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Archive 2016 · Elinchrom Quadra ELB 400 - Quality?

  
 
DougVaughn
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Elinchrom Quadra ELB 400 - Quality?


I'm looking for portable lights I can take on location that will outperform speedlights. I don't have a Profoto budget as I don't do this professionally, but I would like something that's built well and will be reliable long term.

I'd like to hear from those who have experience with the Elinchrom system. What are the pros and cons? Should I be looking at something like their BRX 500 instead and picking up a portable power source for them?

I have a project in mind where I would travel locally to multiple locations, set up, shoot portraits for about 2 hours, then repack everything. True studio lights would probably work for this, but if I'm going to drop this kind of money, I'm thinking it would be nice to have portability for occasional outdoor portraits as well.

Thanks for your input.



Jun 28, 2016 at 09:56 PM
pr4photos
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Elinchrom Quadra ELB 400 - Quality?


Godox


Jun 29, 2016 at 04:05 AM
Mark_EL
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Elinchrom Quadra ELB 400 - Quality?


I own 2 Elinchrom Quadra RX packs (= previous version of the ELB), combined with 2 action heads and 2 HS heads, which I use both in my studio (combined with 2 Elinchrom D-Lite heads) and on location shoots. can highly reccommend this system. Especially now with the new EL Skyport +HS trigger, which allows you to shoot at very high shutterspeeds (up to 1/8000) without losing massive amounts of flash power.

Besides the HS capability, the output consistency from shot to shot is very accurate as is the color consistency. Build quality is very good too. Personally I like the separate head and pack system better then all-in-one systems like the Profoto B1, because it's a lot less top-heavy. And combined with the EL Quadra adapter you can use the Quadra/ ELB lights with all the very nice Rotalux softboxes, stripbox, reflectors, beauty dishes etc. anywhere without the need of a wall socket



Jun 29, 2016 at 05:46 AM
Conner999
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Elinchrom Quadra ELB 400 - Quality?


Consider used Profoto AcuteB packs - incredible build quality, no adapters needed for any modifiers, strong swivel sockets that can take any heavy mod and swing on two axis, strong modifier mount, can run Eli mods if desired, rental anywhere, can be used while charging - and the bottom has fallen out of the used market due to the B1 and B2.

That said, your best move is to hit a store/ friends / rental shop, handle & test the various kits your thinking of and envision them being used and packed / unpacked as you're envisioning for your project / work. For the travel-centric work you're thinking of, nothing beats a simple hands-on test.



Jun 29, 2016 at 06:58 AM
Steve Wylie
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Elinchrom Quadra ELB 400 - Quality?


Ninety-nine percent of my work is done on location. I've pretty much ditched every other lighting gear I own in favor of two ELB 400s, whether in a dance studio environment to outdoor portraiture to corporate headshots in relatively tight quarters. I have a variety of Eli modifiers I bring to suit the circumstances, and two extra batteries that enable me t shoot all day long. Light weight, excellent build quality, and of course the quality of light are all features I rely on.


Jun 29, 2016 at 09:13 AM
cgi_photo
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Elinchrom Quadra ELB 400 - Quality?


I like my 2 Elinchrom ELBs with each a HS head and a Action head - HS is handy,

Pros:
- HS
- if action heads are being used: short flash duration
- weight
- system
- build quality in generell
- battery life

cons
- adapter for normal elinchrom softboxes
- not water proofed (as most)
-



Jun 29, 2016 at 10:43 AM
DougVaughn
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Elinchrom Quadra ELB 400 - Quality?


Thank you all for the helpful comments. It's good to know others have found this system worked well in similar environments. Renting to try was also good advice. Unfortunately I don't have photographer friends to borrow from, but Lens Rentals is nearby.


Jun 29, 2016 at 12:41 PM
Gregg Heckler
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Elinchrom Quadra ELB 400 - Quality?


I have RX-600's, a portable battery back, and Qudra's but I almost always use the Quadra's on location, especially when working alone. Reliable as hell, great color, speed, ease of use, modifiers, and the new Skyport HS is wonderful. You can't buy a better, more universal portable pack in the price range. You won't regret buying a Quadra. Just be sure to buy the Mark II Adapter and you're set. Add a Mola Demi or a Small Deep Octa and you're golden.












Jun 29, 2016 at 10:20 PM
Weasel_Loader
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Elinchrom Quadra ELB 400 - Quality?


