My personal 'lighting tier list' where do you guys stand?

[alexning]

After spending way too much time (and money) on different kits, I’ve started categorising brands in my head. I’m curious to see if this aligns with your experiences or if I’m totally off the mark.

To me, Profoto and the Aputure LS series are the proper workhorses. You pay the premium, but they just work every time you flip the switch. Then you’ve got Godox, especially the AD range, which has been a total game changer for the money, even if the build quality feels a bit "plastic" compared to the high-end stuff.

At the bottom, I’d put the entry-level bits like Neewer or Amaran. Great for starting out or as a backup, but I wouldn't trust them for a mission-critical shoot.

Just my two pence based on my own setup (mostly FX3 for video and some stills). What’s your "never again" or "must have" brand?

 

[Garry Edwards]

A lot of this is just personal preference.

To me, the first-tier flash lighting is Bron, nothing else comes close, but the prices are beyond the reach of many of us, and I don't like their accessory mounting system.
Profoto make good products at a premium price, but (to me) they aren't worth the money, they are better than many but poor VFM.

Godox now totally dominates the market, because of their monopoly position. They started out by selling them to anyone and everyone who would stock them, resulting in a total lack of customer service, but people bought them because they were cheap, with competing sellers working on wafer-thin profit margins. They were never cheap in terms of factory gate prices, but the public didn't care about that, inevitably leading to their market domination. They are now a very large Company, they have diversified into other product types, lighting is no longer their only concern, and their prices are increasing all the time. Most of their products are adequate, but they're nothing special. And their approach to customer service isn't good, they leave it entirely to their dealers, with very limited support, so customers need to choose their dealer with care. This isn't a dig at Godox, their approach is pretty typical of Chinese manufacturers.

I know nothing about Amaran, but I believe that they only make continuous lighting, and if that's right then they are of little use to still photographers.

Neewer is a bit of an oddity. They started off (and largely remain) as a cheap re-brander, so there can be wide quality variations between products, but they've moved on. They now have their own range too, made in their own factory. These tend to be fairly specialised items, I've been able to test some of them because their UK stockist is Lencarta, and because of this I have access, and many of these products are impressive, but not cheap.

I think that we can worry too much about brands. There used to be some terrible products out there, but the internet has changed all that and the few remaining junk products are now obviously junk, and can be ignored - the same with many other products, e.g. cars, online reviews have killed bad products.

What really matters, apart from knowledge, care and skill, is the modifiers that we fit to our lights, badly designed and badly-made modifiers affect quality far more than flash heads. Sadly, the market has changed for modifiers too, and it's becoming increasingly difficult to get good modifiers, especially softboxes, because the public tends to go for the cheapest - they'll spend thousands on lenses, which they typically only use for displaying low-res web images, but won't spend a few £ more to get a decent softbox The sellers know this, and have largely stopped selling good ones. And, on the subject of modifiers, the main availability is S-fit, which again steers people towards Godox.

 

[sk66]

I've never personally owned high end lights (I have used them on occasion). To me the price wasn't/isn't justified. And the reliability isn't really a big concern IMO; because whatever you are using you're going to need/want backups. And I've never owned anything that was complete junk (unreliable, failure prone, etc). That said, I've also never owned offbrand Ebay special kind of kit either.

Currently I just have a few small Godox AD lights that I use (indoor/outdoor). I've still got a couple higher power monolights, but I have no need for them; I'm not even certain where they are at the moment.

 

[alexning]

A lot of this is just personal preference.

To me, the first-tier flash lighting is Bron, nothing else comes close, but the prices are beyond the reach of many of us, and I don't like their accessory mounting system.
Profoto make good products at a premium price, but (to me) they aren't worth the money, they are better than many but poor VFM.

Godox now totally dominates the market, because of their monopoly position. They started out by selling them to anyone and everyone who would stock them, resulting in a total lack of customer service, but people bought them because they were cheap, with competing sellers working on wafer-thin profit margins. They were never cheap in terms of factory gate prices, but the public didn't care about that, inevitably leading to their market domination. They are now a very large Company, they have diversified into other product types, lighting is no longer their only concern, and their prices are increasing all the time. Most of their products are adequate, but they're nothing special. And their approach to customer service isn't good, they leave it entirely to their dealers, with very limited support, so customers need to choose their dealer with care. This isn't a dig at Godox, their approach is pretty typical of Chinese manufacturers.

I know nothing about Amaran, but I believe that they only make continuous lighting, and if that's right then they are of little use to still photographers.

Neewer is a bit of an oddity. They started off (and largely remain) as a cheap re-brander, so there can be wide quality variations between products, but they've moved on. They now have their own range too, made in their own factory. These tend to be fairly specialised items, I've been able to test some of them because their UK stockist is Lencarta, and because of this I have access, and many of these products are impressive, but not cheap.

I think that we can worry too much about brands. There used to be some terrible products out there, but the internet has changed all that and the few remaining junk products are now obviously junk, and can be ignored - the same with many other products, e.g. cars, online reviews have killed bad products.

What really matters, apart from knowledge, care and skill, is the modifiers that we fit to our lights, badly designed and badly-made modifiers affect quality far more than flash heads. Sadly, the market has changed for modifiers too, and it's becoming increasingly difficult to get good modifiers, especially softboxes, because the public tends to go for the cheapest - they'll spend thousands on lenses, which they typically only use for displaying low-res web images, but won't spend a few £ more to get a decent softbox The sellers know this, and have largely stopped selling good ones. And, on the subject of modifiers, the main availability is S-fit, which again steers people towards Godox.

That's a very insightful take, thank you for sharing.

I’m definitely more of a pragmatist. Since I don't often do high-end commercial shoots that require the absolute reliability of Broncolor or Profoto, I tend to prioritize system redundancy—having a few backups is more important to me than the brand name.

You're spot on about modifiers, too. The quality of the light often comes down to what's in front of it rather than the head itself. As for Amaran, you're right—they’ve really carved out a niche for the YouTube and TikTok crowd where color accuracy and app control matter more than flash performance.

I really appreciate the perspective. It’s a good reminder to focus on the craft and the tools that actually fit the job.