Quality Touch Imaging wrote:
Is there a reason you're going with the RX300 rather than a RX600?  Budget?  Power?  How about the 500BXi?

Just curious since I'm in the market for Elinchrom also.  I''m doing many location portraits so I'm looking at the RANGER RX Speed AS with the S heads (two of them). Going with the 74" and 53" Octa.

Yeah, I worry about power... For my home studio set-up, I think 600 or 500 w/s will be overkill. I rather spend some money on good modifiers than on more power I probably won't need. I don't have much space and shoot with wider apertures anyway. When I move to a bigger place I can always use the 250's for hairlights or background lights and buy something stronger.

About the Ranger RX AS... I have investigated that option too. For location work I think it is the real bargain out there. I played with the idea of buying one and also use it in my home studio as a primary light. But for this the modelling light is just too weak.

Daan B wrote:

Yeah, I worry about power... For my home studio set-up, I think 600 or 500 w/s will be overkill. I rather spend some money on good modifiers than on more power I probably won't need. I don't have much space and shoot with wider apertures anyway. When I move to a bigger place I can always use the 250's for hairlights or background lights and buy something stronger.

About the Ranger RX AS... I have investigated that option too. For location work I think it is the real bargain out there. I played with the idea of buying one and also use it in my home studio as a primary light. But for this the modelling light is just too weak.

The Elinchrom RX 600 can be dialed down to 18 WS -the 250 BXri goes down to 16ws the difference between 18 vs 16 WS is insignificant- one thing to consider is that the BXri can't be used with Innovatronix Explorer XT -portable power source- while the Elinchrom RX are compatible with the EXplorer XT.

Eduardo Frances wrote:
The Elinchrom RX 600 can be dialed down to 18 WS -the 250 BXri goes down to 16ws the difference between 18 vs 16 WS is insignificant- one thing to consider is that the BXri can't be used with Innovatronix Explorer XT -portable power source- while the Elinchrom RX are compatible with the EXplorer XT.

Yeah, if you put it that way, the RX600 seems more versatile than the BX/Ri 250.

But how about the difference between 16/18 w/s and 9 w/s (RX300)? If I am not mistaken that would (almost) be a stop difference... Or am I wrong here?

Kens Lens wrote:
I have 3 rx600 and 1 rx1200 and I think they are great lights, my only criticism is the speed rings a not as speedy as I would like. You might be surprised how how many stops some light modifiers can gobble up, especially grids. Why would you want to shoot at 2.8 in a studio? The larger strobe cycles really fast at minimum power, sometimes that is an advantage and you will have more power for when you want to take them outside. I did put a 250 watt modeling light in the rx 600 it seems to work fine so far but then again seldom do I have the modeling light on full power.

I won't be shooting 2.8 all the time... just for the occasional very thin DOF special effect shots. I will be at f/5.6 - f/8 mostly.

My space is not very big. Besides that I will only be shooting close to the subject with apertures no smaller than f/11. So I figured that 250/300 w/s would be enough. Even for softboxes or the Deep Octa with both diffusers. Am I wrong to think this will be enough?

For outside I am saving up for the Ranger RX AS or Quanta.

I could always get a RX300 and RX600. Maybe this is the most versatile solution. However, I do like the built-in Skyports and micro-processed cooling fan. I think it will be only a matter of time before the RX units come with built-in Skyports as well

Daan B wrote:

Yeah, if you put it that way, the RX600 seems more versatile than the BX/Ri 250.

But how about the difference between 16/18 w/s and 9 w/s (RX300)? If I am not mistaken that would (almost) be a stop difference... Or am I wrong here?

yeap but you can always use an ND gel

Frozen Instant Imagery wrote:
...and I use Skyports all the time - they plug neatly into the RX and don't need batteries - almost as good as having them built-in.

The RXs are tough. I've fired mine tens of thousands of times in the past two years, and they haven't missed a beat. The fan is audible, but it's constant - I think I'd notice a fan switching on and off more than a constant whir.

You are three times right...

Skyports built-in or hanging off the RX, it's no big deal.
The BX/Ri is actually louder than the RX when the fan works... I compared them at the importer.
The RX are indeed tougher... real workhorses.

I have made up my mind... I am going to take the RX route

Now I still have to decide about the power...

Eduardo Frances wrote:
yeap but you can always use an ND gel

Or increase ISO

Rafael Telles wrote:
Forgot to mention everyone has the quick fix of using ND to reduce the light reaching the sensor. But unless you are shooting in a studio then using an ND filter 2X or 4X is useless because what you need outdoors is balancing your strobes with the ambient light; so for example if you are shooting at dusk or dawn you might want to shoot at f2.8 but your ambietn reading is giving you f2.8 already so if you use an ND 2X the background will be black, so in this situation using an ND is useless... Maybe getting a diffuser that has 2 stop loss (instead of the regular 1stop loss ones would be better).

What is the difference between adding an ND that drops the flash intensity by one stop and changing your diffuser from one which has 2 stops loss instead of 1?

David Kirk wrote:

What is the difference between adding an ND that drops the flash intensity by one stop and changing your diffuser from one which has 2 stops loss instead of 1?

There is a HUGE difference David.

A) If you put an ND2X or ND4X you effectively reduce the light hitting the sensor for ALL sources of light (assume you are outdoors, then you reduce the strobes PLUS the sun 1 or 2 stops depending on the ND you are using).

B) If you add a 1 or 2 stop diffuser to your softbox, you are only reducing the light output of the strobe. The light coming from the SUN is untouched.

So there is a big difference between scenario A and B. Photographers often think an ND is the solution to all their dimming light problems, but they are wrong. Sometimes (for instance when you are shooting at dusk or dawn) you want to drop the light intensity of your STROBES ONLY (since ambient light is already at f2 or f2.8 already). So while ND will reduce everything alltogehter, having more control over the light coming out of the strobe is the only way to go.