Adorama eVOLV 200 Flash - The Lightweight Heavyweight

Click here for more information

Twins Separated At Birth: Just as a reminder, the flash I'm describing is the eVOLV 200, Adorama's house branded version of the Godox Wistro AD200.  I chose the eVOV200 over the Godox because Adorama offered a bundled packaged I couldn't pass up.

Burn Out: In my last post, I managed to "singe" a flash tube contact during a rapid fire sequence a full flash output. I immediately ordered a replacement head and flash tube, which fortunately for me were not particularly expensive.

I am  NOT going to blame this misstep on the manufacturer, as there are ample warnings about overheating. For that matter, the unit still functioned in spite of the burned contacts, so I really can't consider this a product fail.

Click here for more information. Flash hiding inside

Practical Application - The Wescott Halo Light Modifier: There is one place where the unit is an unqualified bullseye. Because of its compact size, radio triggering capabilities, and TTL automation, it can fit inside a Wescott Halo, a cross between a shoot-through umbrella and a softbox.

Here's the deal: In the past, the Halo has been difficult to use in the field. Before the availability of affordable TTL supporting radio flash triggers, one was forced to expose manually adjust everything. This meant that you had to reach through the Velcro-secured access slot in the cone-shaped shroud to adjust the flash output using the braille-labeled control buttons (just kidding, there aren't any). The shroud coaxed all of the light to exit through the umbrella shaped diffusion panel, eliminating unwanted light spill when used indoors.

Mounting The Flash: To mount the flash to the Halo, you need at least one male spigot and a standard umbrella bracket. Because the flash is enclosed in the cone-shaped, reflective shroud, conventional, line of sight triggers won't work. Even if you could trigger the flash, you still had to make the adjustments manually. These are some of the difficulties that made me less likely to use the Halo. That situation was about to change.

Here's the eVOLV 200 mounted on an umbrella stand with the Halo's shroud folded back so you can see the mounting. The flash body has two 1/4 x 20 threaded sockets to facility (nearly) on axis mounting. I needed two brass spigots so the flash would clear the thumbscrews. When the shroud is replaced, the back of the flash doesn't touch the inside surfaces.

Bare Bulb Advantages: Another advantage of the eVOLV 200 is the option to use its bare bulb head. The advantage, when using the Halo (or any other enclosed softbox-type light modifier) can be seen in this photo. Both were made at the same setting, and simultaneously adjusted in Elements to keep the comparison valid.

In the image on the left, you can clearly see the rectangular light spread created by the H200 Speedlite Flash Head included in the package. If memory serves, it spreads the light beam to the width and height of a speedlight set to the 35mm light spread. Not too wide, not to narrow, but a compromise nonetheless. Notice too that there is no backsplash of light on the background, as there would have been if I used a shoot-through umbrella. I am now certain that the only light that hits my subject is the light I aim there.

The image on the right was taken with the bare bulb flash head in place. With the flash tube in parallel (or nearly so) alignment with the internal umbrella shaft, only a small fraction of the light goes directly forward. Nearly all of the light leaves the tube sideways to bounce about within the Halo until it eventually finds its way "out of the front". You can see that the light is very even over the entire surface, giving the photographer a much softer shadow when the Halo is used up close, as it should be. One might argue that this arrangement isn't particularly efficient, but in theory all of light eventually finds its way out. It's not wasted, just redistributed for maximum softness.

Obligatory Selfie: Shooting with this combination outdoors, I now have a combination that is powerful enough to use with the Halo and similar softbox types of modifiers in conjunction with direct sunlight. In this selfie, I standing in the shadow of a building with the blue sky behind me. I was also surprised that the Halo didn't seem as susceptible to being toppled by a breeze, gentle or otherwise. A sandbag would have made it even less so.

For what it's worth, you can see that the catchlight is very even from edge to edge, with no apparent hot spot in the middle. To repeat, the light from the bare bulb, placed inside of the Halo, is more evenly distributed across the face of the softbox, producing a much softer light overall.

