Lunch at my Keyboard

which Elinchrom Flash Head?

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 18:17:00 +0000

In the last couple of years Elinchrom has completely re-vamped their range of compact flash units (monoblocks). This means that even the low end heads have some pretty advanced features.

So, how do you know which heads are for you? What are you missing out on if you stay low budget?

Here are some simple pointers to help you find the best value and still get the features you need.

Build Quality:

The recent update of the D-Lite to the 'it' model really beefed up the build. The handle now not only feels like it wont break when you pick it up, it feels sturdy, as if it would take a few knocks. The casing is now a nice thick plastic and the fan housing doesn't bend anymore. The stand mount is also much stronger than the old one and appears to be the same as the BXRi.

The BXRi builds on this quality, with a bigger case, for better cooling, and a nice chunky fan housing.

Strangely, the odd one out in Elinchrom's line up is the top of the range model. This will be a continuing theme, because the RX range has gone the longest since an update. The RX units have a relatively lightweight casing compared to the rest, however, the stand mount is top quality and will stand a good deal of abuse and over tightening.

Punishability:

So, how hard can you work these units? I've given up counting how often I'm asked how long a flash tube lasts. The answer is of course a vague cloud involving how often you use it, the power put through it and many other things. The rest of the flash head is governed by the same rules, but, there are various features that help it survive the work you put it to.

D-lite it - The first line of D-lites had no fan cooling, a tiny case and a tendency, therefore, to overheat fairly quickly if put to hard use. To be fair, they were only ever meant to be used by amateurs in 'low stress' situations. The latest iteration however has added intelligent fan cooling and more breathing space in the chassis and now they'll do much better under stress. However, we still wouldn't recommend them to anyone making money from their photography. It's pretty embarrassing to have to tell your client they'll have to wait 5 minutes while your lights cool down.

BXRi - Intelligent fan cooling and a nice big case mean these units are well suited to studio work.

RX - Constant fan cooling might be loud but it does it's job and these units will work hard all day.

At this point, it's worth pointing out that no monoblock can match a pack an head for durability. There's still a big advantage to be gained by separating the source of heat (modelling bulb and flash tube) from the electronics. Any hard working studio or rental house would do well to consider packs and heads as their workhorse units.

Skyport, triggering and control:

Elinchrom's Skyport system adds many convenient triggering and power control features. Each product, however, utilises different features and it's important to know the differences between them.

D-Lite it - The update to D-Lite added built in Skyport receivers, however, these are only for triggering, there's no power control to be had here. When bought as a kit (as 99% of them will be) they come with the Skyport ECO Transmitter. This has no power control features but also no group feature, even though the D-Lite it supports this. Both the D-Lite it and the ECO transmitter do sport the new 'Speed' mod allowing for faster sync speeds, this works by shortening the encryption so the side effect is reduced range. If used with the ERS remote software and USB transceiver, D-Lites can be triggered. The ECO transmitter also only supports 4 frequencies, these are the same though as the first 4 on the standard transmitter.

BXRi - These units also have built in Skyport (hey were the first in the range to have this). They have the Speed feature, can be remotely power controlled, but, don't work at all with ERS and the USB transceiver. Kits come with the Speed transmitter, which unlike the ECO, does have power control and group features.

RX - Although they lack built in Skyport, when allied with the Skyport RX Transceiver these are the most fully featured in the range. The transceiver is a small, light, unit that plugs into the head's remote socket. It is powered by the head and therefore needs no battery. It has all the feature available, including power control, groups and fully featured ERS USB control. This gives full remote control with a copy of the head's readout on you computer screen. You can also access information such as the shot count and the number of power cycles.

Flash Duration:

When shooting with flash the duration of that flash is an important consideration. In low ambient light, the burst of flash effectively becomes your shutter. Just like the actual shutter, the faster it is, the better you'll capture action. You also need to consider your camera's sync speed. There's no point having a camera that can sync at 1/1600s when your flash is 1/100s long.

The table below gives Elinchrom's published figures, they are measured at full power using the t0.5 standard (more on that later).

