Broncolor Move 1200 L – Ultimate Portable Strobe System?

One of the products on my must-see list when I set off to PhotoPlus Expo was Broncolor’s new Move 1200 battery pack.  It was officially announced a few months back at Photokina but with a spring 2013 launch scheduled there hasn’t been an opportunity for me to take a look until last week.  As many of you who read this site often are aware, I currently have an Elinchrom Ranger system.  It’s a bit long in the tooth though.  In fact, I don’t think they have updated it in about ten years so these days there are better options.  Faster,

Pocketwizard Launches the Plus III

LPA Designs have today announced the third iteration of the Pocketwizard Plus lineup.  It integrates several of the features of the Multimax into a smaller, cheaper package that will actually sell for $30 less than the previous version!  Great news!  There has been considerable physical design changes too including a built in antenna and a sideways profile so as not to get in the way of the photographers view when mounted to the camera.  There is a new long range mode designed for remote camera usage, a repeater function (which was previously confined to the Multimax), 32 channels and a

Pushing flash X-sync to the limit

For people that shoot fast moving action with strobes like myself, we are always worrying about sync speeds and flash durations.  Today I’m going to talk a little bit about flash sync and give a quick example of how you can push the boundaries of what can often seem like a very limiting factor with DSLRs.

One of the first questions people ask when they start experimenting with flash is “why does my camera not allow me to use a shutter speed higher than 1/xxx second?”  If you scan through the specifications of a camera you will see one called x-sync.  Typically listed as between 1/180 and 1/250 of a second, this is the fastest useable shutter speed of your camera when using flash. The best way to get to grips with it is to understand exactly what is happening in that split second after you press the shutter button.

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Elinchrom Quadra review and comparison to Ranger RX

For the last three years I have been using the Elinchrom Ranger RX for the majority of my strobed work.  Sometimes I use some Nikon speedlights for fill, but the Ranger is my key light.  I have used it in the rain, in blizzards, in -32 degrees Celsius and it has traveled around the world to Alaska, Japan, New Zealand twice and everywhere in between.  I can depend on this strobe, and it has never let me down.  I have the RX version which is slightly lighter weight than the RX Speed.  For me, recycling time is not such a