Difference between Elinchrom RX Rangers?

[patrick_j.]

<p>hello and thank you in advance for your answers. i am considering to my first lighting kit, and mulling over an Elinchrom Ranger RX kit to start with. I have no previous experience with studio lighting so i hope to learn a lot of new things with it. however i am not sure which one to settle on. the ranger RX comes in 3 flavors:</p>

<ol>

<li>RX</li>

<li>RX Speed</li>

<li>RX Speed AS</li>

</ol>

<p>i will primarily use it for portrait photography, and would like to use it on location (hence the battery pack). the RX is quite a bit lighter than the RX Speed, and RX Speed AS, so i wonder if it would make more sense to get the lightest one of the 3. I also don;t understand the advantage of the AS version. I understand the it is asynchronous for when you use 2 heads and allows for different outputs. It seems to me that i would be able to set the output differently anyways on the heads, so what is the advantage of it. <br>

and finally, which one of the 3 would you recommend?<br>

i am sorry if these are complete newbee questions, and will very much appreciate any help with this.</p>

<p>thanks,<br>

patrick.</p>

 

[sheldonnalos]

<p>The "Speed" designation refers to the speed at which the flash recycles. The difference is fairly notable, twice as fast for the Speed. The regular RX recycles a full power pop in 5.5 seconds, while the Speed takes 2.5 seconds. There is also a battery capacity difference, with the Speed versions having 250 full power pops per battery charge, while the regular RX has only 140 full power pops. The Speed version is heavier, but the extra battery capacity might make the difference between needing to carry a spare battery and not needing to.</p>

<p>The Ranger RX and Ranger RX Speed are symmetrical in the power output from both flash ports. If you plug two heads into one pack, they will both put out the same power - a 1:1 ratio. There is only one power adjustment setting, so you cannot set the flash power independently for each head.</p>

<p>The difference between the RX Speed and the AS asymmetrical version is in how much power is sent to the second "B" port. The power ratio is fixed at 2:1 for the AS pack, meaning that the A port gets 66% of the power and the B Port gets 33% of the power. Again, there is only one power control on the pack so the ratio is always 2:1 between the two ports. However 100% of the power goes to the A port if there is only one head plugged in so you can still get 1100 watt seconds at max power.</p>

<p>There is a more nuanced difference though. On the regular RX Speed, the B port is the same power as the A port so both have the same circuitry, same flash duration and same output. On the AS asymmetrical version the B port has different circuitry to give reduced power output (33%), or 1.5 stops less power. This gives you faster flash duration compared to the A port, (1/2300 vs 1/5120 for A vs B port at full power with one Freelite A head, t5). Faster flash duration = more action freezing capability and sharper pictures if you are shooting a moving subject.</p>

<p>The second benefit of the asymmetrical pack is that the lower power output of the B channel means that when the pack is set to minimum power, the B port on the AS pack can go 1.5 stops lower in output than the regular Ranger RX or RX Speed packs can. This gives the RX Speed AS pack a power range of 7.5 stops, where the regular version only has a 6 stop power range. The max power is the same, but the minimum power is 5.7 watt seconds on the AS pack vs 17 watt seconds on the normal pack. That minimum power setting can come in handy in situations where you want to shoot with a wide open aperture. It's roughly equivalent to a small speedlight turned down to 1/8 or 1/16 power.</p>

<p>I chose the RX Speed AS with a Freelite A head. I find that I don't need a second battery, and most of the time I shoot with the flash plugged into the B port for faster flash duration. The only time I shoot out of the A port is when I need more than 400 watt seconds of power.</p>

<p>Hope this helps!</p>

[richard_hetzler]

<p>Thanks Sheldon, I did a search for opinions on just this topic and yours came up. Thanks again.</p>