TTL With The Nikon: Another strong selling point was the ability of the flash to utilize TTL exposure Control. In a nutshell, it worked well enough with the Nikon controller, but didn't work at all with the Fuji. This was a huge disappointment, since I use both systems and hoped I could get some cross platform adaptability. However, I know that the same Fuji transmitter works in the TTL mode when coupled with the Adorama Li-On R2 TTL Fuji compatible flash. At some point, though, I may give up on TTL completely, at least for location shots where I have the time to nail down the exposure manually.

Wish List: There is one accessory I'd really like to see. Since the head is removable, why not make an extension cable so the head can be mounted in places where the flash body/battery pack won't fit? Using the Halo would be be much easier without the weight of the battery on the inside. If it could be clamped to the outside of the light stand, it wouldn't put so much weight at the end of the light stand where it would accelerate the rate of fall to the ground should a gust of wind topple it.

In spite of its shortcomings, I'm pleased with its 200 watt second output, which puts it in the same category as my Norman 200B flashes, minus the weight and bulk.That is Way Cool.

Aveta Trio At The Kohl Mansion

1/30 second, F 9.0, ISO 200

This photo of the award winning Aveta Trio was actually much more difficult to make than it would appear. Several adjustments to the subject placement and the lighting were all made on the fly. The Order Of The Day was "shoot, shoot, shoot", especially since I was photographing three lively young musicians whose postures were constantly changing.

Fortunately for me, I was given a full hour to make the photograph, and started after a twenty-minute initial lighting setup and arranging my subjects into a balanced composition. There were two competing factors that influenced the final placement of the chairs. First, if I spread the musicians out, the swings of the violinist's bow were less likely to overlap the pianist, but the resulting composition might not fit my preferred 1.5 aspect ratio. If they were too close together, there would be frequent visual overlaps, like when the violin partially covered the pianist's face.

The selected image was a compromise between composition, expression, and subject overlap. In this random collection of images, you can see cases where the violin intrudes into the pianist's profile, while in others, the cellist has his head in an awkward position. My final choice, shown at the top of the post, seemed to be the likely choice.

The Key Light: In this lighting diagram you can see that there were two light sources. The Key Light was a Flashpoint Glow Softbox, which is basically a knock-off of the Lastolite Ezybox. The softboxes themselves are almost identical, so far as I can see, but if you check the links, the Flashpoint sells for a fractions of the cost of a Lastolite. I own both, and find that cost aside, the Flashpoint is a little easier to deploy. Instead of a cold shoe, the Flashpoint mounting bracket utilizes a clamp, and is the logical choice if you use a Flashpoint Evolv 200, which it accommodates, if just barely. I normally use the Evolv 200 with the bare bulb attachment to achieve a smooth, even light softbox. The Flashpoint bracket is much more convenient than the "lollypop" bracket that comes with the Lastolite, which is at its best when using a single shoe-mounted speedlight. If you even thinking about getting the Evolv 200, skip the Lastolite and to straight to the Flashpoint, since it also works with conventional speedlights. If you already own the Lastolite, you can buy just the Flashpoint bracket.

When adjusting the Glow softbox, I pointed it more towards the left to "feather" the light away from my cellist. This prevented his getting overexpose, which is likely, considering how much closer he was to key light.

The Kicker Light: The kicker light was a regular speedlight with a stack of grids mounted to the head. This created a tight cylinder of light which I hoped would highlight my cellist's hair while not spilling onto my violinist. It worked a little too well, because my cellist often swayed "out of the limelight." But when he was properly aligned, it all worked well, and the resulting highlights helped to separate his black hair from the open piano lid. If you look carefully, you can see the hotspot created by the kicker on the scroll of the cello's neck. I'm sure you wouldn't have noticed if I didn't point it out.

