POTN Aussie Club #8 - Einsteins won't make you smart

charlieharper wrote in post #9661134
Hi Rai...I had noticed the price difference between the DLites and the Rangers !!

Also, I'd priced in the Innovatronix inverter too...........

I guess my (three) main concerns stopping me whipping out my CC today are.....

1) At 400 W/s for the DLite4 / Quadra, this seems WAY under-powered compared to the Rangers @ 2400 w/s ??
Will I regret not having the "power" of the Rangers (which are probably out of my budget, at least for six months or so). If I did save the $$'s, would I really get the value out of them ? But if I did have them, then that may "force" me to shoot more to get the value !!!

2) OTOH, The Alien Bees (B1600) @ 640w/s seem to have a fair bit more "grunt", but with all the bad reports of the Vagabond I'd go the Innovatronix for those too...Or do I wait for the Einsteins ?

3) Or would this clicky be a bad idea (EBay special, 2 heads / 1 @ 600w/s or 2 @ 300 w/s) be a bad plan ?

Finally, with all of these "non-speedlight" solutions how do things go for beach-shots and the 240V power ?

Ohh....Someone just tell me what to do !!!

Austen.

1. Depends how you shoot. Ranger RX are 1100w/s. You can always get the RX later on. If all goes well I'd probably get a Quadra later this year go accompany the RX.

2. One day you will want more power and there's nothing to go on to unless you buy Balcar lights which use the same mounting system as the Bee's.

3. no. you've skimped before. haven't you learnt yet?

http://www.flickr.com …in/set-72157605637193348/
I used the heaviest duty cables I could find from bunnings have had the cables in water etc.

Between 1/4 and 1/2 with the B1600

Hi Guys...
Does anyone have any idea when the new Sigmas might be available i am looking at the 85F1.4 if it shapes up OK ....

It does surprise me how uniform Elinchrom pricing is around the world.

justAL wrote in post #9661632
It does surprise me how uniform Elinchrom pricing is around the world.

Damn i just had a look at the adjusted Quadra prices at Kayell... $1795 for standard head or $1850 for A-head... (am sure it was still around 2500 for a single head kit late last year)

Austen... new plan - go buy a Quadra! is 400WS enough for you? for me its fine as I dont want to shoot multiple people in the blazing sunlight with big soft light modifiers. Having said that I can still shoot a model in the full blazing sunlight if I want... this one was with a beauty dish atached to the Quadra...

Here's the direct link Austen
http://www.kayellaustr​alia.com.au …=EC431B2D33840C​D44B8338D7

Do it Austen, Do It.

Lighting is an investment, if you don't like it you can sell it on and any losses you incur treat as a rental charge for it.

I bought a couple of weeks ago, a new profoto 7b head for $1400,
1200 what(a bargain). Includes the famous zoom reflector, giving you 45 to 105 deg of spread.

But the grid set cost $600....

Here is the 1200 profoto 7b thru 22 inch beauty dish lighting the model, and the rock she is standing on against the sun.

IMAGE LINK: http://photocamel.com …showphoto.php?p​hoto=55027

You people think you're helping...But you're not !!

(OK....You really are, and I really do appreciate your input !! )

The Ranger Quadra seems expensive....Not expensive as in costs a lot of $$'s, but expensive as in $1,850 for a single 400 w/s light and power supply ??

For "portrait" style outdoor photography, what would this give me that a $600 Alien Bee and $400 Innovatronix inverter wouldn't ?

Ed, Thanks heaps for your shot above and your setup shot.........But you say (rightly so) that the AB1600 is the end-of-the-line as far as power output goes with the AB range, but then the shot above you used less then 50% power, do I really need more then double what you used for that shot ?

As far as "skimping" goes...Hmmm There's a bit of truth in that, in that my original (180w/s) light was just a case of I had no idea.......But the two cheap 600 w/s lights I'm happy with, bar the fact that they don't work on my inverter, which was a cheapie, but I'm not sure where the incompatibility lies between the strobes (too high an in-rush current) or the inverter (cuts the power at the first sign of current overload instead of reducing the voltage ??).

The other (250w/s) strobe...Hmmm......Nah​, I'm happy with that for "studio" use, I'd be happy to get a second one (part of my original plan) and use the two as back-lights.

Having said that, I do take your point and will probably stay away from the E-Bay Special Rangers !!

Rai, What's wrong with "Plan A" ?? You almost had me sold there....Two D-Lite4's and an Innovatronix inverter, say $1,100 + $400 = $1,500 for TWO lights .........

Is 400 w/s enough to throw into my (60 inch) Softlighter II or are we back on the AB route again ??

Damo...For the $1,400 + $600, That's only the head ?? You still need the battery pack / generator ?? If so, that's probably getting a bit too much for me !!

Of course, complicating the issue, is that neither the (new) D-Lights or Einsteins are yet available !!!

Keep up the input guys...It's really appreciated and I'll get there soon enough !!!

Austen.

coalcliff wrote in post #9662116
Do it Austen, Do It.

Lighting is an investment, if you don't like it you can sell it on and any losses you incur treat as a rental charge for it.

