Kala in black and the Jinbei MSN II versus DPsIII

Another shoot done in Poland. I completed quite a few over the previous several days, mostly with Klaudia Danch, who appears on this site constantly anyway. Karolina Zientek was there as the makeup artist, with Mateusz "Pro" Prociak assisting, so the whole team was together again. This was another shoot using Jinbei MSN II lights. Today I’ll describe them in greater detail and compare them with the DPsIII.

I had already written that Bangkok made me a little lazy, exactly as everyone who lived there had warned me it would… I was supposed to do one shoot after another, yet I didn’t do a single one for six months. Instead of taking photos, I watched movies, went out, and did everything unrelated to photography. I didn’t hold a camera once during that time. This was mainly because I moved into a smaller apartment—or at least that was my explanation. In my previous place, all the studio equipment could remain set up without getting in the way. After the move, it stayed in a closet and would have needed to go back there after every shoot; otherwise I would trip over it. The conclusion was simple: I needed to move again. Just thinking about moving everything was exhausting, though. The best solution would be to rent an empty warehouse-like room specifically for a studio. It would be spacious and tall enough, but it would have to be extremely close to where I lived. I had already considered renting a separate space but hadn’t tried to make it happen. This time I thought I probably would—at last I would have some motivation to take photos. I would see how things went and decide around October.

The shoot

Returning to the shoot with Klaudia: as usual, almost the entire thing was improvised. We didn’t know what photos we would take, but we knew we would take some. Karolina couldn’t attend the shoot, so she did the model’s makeup at her place beforehand. Pro couldn’t be there from the beginning, although he arrived for the later shots. He missed this one, for example:

Nikon D700 | Nikkor 135mm 2D DC | f/8 | 1/200 | ISO 200

There isn’t much to describe because I shoot almost every beauty image of this kind in the same way, and I had already written countless explanations: a beauty dish, rim lights in stripboxes, a light on the background, and an umbrella on the floor. The umbrella happened to be missing this time. That was mainly because the beauty dish was closer and lower than usual, which illuminated the eyes reasonably well. I use the umbrella only to create catchlights and brighten the irises. In truth, I think I simply forgot it… The result would still have been better with the umbrella. It just wasn’t as essential as usual, so I failed to notice its absence. The rim lights were mainly for the hair, which otherwise would have become a black patch in many places.

Nikon D700 | Nikkor 135mm 2D DC | f/8 | 1/200 | ISO 200

The second photo used the same setup, but because Klaudia had turned sideways, the light on her face became completely different. Normally, I would move the lamp farther to the right in this situation so that a shadow appeared on the cheek.

I processed both photos using the D2X Mode 1 v4 color profile rather than DX2 Mode 2 v4, which I used almost every other time. That’s why the colors differ slightly from my usual work. This treatment suited these particular photos better.

Jinbei MSN II versus Jinbei DPsIII

Enough about the setup… The lights are today’s real subject. I had recently promised a more detailed description of what I was using: the Jinbei Milestone New II, commonly called MSN II. On one hand, these lights were inexpensive for their power and specification, which might suggest that nothing good could come of them. On the other, the manufacturer was Jinbei, the company behind the DPsIII. For a year, I had considered that model the best value for money and simultaneously the cheapest light suitable for my work as a main light. I’ll say immediately that the MSN II turned out to be very good and offered value as strong as the DPsIII. Despite their similar power and price, however, they were completely different products with markedly different specifications.

The Jinbei MSN II offers an enormous power range, down to 1/128, while 1/32 is standard and is the minimum available on the DPsIII. You also don’t need to worry about radio receivers because both models have them built in. Buying the transmitter is enough; nothing has to be plugged into the lights. The transmitter can adjust power as well, although not in the way I wanted with the MSN.

The lights can’t be grouped. If five MSN II units are assigned to the same channel, their power changes simultaneously. The transmitter also lacks a display showing the current settings. Treat it more as a radio trigger than as a proper remote control. The DPsIII is better in terms of radio control.

Both models use halogen modeling lamps of similar power: 250 W for the DPsIII and 300 W for the MSN II. Having at least 200 W was quite important to me because a large gridded beauty dish absorbs a great deal of light. Remember that the modeling lamp is useful not only for checking the distribution of light and assisting autofocus; it also affects the final photos by determining how the model’s eyes look. The irises can be large or barely visible because the pupils dilate when there isn’t enough light. With Klaudia, the difference wasn’t particularly obvious because her irises are very dark. Unfortunately, the MSN II doesn’t allow the modeling-light power to be set manually. It either runs at maximum power or proportionally to the flash output, although it can of course be turned off completely.

The MSN II has a UV filter that theoretically reduces the appearance of veins beneath the skin. In practice, its greatest value is simply as additional protection for the flash tube and modeling lamp if the unit is struck accidentally. A few years earlier, only very expensive lights included a guard like this.

Another specification favoring the MSN II is its extremely short flash duration, closer to a speedlight than a studio strobe. This is a very rare feature. It means that even if the model is dancing energetically on a stage, you don’t need to worry about motion blur. Even a photographer with Parkinson’s wouldn’t trouble it. For anyone shooting sports or other dynamic subjects, this feature alone could decide the purchase in favor of the MSN II.

The rest is more conventional: a Bowens mount, replaceable flash tube, dial-based adjustment with settings shown on an LCD, an optical slave, and an audible signal. Everything is controlled from a panel on the rear.

Behind the scenes

Behind-the-scenes photos from the full-length shots taken later, because nobody was available to photograph the beauty setup.

Summary

I focused on the most powerful 800 Ws models, although weaker versions were also available. You could see every model and its price here: link. I also used the 400 Ws versions for rim lights and the background.

If I had to choose between the DPsIII and MSN II, I would still face a dilemma, although most readers wouldn’t. Here’s why: the MSN wins in many respects, but I don’t shoot conventional portraits or product photography, so I would never use such an extensive power range. The Milestone New II is lighter and recycles faster, but I could tolerate both disadvantages in exchange for more convenient radio control, even though the DPsIII system wasn’t perfect either. For someone without requirements as specific as mine, however, the MSN II was clearly the more versatile model and the one I would recommend as a light “for everything.” If you know of a competitor to the MSN II with similar specifications and price, let me know. If one existed, I would try to test it in practice. I didn’t think it had a direct competitor on the Polish market. Other options were cheaper and worse, or better but much more expensive.

Equipment for the shoot was provided by Fripers.pl

P.S.

I might update this post with full-length photos. I’ll announce it on my fan page.