Subject Movement: You'll notice some blur in this photo. The exposure time was 1/30th of a second, so some blur would be expected. The relatively long exposure time was necessary to get some detail in the floor. 

Exposure: I adjusted the exposure for better reproduction when printed on newsprint, so trust me when I say it looks better in the paper than it does on the screen. The images used in the composite are straight out of camera, and much more pleasing when viewed digitally.

I enjoyed this shoot, as the grounds of the Kohl Mansion just seem to bring out the creativity in the artists who frequent it.

Adorama eVOLV 200 Flash - Power In Your Pocket?

Norman 200B Photo from www.fredmiranda.com

History Lesson: The Norman 200B Flash. This was, and for some still is, the real deal. The unit consisted of a head that features a user replaceable flash tube and a variety of different reflector configurations cabled to a  6-pound pack containing the electronics and the battery. This was definitely not a disposable flash, but one that could be repaired and re-built when the unit goes south. Original versions used NiCad batteries, but today many photographers now use a safer, more reliable sealed-lead acid battery instead. I've used them for photographing large groups of people, or when I need to use a large softbox or umbrella in the field. Its 200 watt-second output coupled with a portable DC power pack allowed photographers to bring studio-quality lighting almost anywhere. Norman is still selling these units, and the last iteration, the 200C, can be seen here.

I must state here and now that these units are durable and reliable. In my opinion, the greatest single drawback is the weight of the batery pack. The weight of thepack can be used in place of a sandbag when mounted with a Norman quick-detachable bracket at the base of the stand. A typical assignment, described here,  was one where I used a 200B in a medium sized softbox held aloft with a paint pole. 

A Viable Replacement? As a simple Joe Consumer type, I get my information about new products only when they become available to the general public, and often only when a dealer decides to put the item on sale, as was the case here.

Click here to access the Adorama website

In 2017, a new flash hit the market, the Godox AD200, which is known as the eVolv 200 when purchased under the  house brand Flashpoint from Adorama. I decided I needed to have one, not just for its output, but because it was capable of TTL exposure control over a variety of platforms by simply purchasing a dedicated camera controller. Since I straddle both the Nikon and Fuji works, this adaptability makes a lot of sense, although any unit that sold for as low a price point as this one may prove to be an expense, rather than an investment. The price was moderate, so I took the plunge.

Lightweight Wonder: Did I forget to mention that the complete head, body, and single battery weigh on two pounds?

Twin Heads: Another feature that attracted me was the interchangeable head feature. On the one hand, there was a standard, non-zooming speedlight head capable of a light spread suitable for a 35mm lens. On the other hand, it would accept a bare bulb, just like the Norman and my Amatar converted Vivitar flashes. When used inside a softbox, the bare bulb is a better solution than the narrow beam of a speedlight head, since bare-bulb light goes in every direction and without a pronounced hot spot.

After charging the battery, I decided to play with the bare bulb head, just to see if it would indeed recycle as quickly as advertised. Sure enough, it took less than 2 seconds to go from discharged state to fully charged, and without thinking, proceeded to fire a dozen or so shots in rapid succession. Pleased with the performance, I proceeded to disassemble the unit and return the pieces to the fitted case.

When I removed the flash tube, I noticed a roughness I hadn't experienced when assembling the unit. Closer examination showed that one of the contacts was seriously burned. Now flash overheating is a well-know fact of life, but in a world of speedlights powered by AA batteries, seldom encountered for the simple reason the the little AA batteries usually don't provide enough current to recharge a shoe-mounted flash to full power fast enough cause any damage to the flash itself. Here we had a flash and battery combination that could apparently reach peak output faster than the contacts could properly cool off.

Okay, I learned a serious lesson, and gave some additional thought to how I'll use this flash in the future. Before anything else, I'm going to attach a label on the dedicated flash controller that simply says "Slow Down",  a reminder that the unit needs to have time to cool off between shots. I'm sure this flash will become a suitable backup for one of the two Norman 200B units I routinely use for photographing the Adult School's Graduation Photo I do every year in June. I'll breathe a little easier knowing I have a backup should one of the Norman units get cranky on me.

