Elinchrom ELB 500 TTL To Go Set
Elinchrom’s flash kit offers plenty of options – but is it worth the £1500 asking price?
swiss manufacturer Elinchrom is renowned for high-quality flash outfits, dedicated to studio or location shooting and based on a no-compromise design ethic. Indeed, its recent location flash systems like the ELB 400 and ELB 1200 have come with three optional heads, optimized for either maximum output, superfast flash durations, or for use with rapid shutter speeds. The new ELB 500 combines all three options in a single flash head, as well as enabling you to run the complete portable kit from the mains while recharging.
The difference between the new ELB 500 and previous Elinchrom flash kits is it uses IGBT (Insulatedgate Bipolar Transistor) technology. In this respect, it’s more similar to flashguns and recent competing location flash kits from the likes of Interfit, Phottix and Profoto. Elinchrom resisted IGBT because it felt there was too large a compromise in the quality of light, consistency of output on a shot-toshot basis, and uniformity in colour temperature throughout the power range. The company claims that the ELB 500 delivers the advantages of IGBT, without sacrificing quality.
Elinchrom’s new ‘Pro’ Skyport trigger sells for around £210/$250 in either Canon or Nikon options. The Phottix Odin II TTL trigger (£160/$136) is also fully compatible. An extra bonus of the Phottix trigger is that you can assign dual ELB 500 flash heads to
separate groups, for applying independent amounts of TTL flash exposure bias. Even if you’re not a fan of TTL flash and prefer to be in full control, the TTL facility enables a good starting point. For example, take a shot in TTL mode and the automatically calculated power setting is displayed on the power pack, becoming the starting point if you then switch to manual mode.
When running two flash heads from a single power pack, an advantage over previous Elinchrom ‘ELB’ kits is that you can apply any combination of power settings, rather than being locked to a 67/33 ratio. The heads themselves are lightweight and compact, yet enable the use of Elinchrom’s wide-ranging Q-series accessories.
The power pack has a rather modest weight of 2.43kg, including its interchangeable, rechargeable Li-ion battery. Typical of Elinchrom, the menu system is intuitive and is quicker and easier to navigate than in previous location kits.
performance
Switching to ‘Action’ mode optimizes the flash duration to be as short as possible, while still enabling the full range of flash power. At the minimum output setting, the flash duration is a mere 1/20000 sec, while still enabling a Gn of 7.1 (ISO 100, metres), when using a standard reflector. Even the LED modelling lamp is sufficiently bright at its full-power setting to enable you to shoot at f/4, 1/60th of a second, at a distance of one metre and sensitivity setting of ISO100.
Flash output remains impressive even in high-speed sync mode, for use with fast shutter speeds. Recycle speeds are instantaneous throughout the lower half of the power range and still very fast at high-power settings. You can switch to ‘Eco’ recycling mode which increases recycle times by about 50 per cent at high-power settings, but extends battery life before recharging is needed. True to Elinchrom’s claims, consistency and colour temperature remain stellar throughout the entire power range.
Flash output remains impressive even in high-speed sync mode, for use with fast shutter speeds