Customer Reviews

Elinchrom EL 10291.1 Ranger Quadra Kit with 1 Ranger Quadra Power Pack, 2 Batteries, 2 "A" Heads, 2 Reflectors, 1 Skyport Transmitter, Hard Shell Case, Cables and Charger

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Purchased the Ranger Quadra kit with "A" heads just over a year ago and it works great. I think the quality is good, as with anything else, it is dependent upon how you take care of it. I own both a Canon 7D and a Canon 60D. The 7D is much more expensive and supposed to be more robust, but I have been a bit careless with it and so I have had to send it in for repairs three times. I have had no problems with the Canon 60D as I learned my lesson from the 7D and I take care of the 60D much better. The same applies to the Elinchrom Quadra kit, one has to take care of it as with anything else, I have no problems and it works great.

I went to a Joe McNally class about six months ago where he demonstrated the lights and indicated he uses them almost exclusively for outdoor / assignment shooting.

Pros
* Recycle time is extremely fast
* Very lightweight and portable
* Fantastic for outdoor usage
* Great for location shooting
* Easy setup
* Battery life
* With adapters entire Elinchrom softbox set can be used

Cons
* Another item to carry around
* Adapters are $100 / each
* Elinchrom softboxes are not cheap

I've really enjoyed using the quadra lighting system. It's fairly powerful and reliable for its size, and its size is a big plus. The power pack and battery is light enough to throw on an assistant's shoulder and have them hand hold the light head with a modifier on a boom stick. I use both elinchrom's 27.5-Inch Rotalux Deep Octa reflector Elinchrom EL 26187 27.5-Inch Rotalux Deep Octa and the Mola Demi beauty dish with an elinchrom adapter. Both create a very nice light source.

Now, I'm giving it 4 stars because I'm rating this system for what it is- a light & portable, fairly affordable, reasonably reliable lighting system. I would say it's a better lighting system than say, speedlight flashes Nikon SB-900 AF Speedlight Flash for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras connected to a quantum battery pack Quantum Turbo Battery Pack. Also, I find the the Quadra's battery life to be much better than Profoto's Acute-B 600 (which is a little more powerful and a lot more expensive). I would rate this with fewer stars if I had higher expectations for the Quadra- I don't consider it to be an all-purpose lighting solution. There are often situations when I need more power and I use the Profoto Acute 2400 or Pro-7. If i were reviewing the Quadra compared to those higher-end lighting systems, I'd give it 1 or 2 stars. But for what it is, particularly for its size, it's a nice little unit.

Concerning the build quality- it's certainly not heavy duty equipment built to withstand much abuse. However, I don't worry much about that because I rent the Quadra when I use it. I probably wouldn't bother buying it since it's only $50 to rent it per day. If you're looking to own this system, the build quality might be something to consider. I did have trouble once with the elinchrom quadra reflector adapter breaking (the locking mechanism fell apart) Elinchrom EL 26339 Ranger Quadra Reflector Adapter for EL Reflectors. It's just not the most solidly built equipment available. That being said, nothing else has ever broken on me or malfunctioned in a way that hampered its performance.

As for the performance- the flash duration is good for a small flash, and the recycle times at lower power is really decent. Don't expect to be snapping away at multiple frames per second at full power, though. The light output seems to be consistent and reliable. The skyport transmitter seems like a nice feature, but I don't use it. I use pocket wizards to trigger the flash because I know they're reliable and I can just have my assistant make power adjustments on the pack.

That's all I can think of for now, hope this was helpful.

Have had several other flash units, including Lumedyne and White Lightning; expected this to be creme de la creme but to me it looks cheaply made for the money. The rubber edging around the power pack and the battery keeps popping off. The cap on the A head connector on the battery pack has already been chewed up since the carabiner attached to the loop and strap has ground it almost off. The diffuser is difficult to remove and looks like it will break eventually. The wireless trigger buttons are difficult to set, and sometimes the modeling light (holding down the power up button 3 seconds) just doesn't want to kick off the modeling light and I find myself pressing with great care repeatedly to get the thing to work.

I invested heavily already with extra head cables (16 foot and 5' for shoulder rig) so I'll keep testing this, but frankly I wish Paul Buff had his battery packs in stock; I would have bought his Einstein setup and power packs instead and gotten more bang for the buck with a good service. Now I'm not sure if I made the right choice, and what I'm going to send my stuff to Switzerland for repairs?

Other users; I am wondering if you still feel the same way now after your positive reviews...cuz I can't imagine you are seeing the same things I'm seeing.