For those of you that are unaware, a couple of weeks ago, the U.K. online photography retailer WEX photographic, quietly informed the committee that Bowens was coming back and to numerous, myself included, this was a huge surprise.

In sometime January 2019, the online photographic retailer told’ Bowens is Back’ Why Was it So Surprising?

It was surprising because in July 2017, Bowens went into extermination and nobody’s heard a utterance from them since, so understandably we all thought that was the last we’d ever hear of them. But to hear good-for-nothing for nearly two years and then receive the’ Bowens is Back’ statement from an online photographic retailer of all parties was certainly odd.

But is it genuine? Is Bowens, one of the oldest move studio illuminate productions, certainly back?

Well before I go into the details of their resurgence, let me immediately inform some of you on how we got now, why I’m even is speaking to it and how some of these companies are connected.

Bowens as a company was founded in 1923 and by the 1950 s “its one” of the largest of its nature in Europe. The fellowship insured great success for many years and was well known for producing incredibly reliable and durable studio illuminating tops “thats been” the workhorse of many a busy studio.

Bowens too developed what is now the most commonly used lighting feeling organize in the world to be allocated to as the’ S-Fit attachment’. This attachment method spawned innumerable photocopies that ultimately resulted in the Bowens head having thousands of practicable igniting affections from all corners of the globe. This unintended proliferation is, in my opinion, one of the reasons for the Bowens success early on as many third-party manufacturers were developing awfully cost effective modifiers for their studio strobes and ultimately its users.

But regrettably, I also think this proliferation of the S-Fit was ultimately one of the causes of their downfall. Before long, competitively priced Chinese strobe corporations like Godox began creating S-Fit strobes that were good enough for all to use and at world prices point to see them sideline the bigger Bowens.

Bowens was surely fighting and in June 2016, the German investment company AURELIUS bought Bowens. The following financial year, in July 2017, Bowens went into liquidation and AURELIUS shut it down perfectly soon after. We’ve examined good-for-nothing from them until now.

So Where Does WEX Photographic Fit Into All of This?

As I were mentioned, the German investment company AURELIUS bought the Bowens brand back in 2016, but they likewise acquired Calumet as well as WEX Photographic.( To my international pals, WEX Photographic is( now) our largest online photographic retailer here in the U.K .)

In July 2017, AURELIUS then announced that they were’ merging’ Calumet into WEX to’ furnish an improved suffer and wide range of topics of concoctions to photographers from all the regions of the U.K.’ And once more, we never heard from them again.

Calumet announcers its consolidate with WEX Photographic back in July 2017.

So to recap; AURELIUS bought Calumet, WEX Photographic, and Bowens. AURELIUS then merged Calumet into WEX and closed Bowens. So what we’re left with is not WEX being the last adult standing but likewise the public face of AURELIUS and it’s photographic assets. The highlighted the importance of this will be more evident as we find out about the future of the Bowens brand.

Before Bowens is entered into liquidation in 2017, I was part of their Pro Team whereupon I equipped training courses for their customers and retailers. I currently have no relationship with Bowens now though. Why Do You Care, Jake?

Just to be clear, I currently have no relationship with Bowens, WEX, or any of these other fellowships in question and I am writing and sharing this due to my own personal curiosity and interest , good-for-nothing more.

In the past, I was a major part of Team Bowens which is mainly means I would test their brand-new produces, write articles for them and provide training to the public as well as their distributors around the globe. But that relationship unexpectedly dissolved when Bowens went into extermination in 2017. I know there was a lot of antagonism at the time from hires both here and in China in respect of the hasty Bowens ending, but I can only are of the view that I received all the money I was owed for the job I provided for them, hence I can’t comment on that. My target here is that I have no ill will towards them.

As a part of Team Bowens, I did receive the new Bowens XMT strobes to experiment and use. As it stands today, I still use all Bowens heads for my date to daylight commercial work as well as my workshops and training. Since Bowens’ ending in 2017, I have been contacted by various illuminating companies to use their makes and although money is always a factor, I still choose to use my age-old Bowens heads as I enjoy using them.

