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WTB: Elinchrom Quatra kit

fotografz

Well-known member
I am looking for a simple Ranger Quadra box/battery/charger/A head (but will consider a S head). An EL Skyport transmitter would also be welcome.

Sorry, don't want anything other than the Quadra ... I already have Profoto and Hensel stuff for anything more powerful. This is for an assistant to walk around with a light stick with a small head, and a manageable battery over shoulder ... 400 w/s is plenty for this application (and beats the snot out of shoe-mounts).

PM me if you have one F/S.

Thanks,

-Marc
 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
I sold off one Ranger Speed pack and replaced it with a Quadra speed pack ---- LOVE IT!!!

Actually, love it so much I will be buying a second Quadra :D
 

fotografz

Well-known member
I sold off one Ranger Speed pack and replaced it with a Quadra speed pack ---- LOVE IT!!!

Actually, love it so much I will be buying a second Quadra :D
Actually Jack, this IS the second one that I'm looking for so I can do formals with a 400 w/s pack for each head. But most of time it'll be mobile ... one head on a light stick with a beauty dish or smaller umbrella sync'ed with my on-camera diffused TTL Metz that'll be for fill ... which the EL Skyport allows. :thumbs:

-Marc

P.S., stop saying how good it is ... no one will sell me theirs ...:ROTFL:
 

Ben Rubinstein

Active member
If only it had more capacity and better recycle time I'd have 4 already :D. Shot an entire wedding last week with 3 speedlights, was rather liberating, couldn't have been done without the iso lattitude we have these days..
 

fotografz

Well-known member
Got it!!! brand new kit from a good old GetDPI vendor ... who I should have bought my first Quadra kit from !!!!!!!




If only it had more capacity and better recycle time I'd have 4 already :D. Shot an entire wedding last week with 3 speedlights, was rather liberating, couldn't have been done without the iso lattitude we have these days..
HUH?

Quadra's fast recycle at max power is 0.5 seconds. How fast do you want it?

Actually, recycle and battery capacity depends on what power level you set. I won't need full power 400 w/s for everything ... maybe 150 w/s for a lot of wedding portrait stuff ... still more light than a 580EX-II can mange to put out @ full power.

Three speed lights equals what ... about 90 or 100 w/s each @ full power?

Besides, most speed-lights today shut down if you tax them at manual full power ... been there done that, and I'm done with trying to make little lights do a strobe's job ... especially after my Sony 58 shut down, and then my shooting partner's Canon 580EX-II shut down 1 minute later. We were screwed big time. The last straw was my last portrait job where I tried the speed-light routine ... they shut down on me again ... all three of them in rotation. Enough already. I was shooting kids with "ants in their pants" and waiting 10 minutes while the flash cooled down after every 15-20 shots was a semi-disaster.

I'm also tired of mixed ambient temp WB issues with dragging the shutter and/or mushy color at high ISOs. To much post work.

Plus, the EL Skyport transmitter will sync up to 1/1000th shutter speed so I can use the little bugger remotely outside with my Hassey H4D/40 leaf shutter camera.:thumbup:

However, this is just for the church and portrait stuff ... I may use it at a reception, but I doubt it ... I mostly use available light there with fast M lenses or a DSLR with a little puff of fill. I shoot differently than you Ben.


-Marc
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
Actually Jack, this IS the second one that I'm looking for so I can do formals with a 400 w/s pack for each head. But most of time it'll be mobile ... one head on a light stick with a beauty dish or smaller umbrella sync'ed with my on-camera diffused TTL Metz that'll be for fill ... which the EL Skyport allows. :thumbs:

-Marc

P.S., stop saying how good it is ... no one will sell me theirs ...:ROTFL:
How did you accomplish a Metz and a Skyport in the same shoe. Please tell me, I want that setup. Need it for tomorrow night
 

fotografz

Well-known member
How did you accomplish a Metz and a Skyport in the same shoe. Please tell me, I want that setup. Need it for tomorrow night
Guy, I haven't done anything yet ... the first Quadra Kit comes Thursday for a Friday and Sunday shoot, and the one I just bought comes next week for a wedding that weekend where I'll need the two units.

From what I grasp, I can run a short sync cord from the H4D back sync port to the Skyport sync port to trigger it ... while still using the Metz in the hot shoe for fill. I use a Pocket-Wizard strapped to my monopod that way now when using the Metz. When I get the Skyport, I'll figure out where to put it on the rig. It looks small, so it shouldn't be an issue.

