Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time
Elinchrom has expanded its lighting range, adding to its long-standing range of strobes with a continuous LED light. Manufactured by Light & Motion in partnership with Elinchrom, the Elinchrom ELM8 is a portable continuous LED light with an EL mount. For Elinchrom strobe users, this means it should work with all your existing modifiers.
As we’ve come to expect from Elinchrom products, it’s not cheap, though. In Europe, it has a price tag of €1,379 + VAT and in the USA it’s $1,699.
Everybody’s going cross-platform. The latest to break out of the Nikon & Canon mould is Elinchrom. It’s not just a new trigger, though. All existing Elinchrom HS Transmitters can be updated to the newly renamed “Transmitter Pro” using the new firmware. This update allows for TTL, HSS and Hi-Sync (HS) functionality the new ELB 500 TTL.
Announced at the beginning of March, the Elinchrom ELB 500 is the most powerful battery powered TTL strobe in Elinchrom’s lineup. That in itself is cause for celebration amongst Elinchrom fans. But that’s not the headline feature. The biggest deal with Elinchrom’s new strobe is the fact that you no longer need multiple different heads for different purposes. The one head satisfies all the needs of the different Action, Pro and HS heads you’d require on the ELB400.
We’ve been hearing rumours since The Photography Show that several brands may be pulling out of this year’s Photokina in September. Big brands including Canon, Elinchrom and Profoto. Of course, none of them would confirm anything at the time, but Elinchrom has now put out a statement. They are the first to confirm that they are pulling out of Photokina 2018, but they may not be the last.
Update: Photokina organisers have confirmed to DIYP that both Profoto and Canon will be an attendance at Photokina 2018
TTL seems to have become all the rage for big strobes the last few years. There are now TTL strobe options from Godox, Profoto and even Cactus, amongst others. Now Elinchrom up their game with the new ELB 500 TTL; A 500Ws pack & head system offering TTL, High Speed Sync all the way up to 1/8000sec, and 400 full power flashes on a single charge for use both on location and in the studio.
With Bowens now out of the picture, it looks like Godox have realigned to set their sights on Elinchrom. While there’s been no official announcement yet, a new link has popped up on the Godox Downloads page. That link is to the manual for a new “Godox AD600E” strobe.
Functionally, it’s the same AD600 TTL 600Ws strobe we know and love, but with one exception. Instead of the familiar Bowens mount, it accepts Elinchrom EL mount modifiers. It seems like a pretty shrewd move from the Chinese manufacturer to try to take on another well known brand.
This was a bit of an unexpected announcement. At least, it was for me. Although, I admit that I haven’t really followed the world of LED lighting that closely since setting my sights on getting a set of Spekular lights. The LEDs I do tend to look at are generally more aimed toward video than stills. While LEDs can be great for certain photography applications, they’re not that useful for what I want to shoot.
The new Rotolight Neo2, though, designed in collaboration with Elinchrom, is squarely aimed at stills shooters. An industry-first, all in one, High Speed Sync flash and continuous on-camera LED light. The unit boasts compatibility up to 1/8000th of a second and 85,000 full power flashes on a set of AA batteries. It also feature a built in 2.4Ghz Elinchrom Skyport receiver.
A while ago I started working as a designer for a new Dutch magazine about smartphone photography called Phonographer. Next to being a photographer and photoshop wizard I do love to shoot with my iPhone. And I’m an avid geek when it comes to accessories and things with buttons.
Now shooting with an iPhone comes with its own pro’s and con’s. The pro’s of course being its size, the amount of apps and editing possibilities and its online options. The con’s are for instance sensor size, and ergonomics. But every instance of a new smartphone camera gets better and better. As an allround camera its getting quite serious in almost every aspect.
Now the only thing I was missing from turning my smartphone into a more useful photographic tool was the ability to use an off-camera flash, or trigger my studio lights. We all know how we felt the first time we used an external light source with our camera, the way it opened up our ability to be more creative with our photography.
The Photography Show is the UK’s biggest annual show. Held each year at the Birmingham NEC, it attracts all of the well-known brands, and a few newer ones. And while the main focus of shows now for me are the people I get to see and hang out with, you can’t ignore the gear. Because, like most shows, it’s packed to the gills with it.
DIYP went to The Photography Show 2017 last month, and we picked up seven of the most interesting products for your enjoyment:
It’s become pretty clear by now that Elinchrom really like testing the limits of their gear. They’ve put them on drones, battled oceans, and lit up ice tunnels. So, for the launch of the new Elinchrom ELB 1200 pack, they had to go pretty crazy. And crazy is exactly where they went, strapping the new pack and strobes to base jumpers.
The ELB 1200 follows on from the very popular ELB 400, but offers a lot more power. The ELB 1200 offers fast recycle times of 3s in default mode, or 1.7s in fast mode. Heavy duty compact flash heads are available for the new pack in three flavours; Pro Action and Hi-Sync. They also feature a 92 CRI dimmable daylight LED modelling bulb equivalent to 250W, which will be handy for those who want to double up their lights for video.
You can find out more about John on his website and follow his adventures on YouTube and Facebook.
His videos have over a hundred million views, have been extensively published by news outlets, and has even received recognition from a few film festivals, such as International Ocean Festival
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