I know that the catalog photo doesn't give you any idea of how large, or small, the unit is. I'll include some image of the flash "in action" when I have a chance to use it.

eVOLV 200 Earns Its Keep

Photo #1

Within the span of a single week this 200 Watt-Second wonder has simplified my setups for shots made out of doors. This shot, taken to illustrate an article in the Journal's Before The Court column, shows Judges from San Mateo County. I've photographed this group for a number of years, and everyone pretty much recognizes me, at least to the extent that they know I won't take up too much of their time.

In years past, I photographed the group on a short stairway in the lounge area next to the bar at a local luxury hotel. This year, however, somebody put a sculpture of Planet Earth right at the base of the stairs, eliminating it as this year's photo venue. After chatting with one of the Judges, I was told that the group would like the shot taken outdoors, a conclusion I had already come to.

A photo taken under these circumstances would have been  difficult were it  not for my (relatively) new dVOLV200 flash. I've mentioned it in other posts  but hadn't used it in the field. This shot was the second of two shots, take outdoors, where the flash served either as a key light (Photo #1) or a fill light (Photo #3).

Let's Talk Technique: I had lots of time to prepare for Photo #1, so I resorted to mounting the flash on a 12-foot light stand. Tall stands are essential for shooting large-ish groups because you need to put some distance between you and your subjects, and you need the altitude to minimize eyeglass glare and forehead shine. If I were forced to establish a rule of thumb, the height of your light stand, relative to your subjects, should be between one-half to two-thirds the distance between you and subject, assuming that your shoot at, or near, the  base of the light stand.

Posing Hint: One problem that I often encounter is a subject who wears his jacket unbuttoned. Honestly, it makes it look like donning the jacket was an afterthought. I've found that men's jackets are usually rendered unclosable as the result of good living or a cell phone hidden on the waist. It is for that reason that I tend to put the buttoned jackets in the first row, open jackets behind. You can see that a white shirt worn with a dark jacket is quite noticeable.

To fix this, I had my subject hold his coat shut with one hand. If I had him do what I've always called a  "French Parade Rest" (the hands are crossed in the front instead of the back), the illusion would have been complete. I chose the open coat version (Photo #1) because it was the only shot where everyone had their eyes open.

The improvement was dramatic, although I will remember to have my subject cross his hands next time.

Photo #2

When I started shooting groups with an off camera flash, I had mistakenly assumed that my shooting position wasn't critical. Location does matter, as I found out that if I moved between the light stand and my subjects, I risked casting my own shadow onto their smiling faces, something that looks a little odd. In Photo #2, you can see that several photographers standing behind me managed to cast their shadows on this group of Halloween emojis. Keep in mind that these photographers were actually being very considerate, standing behind me as they did. But it was the location of the light, no my shooting position, that was the key factor. It could have been solved by a higher flash position, but my stand was running out of elevation.

Photo #3

Photo #3 shows a much wider group, a higher degree of ambient light (blue sky bouncing off of the concrete). I still relied on the flash to provide my key light, but it was helped by the "volunteer" fill light provided by the sky. This gave the flash a welcomed boost. For the most part my subject's glasses are free from glare. I had only a minute to set up the shot, and spent most of that time arranging the subject.

Final Notes: Right now, I'm pretty happy with the performance of the flash. There are some important points I'd like to add, lest this post turn into an eVOLV love-fest.

• Always Carry Backup Lighting: In the case of Photo #1, I had two additional speedlights that I could have used in tandem to create a similar image.

• Always Bring A Change Of Batteries: I didn't bring a backup battery for the eVOLV, putting my faith in there being enough juice for a dozen shots. But every time I made a test shot, I wondered it I was getting close and closer to the point of kaput. And while I had backup flashes, it would have taken longer to deploy my backup system than to swap batteries.