Gregg Heckler wrote:
I have RX-600's, a portable battery back, and Qudra's but I almost always use the Quadra's on location, especially when working alone. Reliable as hell, great color, speed, ease of use, modifiers, and the new Skyport HS is wonderful. You can't buy a better, more universal portable pack in the price range. You won't regret buying a Quadra. Just be sure to buy the Mark II Adapter and you're set. Add a Mola Demi or a Small Deep Octa and you're golden.


Are you using the newer Quadra ELB 400? Which heads do you have?

I use a trio of cheap Yongnuo speed lights for the few times a year that I shoot portraits, but looking to do more and hope to pick up a better lighting system later this year.



Jul 03, 2016 at 08:48 AM
Gregg Heckler
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Elinchrom Quadra ELB 400 - Quality?


No, I have Quadra RX's, with A and S heads. But I pretty much use the S head exclusively with the HS Trigger. I plan to buy the new HS head soon and add am ELB, but I get plenty of shutter speed with the standard S (now Pro) head. I also have Nikon SB-910's and the Pocketwizard system. Unless I just can't carry the modifiers for some reason, I much prefer a single Quadra and my Mola dish or the Profoto Deep Umbrella. Heck for 2 or 3 good speedlights now you can buy a good used Quadra or maybe new.


Jul 03, 2016 at 12:07 PM
Mark_EL
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Elinchrom Quadra ELB 400 - Quality?


Nowadays you can already buy an Elinchrom Quadra RX with S head/ Pro head brand new for just $ 999.- (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1149091-REG/elinchrom_el10430_1_quadra_living_light_kit.html)

Now, this kit comes with a Gel battery, not the newer Li-Ion. This battery is a bit larger, heavier and has less power. (it's rated to give 150 flashes at full power). And the Quadra RX does not have some of the bells and whistles of the ELB pack, like the nice OLED display, the delayed mode and sequence mode. But the Quadra RX does give the same quality of light, the same consistency etc. as the ELB and is fully compatible with the latest HS heads and HS triggers. It is also fully compatible with the Li-Ion batteries which can also be bought separately.

If I were to buy one now, it would be the ELB. But if money is tight, the Living Light kit with the Quadra RX is a very good buy imho!



Jul 04, 2016 at 02:53 AM
gt3rs
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Elinchrom Quadra ELB 400 - Quality?


I'm a long time Quadra user. Actually I still use my first one (2009) but upgraded with the Li-ion battery and a HS head. I also have an RX with a HS head too. Triggering with the new HS trigger.

HS works very well and very reliable with basically no power loss.

https://photos.smugmug.com/Family/2016/June/i-tFQQgfG/0/XL/RON14000-XL.jpg

They are really solid product but even more impressive that I can use the recent battery and new head and trigger with the really old pack.

I don't have the ELB but the RX is plenty good.
I strongly recommend the Li-ion battery the Gel one is heavier, bigger but even worst it goes in the slow recycle mode too soon (ca. 70-80 full pop).





Jul 04, 2016 at 10:24 AM
rscheffler
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Elinchrom Quadra ELB 400 - Quality?


That's interesting to know you can use the new Li-ion battery with the original packs. I have a couple of those with four A (action) heads and have used them fairly regularly since late 2009. I thought I read on the Elinchrom site when the lithium batteries were first released that it would be necessary to have the original heads upgraded for lithium battery compatibility... but it kind of didn't make sense that it would be the heads and not the packs that would need upgrading.

I'll second a lot of the comments favoring the Quadra system. Short flash duration available if you need it with the A/action heads, great exposure and color consistency and the super small and light heads are great for any situation where larger monolights would be problematic. But you will want to buy at least one or two extension cables in order to get heads far enough away from the pack(s). All of these points were reasons why I got into the system back then and moved away from AlienBee lights for most of my strobe work.

I've since replaced the original lead gel battery cells with locally sourced equivalents. It's pretty easy to take apart the housing to get at the cell for this DIY swap. Each cell cost about $25 CAD. On longer shoots I've definitely found the lead batteries lacking in capacity and endurance, but my solution was to acquire a couple Paul C Buff Vagabond Mini Lithium portable inverters instead of spending the money on the Elinchrom lithium packs (I can use the Vagabond Minis to power other things - I still have the AlienBees replaced by the Quadras for when I need 640W/s from a single head). You can use the Vagabond Mini to charge the Quadra while it's running. It's what I do now all the time, even for indoor shoots near power outlets, because it's just less cables lying around. I've disabled the auto power-off setting to keep the units on constantly and in turn they're constantly charged by the Vagabond Minis, which depending on the power and number of flashes, will last from a few hours to all day.

