2015 DIYP Gift Guide – Lighting

So far, we’ve shared our Gift Guides for cameras and lenses. Now, we’re on to the next tool any photographer needs in his/her arsenal – lighting.

Of course, light is available all around us in the form of the sun, but sometimes you need to slightly alter that light or entirely provide your own. Below we’ve gathered some of our favorite lighting products that you can pick up this holiday season.

Neewer 43” 5-in–1 Reflector – $19 (Amazon)

One of the most basic and often-used lighting accessories is a reflector. They can be used on-location, in the studio and anywhere in-between. This isn’t exactly a name-brand reflector, but considering it offers Translucent, Silver, Gold, White and Black as reflection/diffusion options, it’s a wonderful all-in-one solution.

Nova Bluetooth iPhone Flash – $59 (Amazon)

Integrated flashes aren’t great, whether you’re shooting with a DSLR or an iPhone. To help fix the lighting when using the latter of the two, Nova’s bluetooth iPhone flash provides an off-camera solution to lighting your smartphone photos. It’s small enough to fit in your wallet and offers 40 points of diffused LED light, more than enough to light most any situation your iPhone’s integrated flash can’t hold up to.

Yongnuo YN 560 III Flash Speedlight – $68 (Amazon)

This is, hands down, the best speedlight for the money. It doesn’t have any fancy features, nor is it of the greatest build quality, but at $68 a piece, you could by a handful before you reach the cost of a single speedlight from Canon or Nikon.

PocketWizard Plus III – $126 (Amazon | B&H)

PocketWizard is the industry standard in radio triggers, and with good reason – they continually put out versatile transceivers that work with almost any flash system you toss their way. I have two Plus III transceivers myself and whether it’s a moonlight I’m firing off for a studio session or a remote camera I’m triggering during a sporting event, I go in knowing full well that (so long as I don’t forget to put in new batteries) my PocketWizard transceivers will work day in, day out.

Elinchrom D-Lite RX 4 2-Light To Go Kit – $950 (B&H)

Sometimes it’s nice to not have to worry about buying every individual component of a studio strobe setup. For times like those, Elinchrom’s D-Lite RX 4 2-Light To Go Kit is what you’re going to want to pick up. It comes with two 400Ws strobes, an Elinchrom Skyport Speed Transmitter, two 26 x 26″ Softboxes, One Umbrella Reflector, two light stands and cases to carry it all in. For under $1,000, this all-in-one package is a great one-purchase solution.

Broncolor Siros – $1,489 (B&H)

If pure power is what you’re going for, Broncolor’s Siros moonlights might be just what you’re looking for. At 800W/s, the compact lights are capable of putting out a powerful flash in a small design. Combined with Broncolor’s large lineup of light modifiers, it’s hard to go wrong, even at $1,489 a pop.

Profoto B2 – $1,995 (B&H)

Profoto calls their B2 system a ‘game changer.’ And it’s hard to disagree. This ultraportable flash system can be used both off-camera and on-camera, depending on what you need. The lights might be small, but they pack a punch, cranking out 250Ws at up to 1/8000th of a second thanks to high speed sync.