Flash Controllers In Tandem

When I made the transition from Nikon's Creative Lighting System to a full manual lighting approach initiated by my shift to the Fuji system, I most missed the single, on-camera controller that allowed me to control my three groups of dedicated speedlights with my camera. My transition to a more traditional manual control process came slowly, and as a result, much of my Fuji centered light solutions required a mixture of different platforms being used.

Most recently, the star of my lighting show is the Flashpoint eVOLV 200 flash. The obvious selling points, namely the bare tube options and the 200 watt-second output, totally won me over, and as you can see, the controller is mounted directly on the camera, since this flash is normally the key light. The hot shoe on the top of the controller allows the user (me) to mount a second device, which could be a TTL flash or another radio controller.

For the Linkedin photos described in the last post, I mounted a radio controller, similar to the Pocket Wizard I installed for the photo, to control the background and kicker lights. This way I could control the key light with the lower controller and these two supplementary lights using the upper controller.

Making The Shot: Ever since I started "painting with flash" on my closeup product photos, I've tried to infuse a greater level of control with each new shot. Here, I'm centering up the background light around the uppermost flash controller. Before I started making these test shots, I devised a sequence align my subject, the background splash of light, and the camera I would use to make the actual photo.

• Step #1: Taking Camera and the Controllers: First, I mounted the taking camera, a Nikon D70s with a Macro Nikkor lens, on a tripod and aimed it towards a blank wall. Next, I moved a second tripod carrying the camera and the shoe-mounted controllers until they were nearly centered in the frame. Final framing adjustments were made at the camera position.

• Step #2: Aligning the Background Splash: Using a Nikon SB-800 speedlight with a Impact Strobros Snoot, I made exposures of the blank wall, adjusting the speedlight until the splash was in the center of the frame and behind the controllers.In the first and second shots of the triptych, you can see my first shot was low and to slightly to the right, the second just to the right, and the last shot spot on. You can see that the colored background was added for that last shot.

Why So Dark? I purposely underexposed the background splash because it would be triggered optically by my hand-held softbox. Since I planned on using eight pops, the background would received eight mini-splashes, which when added together would give me a suitable exposure.

Lighting The Subject: With everything in place, I turned out the room lights and set the exposure to 20 seconds. After I tripped the shutter, I used multiple pops from a speedlight mounted in a small, 12"x18" softbox to light my subject. I popped the flash a total of eight times, changing my position after each firing.

After this test, I noticed three things I didn't like. First of all, the controllers  looked a little static when they were turned off. Next, the lanyard attached to the Pocket Wizard was very distracting. Finally,two large hot spots appeared on the right surface of the controllers.

Removing the lanyard was easy enough, and I solved the glare problem by changing where I stood when I made the background exposures. By directing the light in a perpendicular path with the side of the controller, I was able to eliminate the hot spot.


This next attempt is very close to what I had in mind. I hadn't anticipated the overexposure of the LCD panel on the lower unit. I scratched my head over this one, but came up with a suitable work-around.

The LCD panel will light up when any of the control buttons are pressed, and will stay on for about 30 seconds. Up until now, I had turned it on, and immediately press the Nikon's shutter release to start to 20 second time exposure.

To decrease the brightness, I pressed one of the flash controller buttons, and counted to fifteen before tripping the shutter. This reduced the amount of "on time" relative to the exposure time, and resulted in the panel being a bit darker, just as I had hoped.

When looking at the final image, you can see that the numbers are barely visible, even with some judicious darkening/burning of the numbers. The LCD panel wasn't that bright to begin with, and the result is about as close as anybody could get considering the lack of contrast.

Ta-Dah! Here's the final shot. There was some judicious level adjustment and the work done to improve the visibility of the numbers and some cropping to straighten up the image, but other than that, nothing else was done.

