More HS Wrestling

I covered a big holiday tourney earlier this week. Below are a few of my favorites.

All shot with 1D Mk III and 70-200 f/2.8.

The first four are from day one and were shot with two Elinchrom 600RX on 13ft stands direct. Due to constant problems with parents unplugging my lights to use the plug to charge their video camera's I used two Elinchrom Rangers on day two.

Day one settings were 1/250 f/8-9 ISO 400. Day two settings were 1/250 f/5.6-6.3 ISO 400.

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very nice I might add. I have the same set as you and looking to shoot more sports such as this.

Nice job on these Kevin, as far as "parents unplugging my lights"... Maybe you bring a 6:1 power strip and let them have their outlets too.
Does anyone ever cheer at wrestling? I photographed some college matches years ago and it was loud. Even the coach looks real bored in #4 and 7.

Thanks Dave.

In all the times I have shot sports using strobes, this is the first time I have ever had someone unplug my lights. It wasn't like I had the only plug taken, there were plugs about every 25 feet. They were just too lazy to go to the next one that was not in use. I just made a mental note to always use the Rangers for wrestling in the future. So much easier and more flexible when you have your own power source and the flash durations are better to boot.

There was a lot of cheering from the parent section, which was behind me and occasionally from the benches. Most of these teams are the best in the state (6 of 8 ranked in the top 18) so am assuming they are so used to winning that they just don't get that excited about a holiday tourney. Much different when the state tourney gets underway.

Kevin, I can see what you mean. Your shots are excellent.

I almost purchased the Elinchrom Ranger setup at B&H when I opted for these. Reason I didn't is I figured you only get about 200 shots from the battery and I usually always shoot more than that. Do you have an extra cell that you just swap out? Can you use the battery plugged in so it doesn't drain? The salesman told me no.

mark

MDJAK wrote in post #9347939
Kevin, I can see what you mean. Your shots are excellent.

I almost purchased the Elinchrom Ranger setup at B&H when I opted for these. Reason I didn't is I figured you only get about 200 shots from the battery and I usually always shoot more than that. Do you have an extra cell that you just swap out? Can you use the battery plugged in so it doesn't drain? The salesman told me no.

mark

Yeah, I have an extra cell that I change as needed. I love them and the flexibility of having power anywhere is really nice. The biggest drawback, besides the outrageous price, is that they are heavy.

No, you can't run them plugged in but what I normally do if I am shooting a lot and have access to power is just put the dead cell on the charger. Generally it is charged before the live one goes dead and I just cycle through them.

You can't go wrong with the 600RX's either. They are great lights as well.

Thanks, but I realize I misspoke. I was not referring to the Ranger, but the Quadra, the real little one. Once I saw the price difference and realized I rarely if ever shoot outside, I figured it wasn't worth it. Plus the salesman told me the small 400ws heads wouldn't be enough to light up large softboxes. Not sure if he was right though.