johnfantastic

Welcome aboard Amanda. This is a fantastic forum and you will learn a lot here. Just shoot your questions. People here are very kind. :)

Good morning Ludmilla, I used the Innovatronix CPFlash 550W external flash. I think its a new product and was just released March 2020. I have to wait a little while until reviews came out before I took the plunge and bought 3 units. I have wanted to migrate to smartphone photography for a long time as I am not getting any younger and my osteoporosis is getting worst. My doctor has told be not to carry heavy loads anymore. My problem is my style of Photography almost always uses external flashes hidden somewhere in the photo to highlight portions of the image. Whether it is inside a lamp or behind an object, its there. The results are visible but the external flashes are not. I have tried the GODOX A1, But it is very limited because it can only sync with your smartphone at 1/25S or less. Even during late afternoons, I still get a shutter speed of 1/400S with my Huawei P30 at an ISO of 50. Until the CPFlash 550W, there was no suitable High power External Flash available for the smartphone. There is a technical reason why the traditional xenon bulb flash use in photography does not work with the current smartphones. It is because smartphones, line scan the image not allowing you to take shots at shutter speeds higher than 1/25S. It is akin to the sync speed limit of the SLR because of the shutter curtain. Here is my gear. Its actually a tri-function flash. It works with your smartphones, android or ios, DSLR, mirrorless and it is also a video light (20W only) with 8 video special effects. I have not tried the video light effects as I don't do videos. But I have tried using the CPFlash with my DSLR and it works very well too. I grabbed this photo of the CPFLash 550W from the internet. BTW the 550W is a continuous light source . It is NOT 550W-S rating of like a real Studio Flash. Based on my experience, the CPFLash is similar in power output as my Canon 580EX. More than enough power for my smartphone Flash. I usually set the power output to a maximum of 30% during an actual shoot. Each CPFlash unit can either be set as a master or slave, The smartphone app can control all the settings of your master cpflash and up to 4 individual slave units. :) Here is the link to innovatronix shopify page: CPFlash 550W Off-Camera Smartphone Flash (Patent Numbers : 2-2016-000506, 2-2016-000842, 2-2016-000505) Here is a grab photo of the CPFlash. It comes almost complete with accessories. With a Hot shoe trigger for your DSLR or mirrorless camera. It also comes with a smartphone camera trigger (handy for iPhones) and 6 magnetic filters. The size of the head is almost the same as a standard speedlite so any accessory that you have with your speedlite will mate with your CPFlash. The App is also very intuitive and easy to use. I learned it in less than 10 minutes flat.

Here is another DSLR shot with multiple OCF Flash. I loved using small portable low power external flashes for my shoot. I will be trying to retake similar shots with my Huawei P30 and my external flashes CPFlash 550W. :)

Yeah I saw this photo when I was a teenager and he has influence me to take photography as hobby. :)

I just discovered this review by Lighting Rumours about the CPFflash. Innovatronix CPFlash in the studio - Lighting Rumours

My photography styles involves a lot of low power off camera flash to enhance the lighting. Very difficult or technically not possible to achieve without multiple OCF . Now with the Innovatronix CPFLash 550W, I can migrate my work to the smartphone. Here is a shot I took way back 2010 . I used an EOS400D . technical specs: 1/30 sec. f/7.1 10mm with 4 yongnuo OCF speedlites

For a long time, I have always wanted to make my camera of choice a smartphone, Mainly for the reason that it is easy to carry and Its very light. What has always prevented me is my style of photography uses off camera flashes with my DSLR and there is none available for the smartphone. When I read somewhere that Innovatronix has just released the CPFlash 550W and off camera flash for Android and ios smartphones, I decided to give it a try. After trying to learn everything about the product I finally gave it a try last month and purchased 3 CPFlash 550W OCF. Last weekend I finally had a chance to try it. :) As a backgrounder here are some of my DSLR (Canon ESO600) Shots using OCF. Here are some shots I took of my model friend in a Barn . It was bright daylight inside the barn and my exposure was 1/250S ISO200 and Fixed Aperture of 1.7. Shot in Manual mode . I did a slight edit on the images in PhotoShop using burning and dodging only. No other tools were used. :) I think I underexposed the shot by more than 3 stops to prevent the ambient light from contributing to the image. I also tried some day for night techniques by using the included magnetic gels in the package. This is how it would look like if you take a straight shot with your smartphone without an Off Camera Flash. I also borrowed my wife's iphone 11 Pro but realize that I am not very familiar with it. Shooting with the standard program mode of the iPhone built in Camera app sometimes results in weird Computational Photography Processing. I think the iphone program treats the sudden very bright burst of light as an anomaly. Luckily my wifes iPhone 11 has a downloaded Light Room App (free to download) and I used the app in manual mode and thinks were okay. But I am sure iPhone experts can do a much better job that I can . I apologize for this. I am not very familiar with using the iPhone, I just want to try it. :) I think with the new Innovatronix CPFlash 550W I can now use a smartphone for 95% of my photography needs. I will still be needing my DSLR for Sports and Wildlife Photography. So my DSLR will stay with me for a very long time. :)

When I buy water color or pastel sketches, I always asked the artist to signed the work. usually in the front bottom corner, visible in the frame. :)

I noticed that if i shoot with my smartphone, people just don't notice and go on their way, but If I shoot with my DSLR, I get stares all over, some of them angry? Do you guys have the same experience? :)

Welcom gerardsartzone . :) hope to see some of your pictures soon. :)

I just made my first mobile photography photo shoot today using my Huawei P30 and my wife's iPhone 11 Pro and 3 CPFlash 550W Off camera flash. I think it went okay considering that I am still learning how to fully operate my smartphone and the OCF gears. What a great convenience smartphone photography can be. I think with my photography style and interest, I can do 95% of my photography with my Smartphone. My DSLR will be relegated to special purpose photography, such as sports and wildlife . :) This was taken in broad daylight. Exposure was 1/250 Sec. ISO200 F1.6. I underexposed my shot by up to 3 stops to darken the background. 3 CPFlash 550W was used to take this shot. :)I did slight editing in photoshop using burning and dodging only.

Thank you very much Sandy for the link. Very Helpful. IIRC the biggest print size I do is A3+ (13"x19") . Thats the size for a medium Epson Printer. Its very nice to know that I can still do it with my smartphone. :)

Guys, Im a photography oldie but a smartphone newbie, In your experience what is the biggest acceptable display quality print do you get with the most recent crop of smartphones? Can it go A3+ (13" x 19") Thank you very much for your replies. :)

hopefully I will make it JDMvW. :)

Yes AlanKlein, thank you for the welcome. I need to upgrade my gear. My Camera is more than 12 years old. For a few months I have been deciding if I would: 1. Go the FF DSLR Route 2. Go the FF Mirrorless Route 3. Maintain my APS-C Lenses and buy a newer APS-C DSLR 4. Go the cellphone route. Since I always have a problem bring all my gears. I find them to heavy and I am not growing any younger. I decided to try the cellphone route. If it does not work out then I will consider other options as well. :) This weekend I have asked a model friend to pose for me. I will be my Huwei P30 and I will borrow my wife's iPhone 11 pro. I will post the pictures by next week. I will see if the cellphone is suitable for my needs.

Thank you invisibleflash. :-)

Thank you MikeMorrel for the warm welcome. :) Actually I'm excited again to take photos probably because of "New" Gear. This time I will try shooting with a mobile phone, Photos that i used to shoot with a regular DSLR. I am also looking forward to see your photos soon MikeMorrel.

TFS for sharing Glenn. :)