Model	Power	Flash Duration
D-Lite it	200	1/1200
	400	1/800
BXRi	250	1/2762
	500	1/1558
RX	300	1/2880
	600	1/2050
	1200	1/1450

Within a range, you'll see that lower max power means faster flash duration. However, as you go up the ranges, you'll get more power and get faster durations. For example, the RX 1200 has a faster duration than the D-Lite 200, despite putting out 6 times as much power.

As you can see, you get what you pay for on this one.

Recycle time:

How fast your flash recycles between shots can be a huge factor on how you use them. Granted, if you shoot still life, it's probably not high up in your wants list, however, if you shoot fashion, or kids, it can be very important. You don't want to be left hanging just when that perfect facial expression happens.

The figures below compare the recycle times, to full power of Elinchrom's current range. Remember though that these figures show how fast you can shoot, not how fast you should shoot. To use an analogy, if your car revs to 8000rpm, it doesn't mean you should drive around at 8000rpm, your engine won't last long, and neither will your flash if you keep firing it continuously at it's fastest rate.

Model	Power	Recycle time
D-Lite it	200	0.6
	400	1.2
BXRi	250	0.73
	500	1.13
RX	300	0.6
	600	1
	1200	1.8

Again, just like flash duration, you get what you pay for.

As a side note, picking up the point on punishability of packs compared to compact units. The Elinchrom Digital RX1200 recycles to full power in 1 second, nearly half the time of the RX1200 head. It also has a minimum flash duration of 1/3700s (with 2xA heads). Packs still lead the way when when you need the fastest, hardest working kit.

Well hopefully that's given you a much better idea of the differences between the units in Elinchrom's range.

I'll keep this post up to date as the range changes.

Please feel free to leave a comment below If you feel I've missed anything out.

AlexR

Elinchrom Quadra Umbrella Modification

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 13:42:00 +0000

I know a lot of people want to fit other makes of brolly to their Quadra head (but they don't fit in the 7mm holder).
By removing the lower half of the stand adapter you can mount the head on a Manfrotto litetite.
The knurled ring is acting a a nut on top of the spigot, you could use a real nut, I didn't have one to hand.
The new brolly holder is not quite as central as the original but, it is tilted, so the head should still illuminate the brolly evenly.
Obviously the usual caveats apply, it's not my fault if you break something, electrocute yourself, void your warranty or start a global thermonuclear war.

Super Cheap Lighting!

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 10:53:00 +0000

I just ordered one of these Draper 59111 500W Halogen Lamp on Telescopic Stand. I'll be using it in the garage and garden but it will also make a great constant light for photography.

£22 for a 500W light, cripes, I know some places that sell the bulb for nearly that ;-)

I'll post again once it's arrived and I've tried it out.

Quite Possibly The Best Two Days of Photography and Learning Ever

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Tue, 12 May 2009 17:32:00 +0000

At TFC we're doing a really cool 2 day workshop at Studley castle next month.

I have to admit that I just can't wait. There are so many cool photographers coming it'll be a great chance to catch up with them and introduce some of them to each other.

On the second day there will be a round table discussion which I'm very tempted to record.

If you're interested check out the flyer here or book it here.

Easy File Sharing Finally Comes to MobileMe

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 22:36:00 +0000

Yay!!!!!!
A long time ago, in a keynote speech far, far, away, a feature was shown.
That feature was part of the newly relaunched .Mac service, hitherto known as MobileMe.
A file, sitting on a server (that we now know as 'the cloud') was selected, a button was pressed and an e-mail was sent. That e-mail, it was promised, would let it's recipient download the file, regardless of their OS, technical expertise and even gender.
Limits could even be set on the amount of time the file would be available. For extra security, a password could be set.

This feature never made it to MobileMe. It languished for a while but eventually every trace was removed from Apple.com. It was as if the demonstration had never been given.

But somewhere the feature festered. Hidden in the drawer of a developer, in a minimalist cubicle in Cupertino. It waited, growing stronger by the day, feeding on the energy emmited by a thousand angry Apple discussion forum posts.
Until, one day....
Apple let loose this spawn of usefullness and productivity and e-mailed all it's MobileMe subscribers to announce the birth of an amazing new feature.

So if you have a MobileMe account, go to www.me.com/idisk , select a file, click 'share', choose a friend and hey presto! No more need for yousendit or any of those other weird services.

