Elinchrom has introduced its new ELB 1200 portable lighting system for photographers, a model that builds upon the company’s existing ELB 400 system introduced in 2015. The new system features three new flash heads, the Action, Hi-Sync, and Pro, as well as a TSA-approved ‘Air’ lithium-ion battery capable of powering 215 full-power flashes and 80 minutes of continuous LED use.
In addition to the TSA-approved ‘Air’ version of the battery, Elinchrom also has an ‘HD’ version with a higher capacity that can power 400 full-power flashes and 120 minutes of continuous light. The batteries are also capable of powering accessories via a 5v USB outlet, and they can both be switched into a ‘shipping mode’ for long distance travel.
The three aforementioned flash heads feature a daylight-balanced and dimmable LED CRI 92 lamp, which Elinchrom says is equivalent to a 250w Halogen lamp. The Hi-Sync flash head supports shutter speeds as fast as 1/8000s. The company expects the ELB 1200 to be available in the 'middle of 2017,' with pricing information being provided at a later date.
Check out Elinchrom's product video below to see the kit in action.
I switched from PC Buff Einstein 600 to Cheetahstand( Godox) strobe and I'm very happy with their products. Major brand name strobe kits are very expensive and for most users, it's out of reach. Godox is made in China and a lot of made in China products are not in high quality but some are very well made. Godox is one of them and several retailers are selling their products with a different brand name but Cheetahstand is the only one dedicated reseller in the US. Most popular kits are 360W/600W kits and they have an excellent battery, remote trigger kits and light modifiers and I've been using it for my paid photo shoots for a while. It's never disappointed me and their customer service is simply excellent.
€3500 (or thereabouts) for a single-head kit. Limited Fuji compatibility (it will trigger the flash given the Skyport doesn't die on you on the second shoot, as it generally tends to - but won't do things like HSS, etc. - I imagine). Comes with a nice case, is more weather resistant than, say, the Quadra (and I imagine less prone to breaking), but still looks to be made of plastic.
Had I the money, I'd go for a Broncolor Siros 800 L (half a stop less powerful, but better built, cable-free, much more reliable). Also terribly expensive (at €5000+ for a dual-head Siros L one could buy an EBL1200 plus 3 heads and a couple of affordable modifiers). Best value is, indeed, FlashPoint / Godox (again, limited Fuji compatibility) - not as reputable or reliable as Broncolor or Briese, but not as ridiculously expensive as any one of the above, either.
Also of note is the RotoLight Aeos / Anova Pro. Not cheap, but certainly more affordable than all but Godox. Have a rather limited use (won;t overpower the sun, that's certain) and a discouragingly sparse range of modifiers, but do render quality light in studio or outside on severely overcast days.
I love Elinchrom. I've always had their lights, from EL500's through to packs, and The Quadra when it first came out. These 1200s look awesome.
I'm not going skydiving any time soon, though. It's just not my thing.
I wish that just once a lighting or camera company would make a promo video that wasn't showcasing how you can use the gear on your extreme sports day out. Granted, it's pretty mind blowing that you CAN shoot in this kind of situation, but it's not something that I can relate to, and I'd bet that the majority of Elinchrom's customer base probably don't either.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think I'm not the only photographer who shoots with lights that doesn't jump out of aeroplanes or off the side of a mountain on a regular basis.
Don't believe the extreme sports hype; you can do it too. I skydive and have sat next to a 7yr old girl and also a 91yr old woman on the flight to altitude - kind of takes the macho out it.
As skydivers have been flying cameras for a few decades, there's some pretty cool specialist equipment you can use for other activities/scenarios.
Probably, but it makes for better visuals. I have used my elinchrom's in rain, mist and tropical humidity that condensed right on the pack without issues.
The membrane buttons aren't the most tactile pleasing, but you won't ever have to worry about some dripping mist shorting it out.
If I'm watching the same video, it didn't seem to show much of how to use it under the conditions found in the photo above it. I see a hard light on the left of the free faller and less light on their right side while being backlit by the sun. I don't see how it was lit. Where was the light coming from, held by other divers which would be an accomplishment or was this a composite. I found the video lacking quit a bit in information to the example shot.
JADOT, I was an aerospace photographer and used Elinchrom classic power packs in the studio and on location at military bases. The only issue with the old power packs was the synch speeds was about 1/30 which was a problem with moving objects. I then purchased their mono lights which solved the synch issue (but still had an issue with non standard hard to find modeling bulbs). Their light shapers especially my 74" Octabox produces some of the nicest soft, even lighting I have seen. So many times while working on military ships and planes, you need a battery powered, hi-quality lighting system. This new Elinchrom system looks to be easy to transport, and the ability to produce 400 shots plus LED daylight modeling lights, is amazing. Elinchrom pricing is a bit high, but you get what you pay for, and none of my Elinchrom equipment has ever let me down. And NO, I never jumped from a plane with my Flash. but I do airsick at 3,000 ft, which is why I bought a drone to shoot from.
