Review Update: Elinchrom Ranger RX
Jan13

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Review Update: Elinchrom Ranger RX

Posted by on Jan 13, 2012 in Photography | 1 comment

Don’t worry, I haven’t gone insane and decided to write another review of the Ranger RX. Just an update on how I am finding the pack and head after about 2 years of using it. Everyone likes to review things when they are new so here’s some “after thought” on the Ranger RX.

Oh, if you haven’t read my initial review, you can find it here.

I’ve owned the Ranger RX for around 2 years now and they are still working even with the shit I put them through! I’ve shot in the snow, rain and at the beach with the Rangers and it’s not my intention to not clean the thing after every shoot, just I’m so tired and lazy :P

If you need lights for outdoor shooting under any condition then I would suggest you look at the Ranger’s last because you’ll end up buying them and here’s why;

  1. Ports are sealed with caps (no chance of sand or dirt getting in the ports).
  2. Control panel uses push buttons under a sealed plastic membrane (no turn dials to let in sand/salty air).
  3. Steel casing pack which also encases the sealed battery (no need for a protective bag).
When I first got the Ranger RX I had some “ebay special” softboxes with the elinchrom EL mount. This was all good until I discovered the Elinchrom Rotolux range of softboxes. The Rotolux’s have rods which are joined to the mounting ring via a knuckle style joint so all you need to do is to push the rod out and it will snap in to place. Meaning I no longer needed to fight with the softbox rods like a newbie camper trying to put up their tent! The fabric in the Rotalux softboxes are very taut so it does not flap around in the wind.
If you had to pick one modifier I would suggest the Elinchrom Rotalux 39″ Deep Octabox, it’s one of my most used modifiers and it is also very versatile once you get used to it with just inner baffle, both baffles or with the deflector disc Elinchrom have.
Nothing is perfect and the Ranger isn’t, some things I’d love would be for it to have some or all of the following:
  1. Ability to have concealed trigger modules (Pocket Wizard or Skyport module for example)
  2. Lithium Ion battery pack for more shots and maybe even faster recycle times?
  3. Zoomable heads with LED lights like the new flash heads. I know there is an adapter to use the new flash heads with the Ranger pack but the less connections the better…. right?
  4. Mains adapter! Yes I know it’s built like a tank for outdoors but sometimes I venture in to the studio as well.

The only real life issue I faced was my fault, I had left the in-built optical trigger on and it was firing randomly under the sun. Ooops.

As you can tell I do like my Ranger and what’s not to like? The pricing in Australia is good, there is a great lineup of modifiers for it and an adequate upgrade path for most photographers if you decide to cut your teeth with a set of the entry level D-Lite 4′s.

There is nothing at this same price point in the Australian market which comes close to the Ranger RX.



 

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