Name: Flashpoint 2420A Monolight, 1200 Watt Second Fan Cooled Strobe, Includes Refelector, Flashtube, Modeling Lamp, Flashtube protector, Power cord & Sync Cord
Brand: Flashpoint
SKU: FP2420
Price: 424.95 USD
Availability: Discontinued
Rating: 3.8 (10 reviews)

Flashpoint 2420A Monolight, 1200 Watt Second Fan Cooled Strobe, Includes Refelector, Flashtube, Modeling Lamp, Flashtube protector, Power cord & Sync Cord

Flashpoint 2420A Monolight

Flashpoint

Flashpoint IIb FP2420 Monolight, 1200 Watt Second Strobe

Adorama

Photography

Lighting & Studio

Monolights & Strobes

Monolights

Flashpoint Monolights

Flashpoint 2420A Monolight 

Buy: Flashpoint 2420A Monolight, 1200 Watt Second Fan Cooled Strobe, Includes Refelector, Flashtube, Modeling Lamp, Flashtube protector, Power cord & Sync Cord Number of Heads: 1 Head, Power Type: AC, TTL Compatibility: Non-TTL

Unfortunately it is no longer being sold.  Can we sign a petition to get them to remanufacture them!  I need 2 more.  Does anyone have any for sale that are no longer using them?  I will buy them from you.

Best Bang for the Buck!

It is the best monolight for the money.  I is very accurate with exact output every time all day long.

Best Bang for the buck

I'm comparing this 2420 to the 900ws 1820 strobe.  

- metered output shows the 2420 gives you 2/3 stop more light.
- recycle time at full power is 3.5 seconds (identical to the 1820)
- at 1/2 power the 2420 produces the same light intensity as the 1820 at full power and recycles about a half second faster.
- It uses the Flashpoint II connector system, and it's a great deal smoother than the 1820, it has much less binding/grittiness and it feels much more refined.
- It's the same diameter but it's longer.  Tip to tip it's 22 inches long.  It's so long that I had to buy a new gear bag to hold it.  It is the largest strobe I've ever seen.  It has weight to match.  It makes the 1820 seem petite by comparison.
- It has a new light stand connector, I don't see any real functional difference between the two though.
- The back panel is a different design, it's similar but definitely a change.  Hopefully this also means they fixed the power supply problem that tends to kill the 1820 after a year or so of use.
- Same two year warranty which I think is crucial.  My 1820's have all failed and been warrantied.  I'll update my review in another year or so to speak about the 2420's durability.  
I don't think this is a matter of strength, I screwed up recently and had an 1820 at full extension, pulled it over so it fell right on it's reflector and killed the Cactus trigger that was on it.  Put it all back together and it powered right up and kept working.  The failure seems more like a power surge problem that kills something in the power supply area and occurs just by simply turning it off or unplugging it, I've never had a blown fuse either. 

It's hard to recommend this monolight, right now I'll say that unless you MUST have that extra 2/3 stop that the 2420 provides,  I'd stick with the 1820 strobe due to weight and size.

Nice, but huge

I received this powerful 1200WS Monolight with great expectations.  The unit is sturdy and appears to be well built.  The one thing I did not like was the alignment of the modeling lamp to the flashtube, it was almost touching in one location and I was concerned with travel, it would damage the tube.

I found the 4 stops of adjustment to be very limiting especially for portraits, but you can use a modifier which lowers the light output.  This is a 1200WS unit after all and would be well suited for outside portraits and large room use, such as churches.  Just to give you an idea of the power of this light, at a GN of 320, that is f/32 at 10' and f/11 at 1/8 power.  So you should be able to bounce this light off of a side wall in church and light up the whole front during formals.  Faster setup than two or more Speedlights with umbrellas, etc. and a whole lot more powerful.

The flash duration is typical of a voltage controlled flash and not fast enough to stop action for sports photography.  

This is a good and powerful monolight at a very good price with many uses where raw power and fairly consistent color balance is needed (a lot better than Speedlights).  Couple it with a Paul Buff Vagabond Mini, and you have a nice portable/powerful light.

I returned my unit because my PocketWizard FlexTT5's would not trigger the unit when connected to the sync.  I know the sync input worked, because both my camera and Sekonic meter fired the flash when connected via sync cord.  My FlexTT5's work fine with the Flashpoint 1200's, so I don't know what changed.  I would of kept it if it had not been for this.

Very powerful flash for the price.

This is very good monolight in terms of what you get for the money.  The unit is very durable and the build quality is very high.  In my experience the only drawback is long recycle times at full power (4-5 seconds).

Very good light for the money

I use this product for portrait photography of both people and objects. Very useful when bright light is needed with a softbox for large groups or darkened areas. Easy to use and reliable.

