Gear Review: Elinchrom Ranger Quadra Flash
With the Ranger Quadra, Elinchrom offers a leightweight but powerful battery flash system for outdoor photography even in remote locations. Here are my impressions…
When you have to carry all the equipment on your back, every pound counts and you literally have to weigh the power versus weight.
Tech Specs
The Ranger Quadra flash has a maximum power of 400 Ws at a weight of only 3.65 kg. It recycles in 2.2 seconds at full power. At lower power settings the recycle time is even faster, down to a quarter of a second. The A head gives a fast flash duration (minimum is 1/6000 of a second) ideal for freezing action. The battery recharges in only 1.5 hours which is very useful.
The Ranger Quadra has a built-in Skyport receiver for wireless triggering of the flash. Flash power is adjustable from the camera transmitter in 1/10 f-stop steps. It also works with PocketWizards connected to the 3.5 mm sync jack – which I prefer over the Skyport because of reliability – or by hard-wiring with a simple 3.5 mm sync cable. In addition, the Quadra also has an included optical slave cell.
The menu system of the Quadra is a bit spartanic. It’s hard to remember the short codes for altering the settings without having the manual for reference. However, normally the settings do not need to be changed from their default.
Something very useful is the intelligent triggering system if you combine the Quadra with additional small speedlights in TTL mode. TTL-mode speedlights use preflashes, and the Quadra recognizes these preflashes and syncs with the main flash. The pre-flash auto-detect makes it easy and comfortable to use the Quadra in combination with an on-camera speedlight as an optical trigger. Using a small speedlight as an optical trigger also allows to fire the Quadra in rear curtain sync for motion blurred exposures.
One more plus: the Quadra has a built-in 20 Watt LED pilot light (100 Watt equivalent). It’s a nice add-on for video recording if you want to use all the Elinchrom still photo light shapers.
Combine it with Speedlights
The Elinchrom Ranger Quadra A head in comparison to the Nikon speedlight SB-900.
The flash head itself is really tiny. In fact it’s smaller and weighs less than a Nikon SB-900 speedlight! Of course the battery ads considerable weight – but at a gain of flash power.
Light quality is just awesome. Light temperature is constant over the whole power range. Even without any light shaper, the standard reflector gives a very pleasant light/shadow quality.
The Quadra works perfectly together with speedlights. There is a built-in photo cell for synchronizing the Quadra to a hot shoe flash. The Quadra even knows how to handle preflashes and waits for the main flash to sync! Rear curtain synchronization is also possible that way. Small speedlights are very useful for outdoor photography on location especially if you can combine them with larger flashes.
The whole Quadra flash system fits in my Satori photo backpack, together with lenses, filters, accessories, and the camera! The photo pack as shown weighs 12 kg. That includes three zoom lenses, a tele converter, a camera body and a lot of small stuff like filters, cards, cables etc. One word about the flash cable connecting the flash to the head: the standard cable is only 2.5m long. There are cable lengths up to 10m available. However, the longest cable is quite heavy if you have to carry it in a backpack.
Light Shapers
The Quadra head with a color gel.
A big plus for the Quadra is the spectrum of accessories available. With an adapter, all the Elinchrom light shapers fit to the Quadra head: softboxes, beauty dishes, reflectors (with grids), umbrellas, even the Octa. There’s also a ringflash for the Quadra.
Elinchrom now includes a plastic cap for the reflector which protects the flash bulb for transport and also serves as a holder for color gels. Lee Filters have a lighting filter pack (the pro-pack) with sheets that can be cut in to the right shape; the packs includes half and full CTO and CTB gels, as well as a lot of color effect and neutral density gels.
Comparison with Larger Flash Systems
The bigger brother of the Quadra, the Elinchrom Ranger Speed AS, offers 1100 Ws. These two additional f-stops (1100 Ws vs. 400 Ws) explain the weight of the Ranger AS (8 kg) – considerably more than the Quadra, especially if you have to carry it in a backpack with other gear. For larger outdoor photo set-ups, the Quadra system might be combined with its big brother, the Ranger AS.
There are other compact flash systems like the Profoto AcuteB 600 which offers a little more flash power (600 Ws). That’s half of an f-stop more light, but at the cost of weight (4.9 kg).
Overall
The Elinchrom Ranger Quadra is a leightweight but powerful battery flash system perfectly suited for outdoor sports photography. I’m very happy with it, it’s a great tool to work with. I especially dig the short recycle time, its flash power and energy supply, and the fast battery recharging.
there’s a new version of the Profoto AcuteB 600 which merely weighs 3.8kg with battery now, which has me kind of wanting to ditch my quadras now. especially since they offer more than 200 flashes on full power and also a more powerful modeling light, the quadra’s are a joke.
Elinchrom also seems to think it’s funny to release a new version of the Quadras a year after they were introduced. (RX functionality and other improvements…)
Yeah, the Profoto AcuteB2 600 AirS looks nice too. It’s about the same weight and also has an included radio sync system. I’ve not tried it yet. The price range is much higher – you can have the Quadra set with two flash heads and a spare battery pack for the same money. There is always something new… At the end of the day, it’s the result that counts.