-Marc
 

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
I think I maybe able to do that as well now i think about it . Use a sync cord for the Skyport to my body and the Metz on the shoe. That may just do it. Just need some velcro for the skyport and body. The skyport is very small so even holding it would work. Also works great on the Quadra just need to turn the slave eye off so someones else's flash don't pop it.
 

Ben Rubinstein

Active member
Marc, specs for the quadra are a 2.5 second recycle at full power, from the Elinchrom site, where are you seeing 0.5 seconds? That would make quite a difference to me...
 

fotografz

Well-known member
Oh and BTW, make sure you get the new ones just announced by Elinchrom...
AH HA!

So that may be why the second kit was less money than the first one from B&H. Thanks Ben. :thumbs:

See the spec's printed on the B&H site from which I ordered my fist kit which will arrive tomorrow. It IS the AS pack version.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...91_1_Ranger_Quadra_Head_A.html#specifications

1/2 second fast recycle is clearly marked, and one of the reasons I went for the Quadra for fast paced wedding and fashion stuff.

I will make damned sure the B&H version is the AS 1/2 second recycle model as advertised, or it will go right back.

Looks like I'll need the new RX speed module to take advantage of the new software also.

Crikey! You have to be constantly vigilant with this stuff.

-Marc
 

fotografz

Well-known member
Marc, you're going to hate me for this, from the elinchrom site.

http://elinchrom.s3.amazonaws.com/specifications/ranger_q_battery__en_specs_rangerquadra-bxri.pdf

Scroll down to the Quadra specs, 0.5 secs is the minimum recycle. 2.2 secs for full power. B&H should get their act together.
:wtf::wtf::wtf:

Son of a female dog!

That sure isn't what B&H printed ... and it isn't just specified incorrectly for the kit I ordered, the 1/2 sec. @ full power was also indicted for other single head kits.

Plus, because of this mis-information, I cancelled the other less expensive kit I just ordered thinking it was the 2.2 sec. "older" version.

I couldn't care less about the other "newer" features ... except the brighter modeling light maybe.

I still need this small of a portable kit with two heads.

HUGE HASSEL ... don't know if I can undo all the crap now.

-Marc
 

robmac

Well-known member
The B&H stats are indeed a misprint. It is ~2.2. sec at full-tilt. 0.5 sec recycle on a 400WS+ battery system would be sweet, but would require an ENORMOUS amount of current from what are really glorified (and overpriced) 12V motorcycle batteries...

I owned a dual-head A kit but parted with it. Simply didn't like the head and EL-adapter construction quality (especially given the replacement price of the head) and the utter PITA it was to try and use it with mods outside the small and light such as a Mola Demi.

The Q-EL adapter's swivel needs the 'Manfrotto' mod to avoid creep and then once modified, the adapter's 'L' shaped metal body flexed like a limp noodle with the Mola attached if you so much as breathed on the dish. First time I mounted the Mola was the last. Wife walked in, took one look, and "...that doesn't look very safe...". Some folks on POTN have had success welding supports onto the adapter.

The adapter also sets the Quadra tube back from the base of a dish/softbox which can cause some users of large and shallow boxes or BD's problems with the light being too fwd biased. If you could DIY a mount to clamp a Quadra head directly onto a Mola Setti (has own integrated handle/swivel mount) so the weight was off the light/adapter and the Quadra tube wasn't set back from the base of the tube, it would be fine. Some folks have used a Eli DO on a modified Quadra, it would be studio only - and one with closed windows and no fans ;>


Use it with it's own reflectors or small (and light) softboxes it's a strobist's dream. Beyond that you're literally trying to get the tail to wag the dog. The molded plastic heads, very frangible umbrella tube design (engineer should have been shot), weak swivel design and the iffy EL-Q adapter, while the latter may physically fit any Eli bayonet, all combine to ensure the Quadra won't kill too many Ranger sales.

Thought about using a Ranger head with the Q pack, but said 'screw it', dumped the Eli gear (had some QC/construction quality issues with my DLites and BXRis) and moved to Acute B and Compact 600s.

That said, the Q does offer very snappy flash duration and nice power in small package and would excel in the niche it is targeted at. The new Quadra RX is an odd one - adding what seems like more studio features (RX USB control) into a pack designed for more strobist-like use (shoot and scoot)??.

The Skyport Trx works fine with a sync cord. Inserting the sync cord disconnects the hotshoe contacts on the base of the Trx. Though I use Profoto now, I still use Skyport for triggering - but am moving to PW.
 
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