Phoxle Flash-Match Filters

Nikolai

Review by Nikolai Sklobovsky, www.PhotoSoCal.com



I had a chance to field-test Phoxle’s new product, Flash-Match Filters.

The kit consists of a sturdy plastic holder with a quick release lanyard and a little booklet with 5 self-adhesive gel filters inside. The booklet is held together by a simple rubber band, so it’s very easy to take out only the one or a couple that you need, if, for whatever reason, you don’t want to carry the whole thing.

The filters inside are:

1. Light orange 5,600K à 5,000K
2. Medium orange 5,600K à 4,000K
3. Darker orange 5,600K à 3,100K
4. Light blue 6,500K à 8,000K
5. Darker blue 6,500K à 10,000K

Each filter can be easily peeled off the laminated booklet sheet and attached to a working surface of Canon 580EX or a similar hot-shoe mounted flash. After performing this operation a few dozen times I didn’t notice any residue neither on the sheets, nor on the flash. Each filter has a non-sticky peel handle with the company logo on it and a small print with the color temperature and a little “hint glyph” on the opposite side of the film.

I am not going to cover the theory of the flash color matching here. Suffice to say that the provided selection will cover a vast variety of the fairly typical cases, such as tungsten, fluorescent, shade, direct sun, sunrise/sunset, high altitude, etc. My test shots (direct sunlight, shade, tungsten and fluorescent) proved that for each of these scenarios one of the Phoxle filters gave a nice match to the ambient light as opposed to the open flash. I used all 5 filters plus open flash for each of the four typical lighting scenarios I could easily find at home/on location. I shot RAW in AE mode, thus using my 580EXII in ETTL mode as a fill flash. Later I simply set the White Balance in ACR4 according to the original shooting environment (Daylight, Shade, Tungsten, and Fluorescent). In each case one of the filters gave me nicely balanced picture.
The test results can be seen here: http://nik.smugmug.com/gallery/4788446_pBJbp

Overall my feelings boiled down to the following:

What I liked

• Nice convenient product at an affordable price
• Filter size matches 580 working surface height-wise perfectly
• Non-residue self-adhesive system is very convenient and easy to use.
• Package is very easy to carry, either with the holder or without it (see below).

What I didn’t like

• The aforementioned height perfection requires nearly perfect application technique. A smallest tilt (application at an angle) or shift (lower/higher) leaves part of the flash working surface exposed, thus leading to a light spill. Not a show stopper and very easy to fix, but I’d say I would prefer a larger height margin so I wouldn’t have to be accurate to a fraction of a millimeter.
• A relatively thick “handle” may prevent (or at least make a bit inconvenient) the usage of many popular snap-on diffusers made of relatively hard plastic, such as Omnibox, etc.

What I would like to ask for

• I got a feeling that the plastic holder is responsible for a fair chunk of the price. Considering the fact that the booklet can be easily and safely carried in the internal pocket of the 580 standard issue case or in one of the many pockets of your favorite camera bag, I would prefer not to have the bulky holder and see the price drop of $10..$15
• Since the length of the filters is wider that 580 anyway, I really don’t see why not increase the height by about 0.7 cm. This would hit two very nice targets at once:
  First, you don’t have to use a micrometer to apply the gel to 580 (all margins will be large enough), and, second, they will completely cover the working surface of such off-camera flashes as Sunpak’s, thus making this filter set much more versatile.
• I would like to be able to buy extra booklet sheets with additional colors for special effects. I’m not asking for turning this set into a Rosco swatch book, but… yeah, I guess I am :wink
  Seriously, a dozen or so of basic colors, like two-three shades of red, green, yellow and purple would make a great Extended edition and would not drill the hole in one’s wallet.

HTH

Scott_Quier

Nice review Nik. Thanks - I've been wondering about this product for a while. Too bad they don't fit the Sunpak 622 flash heads. I would be all over these like white on rice!

jeffreaux2

Good review Nik.

I had done my own review a week or so ago. (link below)
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?p=812881#post812881

One comment I can make for certain is that I have use one of these gels in conjunction with a Gary Fong Lightshere. I attatched the sphere first. Then pulled the lid off and reached inside to attach the gel. Easy as pie.

I don't think it would work on an omnibounce.

Nikolai

Scott: thanks, buddy!
Jeff: thank you, nice review, too!

Ham1

jeffreaux2 wrote:

Good review Nik.

I had done my own review a week or so ago. (link below)
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?p=812881#post812881

One comment I can make for certain is that I have use one of these gels in conjunction with a Gary Fong Lightshere. I attatched the sphere first. Then pulled the lid off and reached inside to attach the gel. Easy as pie.

