I was excited to get my hands on the Elinchrom ELB 1200 strobe pack last week as I, like many photographers, am always on the lookout for a powerful, battery powered option for location work. Elinchrom released the ELB 400 in 2015 and 400ws can be plenty powerful for many applications, but sometimes you just need a bit more power to match the sun especially when you are shooting mid-day.
And shoot at mid-day I did! I decided to place my model, Analisa, out in the sun for my first set-up with the ELB 1200. With her back to the sun, I mounted the Action head in my Elinchrom Rotalux 39” and used this powerful pack to shoot at f18 – 100 ISO – 1/200 second to get a nice saturated sky and a sophisticated look.
I was lucky enough to have nice hard sun shining onto my balcony, but had I needed to move out into the street it would have been no problem as the ELB 1200 manages to weigh in at only 4.3kg (vs 2 for the ELB 400) which makes the unit easy to carry even for a single photographer or small crew. The bag I had held two heads a battery and the unit and was lightweight enough to throw over my shoulder (cameras in my backpack) while heading from Adorama to my studio on the subway.
The ELB 1200 is a 1200ws battery operated power pack that can power one or two flash heads. The two head outlets , A + B can be powered symmetrically (1:1) or asymmetrically 2:1 (66%:33%), each outlet can be activated and deactivated separately and LED illumination shows which heads you have active. The pack will recognize which type of head is in each outlet (Pro, Action, Hi-Sync) and will display the watt seconds and flash duration of each head.
I decided to next work with two heads to create a fashion type image, dark with rim lighting. I placed the model in front of a black card and set my camera to f14 – 100 ISO – 1/200 second to eliminate all the ambient light in my daylight studio. I placed my Rotalux to one side and a standard reflector with 30 degree grid opposite and to the back. This created a very stark image compared to the soft daylight that was pouring through my windows.
Shooting this type of work, I tend to shoot fast, and the ELB 1200 had no problem keeping pace with myself and my great model, Analisa, I didn’t miss a shot! At full power, the ELB 1200 can recycle as fast as 1.7 seconds (in Fast Mode) but even at f14, we were shooting at a much lower power setting.
The ELB 1200 includes a creative suite that allows for sequenced, delayed and even strobo flash modes. The pack’s firmware may be updated via USB and a convenient menu system tells you your current firmware as well as info about usage.
If you had asked me several years ago to work in studio all day with entirely battery operated lights, I would likely have balked at the idea, but with the ELB 1200, I had no problem working all day with a single battery that I recharged during our lunch break. That being said, pick up an extra battery or two if you plan on shooting away from power, they are lightweight and won’t add much bulk to the kit.
The ELB 1200 has two battery options; Battery Air (comes with kits) and Battery HD (optional). Both battery options have a weather resistant (protected from dust and humidity) design as well as a simple indicator showing charged or uncharged and a USB power port (5V) that can be used to power/charge USB equipment.
The Battery Air (90Wh) weighs in at only 1.1kg and offers 215 flashes at full power. This battery can also be used to run the LED light for 80 minutes making it useful for video work. This battery is called Air as it is designed to be carry on safe.
For those requiring a longer battery life (120 minutes of LED or about 400 full power flashes) the Battery HD (144Wh) is available. While this battery option is not for airline travel, it is great for those who use the ELB 1200 as their primary light in studio or travel by car.
Working on location is where this light will really show its strength. With 1200 watt seconds of power and quick skyport control from the top of your camera, the ELB 1200 allows you to adjust quickly to changing natural light. The large OLED display makes the control of its many functions simply intuitive, add to that weather resistance, and the ELB 1200 really is an “Adventure Light”.
Elinchrom supplied two heads with my kit, the Action head and the Hi-sync. Along with the Pro head, this makes three completely redesigned heads to work with the ELB 1200. All three heads are rugged, take standard elinchrom accessories and have the 50w daylight (92 CRI) dimmable LED modeling light. Each head comes with a heavy duty four meter long cable and a built in fan that can be disabled in video mode.
Choose your head based on the work you do Action head for the stopping power of extremely short flash duration (with the pack at 172ws the flash duration is 1/8850); Hi-Sync for location work where Hi-Speed Sync can help you control your aperture while battling the ambient light (up to 1/8000 shutter speed); or choose the versatile Pro head.
I decided to play around with stopping action for my third look. I placed Analisa near the white wall in my studio and dialed in the pack to a very short (around 1/3500) flash duration. This allowed me to shoot at f13, ISO 100, 1/200 second and still freeze the energetic Analisa as no ambient light was captured to cause blur.
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Overall the ELB 1200 was a great unit to work with. Light and easy to transport, powerful enough to battle the daylight and of course produced consistent and beautiful color.
For more inspiration, check out my video on Adorama TV!