Looking back I was a little surprised on how much stray light "landed" on my background, a problem I could have solved by moving the background farther away from the subject camera. I was working in a relatively small workspace, so such an adjustment wasn't practical. Also, the lower flash controller blends in with the subject camera, a problem easily solved by a lower camera angle.

Finally, it's important to know that because I am hand-holding the small softboxes, the lighting will vary slightly from shot to shot. Notice that when I solved the glare problem by changing my lighting position, I inadvertently removed the highlight necessary to separate the lower controller from the Fuji camera it was mounted on. I'll remember that when I have to make a similar shot under similar circumstances.

Portrait In The Park -The History of Big Basin

1/180 second, F20, ISO 400, Cloudy White Balance Preset. Lens 135mm equivalent

Some assignments become favorites not by the ease of their execution, but from the satisfaction that comes when a series of lighting challenges are addressed, resulting in a photo that was a close to prefect as could be made at that moment. This satisfaction was fleeting, for after the excitement has settled, I saw some things that I could have improved upon, and so the creative cycle starts once again.

In this case, the author of a book on the history of Big Basin was being interviewed by the paper, and a suitable photo was needed to accompany the article. As is often the case, there were stock photos, and many authors will offer them for the Journal's use. Some are simple candid shots, others the product of smart phones, but none seems to reproduce very well. Since I wanted to link her to the redwoods, I asked for suggestions on where the shot could be taken. After some discussion, we chose Shannon Park near in Redwood City.  Since I would have between 3:00 and 4:00 pm to make the photo, I drove to the park the day before to both locate a suitable background and to see what sort of light I'd have to work with. Luckily for me, I found some redwoods that would be back-lit during the session. And due to the landscaping, I could pose my subject on an elevated terrace that would allow me to shoot from a low angle. 

Left: Photo without supplementary flash. Right: Flashes used to brighten the background.

On the day of the shoot, I arrived about an hour early to give myself plenty of time to get set up. First, I took my light stand and set it to a height of 5' 7", my subject's actual height, and positioned it to take advantage of the background. By slightly changing my location, I could position the light stand, and later my subject, in a puddle of light created by an opening in the branches. Now if had used a tripod, the alignment could have been far more precise, but I decided to avoid the hassle of setting one up.

Note To Future Self: It hadn't occurred to me to mark the exact spot where I placed the light stand. This way, I could have had my subject stand in the exact same spot each time. Unfortunately for me, I chose for my "mark" a crack in the asphalt, and as you would expect, I forgot which crack it was. It would have been so easy to make an "X" with some gaffer tape on the ground, and simply remind my subject to stand on it. Oh well, next time.

If you re-examine the twin photos, you can see that the leaves of the tree are much brighter than the left hand image. This is because I placed a pair of flashes on the ground, pointing up at the lower branches for the second shot. This gave the background some necessary detail.

My main light source was  Adorama eVOLV 200 speedlight used with a collapsible softbox. It was positioned about 5' away from my subject's face, feathered slightly to improve the lighting "wrap" around her head. As the session progressed, my subject became very animated when discussing the Big Basin forest, so I simply asked to her to look up a bit to convey her enthusiasm for the grandeur of the great redwoods. It all seemed to work, and she was quite pleased when I showed her the image I had selected. I remember repeating "71, 71", to be sure that I submitted her favorite image from the shoot. 

Robbed Of Context: I got a hard-copy of the paper when I learned it had been published. I was a bit disappointed when I saw how it was cropped - tight on the face. Gone were the expressive hands, and with it, something of the essence of who this dedicated author really was. Under these circumstances, a straight on head shot might have been better, or been equally appropriate. Still, I really enjoyed this assignment, infected as I was by the enthusiasm of a very talented writer.

Working on location is both challenging and fun. I have managed to pack almost everything I needed into one rolling duffle bag. Cameras and accent lighting have their own bags, which makes coming onto the set fully equipped and ready for anything relatively easy.