I don't think it would work on an omnibounce.

These are both really good reviews. We are deciding whether this should belong in ClubSmug www.smugmug.com/clubsmug

Markham

ChrisP6

Great Review, Thanks & Questions
Nikolai, great & thorough review & feedback -- thanks!

Scott, I want to make the changes that will get you all over these "like white on rice!"

I did have a couple of (minor) corrections:
* The case is actually made of aluminum and plastic, and no, it doesn't add much to the cost of the set. Also, as I pointed out in Jeff's related thread, it's a very neutral color, and can be used as a gray target in a pinch. Having said that, I hear the request for something thinner and more compact.
* The targeted color shifts all start from 6500K and shift to 3100K, 4000K, 5000K, 8000K and 10000K. I know that 6500K seems a little high or "cool," but I based it on measuring a variety of Canon, Nikon and Quantum flashes that all tested from 6,000 to 6500K. Many flashes got "cooler" with shorter duration flashes too, which seemed to be typical in fill flash applications.

Regarding the suggestions -- they're all valued and appreciated.
* Size: Nikolai, you suggested making them bigger, so they would be easier to apply without worrying about spill light around the edges of the filter, but I've also gotten feedback that they should be shorter, so they don't interfere with diffuser attachments. My sense is that I need a larger size for bigger flashes, but that a smaller size that fits entirely within the frame of the 580-size flash lens might be the best way to address the diffuser interference issue. If I had both, people could choose. Regardless, I'm pretty sure the effect of the small spill-light due to slight misalignments is negligible, or nearly so.

Scott, I think you want the larger size. What's the perfect size to get you to the point of "white-on-rice?" They're currently 33mm x 81mm. Nikolai's suggestion of 7mm higher would make them 40mm x 81mm.

* Cheaper: Always a good goal. The cost of the holder is actually a small part of the whole, but we'll keep driving to do more for less to raise the value over time.

* More colors: Yes! The real question here is priority. The request so far have been for CTS-like warming colors, Fluorescent, other specialty (e.g. Mecury Vapor, Sodium), and effects.

Thanks again for all of the feedback. It's fantastic to know what you're thinking, and be given the chance to improve.

Chris
Phoxle Founder

Nikolai

ChrisP6 wrote:

Nikolai, great & thorough review & feedback -- thanks!
...
Thanks again for all of the feedback. It's fantastic to know what you're thinking, and be given the chance to improve.

Chris
Phoxle Founder

Chris,
glad I could help. I know it's impossible to please everyone, so don't sweat it. I'm sure you will add more features in the future, but you already have a very nice product as it is..

schmoo

Nikolai, mind if I throw this into the Gear Reviews?

Nikolai

schmoo wrote:

Nikolai, mind if I throw this into the Gear Reviews?

Not at all, please do:-)

Scott_Quier

ChrisP6 wrote:

Scott, I think you want the larger size. What's the perfect size to get you to the point of "white-on-rice?" They're currently 33mm x 81mm. Nikolai's suggestion of 7mm higher would make them 40mm x 81mm.

Thanks again for all of the feedback. It's fantastic to know what you're thinking, and be given the chance to improve.

Chris
Phoxle Founder

The WOR factor would include

• Another size to fit my Sunpak 622 flashes (rectangular, approx 9.5mm x 6.5mm)
• Including a series to offset/compensate for florescent lighting. Don't drop any that are already there, but include this as well. Obviously, pricing would have to change to reflect the wider selection. Or, allow customers to customize the selection of gels in "their" collection.
• The case being not only neutral in color, but also not shiny - no specular highlights - this would be a goodnes

Nikolai

Scott_Quier wrote:

...Another size to fit my Sunpak 622 flashes (rectangular, approx 9.5mm x 6.5mm)
...

I'm sure you meant CM not MM

Scott_Quier

Nikolai wrote:

I'm sure you meant CM not MM

Uh, :bash

Or maybe I meant 95mm x 65mm?

Either way, I slipped a decimal there somewhere!

ChrisP6

Scott_Quier wrote:

Uh, :bash

Or maybe I meant 95mm x 65mm?

Either way, I slipped a decimal there somewhere!

Scott -- Thanks. Sorry I didn't see this sooner, but the instant-e-mail notification for the thread didn't ping me the way I thought it would.

schmoo

Sorry about the delay, but the review is finally up. Great job Nik and Phoxle!

Nikolai

schmoo wrote:

Sorry about the delay, but the review is finally up. Great job Nik and Phoxle!

No worries and there was no rush! Thank you, appreciate it!