First Flash Equipment? OCF vs Strobes

I'm days away from pulling the trigger on my first set of dedicated photography lighting equipment. I've been a video shooter for years, so we have a studio with lots of Kino Flo continuos lights. But they aren't bright enough as I have to crank up the ISO to shoot at anything above f2.8. I like the idea of having a small portable light kit to use for still photography both in the studio (commercial photography, portraits) and on-location shots (portraits of people working in their offices, retail business shots, etc...). We already have one Canon 580EXII and I'd made up my mind to buy one or two more of them along with soft boxes and triggers. This will be a "starter" outfit, but we have enough money to buy name brand (quality) equipment. We plan to buy more powerful strobes in the future (or just borrow from my fellow photographer friends)

With all that in mind, what would you recommend:

1) OCF kit using multiple 580EXII's (cost and size are good, but what about power?)

2) Elinchrom Ranger Quadras (expensive, but more versatile than the OCF kit?)

3) PCB Einsteins (I don't have much knowledge about these)

I would really like something I can use outdoors as fill for shooting in the bright sun that's so prevalent where we live. So high-speed sync would be nice. But power and recycle times could also be important. I'm really not sure which way to go. Any advice would be appreciated.

You won't be getting HSS unless you get ETTL triggers (ST-E2 or certain RadioPoppers and PWs only), and that's only useful if you're looking for shallow DoF. For monolights there is Hypersync on PW triggers.

If you want to overpower then sun (or at least rival it), you won't be able to use hotshoe flashes. You can go with pack & heads like the Quadra, or you can use normal monolights with an inverter, like a Vagabond II or Innovatronix Explorer.

toxic wrote in post #10511748
You won't be getting HSS unless you get ETTL triggers (ST-E2 or certain RadioPoppers and PWs only), and that's only useful if you're looking for shallow DoF.

You mean I won't be getting HSS with YN-602?
sorry I don't mean to hijack this thread, if you don't mind to read my thread here:https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=900610
Because I think the problem is related to the trigger that is not work with ETTL?

As stated you won't be getting HSS unless you get RP or the ETTL PWs.

I believe if you want to shoot outdoors with the 580's you will soon come across their limitations and fast such as not enough power, slow recharge times, overheating, the need for lots of batteries and the fact you can't use any of the really cool "big boy" modifiers with them.

It really depends how much power you really need. If you need sun killing ability every single time in the bright sun I would recommend maybe looking into the Ranger RX. It's may be heavier then what you're looking at but consider the fact you would be carry 3 580's, possibly battery packs, spare double AA batteries and modifiers it sort of balances out in my mind with all that you gain buy going with the Ranger.

If you don't mind the fact that you won't be able to overpower the sun every single time and are happy with just providing fill and want something much more portable I think the Quadra's is a good choice. The heads are smaller and lighter then what the 580's are, have more power, LED modelling light, quicker recharge time and flash duration and you can use them "bare bulb" to good effect

Another bonus with going with the Quadra or Ranger RX is the fact that you can control the options and power remotely if you choose to do so with the Skyports.

If you have the option available I would recommend maybe renting both the Quadra and the Ranger RX kits and seeing whether they suit your needs. Don't forgot you'll be buying into a system so try to make the right choice up front.

This thread may help you out or confuse you even more.

hhidajat wrote in post #10513501
You mean I won't be getting HSS with YN-602?
sorry I don't mean to hijack this thread, if you don't mind to read my thread here:https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=900610
Because I think the problem is related to the trigger that is not work with ETTL?

No you won't, I'll drop by your thread.

toxic wrote in post #10511748
If you want to overpower then sun (or at least rival it), you won't be able to use hotshoe flashes.

That isn't to say you can't use hotshoe flashes outdoors. While you can't directly overpower the sun with hotshoes, you can use HHS to increase the effective power.

Lets say that an outdoor exposure at 1/250 (max normal sync speed) is f/8. Assuming you need an aperture of f/4 to get a proper flash exposure, at f/8 the hotshoe flashes won't do much. With HSS you could go past the 1/250 @ f/8 to 1/1000 @ f/4 where the outdoor and flash exposure match.

That being said, hotshoe flashes still have difficulties outdoors with larger modifiers not to mention you start to limit yourself to a shallower depth of field.

Being that your a video guy I don't suppose you would have too much of a issue hauling gear. Therefore I wouldn't think portability would be too much of a deciding factor, and a pack and head system might be your best choice.

If you have the funds, I'd say go for a Ranger RX system. With 1100w/s you won't have any problem overpowering the sun even with larger modifiers.

A cheaper option would be, as toxic mentioned, a monoblock with an inverter battery pack. I've been using a Innovatronix Explorer with an Elinchrom 600rx for a few years now and it has been a good combination. A nice thing about this option is that the inverters will work with most strobes so you can still use it should you decide to get different strobes down the road.

If portability really is a priority then the Ranger Quadra would be a good choice. This portability does come with some drawbacks, primarily while it will provide good fill to outdoor shoots, it won't overpower the sun. Also if you want to use Elinchrom's full range of modifiers you'll need an adapter on each head. Finally the cost is going to be more than an equivalent monoblock and inverter pack.

I just read where the PocketWizard ETTL radio triggers use their own circuitry to achieve High Speed Sync. As a result, their HHS is significantly brighter than Canon's HHS for some reason. This will further help when trying to overpower the sun.

In my case, I don't want to overpower the sun, I'd just like to add fill and sometimes maybe as a hair light.