Portable lighting kits

Danger_Mouse

Danger_Mouse

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wayne
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Im looking at getting a portable lighting kit some time in the next 6 months or so.

I have seen that strobist are looking at portable lighting kits at the moment and so have been looking on there.

the elinchrom ranger RX pack with free head on TFC looks like a decent kit for the money, im looking at:
RX pack
2x S head
hard carry case
spare battery
and skyport triggers

cost is: £2470.20

does this seem like a good kit for the money? any other recomendations?

I will be looking to use the kit for fashion photography, and also portraits at peoples houses so want the kit to be versatile and not mains powered.

thanks

DM
 
Its a lot of money...

How experienced are you at using studio lighting ??

If you are competent with using this kit and can afford it, go for it..

Wish i had enough cash to buy it.. :'(

Mark
 
I have been using flash for a while, and am in the progress of gathering equipment to start a business.

Im looking at a battery powered pack so that i can shoot anyware, and wont need to get more equipment at a later date.
 
That is a lot of money. Getting on for double what you could get something from Lencarta for. What is it about that particular Elinchrom outfit that stands out for you (I'm sure it's excellent) and, just as an example, in comparison what does the Lencarta Safari not do? You can also get separate battery generators to power regular studio lights. There have been a few threads on here about it in the last few months. Even a petrol generator.

What do you want to do? Are you using it hard every day? How many shots per session?

How often do you need battery power? Obviously not in people's homes. Even on location, most people's gardens can be easily covered with a long extension lead. For the odd location shoot, take along a separate battery generator. I guess what I'm saying is that lugging batteries around is not much fun if you don't actually need them.

If I had your budget I would get a pair of Elinchrom Quadra Rangers and a couple of spare battery packs (the ultimate portable kit), and Elinchrom D-Lites for indoors. They are small and light and plenty powerful for most things. I'm not a heavy user but there are people on here using D-Lites that are. If you're worried about reliability, keep a spare and replace them when they break. TBH I'm not sure what you actually get with expensive heads, apart from power. Usually far more power than most people ever need with modern high ISO cameras. Apart from that, you get things like remote control and... you get remote control... and I'm not sure what else. Nothing that comes anywhere near justifying the extra cost, at least for what I do. But I understand other folks will have different needs.

Here's another thought for location stuff - hot-shoe guns. Not enough power? Double them up. Need faster recycling and more shots? Add a battery pack. More and more people are working this way and again it is high ISO cameras that are making it possible. Not everybody's cup of tea maybe, but that's actually what I use on the odd occasion that I venture outdoors. For mobility, I have a bracket that attaches a shoot-through brolly to the camera which means that, when chasing kids about, I always have some half decent light on the subject and E-TTL sorts the exposure. I get mum to run around in support either holding a second gun (also E-TTL linked) or a reflector. The results are amazingly good and impossible any other way with constantly changing distances - E-TTL is brilliant. This also makes for a really fun shoot, with parents involved and happy kids.

I'm rambling. Lots of options. All of them very personal and dependent on requirements.
 
Hoppy Uk do you have a web page? Wouldn`t mind having a look at your work.

cheers,

Richard
 
I purchased a ranger RX the other week and love it to bits.

Robert white are considerably cheaper than TFC to :D I paid less than 2.5k for slyport, ranger, A heads and 2 manfrotto stands + delivery.

I hope to get another one in the near future so i can adjust the power independantly for seperate lights and also have more freedom than the 3.5m leads give.

i looked at quadras before but am glad I went with the whole hog as I have allready been using the rangers full grunt to overpower the ambient.
 
Stellar Extreme 300w kit is £350 each. you get 1 x AC/DC Head, 1 x (COR751) lighting stand, 1 x battery, 1 x battery carry case, 1 x battery to flash head lead , 2 x power leads, 1 x sync leads
 
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