21 September 2010 Photokina Day 1
Today it was the time for the first day of Photokina. For me Photokina is something amazing, it’s huge, everyone is there and you get all the news and the new introductions in one place. It’s buzzing with activity, contacts, great photographers and lots and lots of toys….(that’s why I take my wife with me :D).
This Photokina we had Leaf with the 80MP AptusII-12 which I already mentioned, but also Elinchrom had some nice new additions. As you can see in the backstage video at the end of this post you can see the one that really got my attention, the focussing flash tube in the new Ranger heads. It’s gives you some nice new possibilities to really shape your light just that bit further. There will also be some new heads for the powerpacks by the way and some smaller things, the 1.50mtr indirect octa (high on my wish list) is also here and will probably be available in the coming months.
Today I also did some shots with the Phase one vertical grip with build in Profoto Air trigger, to be honest I will probably never use the trigger because I’m using the Elinchrom skyports, but the grip itself will be added to my camera very soon. It makes the camera a lot better ergonomically plus it balances more nicely, it runs on the Leaf accus AND normal batteries and you can switch so when your accupack dies you can switch to the AA batteries and keep on shooting, but maybe most importantly with the grip you can now do the firmware upgrades yourself.
For today my model was Laura and during the day we did several small workshop/demos explaining mostly control of contrast. Overal it was rather busy and the people did not leave before the end of the demo :D, but I have to admit I always try to keep it interesting of course. I hate to work on a schedule during these days so the schedule they made for me was broken from the first show I guess. I always start shooting when there are enough people on the booth, I think that works much better than keeping a tight schedule on a booth. But of course I did do the demos also on the times on the paper.
For tomorrow we will have another model so I’m anxious to see what that brings, I will also try to look around a bit more to also get an impression of the Photokina because today I did not make it further than 10 minutes of the Joe McNally presentation which I would have loved to see to the end, but duty called.
Here two images straight from the monitor take with the iPhone and the backstage video also taken with the iPhone. More to come tomorrow.
And the backstage video
Elke keer als ik Frank aan het werk zie, inspireer mij steeds weer om zo snel mogelijk de studio in te duiken.
Vaak zo simpel, alsof hij kan toveren met licht.
Ik kom zeker een paar workshops doen.
Frank, bedankt weer voor de inspiratie
Succes in Keulen.
Andre.
Thanks so much for the info/video, Frank! Can’t wait to see more about the new ranger heads and zooming ability….too cool! Does this mean there’s a new ranger pack, too?
Thanks so much Andre.
@Cathpah,
No new Ranger packs yet.
But I think it’s a matter of time when they will release something with skyports build in and options like the Quadra. But I really don’t know a time schedule. When it’s not released on Photokina it will probably not be soon.
Thanks for the quick reply. Too bad they’re not getting an update, but the zooming bulb plus indirect deep octa are both incredibly exciting….so I can’t really complain.
Do let us know if you hear anything about availability for either, ideally in North America. Obviously, you’re expertise is in the picture taking, not the sales talk….so I certainly don’t expect you to have to report back! 🙂
Thanks again.
To be honest the only connection I have with sales is that I have to get some gear time by time, I don’t work for Elinchrom 😀
But I will aks your questions.
I know the zooming heads will probably be there end of the year or start of next year, the 1.50 Deep Octa indirect is almost ready for release and again I can’t wait for that one.
The lighttools grids are available at the moment.
Thanks Frank for the video and comments. What does the zoom ability for the Quadra head actually improve?
Wait, so that zoomable head was for the Ranger pack right? Why update the heads and not the pack? dammit. I’m hoping to see lithium batteries for it too.
Frank,
Would you ask folks at Elinchrom to manufacture geared tilt head for their softboxes again, please?
I would purchase two instantly.
Regards,
Billy
@IVAN,
You can give a very nice control to the hotspot on the model, make it slightly softer or harder, also within softboxes it can help.
@Brendan,
Elinchrom are always working on something, but for the MOMENT I did not hear a lot about new Rangers…. but that doesn’t mean they won’t be released within a year or so. But it could very well take longer.
I really don’t know.
@BJNY,
How do you mean ?
On all the heads I use I have geared tilt heads ?
Except on some D-lite heads, but maybe I misunderstand.
Thank you Frank.
I remember from 20+ years ago Elinchrom used to manufacture an accessory geared tilt head for use with their larger softboxes.
I haven’t seen in their catalogue in quite some time.
Could you mail me an image of that so I can see what you mean ?
Hi Frank, glad to found this site. I was also in Köln and watched some demos with you. I have some questions: What will be the choice of you, the deep octa 100 or the new deep octa indirect 150 or both? What will be the difference? A softer but also direct light with the 150er? I use it mainly for people shootings. Dou you now, is there a chance to use the Elinchrome Lightformers at Hensel units (they have great new lights and I waiting for a while that comes an update for the RX series (build in radio…). I have Elinchrome since 1980. I have now ma 600WS but working now with a new Hasslblad H4D System. Would you go with the 1200WS? So, I have to stop her…;-) Thanks a lot! rem
Hi,
Good to hear you liked the demos on Photokina, it’s always difficult to do them in that kind of setups and light.
I still have to try the 150, I ordered it right away.
My idea is that the 150 will give you slightly softer light when used bare (without diffusers), so less light fall off when shooting 3/4, simply because the model fits in the 150. I will mainly be using it for outside shots with full bodies or when I need more coverage than the 100 will give me.
But I still have to really look into it.
There are several converting kits on the market but I don’t know for Hensel, sorry.
About power, I’m shooting mainly ISO50 on the Leaf AptusII7 and I use 600W/500W heads.
1200W will give you one stop more, I do use a 1200 in my 1.90 octa mainly because I use that further away from my model sometimes, it’s on full power only then. I think 600W is a great head, also because the flashduration on the 1200 is slower, if you are planning on stopping motion that can be important.
Thanks Frank! Im looking forward to read more about it!;-) I wrote now to Profoto about availability. I think I will go with 2×600 and 1x1200WS. On the Hassy I have a minimum ISO from 100, so already 1stop more. The 190 Octa would be great but my Studio is only 2.6m high and and not so large. Maybe is the 150er a good compromise… Greetings from Switzerland, remos