Photography News Issue 65

Photography News | Issue 65 | photographynews.co.uk

First tests

Badger Unleashed 250WTTL/HSS £299.99

Specs

Photographers portable lighting have never had it so good with so many battery-powered studio light solutions on the market. The Badger Unleashed 250W TTL/ HSS might have an unusual name but it tells you what’s on offer and its cool looks certainlymake a change from the usual anonymous black boxes. It is a rechargeable battery-powered unit with an output of 250Ws andwith the optional £72 Remote trigger gives TTL flash metering and High Speed Sync (HSS). The 250Ws power output is at the lower endofwhat youexpect of a studio flash but it is nevertheless very useful and practical for many situations. Its compact, lightweight body features anon-boardbatterywhichhas enough juice for around430 full power flash bursts, a 15W LED modelling lamp, a nine EVpower range selectable in 0.1EV steps and uses the popular S-type modifier mount. The unit’s on/off switch is on the base of the unit, and its key controls are on the unit’s back panel. Control layout is simple and obvious, thanks to a large LCD panel and clearly identified, prominent buttons with the expected beep, slave cell and modelling light controls. No complaints here. I checked output using a Gossen flash meter set to ISO 100 using a standard 7in spill kill reflector on the front with the light 1m and 2m away. The power range is 2 to 10 in 0.1EV steps and at 10 I got f/16 at two metres and f/32.3 at one metre. At the 2.0 setting I got readings of f/1.4.8 and f/2.8 at two and onemetre respectively, so no problem if you want to shoot at wide lens apertures. The power level control was not as precise as you’d expect, but that’s not an issue in practice. Recycling at full power was just over one second and from one full charge I got 424 full power flashes, which is excellent. One small moan is that the battery can’t be charged in the unit so you will need a spare if you are planning of doing a lot of shooting. I also did some flash duration tests with a domestic fan running. It’s needing

Price £299.99, TTL Remote £71.99, spare battery £59.99 In the box 1x Badger Unleashed 250Ws head, 1x Badger Unleashed 2900mAh battery pack, 1x charging cable, 1x quick start guide Max power 250Ws Power range Nine stops (250Ws-1Ws) Shootingmodes Manual, TTL, High speed sync (HSS) Battery 14.8V, 2900mAh lithium-ion cell Capacity 430 full power flashes Sync modes Sync port IR, optical cell, Interfit manual and TTL remotes Colour temperature 5500K +/-100K Sync speed 1/250sec, 1/8000sec in HSS Strobe mode Yes, up to 90 flashes at 99Hz (With Interfit Gen 2 TTL remotes) Groups Five A, B, C, D, E. (Groups D and E will be unlocked with Interfit Gen 2 TTL remotes from spring 2019) Channels 15 (Limited to eight when using Interfit Gen 1 TTL remotes) Flash duration 1/757sec – full power, 1/8710sec – 2 Recycle time 1.5sec – full power Modelling lamp 15W, 1250Lm, 5500K, 90+ CRI Dimensions 12.7x15x17.8cm Weight 2.3kg Remote TTL Price £71.99 Availability Canon, Nikon, Sony Features Precise power adjustment in manual, TTL and high speed sync Sync speed Up to 1/8000sec Operating range 100m Power Two AAAs Contact interfitphoto.co.uk

Above This was a simple straight shot with the Honey Badger and a standard reflector in place with the camera and flash working in TTL mode. It was taken on a Nikon D850 fitted with a 50mm f/1.4 lens with an exposure of 1/60sec at f/5.6 and ISO 100. The model was Rob Stevens (facebook.com/rob.stevens.771) and the image taken at a Welshot Imaging event, welshotimaging.co.uk

difficult to be scientific but looking at my HSS test shots, at the power setting of 2 flash bursts were shorter than 1/8000sec. At power level 10 flash duration was around 1/800sec – both figures are in line with the quoted spec. In HSS mode, the power output range is limited from8 to 10. Test shots were done with the same reflector but with a Nikon D810 and ISO set to 200. At power level 10 and 1/500sec my test shots at f/16 looked fine, if a tad dark, but easily corrected in editing so perhaps f/11 is a more realistic setting to use; but that’s good. At 1/1000sec, the f/11 shot looked fine as did the f/8 shot at 1/2000sec. By the time I got to 1/8000sec, I needed f/4 for a bright

exposure, but overall this is a very good power performance inHSSmode. On my test shots there was some fall-off in flash coverage towards the top of the frame from 1/1000sec and faster; bear in mind that you might need to do some editing to correct this. To check white-balance consistency as power changed, test shots were done on the D810 after a custom white- balance reading was taken. There was some colour shift as you went through the power range but it was not hugely significant, with lower settings being slightly cooler. There was amuchmore noticeable colour shift in HSS mode where test shots looked warmer – though easily corrected of course. WC

Above An uncorrected Raw taken in HSS mode with the Nikon D810 set to a shutter speed of 1/8000 and an aperture of f/4; the ISOwas 200

Above An uncorrected Raw that shows light output is marginally more cool at lower output settings. Here the lowest setting of 2 was used

Verdict

The Badger Unleashed 250W TTL/ HSS is terrific value at £300 plus £72 for the TTL trigger. It works well with quick recycling and capacity, has decent output levels, is good to use and portable for a studio type unit. For the price of a decent speedlight and at a good price for a battery powered studio type flash, the Badger Unleashed comes highly recommended.

Photographers needing portable lighting have never had it so good

Pros Compact, S-mount, capacity, output range, good performance Cons Nothing at this price