Simpsons - Mapple Store

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 21:41:00 +0000

The Simpsons finally get Apple!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ck9gvN241Z8

Sent from my iPhone

How to deal with Irate People

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 14:45:00 +0000

In retail we have to do this all the time (late deliveries, declined cards, DOA goods etc). Reading this, I realized it's exacly what I do, empathize, make sure the customer knows you're inconvenienced too, then, bring things down to a normal level of sanity.

Open Loops: How to Deal With An Irate Person

Motion Video Effects for the rest of us

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 22:17:00 +0000

just watch this.

More 5D MkII visuals from Laforet

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 22:04:00 +0000

As we're slowly finding out, it does take effort to get get good footage from the 5D MkII, but, when you exert that effort, it pays you back big time.

Check out the latest from Vincent Laforet here.

Indy film making is going to get very interesting this year, will it make it to the silver screen?

How the hell am I gonna convince myself NOT to buy one of these things?

5D MkII finally out in the wild

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 15:19:00 +0000

Well Dan Chung seems to have nabbed himself one of the first retail examples (jammy git!)

Check out his first video here

Just makes me want one more.

Oh, note the redrock micro DSLR cage, Mr Chung obviously knows the right people.

Update: another nice video here

What Credit Crunch?

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 17:16:00 +0000

Nobody seems to have told the shoppers at London's new Westfield
centre that we're on the brink of global financial meltdown.

XDR-TB

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 16:56:00 +0000

5D MkII initial thoughts.

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 17:33:00 +0000

Oh where do I start? I think a list in no particular order will have
to suffice.

This was a preprodution camera, any findings listed here may not be
acurate for shipping units.

1./ There is no way you can hold this camera steady whilst shooting video. Some kind of support is a must.
2./ Accurate focusing for video is easy before you shoot using a 10x zoom on the rear screen.
3./ Accurate focus whilst you shoot video is very difficult despite the awesomely sharp screen. The art of the focus puller is not lost.
4./ The HDMI port outputs a lower resolution whilst filming. Full res only on playback. Don't know what happens when viewing but not actually recording. I didn't get to test the hdmi at all.
5./ AF works during record but the AF on button causes the image to
brighten whilst the af works and this is recorded in the footage.
6./ Video became choppy when a lensbaby was used instead of a canon lens. Shame. Hope this is a firmware issue. Didn't have time to test if this was caused by a setting.
7./ Everything about this camera in low light is amazing. Stills and video. Just nuts.
8./ During video, ISO is used for auto exposure, like auto gain control I suppose.
9./ Nice grid option on live view.
10./ Peripheral brightness correction (vignette removal) works nicely in stills and video.
11./ Flash triggering of all kinds is disabled during video.
12./ To put 11 in context, whilst shooting video you can fire a full res still. Video is paused and a (roughly) half second key frame of the still is inserted, video then resumes. You are left with one video file and one image file.

More later as I absorb things and go over the footage and stills.

Unfortunately I can't publish the results or files publicly.

It's Nearly Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 15:36:00 +0000

And if you want to get me something, you can look here:

http://www.beermerchants.com/

Start at the mixed cases section :-)

Exciting times, now hurry up!

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 08:29:00 +0000

This is an amazing time to be involved in photography.
Tomorrow I'm going out to show some people a camera that has more than 20 million pixels and shoots some of the finest full hd video ever seen. (If anyone has any questions or tests for the 5D MkII just ask.)

In a few months, Elinchrom will ship a lighting solution that is so well matched to the 5D you'd think they had inside information. The Quanta pack, with 400j of flash and a super bright LED modeling lamp is just perfect for the 5D.
Ideas:
Fig rig.
Hotshoe mounted mic.
Bracket with Quanta head and Chimera mini softbox.

I cannot wait!

It's out, the first short film from the 5D MkII

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 12:42:00 +0000

well done Vincent Laforete

Get your Photokina Fix (but not here)

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 09:06:00 +0000

So, I'm not going to Photokina this year (no, I'm not bitter at all, who needs a week of the latest photographic gear and gadgets interspersed with great German beer in the evenings?)
Here a few sites to keep an eye on for the latest updates and news:

Calumet's Photokina Blog which promises to have news and video interviews.
DPreview's front page has a list of the goodies so far, sure to get longer.
Luminous Landscape has a great page, starting with the new Leica S2 Camera.

