Chris, I'm not going to make any suggestions, but I will share what
I'm currently doing. (as of February 2021):
1. For more serious setup photography I'm using stand mounted monobloc
style lights with umbrellas or softboxes. That takes care of the
serious stuff for portraiture and product style photography.
2. For portable photography where I need a reasonably powerful
fill-flash, I'm using the oldie-but-goodie Vivitar 285HV flash with
modifiers.
3. If I'm just trying to lighten the eyes and soften facial features a
touch, the built-in pip-squeek flash in our digital cameras is more
than adequate. Seriously, it works pretty well.
4. For fill lighting as well as macro photography, I now am using the
small LED panels. My recent Christmas gift to myself is the Phottix
M200R RGB Light. It has the same form-factor as a cellphone. I've also
got a super inexpensive Sunpak that takes four AA batteries. The only
disadvantages to the RGB light is two-fold. It's not very powerful as
compared to a 285HV on full song, and it is continuous light, so I'm
less likely to be using it for random fill shots during event shoots.
As far as power is concerned, it's not too far off from the pip-squeek
flash in the cameras.
For myself, I am likely to pick up a couple more LED panels. If a
version came out that allowed for flash sync (only on for exposures),
along with twice the output power, that would be a near-perfect
combination. As it is, since the modern digital cameras are so good at
ISO 1600 (give or take a couple stops), I have little problem
balancing the LED light with ambient. Mid-day, Arizona summer sun
might be a problem, but I'm here, not there.
AK Schnozz
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