It's really nice that it's TSA approved and comes with a nice looking carry on sized case, since most flash set ups today need to be shipped ahead of time.
Depends on the use case I guess. As far as I'm concerned it's a deal breaker but I guess that a lot of people will use mostly one head with this pack. And compared to a Move pack, it's 2kg lighter (but the head is heavier though).
Not that big of a deal; packs that allow adjustments of each head tend to be very expensive - the profoto b4 air 1000 has 2 independent outputs and is almost $8500. Having to do plug/power math has been common to packs for decades :-)
I used to use speedotron packs where the math could get complicated as you could switch capacitor banks on or off plugs, and then further divide among the heads! Good way to test assistants.
Built in ratios can be handy for key/fill setups. Rarely do I need to add diffusion - feathering or adjusting distance does the trick.
The Profoto B2 pack has independently adjustable output sockets and is below the €1700 mark :D. Granted though, it's only a 250W pack. I think that the reason might be a combination of weight and price target. I doubt the ELB1200 is going to be as expensive as the Move, and it's just 4.2 kg, which is great. Or perhaps independently adjustable outputs require electronics that would be less desirable with Elinchrom's three heads approach.
The long awaited Ranger replacement. I've had my Ranger kit for 10 years; always reliable. Are heads compatible? Plugs are different, will there be adapters?
Good of them to make it easy for air travel. One issue Ive had with profoto is the variety of batteries make it hard to know what's flight legal and what isn't.
OK, I purchased an ELB 400 action unit with 2 action heads last year. However, if I recharge the battery and store the unit in a dry closet in a dry room, turned off, no cables connected, the battery is empty after 8 days and needs to be recharged. That's no fun if you just want to grab the unit and do some outdoor projects.
I contacted Elinchrom. Guess what they told me: That's normal. Just store the battery and the generator separately.
This is a nightmare. This 'trick' is nowhere mentioned. So beware of portable Elinchrom flash units: The built-in battery drain is considered to be a feature and will spoil some of your outdoor sessions.
I guess it is save to assume that you get plenty of power in Hi-Sync, since Elinchrom`s approach to this technology is pretty unique, and very different compared to Profoto`s or Pocket Wizard`s solutions. Elinchrom`s Hi-Sync yields much more flash power than other solutions.
Actually their approach is pretty much identical to pocket wizard's. They just integrate it into the unit, and start off with a better understanding of the flash-tube characteristics, perhaps even tailoring them slightly to the purpose. They need to get TTL on the smaller ELB system, and they'll be almost perfect. Perfect would be a unit that splits the difference between the 1200 and 400 power and features, say an ELB600 with TTL and ratio control for 1:1, 2:1, and 3:1.
There is one more manufacturer on the market that's making similar stuff - Priolite (they call HyperSync / Hi-Sync - HotSync :), but for some reason I can't find their strobes anywhere in the US. This new Elinchrom strobe looks VERY promising for outdoor shooting.
Lets try this again. I'm a studio shooter, who could care less about HyperSync/HighspeedSync.
I normally shoot at 1/250 second, and rely on the flash speed to stop action. I also shoot at lower power-levels, like 30 joules. After looking at Elinchrom's site it looks like a Broncolor or Einstein will better suit my needs.
These are generally targeted as on-location lights, to be useable outdoors, where the signal timing high sync features would be useful to photographers.
@Matsu, for many years my main strobe was a Profoto AcuteB 600 battery powered generator. I used the 600B in factories, etc to do larger product shots, i.e. a portable studio, complete with backdrops.
Often I'd be standing on a ladder shooting over the top of a large PCB PLM, thus the need for fast flash duration.
Did you actually read the two sites you linked to? I mean the Fstoppers actually lists the PW CTL and HS and Priolite in the same parenthetical to indicate their similarity.
For speedlights the PW TTL system does function with the multiple pulse HSS method used by Profoto but for Elinchrom lights, it's the long-tail burn method that it dubs Hypersync.
Just to clarify a bit further. The pocket wizard TTL system is capble of both higj speed sync and hypersync. The former is the pulse flash method common to speedlights. The latter is the timing trick that exploits the flash burn time. The settings menu for the control TL software even allows you to program the Shutter speed where the unit switches from one method to the other.
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