Just got my hands on the new Speedlight Pro Kit from http://www.speedlightprokit.com/

I really like the way these things look, I have no previous connection with these guys I just saw them posted here and harassed them until I got my hands on some :-).

I'd hoped at some stage to modify some 7" studio strobe reflectors to speedlights so they could take something like the Alien bees grids, but these things are better becasue they fold flat and weigh next to nothing. And being a modular system theres no end to the accessories and combinations they can create, theres add ons like barndoors comming very soon.

I'll have to get back with more pictures and details later as I'm buggered now but they main advantages of this system I see are:-

-- Like a monolight reflector they take away that nasty razor sharp shadow look thats distinctly speedlight. The larger grid gives you a spotlight but still removes that sharp shadow edge becasue of its larger surface area.

-- They look great - lots of people I speak to still feel intimidated using speedlights for paid work even if its just family portraits etc, (The wedding industry on the other hand wouldn't even flinch) but these certainly make your speedlights look like something substantial.

That larger grid is the main reason I was keen on these though. I'd actualy been working on some gridded stripboxes myself for rimlights and to go with the portrait L bracket above but these came along and I'd rather work with something thats mass produced and available otherwise I get harrased into make them for others (thats how the L / ebay bracket above came about)

But anyway this is the Pro Kit as it comes for around US$100 (they will aparently be available from local distributors worldwide in a week or so).

So it makes basicaly 4 complete units -

We need to convince them we need two grids for rimlights though so we can do the double rimlight like Jill greenburg effect etc. You can almost point these suckers straight back at the camera without any flare. (A large open softbox style grid would have done me).

Everything works well otherwise and I can see they've thought them out carefully with light quality in mind.

There is one thing Ive noticed though and thats the large grid is fairly heavy to be supported by the flash head and the standard mounting the reflector comes with is not really enough to hold it alone (on the flashes I tried anyway). But the flashes I have with velcro already stuck to the side was enough to hold it tight. I think an elastic strap instead of the plain velcro may help too. Or if you use speedstraps they may be a better option all togehter. I will put some pics up later to show what I'm rambling about.

Otherwise they are pretty sweet! I'll be taking some beam width and shadow comparison pics and light loss levels with the different modifiers etc. I'd also like to tune a stofen cap to the reflector (by cutting parts out) to get the best beam/power out of the reflector. (and offcourse doubling up the flash heads into strip boxes etc :)

Full discussion available here - Flickr Discussion on Speedlight Prokit

Additional configurations with Elvis' custom made brackets :-

Triple Speedlight Bracket is a Concept Design - not available yet

Images and Text are © Elvis Pahr. Reproduced with permission.