I bought a couple of weeks ago, a new profoto 7b head for $1400,
1200 what(a bargain). Includes the famous zoom reflector, giving you 45 to 105 deg of spread.

But the grid set cost $600....

Here is the 1200 profoto 7b thru 22 inch beauty dish lighting the model, and the rock she is standing on against the sun.

Dust bunny alert

charlieharper wrote in post #9662187
You people think you're helping...But you're not !!

(OK....You really are, and I really do appreciate your input !! )

The Ranger Quadra seems expensive....Not expensive as in costs a lot of $$'s, but expensive as in $1,850 for a single 400 w/s light and power supply ??

For "portrait" style outdoor photography, what would this give me that a $600 Alien Bee and $400 Innovatronix inverter wouldn't ?

Ed, Thanks heaps for your shot above and your setup shot.........But you say (rightly so) that the AB1600 is the end-of-the-line as far as power output goes with the AB range, but then the shot above you used less then 50% power, do I really need more then double what you used for that shot ?

As far as "skimping" goes...Hmmm There's a bit of truth in that, in that my original (180w/s) light was just a case of I had no idea.......But the two cheap 600 w/s lights I'm happy with, bar the fact that they don't work on my inverter, which was a cheapie, but I'm not sure where the incompatibility lies between the strobes (too high an in-rush current) or the inverter (cuts the power at the first sign of current overload instead of reducing the voltage ??).

The other (250w/s) strobe...Hmmm......Nah​, I'm happy with that for "studio" use, I'd be happy to get a second one (part of my original plan) and use the two as back-lights.

Having said that, I do take your point and will probably stay away from the E-Bay Special Rangers !!

Rai, What's wrong with "Plan A" ?? You almost had me sold there....Two D-Lite4's and an Innovatronix inverter, say $1,100 + $400 = $1,500 for TWO lights .........

Is 400 w/s enough to throw into my (60 inch) Softlighter II or are we back on the AB route again ??

Damo...For the $1,400 + $600, That's only the head ?? You still need the battery pack / generator ?? If so, that's probably getting a bit too much for me !!

Of course, complicating the issue, is that neither the (new) D-Lights or Einsteins are yet available !!!

Keep up the input guys...It's really appreciated and I'll get there soon enough !!!

Austen.

You might not need the power now but if you decide to change to a more powerful system later on you'll need to sell all your modifiers as well and basically start from scratch again (much like I sold my bees to go eli).

If you go d-lite/quadra then all your modifiers could be used on the entire range of elinchrom stuff.

If you think 640ws is all you'd ever need/want then that's fine.

ed. wrote in post #9662236
Dust bunny alert

Fixed that by buying the 7D.
You don't clean sensors, you just upgrade bodies!

ed. wrote in post #9660635
Quadra's are great. So much lighter too.

I keep going and looking, but can't convince myself they're better for me than the Einsteins. And the cost of the modifiers...

mickeyjuice wrote in post #9662629
I keep going and looking, but can't convince myself they're better for me than the Einsteins. And the cost of the modifiers...

And here lays my problem. I keep coming back to a lack of power as an argument for the Einsteins or 1600's over the dimensions of the quadra.

:/

coalcliff wrote in post #9662292
Fixed that by buying the 7D.
You don't clean sensors, you just upgrade bodies!

LOL... when's your next "sensor clean"?

mickeyjuice wrote in post #9662629
I keep going and looking, but can't convince myself they're better for me than the Einsteins. And the cost of the modifiers...

Horses for courses
You can rent the Quadra for $20/day under the try before you buy promo.

justAL wrote in post #9662663
And here lays my problem. I keep coming back to a lack of power as an argument for the Einsteins or 1600's over the dimensions of the quadra.

:/

Try before you buy?
Innovatronix/Vagabond solves the power issue with PCB range anyway.

ed. wrote in post #9662236
.....If you think 640ws is all you'd ever need/want then that's fine.

But how much power DO I need is the big question ?

mickeyjuice wrote in post #9662629
I keep going and looking, but can't convince myself they're better for me than the Einsteins. And the cost of the modifiers...

justAL wrote in post #9662663
And here lays my problem. I keep coming back to a lack of power as an argument for the Einsteins or 1600's over the dimensions of the quadra.
:/

But in the Elinchrom corner, the argument is that if you take the Eli road, then any modifiers etc. you buy now (at whatever price) can be used when you "outgrow" the Quadras.........

But the big question is..."How much power do I need ?"

I *THINK* I want them to shoot beach sunset photographs .......

Austen.

Shot with a 580 EXII through a dirt-cheap white shoot-through umbrella.........
:

HOSTED PHOTO
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If you're only doing sunsets then 400ws quadra/dlite is going to be plenty of omph.

justAL wrote in post #9662663
And here lays my problem. I keep coming back to a lack of power as an argument for the Einsteins or 1600's over the dimensions of the quadra....

ed. wrote in post #9662741
.....Innovatronix/Vaga​bond solves the power issue with PCB range anyway.

I took Al's mention of "power" to mean "grunt" not electricity ??

Austen.