Photography News Issue 40

Photography News | Issue 40 | absolutephoto.com

54 First tests

BowensXMT500 £1199 Like many photographers, my first mains flash was a Bowens. Made in England, with good power and built like the proverbial brick outhouse, my kit gave reliable service for ages.

Specs

fits into the top of the head. It features a charge check LED. Removing the battery is a two-handed operation, one hand to push and hold the spring- loaded lock button and then the other to remove the battery. A design trick has been missed here and spring- loading the battery compartment so that the battery pops up free of the body when the unlock release is used wouldmake lifemuch easier. As it is, a good thumb/finger grip is needed. The rear control panel is the centre of operations. The LCD info panel is excellent and easy to read – I was initially puzzled by FLSH mode but it is just manual mode and I’ve no idea why Bowens did not use the more obvious widely used MAN for manual. I think the control buttons are rather small and neither the buttons nor labels are backlit which won’t help in poor light and the labelling in Bowens house magenta/ pink colours isn’t overly legible. Of course, familiarity will help. The LCD shows battery state, groups/channel info, output level and mode, and then settings are adjusted using the buttons and control dial. I tried the XMT with the XMTR Nikon flash trigger, PocketWizards and a Nikon SB900 speedlite in its master mode. A charged cell gave 605 full-power flash bursts by which time recycling was 10secs and the red battery state LED was flashing but until then recycling was 2sec stretching to about 3secs by 500 flashes. My test was in batches of 100 flashes at a time with

Prices XMT500 £1199, XMTR trigger £229 Power output 500Ws Power range 2-500Ws 9EV in 0.3EV steps, full power to 1/256 Shortest flashduration 1/10,309sec at 1/256, 1/222sec at full power Colour temperature 5600K, +/-300K Battery charge time Four hours from flat High speed sync Up to 1/8000sec Modelling lamp Yes, 10WLEDwith off, 30%, 60% and 100% settings Radio control 2.4GHz Recycling 0.01sec to 2secs Modes TTL (3EV range) , manual, strobe (max 100 flashes per burst) Autodump Yes Fan cooling Yes Dimensions (WxHxD) 36.8x12.6x14.4cm Weight 3.5kg with battery Contact bowens.co.uk

Time has moved on, though, and you could argue that for a time Bowens lagged behind while flash technology raced ahead. The Bowens XMT500, however, shows a return to form for the brand. Design is still done by the England- based teamwhile manufacture is now in China, and the XMT500 exhibits the build and robust qualities of Bowens units of old. It’s a battery- powered head with a 500Ws output and the features photographers expect nowadays. There is the option of TTL flash control with the optional XMTR trigger (£229 and available for Canon, Nikon and Sony), good colour stability throughout the power range, high-speed sync flash and excellent battery capacity. There are some fine design touches too, the most notable being the head’s simple locking mechanism. Just lift the lever, adjust the head and push it backdown to grip the head inposition. The head itself is slightly front heavy even without a modifier but even when the lever is in its unlocked position there’s still tension so the head doesn’t flop forward. It’s a nice, practical and usable piece of design. The power range is 9EV from full power to 1/256 manually adjustable in 0.3EV or with the trigger in 0.3EV. Power is provided by a 8.7Ah Lithium-ion rechargeable battery that

a ten minute break. That is excellent capacity and of course in lower settings or in TTL mode, you will get a great many more bursts. Adjusting the power levels manually at 1EV intervals I found the output stayed in step until the lowest two settings, 1/128 and 1/256. In both of these cases the gap is more like 0.5EV than 1EV so tests shots actually turned out underexposed. I also tested its power output using a flash meter with the XMT fitted with a basic reflector. At full power, three metres and ISO 100 I got a meter reading of f/11.7 while moving in to 1m the reading was f/32.4. Output is adjustable in 0.3EV steps that of course matches camera aperture steps and there is no option of using0.1EV, either on the head itself or when using the XMTR trigger. Colour stability from full to minimum power was very good with

The Bowens XMT500 is a good, powerful, location light with plenty of features and amazing battery stamina. Some aspects of handling could be better but the niggles are minor and subjective and there are certainly more positives than negatives. With the common S-bayonet accessory fitting, power, excellent battery capacity and a competitive price, the Bowens XMT500 is sure to have great overall appeal. Pros Head adjustment lever, power capacity, colour stability, common S-bayonet, price Cons Battery release mechanism, control buttons could be bigger no serious shift through the range. The optional XMTR trigger gives wireless TTL and manual control. It has the option of five groups and 32 channels so plenty of versatility there. It worked well with the XMT500, although the trigger’s handling could be better. There’s no direct access to each group, as on some other triggers, and you have to scroll through groups A to E, then select the group you want to adjust. It works fine, but handling is slow compared with other triggers. The trigger gives the option of high- speed sync and TTL. With the head fittedwith a basic reflector twometres from the subject, using a Nikon D810 at ISO 100, setting 1/8000sec allowed f/1.8 while dropping shutter speeds gave more power and more aperture options – f/4 at 1/2000sec, f/5.6 at 1/1000sec and f/8 at 1/500sec. Of course, setting higher ISOs gives even greater options. WC Verdict

The Bowens XMT500 shows a return to form for the brand

Designmatters The XMT500 has some nice design touches including the excellent, quick to use and positive head adjustment lever while the protruding flash tube ensures even light coverage with softboxes and other S-fit modifiers. Personally, I think battery removal could be easier and the small control buttons, while they look good, are just too small. Build quality is very good and battery capacity is excellent.