The Quadra’s First Outing
Sunday, January 17th, 2010, 14:44
The Elinchrom Quadra Kit I purchased earlier this week has just been sitting in my house screaming at me to break it out and play with it. Unfortunately, workload this week has meant I just didn’t have the opportunity to use it. So today, I grabbed my camera and the kit and went to my local skate and bike park. I know the whole skater/strobist thing is far from original, but it was a case of that or nothing and I felt it would be negligent of me not to use the kit at least once in it’s first week of life 
I’ve never really tried anything like this before, indeed shooting “sports” is something I don’t do a lot of, so it was all very much shooting from the hip and just winging it. For one, I hadn’t really considered how I’d meter for the shots 
It’s not like studio work where the light and model are pretty much static or certainly the distance between them stays more or less constant. In this case the kids were hitting the ramps in different spots and each was jumping at a different height to the other, so the distance varied quite a bit. And even if that wasn’t varying, I wasn’t sure how I’d meter it anyway. So exposure was accomplished by changing the power of the flash (via the skyport trigger – a very nice feature) or dialling up and down aperture and then reviewing it on the LCD. Considering the harsh sun light that there was and how difficult it was to review the LCD, I think they turned out pretty well.
I think the key to this sort of work, like most sports photography, if you want to achieve really good results, is knowing the best positions to be in when shooting. I observed the kids for a while trying to determine the best place to shoot from and in the end it became obvious that the only place would be down within the “bowl” itself But that is only half the story – where I positioned myself and where I framed my shot, I was relying on the kids to come from out of frame into the shot where I would then have to focus first and then fire. Now the D3 is no slouch, but in a lot of cases I missed what looked like some great jumps because the camera didn’t focus 
So nothing wow captured, but it was fun to play with the kits and fun to try something new. I think I’ll definitely put the lessons learned today into practice and try something like this again. I’m sure it’s very much a case of practice makes perfect & based on these I need lots of practice
Thanks to John, Yanky, Tiddles and the rest of the guys for allowing me shoot them.
Here’s a picture from an iPhone (taken by Lorraine), taken during one of the down times when we were reviewing the images You can’t actually see me because I’m lost in the crowd/stampede
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January 17th, 2010 at 2:53 pm
I saw you had just got this, and I was thinking of seeing would you like to shoot soem downhill mountain bike stuff with it. ha ha! Nice shots!
What will the D3 sync at? Your not short of light, thats for sure! Nice work.
Merv
January 17th, 2010 at 2:59 pm
Yeah there’s plenty of power in it.. 400w per pack and I have two packs
So it’s well capable of over powering ambient. I’d love to give the downhill mountain bike stuff a go… when’s the next event? 
The D3 syncs at 1/250, not counting high speed on camera sync obviously. For a lot of shots like these you can get away with 1/320 because even if you start to see the shadow from the curtain, it’s in the sky, so it looks like a graduated ND filter.
January 17th, 2010 at 4:49 pm
Some brill shots taken in my humble opinion
January 17th, 2010 at 5:24 pm
Thanks
don’t think there are any competition winners in there, but it was good craic taking them and from what I learned today, I’m sure I could do better next time.
January 17th, 2010 at 5:31 pm
knowing u, by the time ur finished there will be loads of competition winners – always ur own worst critic :~)
January 17th, 2010 at 6:45 pm
howya tanks 4 2day was class the pics are class
January 17th, 2010 at 7:25 pm
Glad you like them Conor! The hard work was really done by you guys. I’d probably like to try it again in the future if you’re game?
January 17th, 2010 at 9:49 pm
ya we would be game less little kids around and it would be grand haha bit annoying after awhile sure email me when your going down next
January 28th, 2010 at 6:55 pm
Interesting article Ciaran. I don’t currently have a lighting set-up (apart from a couple of EX580s) and have been considering the Quadra for a while as they looks like a very versatile piece of kit. Ideally I’d like to use them for every situation, have you tried them in a studio environment and was there any disadvantage compared to lights designed specifically for studio use?
January 29th, 2010 at 10:00 am
Hi Mark. To be honest, the only time I have had the lights out of the box yet, were for this shoot. So I haven’t really had the chance to use them at all, let alone in a studio environment. But I have a shoot coming up on the first weekend in February, where they will be used for that purpose, so I’ll know better then.
However, from what little experience I do have using them, there are some pretty significant disadvantages over normal studio heads. The primary one is recycle time – studio heads powered by the mains will recycle effectively instantly, where as the quadra and other battery/mobile flash solutions, so take significantly longer to recharge.
Also for the quadra, you will need to buy the Elinchrom Q adaptor, which will allow you to fit Elinchrom softboxes and other light modifiers. Obviously studio heads come with this built in, so there’s no additional cost or adaptor required. So if you’re planning to shoot in the studio the majority of the time, I think a dedicated studio kit would be a better and indeed cheaper solution. However, if it’s only the odd time, the quadras will or should certainly do the job in a studio.
January 29th, 2010 at 12:28 pm
Hi Ciaran, thanks for your feedback, it’s always good hearing from photographers who are actually using the equipment.
I think I will be shooting in the studio for the majority of the time, so as you suggest I’d be better getting a studio kit, something like the BXRi or even the D-Lite Kit – I can always rent a Quadra kit when needed. My two Canon EX 580s are a little limiting although they’re great for travelling light and fine for exterior shots if I’m not competing with the sun.
I’m enjoying your work and Iook forward to seeing more of the Quadras in action.
January 29th, 2010 at 12:35 pm
Thanks Mark
By the way, combining a couple of speed lights/flashes together can give you a fair amount of power. I did this shoot at midday with 3 Nikon flashes: http://www.thewonderoflight.com/articles/?p=737
February 2nd, 2010 at 2:31 pm
Thanks Ciaran, that’s an interesting looking bracket and something I’ll certainly explore further – I’ll need to visit eBay and see if I can get another flash to complete my portable lighting trinity!