Exceptional Monolight

If you absolutely need 1,200ws of power on a budget, look no further. Most other lights with this much power cost around 10 times as much, and offer very little extra value for the money. 

At 10ft with the standard reflector fitted you can get a solid f/90 @ 200 iso & 1/125. In other words balancing with the sun in the middle of the day is no problem at all. Even with a large softbox and both baffles attached you can still overpower the sun with the right working distance. Just be prepared to bring along some ND filters if you want to shoot a modest stop. 

I was actually surprised just how durable the light is. It's made of solid metal and only uses plastic on the back control panel. It can handle rough use and abuse like any pro model should. I recommend picking up the larger flash tube cover though, because the one it ships with doesn't fit the modeling light. 

In terms of controls the fully analog power dial is great for getting the exposure just right without having to move the light. It has about 10 indents between each power setting, and 14 from 1/2 to 1/1 power. Do note that it only goes down to 1/16 though, which is still pretty powerful. Don't expect to put it just out of frame and still be able to shoot a f/2.8, even with a big octa or softlighter. Again, ND filters can solve the problem, but it's not ideal if working in low light already. 

The optical slave is excellent, and does the job just fine if you aren't using radio triggers of some kind. I haven't tested it much outside (where pocketwizards are best anyway), but indoors its completely reliable and positioned well. The variable power on the modeling light is very useful if you're using multiple units in a studio setting, since you can begin to dial in ratios by eye before ever breaking out the light meter or camera. 

One huge plus about the flashpoint system is there are a ton of accessories and softboxes available for it that are also significantly less expensive than most brands, yet often equal or better in quality. 

Recycle times are as advertised. It's reasonable at full power (about two seconds), and immediate at 1/16 power. At 1/16 power you can get about 5fps for a few shots if the light is plugged into a wall. Of course the recycle times slow a bit if using a vagabond or other portable power unit. From my testing the light seems to work reliably with every type of power source I've thrown at it, from the vagabond (1 & 2), the innvatronix explorer xt, 100ft extension cords, to massive 750amp generator trucks. 

There are a few small issues however. Nothing that gets in the way, but things to take note of. 

For one, the umbrella mount isn't super secure. If using large umbrellas outdoors I highly recommend securing them in place with some gaffers tape. It take a good bit of wind to remove one from the light, but it can happen if you aren't careful.

Another thing to look out for is the color temperature shift when adjusting the power. The color temperature is consistent at each power setting, but do note the slight overall shift. At 1/1 power it is a standard 5,600k, but at 1/16 it drops to about 5,000k. That's not as much as some other lights, but it's clearly worse than the lights that cost 10 times as much. 

One disadvantage of this light versus high end profotos, elichroms, etc is the relatively slow flash duration. Don't expect to freeze breaking glass like a speedlight can. If you shoot basketball for instance, these are not the lights for you. Likewise the power doesn't ramp up fast enough to get a completely clean frame at 1/250. Sure a profoto 7b can, but again, that is many times the cost of this monolight. On my D3 I generally limit myself to 1/160, but most often shoot at 1/125. However, if you throw some faster lights in the mix as fill (speedlights for instance), you can get a clean frame at 1/250 easily. That said, max power is achieved at 1/125, and 1/250 lowers the power by about a stop. 

For general use in portrait shooting these lights are excellent, and a great value for the money. If you need the most bang for you buck in terms of power for shooting outdoors or with big groups, don't hesitate to get one (or a few). However, if you're using sports with them I would recommend looking elsewhere. 

Consider the price to performance, I give these a solid 5/5.

Great deal on a high power monolight

Had it for a couple days. Used for portraits, interiors, still life. I checked it's power settings with minolta autometer VI and 1200w/s lives up to it's claim. I previously tried the 320A which had the same power as my 285hv but returned it b/c of faulty optical slave. I like the power of this one as it allows to add modifiers which will take up 1+ stops of light. The color of this light seems fine, also with the 32"x48" softbox attached. I have used Profoto 7As w. chimera's etc. and this seems to have good enough color value for my general purposes (not sure about flash duration on these, need to test some breaking glass). I believe the tube may also be uv coated for you wedding dress photogs... [...] you can get the kit with grid reflectors/grids, snoots, 3 sizes of beauty dish / softlight reflector[...] and various softboxes. So far so good, wish safety cap was big enough for modelling light, and for the grid reflectors to be standard.

good so far

Very bad color, lighting looks like its from a bad on-camera flash.Not worth saving the money from other brands.

Flashpoint 2420A Monolight, 1200 Watt Second Fan Cooled Strobe, Includes Refelector, Flashtube, Modeling Lamp, Flashtube protector, Power cord & Sync Cord

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