flash!

Conclusion

The world is overcrowded with flash modifiers. While I love my Rogue FlashBenders, I couldn’t get myself to review them as honestly there’s many ways to get similar results using home made products. I think the FlashBenders are the best of their class of product on the market and I use mine quite a bit, but I just didn’t feel like they were as important to review as this soft box kit that I used in this article. By mounting the diffusion panel to your existing FlashBender or buying the kit you can really improve the quality of your small flash light – that’s something I honestly believe in which is why I feel compelled to review this product for you.

I think beginners will get the most of this product right off the bat, but experience shooters can find it useful as well – especially if you get the flash off the camera and are packing light. It’s really the ultimate photojournalist light modifier! I also love that I can store this flat in my bag as that cause me to bring it everywhere and consequently use it more often.

This is a game changing small flash light modifier and I highly recommend it!

Special Offer

ExpoImaging Rogue Starter Lighting Kit
is great for beginners
(Flashes not included)

You can purchase ExpoImaging Rogue Small Soft Box Kit or the individual diffusion panels for your existing Rogue FlashBender from B&H, but you can also purchase direct from ExpoImaging

NOTE: You MUST provide your credit card info before the Redeem button will work!

My blog already has a discount coupon code in place for existing ExpoImaging Rogue products shown at the end of this article, but I’m pleased to announce now that you can also save 15% when you use the coupon code ronmart09 to order your Rogue Grid.

Codes change so check the discount coupon code page for the latest code if this code doesn’t work.

Other articles you may enjoy

Serious Photographers will want the
ExpoImaging Rogue Master Lighting Kit
(Flashes not included)

If you liked this article, then you might like these as well:

• Rogue Grid
• Rogue Gels
• ExpoImaging ExpoDisc (Color Balancing Tool)
• Canon 1D X (Real World Usage)
• Canon 600EX-RT Flash First Look (plus ST-E3 RT)

Disclaimer

Expoimaging has provided me with this product to review, but I loved it so much that I ended up using it for months before getting around and reviewing it! If you make a purchase using links found in this article, I may make a commission.

REVIEW: Rogue Grid — The “Must Have” On-Camera Flash Modifier

The Rogue Grid Kit Installed – Flash Sold Separately

I recently wrote about the Rogue Grid and said “the hottest flash modifier this year will be ExpoImaging’s new Rogue Grid”, and I meant it. In this article I hope to help you to understand why I said that and why I’m so excited about this new product.

What the heck do you use a grid for?

I had this question at one point in time so I’m going to assume some of you do as well. The answer is simple – grids are used to control light into a more narrow beam (determined by the degree number) so that it doesn’t spread all over the place. This could be for putting a spotlight on a subject or used on an off-camera flash to create an interesting background effect.

Why do you need more than one and what the heck are all those numbers?

I’ll admit that I have never studied the science of grids, but in plain English I can tell you that grids are sold in different sizes based on the degree that the light spreads. The larger the degree number, the wider the spread and (typically) the thinner the grid device will be. This means if you want a wider spread use a wider number and reach in your bag for the thinnest one (e.g., 45­­­­° in this case), but if you want a narrow beam grab the thickest one with the smallest degree number.

In the case of the Rogue Grid they have an ingenious design that allows you to stack the widest spread (thinnest - 45°) with the medium spread (25°) to create a thick and tight 16° beam. What’s more, you get all three sizes (2 disc that can be combined for 3 results) for one price, versus the competition from Honl which only has two sizes and will set you back $70 after you add the speed strap.

Demonstration Images

To demonstrate the grid I decided to mount my 580EX II flash on my 5D Mark II and test it the same way for every shot. To make this happen I’d use a tripod and manual camera settings. I did use ETTL as that is how I would typically shoot, but I also tested using a manual flash and got similar results.

I shot on my white seamless background during the daytime using a 70-200mm lens at 70mm for 1/40 sec at f/9.0 and ISO 160. I wanted to underexpose the ambient daylight so you could see the effect of the grid. I chose the equipment mentioned here because that is what I’d most likely be shooting with, and I put the tripod at the edge of the seamless where I’d most often be standing during a shoot. This means I don’t get perfect circles on the larger spread as that’s not what I’d really see in most cases given how I shoot in my studio.

Everything you need is included along with a carrying case

Here’s the results using the Rogue Grid with the supplied mini- FlashBender above:

Rogue Grid FlashBender – NO Grid

Rogue Grid FlashBender – 45° Grid

Rogue Grid FlashBender – 24° Grid

Rogue Grid FlashBender – 16° Grid

As you can see the falloff of light happens much quicker with less of a feather the larger your grid is (and the smaller the degree number, so 16° in this case).

How does this compare to the Honl?

