Elinchrom has long been known for their amazing light and dimmers. But will their latest release, Elinchrom FIVE, live up to the hype?
If you’ve been watching and paying attention, you may have noticed in 2021, when Elinchrom releases Elinchrom ONE. At the end of the announcement video (think the end of the Marvel movie teaser), they showed a sneak peek at Elinchrom YEAR. Well, at the end of 2022, Five was officially announced.
Since the release of the lights, I’ve used FIVE in a number of jobs, from weddings to studio work and even onsite portraiture. While there are some things about this light that I wish were a little different, overall the light is pretty amazing. Sporting 522 Ws, two-color pattern lights and 450 all-round flashes on a single battery, there’s plenty of power and versatility for almost any job. And at max, you’ll have a recycle time of 1.6 seconds. That’s half a second faster than Profile B10Xand you get even a little more power output at that faster rate.
FIVE also features an exposed flash tube, ideal for use with modifiers such as reflectors, softboxes, and umbrellas. This exposed flash tube is also conveniently protected by a glass dome, so you don’t have to worry much about accidentally bumping and breaking the tube.
Another feature that I absolutely love about FIVE (also available on the ONE) is the light that charges with a simple USB-C cable. So no need for proprietary cables or giant battery chargers. This makes traveling with the kit even more convenient, especially when I’m on an Android phone, meaning I can just use one charger for all of my devices.
This USB-C port not only charges the battery, but can also double the uninterruptible power to use the light in a studio environment. The best thing about this setup is that the lights actually have active charging. This means that a single USB-C cable will charge the battery and power the light independently, so you don’t have to unplug the battery while trying to charge. This is ideal if you’re using all 450 full-power flashes, as you can simply shoot in a location with a power source to recharge the battery and not have to worry about it taking too much. charger. You can also use the USB-C battery pack to charge it while on the scene, which is handy when you have a long shot.
Other great features that FIVE has that I love are TTL, high-speed sync, and manual locking. So as long as you are using proper Skyport activated For your camera, you don’t have to worry about shooting at or below your camera’s sync speed. You can also set the light to TTL and let the light figure out how much power it should set. But then switch to manual mode and lock that power for a more stable output in the future, or to fine-tune the power to your specific needs. Letting TTL get you most of the way, it’s really possible to speed things up, then using manual locking allows you to still have the consistency most off-camera flash users want.
The last standout feature worth mentioning is the two-color pattern lights. While most model lights are designed to do what their name suggests, this model lamp has more to offer. So instead of just having an idea of what the flash will look like, you can actually use the LED model lights to take pictures or record videos. The two-color function means you can actually adjust the output to change between warm and cool color temperatures. This is ideal when trying to match the colors of other available light sources, but it is also useful for situations where you want to push other available light temperatures in one direction or another. An example of this would be if I was photographing a couple with the sample lamp set to the warmest temperature. Then when I go into post-production (or you can make manual adjustments in-camera if you like) to adjust this warm temperature back to neutral, all other available light temperatures will much cooler than it actually is.
As I’m sure you know, no product is perfect. And FIVE has a few things that I wish were different. Firstly, it has the same exposed flash tube and glass dome guard as the Elinchrom ONE, but unfortunately they have different sizes and functions. So while the ONE is capable of using Elinchrom matte abs surround, these accessories don’t really fit the FIVE.
Next is the screen and the user interface. The ONE has a new and pretty cool color touchscreen. Unfortunately, the newer and more powerful FIVE goes back to the regular screen with knobs and buttons for control.
Finally, I wasn’t initially a fan of large handles on FIVE. But during use, I found it very useful and it feels much better in the hand than other lightweight grips have. That said, I still wish I could remove this handle when necessary. While it might make usability a bit less than ideal, it will make packing much more manageable when space is limited.
What I like
- High capacity with faster recycling times than the competition
- Two-color LED pattern lights
- Very good battery life
- USB-C Active Charging is great to have
What I don’t like
- Non-removable handle
- There is no better UI and screen on ONE
- Glass dome accessories for ONE are not compatible with FIVE
Although no light I have ever used is perfect, Elinchrom YEAR come pretty close. The power is enough for every situation I throw at it and then some. The battery provides more than enough juice, even on a full wedding day. And USB-C charging is something I wish all manufacturers would use. It’s a light that I’m excited to continue using and push to the limit.