I felt it important to attain that agreement and although I have no official relationship with Bowens I still have contacts is not merely with them but their aged distributors as well. But upon see in my emails that’ Bowens was Back’, I did begin to try and trying to reach old-time contacts to learn more. After several bounce-backs and dead ends, I did manage to speak to Matt Devine( head of content) over at WEX Photographic.

I explained to Matt that I was part of the old Bowens pro-team and I mentioned that I still use my Bowens heads to this day and if he had any insight he’d like to share with me with regards to the’ Bowens is Back’ news then I’d gladly love to pass it along to you guys here.

WEX Photographic’s Response to the’ Bowens is Back’ Statement

Me: Is the Bowens brand back for good?

Wex: Yes, the Bowens brand is back as an own-brand professional present within the Wex Photo Video portfolio. There is a full text of ignites, burst, provokes, and supplements planned for release.

We are able to sell these commodities at a more affordable rate than adversary brands because we are sourcing them instantly- the lower cost does not express a decrease in quality.

Is the Bowens brand now owned by Wex Photo Video?

Bowens is owned by the same group that owns Wex; so, effectively, yes.

Will there be any new commodities or are we just selling through old broth?

Yes, there is a reeling curriculum of brand-new commodities in developing, alongside continual improvements to existing models.

Will the new produces be made by the same manufacturer as before?

The commodities are being made to the previous Bowens statements by the Godox factory. Document that Godox was previously involved with the manufacture of Bowens products prior to the opening of the shutdown, but the Bowens factory was separate to the Godox production line.

It’s important to note that these are not just rebadged Godox makes- Godox is the relied manufacturer that has been selected to produce the products to the high-pitched Bowens specifications required.

What is the involvement of Godox?

Godox is the chosen make collaborator but the new gear will be produced to the pre-existing Bowens definitions.

Is this XMT5 00 the same sit as per the previous secrete?

Yes, this concoction is the same as the previous model on sale before Bowens went into liquidation

Will all Bowens makes come with a two-year guaranty?

Yes, all Bowens produces come with a full two-year Fixation-approved warranty.

Takeaway Points

So first and foremost, I was never expecting to hear Bowens come back in any capacity and secondly, I was certainly not expecting WEX to be so open and upfront with its objectives of where it am willing to make the brand now.

AURELIUS owns WEX so essentially WEX owns Bowens. This means that Bowens is simply an own-brand concoction of WEX. They are not buying Bowens heads and redistributing them, symbolizing they aren’t distinguishing up the products rate to sell them on and this means they have “the worlds largest” margin play games with when it comes to selling the products.

For example, they have to buy other photographic lighting brains like Profoto and then mark up the premium to resell them. Whereas this is not the case with their brand-new Bowens own brand.

Personally, I see this to mean that we’ll likely continue to get the same excellent Bowens heads at a crazy-good rate. Make a look at my quick similarity right here of some of the heads on the market right now.

Here in the U.K ., our Godox tops are rebranded for the purposes of the Pixapro name so the principal being likened here is essentially the been known Godox Citi 400. It’s a great head and for a 400 w ability, it comes with a lot of pieces for that expenditure. The Bowens XMT is a 500 w premier priced at exclusively a little more through WEX. Of route, to keep everything in attitude, I’ve also included the Profoto 500 w artillery top here too. At nearly a PS1, 000 (~$ 1,300) more, you’re hopes to be able to get a lot more beacon for your money.

New Bowens Products

New commodities ?! This was one of the most surprising evidences to me and in reality, it could mean anything from new Bowens strobes or brand-new Bowens beakers and mouse-mats. Time will tell us how much they want to invest in this but if nothing else, it does speak very loudly to their commitment about the brand-new Bowens revival affixing around for a while at the least. Which is good news for all us current Bowens owners.

