Studio lighting is LED in a new direction

An emerging Chinese company, Mmbel, have unveiled a new format of flash units they describe as a "breakthough in digital studio lighting technology [that] will change photography forever!"

Mmbel Digital LED Studio Flash

Mmbel Digital LED Studio Flash

An emerging Chinese company, Mmbel, have unveiled a new format of flash units they describe as a “breakthough in digital studio lighting technology [that] will change photography forever!” In a break from traditional “barrel”-shaped studio lights, Mmbel’s Digital Studio Flash MB-301 is a cross between a monolight and an LED panel, featuring a flash tube in the centre of a large rectangular array.

Mmbel Digital LED Studio Flash

According to the company, using an LED modelling lamp is advantageous because of the vastly reduced amount of heat it will emit compared to a traditional halogen bulb. The heads will accept umbrellas, barndoors, grids, colour filters and dedicated softboxes. Fan-cooled and mains-powered, both the continuous LEDs and the flash (up to 600Ws) brightness will be digitally adjustable via a rear control panel. It’s unclear whether models with brighter flash tubes will feature more diodes.

Specifications

Model MB-301-200 MB-301-300 MB-301-400 MB-301-600
Flash Energy 200Ws 300Ws 400Ws 600Ws
Guide Number 42 52 62 75
Recycle Time 2-3 sec 2-3 sec 2.5-3 sec 3-4 sec

There are currently no known distributors of the Mmbel Digital Studio Flash MB-301 series. For more information, please visit the company web site and Alibaba page.

Are they bonkers, or is this a good idea? Have your say in the comments below.

David Selby
David is a keen photographer and has been editor of Lighting Rumours since 2010. When not writing about lighting, he works as a data scientist at the University of Manchester, UK.
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