I'll post more links here as I find them so do come back.

Phaseone and Leica in Strategic Alliance

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 08:44:00 +0000

So, first it was Microsoft, now it's Leica.
I think this pretty much firms up the rumour of a Leica MF digital camera of one kind or another.
Does it also mean some Leica lenses for the PhaseOne Camera?

I have a feeling the next few days may hold the answers.....

The Leica Press Release in full:

Leica Camera AG and Phase One conclude strategic alliance

Leica Camera AG and Phase One A/S have agreed to enter into a long-term strategic alliance. Both companies are in mutual agreement on the terms of close future cooperation in the technical development and marketing of premium products for the professional photography segment. The objective is to offer photographers innovative high-end solutions that guarantee the greatest possible creative freedom and set standards in terms of performance, quality and technological maturity. Close cooperation has also been decided upon for the expansion of effective service and marketing structures.

The CEO of Leica Camera AG, Dr Andreas Kaufmann, welcomes the collaboration with Phase One: 'Our two companies are an outstanding match for each other due to the similarity of their corporate cultures, their extraordinary innovative strengths and their dedication to absolute quality. We complement each other very well, particularly in the marketing segment. This will enable Leica to establish a strong and sustainable position at the leading edge of the professional segment. Together with Phase One we will soon be able to begin offering professional customers a new range of products and services.'

In addition to digital backs for medium format and view cameras, Phase One, the world's leading manufacturer of camera systems for the professional segment, also offers industrialgrade software and image processing solutions specially designed to meet the most demanding requirements of professional photographers. According to the CEO of Phase One A/S, Henrik Håkonsson: 'Thanks to first class internal development and technological alliances, Phase One maintains its leadership in the provision of software and image processing solutions for the professional segment. As a consequence of this strategic alliance with Leica, Phase One now has access to the vast optical expertise of the market's quality leader and we can improve our product offerings to the world’s best photographers.

Leica Camera AG in Solms offers precision optical products of uncompromising quality and mechanical precision for the industrial and private high-end segments. The Leica range embraces a broad spectrum of cameras and precision optical products for analogue and digital photography, projectors and a range of binoculars, spotting scopes and rangefinders for field observation. Thanks to systematic investment in the manufacture of aspherical optical elements, Leica possesses vast expertise in the manufacturing, the optical calculation, the measuring and testing technology, as well as in the construction of lenses and the assembly of aspherical lens systems. Further information about Leica Camera AG and its products can be found at www.leica-camera.com.

More Laforete

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 20:04:00 +0000

2 Days ago I'd never heard of him, now, not long after finding his 5D MkII review, I find an amazing panorama of the Yankee Stadium.
Make sure you view full screen.

Run: 10K, I did.

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 08:19:00 +0000

So yesterday I did something I thought was impossible. I finished a Cancer Research UK Run:10K.
So today I'm feeling pain I never knew existed.

Feel free to donate.

5D, Game Changer

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 21:35:00 +0000

At least one person thinks so, I tend to agree.

New Elinchrom Products For Photokina

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 15:31:00 +0000

Elinchrom have on their website two new products for Photokina.

The first is an upgrade to the mid range compact mains flash. The Elinchrom BXRi comes in 250 and 500Ws versions and adds the following cool features:

Recognition of pre-flashes by the slave cell
Built in Skyport RX radio for power and triggering control

But, IMHO, the more important new item is the Ranger Quanta, a 400Ws battery kit. The heads are a new smaller design, it works with Skyport RX and the pack and battery are tiny. Think along the lines of Lumedyne, but Swiss.

The side links don't seem to go anywhere at the moment but there are more details in a PDF if you click on the 'News" link.

Enjoy!

Elinchrom in Maine Workshops

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 14:34:00 +0000

Check out this video from Tips From The Top Floor.
Loads of Elinchrom being used!

new videos on youtube

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 12:47:00 +0000

just uploaded the 30 minute Joe Craig intro to studio lighting (in 3 parts).

I'm going to give it a couple of days before sending a tfc e-mail just to see how they propagate on their own through subscriptions etc.

Bubbles

noreply@blogger.com (Alex) — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 23:03:00 +0000

I'd like to thank the P30+, Mamiya 120 Secor D macro lens and my washing up for making that shot possible.