I don’t own both Honl’s as I wasn’t terribly impressed with the one I purchased. For starters grids are supposed to produce a circular effect and its rectangular design just didn’t seem to give me the results I wanted. Here’s an example of the Honl taken at the same times using the same methodology as above:

As you can see you don’t get a nice circle like you do with the 16° Rogue and that the surface area is much smaller which might be good in some cases but I found it to be too limiting in my studio so I stopped using mine a long time ago.

How does it work with my existing FlashBenders?

I already use and love the Rogue FlashBenders and I use my medium and large ones as snoots sometimes. When I got my grid I wondered what would happen if I put the grid in my snoots to see how it would impact the light output. To test this theory I just used the 16° for both tests because A. I’m lazy, and B. I wanted the tightest beam to see the result easily. Here’s what happened:

Medium FlashBender as a Snoot & 16° Grid

 

Large FlashBender as a Snoot & 16° Grid

Now I should make the disclaimer that because the FlashBenders can bend I didn’t line them up perfectly when taking my test shots, but you can get the idea. Using the medium as a snoot with the 16° grid you get a similar size circle but the light falloff happens much quicker (i.e., you have a darker area outside of the circle). The result is even more pronounced with the large FlashBender.

The net result is that I  now have 5 grid effects I can accomplish which is awesome.

Video

While the Rogue Grid has a neat design, I’ll admit that I was a little confused at first on how to use it. Here’s a quick and dirty crappy video I did that shows how to attach it to your camera as well as change grid sizes:

Play in HD

Conclusion

This is a great little product that solves a problem in a nice compact package for a very reasonable price. That price gets even more reasonable with my discount below, so if you enjoy using grids then I can’t recommend this product high enough — ‘nuff said!

NOTE: These items are hot so they may be out of stock from time to time, so if you can’t wait for the offer below then check with B&H as they may have it in stock.

Special Offer

NOTE: You MUST provide your credit card info before the Redeem button will work!

My blog already has a discount coupon code in place for existing ExpoImaging products like the Rogue Flashbenders (review coming soon), ExpoDisc, and RayFlash, but I’m pleased to announce now that you can also save 15% when you use the coupon code ronmart09 to order your Rogue Grid.

Codes change so check the discount coupon code page for the latest code if this code doesn’t work.

Other Interesting Articles

If you liked this article, you may also like:

• Two GREAT Camera Flash Books
• REVIEW- Joe McNally & David Hobby’s Flash Bus Take Seattle By Storm
• Quantum QFlash & Custom Brackets Rotating Flash Bracket
• ExpoImaging ExpoDisc (Color Balancing Tool)
• On-Camera Flash Techniques

See the right panel and read me first tab for more great articles!

Disclaimer

Like most of my reviews, I was provided a copy of the Rogue Grid to test at no obligation from ExpoImaging. While I may get a commission if you purchase using the discount from this blog or at one of my partners like B&H, it would take a hell of a lot of grid sales to pay for my son’s diapers <g>. I won’t be getting rich off you using the links, but every little bit helps to support this blog so I appreciate when you do use the links!

ExpoImaging Rogue Grid – The “Must Have” On-Camera Flash Modifier

Save 15% using the coupon code ronmart09 (see details below)

Trust me when I say you read it here first – the hottest flash modifier this year will be ExpoImaging’s new Rogue Grid. This brilliant design fits nicely on the end of your speedlite (i.e., 580EX II, SB-900, etc…) using the brilliant built-in speed strap found on the mega-hot Rogue Flashbenders (i.e., the things that replaced the Honl’s and their stupid expensive stand-alone speed strap), and features 3 grids that can be combined or used alone to give you a 16, 25 or 45 degree grid as shown here: 

From what I’m seeing in the early test images shown here:

these things look awesome. I’m hoping that they work a lot better than the more costly and rectangular Honl Grids. They are good value too because they only cost about $43 with my discount (as of 3/22/2011) and come with 3 grids versus $70 for two Honl grids and a speed strap.

The second I heard about these I got in the queue to get the first batch of these. I can’t wait to try them out, so expect a review later this year. I wanted you to be the first to know about this cool new product but I know it won’t be the last time you hear about it.

Special Offer

My blog already has a discount coupon code in place for existing ExpoImaging products like the Rogue Flashbenders (review coming soon), ExpoDisc, and RayFlash, but I’m pleased to announce now that you can also save 15% when you use the coupon code ronmart09 to order your Rogue Grid.

Codes change so check the discount coupon code page for the latest code if this code doesn’t work.

Other Interesting Articles

If you liked this article, you may also like:

• Two GREAT Camera Flash Books
• REVIEW- Joe McNally & David Hobby’s Flash Bus Take Seattle By Storm
• Quantum QFlash & Custom Brackets Rotating Flash Bracket
• ExpoImaging ExpoDisc (Color Balancing Tool)
• On-Camera Flash Techniques

See the right panel and read me first tab for more great articles!

Disclosure

I’m a big fan of ExpoImaging products so I am doing this press release to promote this product that I think will be a big hit this year. I may get a commission if you purchase using the links in this article, so please support this blog by using the links!