Just checking if anyone has experience mixing an A and S head on the AS pack. I know Mixing them on the regular pack will give you 2:1. Will mixing them on the AS pack give you 3:1 or near 1:1 depending on whether you put them A:B or B:A?
I'm asking because I have an S head right now but am looking at picking up an A head and would like to know if they mix well. Or would I be better off buying two A heads and trying to sell the S.
Just picked up another kit with an A head for a gig and was able to do a little testing with both A and S heads together.
I was also curious, maybe others were as well, so I'll post my unscientific results here. Results were very consistent though. My conclusions show that there was virtually no difference between the heads. Only 1 tenth stop between the S and the A heads solo and a maximum 2 tenths stops between them on both ports together.
Here are my results:
A Port Only:
A head - 22.4
S head - 22.5
A/B Ports in AS (66.6/33.3) configuration:
A/S head - 16.8/11.6
S/A head - 16.9/11.7
Set up:
Full power, ISO 100, 6.6', 1/125 using standard spill kill reflector. Measured with Gossen DigiFlash meter.
According to this test it would seem that a 2:1 ratio is not possible with different heads on an A pack. And even though you won't be able to equalize power output with a AS pack in the manner you describe, you should be able to equalize flash durations of both heads at 1/2300 (t0.5) when using the A head on the A port and the S head on the B port on either A or AS pack.
The best news is: there is no loss of efficiency with either head.
Thats exactly the info I was looking for. Thanks so much and I'm sure many others will be thankful because I think you're the only person on the internet to have posted this.
Looks like I can get just one A head and still get 2:1 on my AS pack with S head, no need to buy two A heads.
Yup: Weight. At the cost of recycle time, of course. Hensel makes it a harder choice with their Premium costing considerably more than the Regular and being lighter than the Regular instead, but I think most people choose the Ranger AS. But using an A/S combo gets you your ratios back if you miss 'em. So does tape and ND gels.
Well the Speed and Speed AS packs are identical in size and weight but there is the regular Ranger pack that is lighter, 14lbs versus 17.5lbs. The speed recycles 45 - 60% faster at full power.
The two reasons to opt for the AS pack are to get 2:1 using the same type of head, and to get the shorter flash duration. The S head doesn't matter for that but the A head will only fire at 1/4310 on the Non-AS pack and at 1/5120 using the B channel on the AS.
dave unwin wrote:
Excuse the question, but i'm still a bit confused. Is there any possible reason you would get the Speed Non-AS pack over the Speed AS pack?
(i'm only asking because i have two non-AS's! Grrrr!)
