Today I shot “Photo Day” for students at a music/drama school all day. Fun!
And in the middle of the shoot, one more of my Opus lights broke. This 250 Ws monolight totally stopped working -maybe blew a fuse? – in mid shoot. I had a spare – but that now makes 8 out of 9 Opus lights I have ever bought that have broken. An incredible ratio.
Nadel, the Canadian importer, says:
These unit were designed for the “Home User” looking to experiment with strobe lighting with out paying the premium for professional lights. [ ] Your current Opus lights do carry a 2 year warranty. Just return the units to the point of purchase with proof of purchase and they will facilitate the repair process.
For home users? Interesting then that these lights say “FOR COMMERCIAL USE ONLY” on them. Warranty is a moot point if 8 out of 9 break. So now I need to do work and the replacements will also break, if the 8 out of 9 total is statistically significant. Which it is.
Fortunately, the Bowens lights I use for most shooting are excellent.
The importer wrote to me again. This time they say:
So they use their own words back to me, in an odd tautology. The fact is, those words were their words. The light say “For Commercial Use Only”. Eight of of nine failures: I’ll let the facts speak.
I wouldn’t say that shooting a music school is exactly demanding.
As for home use, huh? Really? What exactly should I be shooting at home for which the Opus lights would be suitable???
Indeed. If I were firing these 1,000 times a day every day, sure. But 100 flashes a day a few times a year should not kill a light.
And printing “For Commercial Use Only” on the light and then saying the above does not impress.