Bee Beautiful Studios

Tuesday night I tested out the Flashpoint eVOLV 200 with some friends at the Edinburg City Hall building downtown Edinburg, Texas. I rented the eVOLV 200 and PIXARPO 26in Collapsable Beauty Dish from a friend. The light was mounted on my Manfrotto Combi Boom Stand that was handled by my awesome friend and fellow photographer Lourdes Paz.

I only have this gear for a day or two so I needed to find some models to help. I sent out like 15 messages to friends and photographers and Audrie, a local videographer and YouTuber was the only one who replied and was willing to do it. Ms. Audrie Barrera and her partner Fern showed up and was ready to go. You can view Audrie’s show on YouTube and can be found at theaudreyshow.

My goal is to purchase a new smaller compact light that packs some power and the new Flashpoint eVOLV 200 / Godox AD200 are the latest thing to hit the market that fit those specs. I rented one from a local photographer because I really wanted to test it out before purchasing one. I currently shoot most of my studio work and wedding photography with my AlienBee B800 Flash Unit by C. Paul Buff but I am in the marketing for something new.

We shot around 8pm-9pm, there was very low light and the sun was pretty much gone, but there was beautiful ambient light so I already had a hunch that it would do well. The light has been out for a while not and it seems that everyone and their mother owns this light, especially all the Sony shooters. Nothing against Sony, I’m actually buying one soon, but they seem to be the super duo.

I have also notice those who usually shoot with eVOLV / AD200 are typically High-Speed Sync Shooters. HSS photos are those shots where the photographer takes the model / client to a beautiful location but shoots so open they blur the background and only the subject is in focus. Not my thing but that technique is useful sometimes. On to the review.

I like the amount of power this little thing packs as well as the minimal power you can set it to. Most of the photos below were shot with the light at 32, 64 or 128. I shot with high ISO’s because that’s my style. I did a little of HSS but mostly kept the shutter at 125. Oh I didn’t mention that I was using my Canon 6D with a Canon 85mm 1.8 and Tamron SP AF 28‑75mm. I don’t shoot with fancy high-end gear, I am still using the same camera I have had since 2012. The creative mind is the most important gear in my bag.

Another feature I love about the eVOLV 200 is that it’s light. Logging around an AlienBee plugged into a Vagabond Mini on a boom stand gets tiring, you got chords galore hanging and getting tangled up, and it’s just not as portable as it once was. The eVOLV only weighs about 1LB where the AlienBee weighs over 3LBs.

Lastly I took liking to the variety of accessories the eVOLV 200 / AD200 have available. I used the PIXARPO 26in Collapsable Beauty Dish ,which was super easy to setup The bracket the light sits in is super simple to use as well. I am looking forward to trying out the light bare bulb and the barn doors in bright daylight. Here are my favorite shots from last nights photo shoot with the eVOLV 200.

If you are interested in being a model for the next equipment tryout please fill out the contact form below.