Mobile Studio With The Elinchrom One

November 1st, 2022

Mobile Studio With The Elinchrom One

Mobile Studio With The Elinchrom One

This is basically a bit of an addendum to the original Elinchrom One review. I had used the Elinchrom One in a number of client shoots, including food, automotive and dance as part of the review process. I did wonder about the flash duration, particularly whilst we were photographing a dancer on the beach. Although the Elinchrom One coped admirably with the ambient light conditions, as dramatically proven with the lotus shoot.

car photography penrith

But, I did have a bit of niggling going on at the back of my mind. After all, dancers moved incredibly quickly, and the Elinchrom Ones tend to have to be at full whack when used outside.

The automotive shoots are fine, as the subject is stationary, but the dancer on the beach did throw up one image that appeared to have a slight ghosting, caused by movement.

dance photograoher lancashire

As you can see, there is a faint outline along her arms and a little bit around her foot. This was most likely caused by the level of ambient light, which would still show the subject after the flash. But I couldn’t rule out the possibility that the flash duration being at it’s longest when the Elinchrom One was at full power, potentially allowing blurring.

elinchrom one mobile studio

So we took the Elinchrom Ones along to a dance competition that Helen was photographing. I run the mobile studio at the competitions, and it would be an ideal environment to check on the flash duration with fast moving subjects.

The ambient light levels at these events are nothing to worry about. The camera tends to be set to 1/250th sec f5.6 and an ISO of 400. Test shots without firing the flash will usually give a completely black, underexposed frame. So that is going to rule out any ambiant light contamination.

The Elinchrom Ones were utilised as my accent lights, and were set to an output of 4.0, equivalent to 100Ws. Using the rubber mount adaptor, the were each firing through Phottix 30x140cm honeycombed stripboxes. They were placed either side of the backdrop, and then aimed towards an area central to the backdrop and around a meter to a meter and half in front of it. You can see the effect of the lighting in the image above.

The key light was an ELB500, firing through a Phottix Raja 105cm with a honeycomb fitted, mainly to stop adding light to the background. It was set to an output of 3.0, equivalent to 50Ws.

Obviously, the young lady in the above image is pretty static, which isn’t going to highlight any blurring, but does serve as point of reference.

action photography elinchrom one

Nothing!

There was absolutely no blurring at all around the fastest moving parts of our young dancer. The rear foot had been travelling fastest, and would certainly have shown up any kind of issue. However, there was also a chance I may have taken the image as she hit her peak, which means for a split second, movement would have been minimal.

elinchrom one action photography

elinchrom one dance photography

elinchrom one action shots

Well, subsequent images all confirmed what I had found with the first photographed jump. All were perfectly crisp, with no blurring at all. And there is absolutely no chance I could have photographed over fifty dancers, and managed to hit every single one at the split second they ceased to move, before they prepped to land.

This certainly erased any kind of doubt I had regarding the flash duration, and its ability to freeze motion.

Unfortunately, it does mean I now have to deal with Helen, and her constant mythering, because she wants a full set of Elinchrom Ones, specifically for the mobile studio work. They would just make transporting the gear that bit easier.

Personally, I would rather wait till the mkII metal EL mount adaptor is available from The Flash Centre, which I’d immediately replace the rubber adaptor with. I can’t see it being too much longer, and then I guess I’ll have to take the plunge.

N.B.

Yes, I know it’s available now, I just haven’t told Helen.