Style 1200W != RX 1200 Style?

[Monument]

Hello!

First off all, I have not been as active as I have wanted to. A year ago my first doughter was born and we have been busy fixing up our house. I've gotten tired of that, so I have hired some people to finish up the rest. :)

More time for my hobby ;)

But, to the point;
I've recently bought a set of used studio compacts. The seller lists them as "Elinchrom Style 1200". They were bought by him in 2003, so they are about 5 years old give or take.

The question, could this be RX lights or is it pre RX?
And can I use the RX radio trigger set to alter the strobe settings?

Any light on this question would be appreciated. :)

--Marius

[Gentleman Villain]

HI, Congrats on the baby

I've got a style 600 head from the same time period. Excellent head! I love it...very reliable. I've probably fired it 100,000+ with no problems ever

Unfortunately, it is not digitally controlled by the skyport system. IT takes a regular elinchrom sync cable. I fire mine remotely using a wizard or the regular built-in white light slave

Very nice purchase :-) Those are great lights

[Monument]

Thanks :)

Well, I've bought 4x 1200w. Maybe a overkill, but at the price, I could not leave it alone.

Are they digitally controlled in 0.1/f stops, like the newer models?

[Gentleman Villain]

My 600 has a slider on the back for control of power. I can move the slider accurately and consistently within about 1/6th of a stop increments. Personally, I actually like that better than 1/10ths of stops anyway.

4x1200 is a lot of power....but you can never have enough lights. They will probably be a bit too powerful for shooting in small home studio spaces and stuff like that. But those are very nice professional lights...would be really good for architectural interiors. Some of the coming digital cameras are rumoured to feature options of slower ISOs (12,25,50 etc) so the 1200s would be perfect for that type of ISO.

[sevans16]

I have the 1200/600 kit. For a main light, I use the 1200 with a 53" Rotalux octa softbox. It has a double diffuser. My setting are generally around ISO 200, 1/250 sec, F8. Flash head about 4-6 ft away. Flash head output setting at: 3.5-4.5
I use the ISO 200 just because my camera has a high light detail thing that jumps the ISO up.
THe 1200 maybe a little hot for fill, hair etc.. I would say just use reflectors and be creative. You can make it work!!

[TMR Design]

You can always use ND gels to reduce output when needed. Even though those strobes are not current they are supposed to be exceptional with superb performance.

[Monument]

From what I have read, I think that the common home studio uses somewhere around 200-600W strobes. Well, but the thing is, this is what I got for 4000$ (rough conversion);

4x Elinchrom 1200 Style (2002\3)
4x Elinchrom Quadra softboxes (est 130x130cm, probably 145x145)
4x Manfrotto lightstands
1x large Manfrotto lightstand with wheels and boom
1x Manfrotto lightstand with boom
1x Manfrotto background stand
1x Manfrotto product table

So, you can say I'm quite happy about this. Now where is my sunblock? :s

[Gentleman Villain]

So, you can say I'm quite happy about this. Now where is my sunblock? :s

awesome, sounds like a nice setup :)

[Monument]

Hello :D

First few pictures are in, and this one got accepted by my girlfriend, so here it is;
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3219/2696871728_1265e135b5.jpg

Only problem so far, is that those softboxes are extremly large, so I've only got room for one at a time at the moment. Should probably get som smaller modifiers, when my wallet refils ;)

So, what do you think?

[Vascilli]

I think you got a great deal.

[Hermes]

I have a couple of strobes from the last generation of Elinchroms hanging around. They are rock-solid and reliable. The only important thing you're missing out on is the greater range of output that the latest Elinchroms have.

Forgive me for being nosey but why did you buy four Quadras? did you have to buy all the items you listed as a set.

It's not surprising that you don't have space for more than one as they are really awkward to position and move around. Even if you could use all four at the same time I'm not sure how much good it would do your photography. Cross-lighting with two quadras would give you just about the softest light you can get and I don't see either of the other two being practical as accent or background lights so I'd sell a couple and use the money to get some reflectors and small softboxes with grids if I were you.

[Monument]

...

Forgive me for being nosey but why did you buy four Quadras? did you have to buy all the items you listed as a set.

It's not surprising that you don't have space for more than one as they are really awkward to position and move around. Even if you could use all four at the same time I'm not sure how much good it would do your photography. Cross-lighting with two quadras would give you just about the softest light you can get and I don't see either of the other two being practical as accent or background lights so I'd sell a couple and use the money to get some reflectors and small softboxes with grids if I were you.

Well, the gent wanted to sell complete, and the price was real nice, so yeah, I've got four. Love the light, don't know what to do with them... I might sell two or three and see what I can replace them with. But this was sort of an impulse buy, me wanting to try studio lightning, and I don't like buying things twice to get quality. And by the way, that is the most polite "nosey" I've ever heard ;)

From what I have seen and read here, beuty dish, strip boxes, reflectors and grids is next on the list. Maybe rent some place where it can be used, hehe.

Any suggestions? What to get first, etc?
Lightmeter (L758RD) and some sync cables are on the way.