Godox Manufacturing

Another thing I was surprised about was WEX’s openness about Godox. To those that don’t know, prior to starting Bowens closing, Godox actually manufactured the Bowens heads for many years. We as Unit Bowens weren’t supposed to talk about it at the time but we also knew it was no secret. Here WEX openly says that Godox will be representing the brand-new quantity of Bowens daylights from the Godox factory.

There’s one segment of info to take note of here and although seemingly innocuous, duration will tell if it’s important.

‘Godox was previously involved with the manufacture of Bowens produces prior to the shutdown, but the Bowens factory was separate to the Godox production line.’

‘Godox is the chosen product spouse but the brand-new gear will be produced to the pre-existing Bowens specifications.’

I was aware of this back when Bowens was still functioning, but essentially Bowens owned its own factory in China, inside it was run by Godox but it had Bowens employees and the issue is beholden to Bowens rules of quality assurance.

Why is this important? Well, I’ve exploited both the Godox Citi and the Bowens XMT and I personally detected the XMT to be far more consistent, colour precise and had fewer misfires when compared to my go with the Godox Citi …. even though they were supposed to be made by the same parties. Of route, this is a sample test of one dawn is comparable to another and I could just have had a less than perfect Citi head.

So what’s changed now? Well, WEX state here that the brand-new Bowens XMT principals will not be made in the old Bowens factory( likely that no longer exists) but instead the XMT specs will now be built in the Godox factory. It’s a small divergence and it is unable to symbolize good-for-nothing at all. But term will tell if the more consistent XMT head was due to its specifications or a somewhat tighter quality assurance in the older Bowens factory.

Peacefulnes of Mind

Lastly, WEX very reasonably mentions the warranty of all of its new leaders. All Bowens heads sold under WEX will come with a 2-year guaranty. This is remarkable story and to be honest they needed to have that in place before anybody was going to gamble getting back into bed with Bowens. In fairness to WEX, it was never really officially foretold and promoted, but they’ve been adding mends and sides for the Bowens heads since Bowens shut its openings roughly 2 years ago. I for one am very happy to see this 2-year certificate being so honestly pushed, as again it speaks loudness as to WEX’s intentions with the Bowens brand moving forward.

I’ve exercised and promoted the Bowens makes for many years. To discover they are coming back in some organize could be great bulletin for many of us who loved exceptional tone light-footeds at a tolerable cost. Closing Criticism

For me personally, I see this’ Bowens is Back’ as excellent story. I’ve expended Bowens heads commercially for nearly two decades and I’ve had no reason to complain or question their makes. Bottom line; their honchoes have been utter workhorses that far outperformed any rational person’s expectations of engineering.

Years ago I worked in a very busy studio that is likely to realized 1000 photo shoots a year follow up its doorways. Each of those shoots involved around 150 -3 00 photographs and every single one of those photos needed a flash. So if we say every shoot was around 200 kills on average, that studio made 200,000 flash photos a year. The studio had 5 Bowens flash heads and whilst I succeeded there virtually 7 years I don’t even recall replacing the flare tubings …. and the Bowens heads were there before I got there!

So at roughly 1.5 million shows a piece, I don’t think anybody could debate their possibilities versus the reality from 7,000, 000 flares being shelled through those things. Entirely marvelous slice of equipment in my opinion.

Granted Bowens has construed a huge amount of change in recent years and they surely have an unpleasant bunch to live up to in my judgment. But if we can get back to anywhere near that rank of greatnes again, their commodities will be a patrol to be supposed with on world markets today. No, I’m not sponsored or paid to say this in any way but I certainly wish them every success in this new chapter.

About the author: Jake Hicks is an editorial and fad photographer based in Reading, UK. He specializes in keeping the skill in the camera and not only on the screen. If you’d like to learn more about his incredibly favourite gelled illuminate and post-pro proficiencies, visit this tie for more info. You can find more of his production and writing on his website, Facebook, 500px, Instagram, Twitter, and Flickr. This article was also published here.

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