I was also happy to discover I could fit two packs each with a battery, four heads, seven cables, two chargers, two Vagabond Minis and other accessories in a Pelican 1440 roller case. It makes for a relatively portable rolling solution. Definitely a lot more compact than my previous monolights system. I wrote up a review, but here are a few photos to illustrate the layout. Since these photos were taken I've dropped the two extra lead batteries from the kit and instead bring two Vagabond Mini sets in their place. It literally gives me multiple hundreds of pops before I have to swap out the lithium batteries on longer shoots.

http://ronscheffler.com/samples/blogpix/pelican1440/20130307_0969.jpg
http://ronscheffler.com/samples/blogpix/pelican1440/20130307_0973.jpg
http://ronscheffler.com/samples/blogpix/pelican1440/20130307_0966.jpg



Jul 06, 2016 at 09:03 PM
Gregg Heckler
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Elinchrom Quadra ELB 400 - Quality?


"That's interesting to know you can use the new Li-ion battery with the original packs."

I should have said that I also use the Lithium packs on my RX's as well. They work great but you don't get the digital battery gauge that you do with the ELB.



Jul 06, 2016 at 10:45 PM
Jeff
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Elinchrom Quadra ELB 400 - Quality?


Gregg Heckler wrote:
No, I have Quadra RX's, with A and S heads. But I pretty much use the S head exclusively with the HS Trigger. I plan to buy the new HS head soon and add am ELB, but I get plenty of shutter speed with the standard S (now Pro) head.


What kind of shutter speeds do you get with the Pro heads? Someone PM'd me about the fastest (HS) shutter speed of the two Pro heads I have for sale in the B&S Forum, and I didn't know what to tell him except to refer him to the Elinchrom website.



Jul 09, 2016 at 03:05 PM
Gregg Heckler
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Elinchrom Quadra ELB 400 - Quality?


I can easily get 1/3200 without banding but I've never had to go any higher. That's with Nikon.


Jul 09, 2016 at 03:55 PM
Fotografpaul
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · Elinchrom Quadra ELB 400 - Quality?


The ELB 400 is a great system, it's lightweight compact and durable. You simply can't go wrong with it.

I own a lot of Elinchrom gear, including two ELB 400 kit's which i always use on location shoots (mainly food and portraits)

The Elinchrom system along with it's modifiers are very good for location, easy to set up and their rotalux series is lightweight as well.

With the ELB 400 you can easily boom a softbox with a regular c-stand, thats how lightweight the head is with a rotalux softbox.

There really isn't a equivalent system with the same spec's and features as the ELB 400 (considering the modifiers and radio triggers)

Regarding used AcuteB.. that's not even a valid comparison.. the head alone weighs 1.45kg...




Jul 11, 2016 at 03:38 AM
Michael White
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · Elinchrom Quadra ELB 400 - Quality?


I have both type of lights but only one power pack and battery. I like these the best of the systems I've tried especially since they can be triggered correctly when in ttl mode for the speedlites if use in connection with the quadra. I tried quantum lights and no way to use pocket wizard I ttl radios with it last I checked and I wasn't replacing my pocket wizard radios for quantum radios. I tried speedotron but it's a old mains based power pack system so generator or power supply is needed, I tried a couple of other lights andd they wouldn't work with the I ttl radios . So I will be keeping my speedlites and quadra and selling off the rest.


Aug 03, 2016 at 04:06 AM
jmczaja
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · Elinchrom Quadra ELB 400 - Quality?


Hi! I'm a little late to the party but just upgraded from speed lights to an ELB 400 w/ 2 A heads. So far, i've been loving this setup! Incredibly lightweight and can take them anywhere without breaking my back. That said, I have a question about using larger modifiers (indoors).. I have no issues using a small 2' x 2' softbox with these heads. However, because they are so lightweight, I'm curious how they fare with larger modifiers? Also, how does the modeling light keep up with larger modifiers?

Thanks!

-jay



Sep 03, 2016 at 10:43 AM
Michael White
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · Elinchrom Quadra ELB 400 - Quality?


I tried studio lights Speedotron Black system, too big and heavy for portable use. For sale

I tried speedlites (Canon) work good especially with the pocket wizard Ittl radios but can be limited in power and recycling speed.keeping

I tried the Quantum Qflash with turbo battery, doesn't work with Ittl radios, costly clumsy, expensive. For sale. God ox if it's what I'm thinking of would be about the same.

Elinchrom Quadra. Small light weight powerful, works with speedlites in ttl mode, i.e. You set it up as a light manually then train it to fire on the correct flash when the ttl speedlite. Exspensive but worth it. Adapter to use the Elinchrom modifiers if you need to.

There's my 2cents worth




Sep 03, 2016 at 11:05 AM
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