Elinchrom Monolights

<p>Hey all,<br>

Anyone familiar with this brand of light? I am looking at the Style 400BX system and wanted to know if it is as well built as advertised. Can I pop off a thousand shots without these lights failing? I know they are cheap, but I keep hearing about how these are really some nice lights. Good investment?</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

<p>Let me tell you a story. I have two Elinchrom 400BX monolights. I use them every week for lighting sports halls, firing 3000 to 4000 times at between half to full power during a single day's shooting. They have been faultless. So far they have done probably 50-60,000 flashes together.</p>

<p>The build quality is so-so, and the way the case fits together around the ventilation slots is distinctly questionable, but - they are <b>exceptionally </b>well ventilated - almost more slot than case in fact - which I'm sure contributes to their apparent ability to fire continuously at full power.</p>

<p>By contrast, I hired a pair of ProFoto 1200 monolights. At the same shooting rate they both shut down with overheating within 15 minutes. On contacting Profoto I recieved this reply: "As a comment I can say that there are no flash manufacturer at all that can take this number of flashes on a monoblock. Neither Profoto or any other brand that makes monoblocks can make a compact monoblock for this kind of use."<br>

I didn't want to spoil the poor man's day by telling him that going by my experience, Elinchrom can and does.</p>

<p>Alec... WOW!</p>

<p>The BX's are great for light- to medium duty. The housing looks fragile, but is actually quite sturdy for these applications. If you're going to do thousands (or even hundreds) of images during a single session, I would look closely at the Elinchrom RX series, which offer (among other features) faster recycling, a slightly better cooling system, and compatibility with Elinchrom's SkyPort wireless control system. The SkyPort system goes beyond wireless triggering, allowing you to control the power from the transceiver. Add the SkyPort USB controller, and you can control every monolight function from your computer.<br>

Both the BX, RX and the new BXRI monolights share the same mounting system, so you can use any Elinchrom style modifier on any of the systems. The BXRI is a new introduction; dual voltage, with built-in SkyPort receivers. <br>

With all that said, keep in mind that while the Elinchrom system is capable of producing beautiful light, your choice of modifiers will affect that dramatically. When I budgeted my most recent purchase, the modifiers were actually more expensive than the lights themselves. All of the Elinchrom monolights are available in various kits, which offer umbrellas or softboxes. That will get you started, but you may also want to budget a bit more for additional modifiers you know you'll need. Not sure? Start with a single light, or kit; learn it, and expand it as necessary to meet your requirements.</p>

<p>To echo what Alec said - I've done 1800 shots on the BX's in an 8-hour period, modeling lamps on almost the whole time, with no problems at all.</p>

<p>Just to update this thread... today I shot 4754 exposures with the 400BX's (full power, no modelling lights) over a 12 hour period. That works out at one pop every 9 seconds for the full 12 hours. No problems.</p>

<p>Like everything swiss made, well worth the money. </p>