PLM V2 has landed!

Marlon,

Your PLM looks great !!! :P

Marloon wrote in post #11092403
I FELL INTO PROPAGANDA ONCE AGAIN! DANG IT! LOL.

That's why people buy AB stuff

Ranger (1100Ws) or Quadra (400Ws) are your friends.

Marloon wrote in post #11092403
I FELL INTO PROPAGANDA ONCE AGAIN! DANG IT! LOL.

Is there an elinchrom light that is (a) Portable (b) has color consistent output (with minimal color shifting), and (c) has fast t1 durations for freezing action. Point me in the right direction Rob! WHERE IS MY WALLET!

First of all.. just remove all the talk about consistent color from your posts... lol only kidding, NOT!

The interesting thing about that bit of nonsense is that it's so far off base it's just silly. Even the entry level D-Lite's have excellent consistency both in power and color. When I first decided to get rid of my Alien Bees and was looking for a replacement I chose the D-Lite's after doing some significant testing and I couldn't ignore the fact that they were performing beautifully and whatever measurable shift there may be isn't noticeable or even a concern.

If you were doing high end publication work then it would matter but then again, if you were doing high end publication work you wouldn't be shooting with D-Lite's and certainly not Einstein's.

When looking at Elinchrom strobes you need to determine what features you need or are important and also know your budget. If budget isn't an issue then you'll be making the same choice that many of us make. If you go with monolights then the RX strobes are the top of the line. If you're going with pack and head you've got the Ranger RX AS at the top and then then Quadra.

Marloon wrote in post #11092386
I'm sad that they are changing it to polyester. I really like the Nylon fabric! It seems very durable. Have you noticed sag in your PLM since you've had it?

Absolutely not. My 64" and 86" PLM V2s have (from what I can see) held their shape well but also haven't been exposed to humidity extremes. New York in August gets pretty humid. If my PLMs are going to pucker it probably won't happen until next summer.

While I'm here, let me interject one additional slightly off-topic comment: I've had a pair of Einsteins since early April that now have several thousand pops on them. In all fairness, I must admit I've been impressed by their performance to date. There are certainly design issues that I've kvetched (definition here) about but build quality seems perfectly fine. The cases aren't bulletproof but are more than good enough. I actually prefer the Einstein user interface to that of my Elinchrom 600RXes. Of course, only time will tell how reliable and durable they prove to be over the long haul.

Dave F.

I wonder who will be the brave soul to start the thread "PLM V3 has landed!" when the new PLMs come in. Will it be you again, Dave?

tetrode wrote in post #11092538
While I'm here, let me interject one additional slightly off-topic comment: I've had a pair of Einsteins since early April that now have several thousand pops on them. In all fairness, I must admit I've been impressed by their performance to date.
Dave F.

I thought one from your original purchase need to be replaced..... Could be wrong and thinking of a bunch of other people.

J Kacey wrote in post #11092737
I thought one from your original purchase need to be replaced..... Could be wrong and thinking of a bunch of other people.

Nope, you're right, one of Dave's units definitely needed attention.

Point is, Dave was (is) impressed enough with the Einstein despite the hiccup.

J Kacey wrote in post #11092737
I thought one from your original purchase need to be replaced..... Could be wrong and thinking of a bunch of other people.

No, you're not wrong, Jerry. One of the Einsteins did indeed have an issue right out of the box. It wasn't identifying itself properly to the Cyber Commander. That unit was immediately swapped for a replacement which has been chugging along glitchlessly. I haven't experienced overheating in either unit but neither plays well with PocketWizards.

The Einstein is a very feature-rich, user-friendly, attractively-price piece of gear that was released to the marketplace with insufficient testing. To state the obvious, a more robust and thorough product testing protocol would have caught most if not all of the problems that have cropped up since the Einstein's hit the streets. If I were PCB, that's an area that would be getting some very close scrutiny. Hopefully, some lessons have been learned and will be applied to the Vagabond Mini.

Dave F.

tetrode wrote in post #11092538
Absolutely not. My 64" and 86" PLM V2s have (from what I can see) held their shape well but also haven't been exposed to humidity extremes. New York in August gets pretty humid. If my PLMs are going to pucker it probably won't happen until next summer.

I've got a few questions:
1. Is there even a picture of what a saggy PLM looks like?!
2. Why type of humid conditions is he talking about?

I'm thinking like this...

tetrode wrote in post #11092538
I've had a pair of Einsteins since early April that now have several thousand pops on them. In all fairness, I must admit I've been impressed by their performance to date. There are certainly design issues that I've kvetched (definition here) about but build quality seems perfectly fine. The cases aren't bulletproof but are more than good enough. I actually prefer the Einstein user interface to that of my Elinchrom 600RXes. Of course, only time will tell how reliable and durable they prove to be over the long haul.

I'm complaining about the following:
- The mount does not seem sturdy to me. How much sturdier are those elinchrom mounts anyways?
- The casing could use a handle - when tilting the light - the setup does get front heavy and a handle could help with leverage when tilting the light.
- I hated the weight of my lighting setup! I need something extreme light and portable. (which is why I have my eyes on the quadras) I am a one man team and carrying a light stand bag, a modifier bag, a beauty dish, a set of einsteins, a couple of sandbags, and a Vagabond is not an ideal thing to do!

Other than that, it has good things going for it:
- The potential PW module that will pick up where the CC + CSXCV left off
- The light consistency helped to make batch editing a breeze!

Then again, you are talking to the guy who bought an xti as his first camera and returned it for a 40D because the Xti didn't have a 2 second timer and iso jumps of 1-stops.

tetrode wrote in post #11093039
Hopefully, some lessons have been learned and will be applied to the Vagabond Mini.

Yeah and I've learned my lesson when it comes to photography equipment. Wait for the product to stabilize, read reviews and then make a decision. Which reminds me - i gotta go cancel my Tokina 16-28mm preorder. LOL

D-lite's are great starter lights, but you'll soon notice one key difference that separates the premium line to the entry level line: flash duration and build quality.

I currently have d-lite's holding up plm 86" silvers with absolutely no problems. Sure I question the tightening knob on the strobe with the additional weight from the combo, but the d-lite's have been holding up well.

I'm annoyed at one thing with my d-lite's. flash duration which introduces motion/blur in the image. Not a deal breaker, just an annoyance.