Equipment Review: Elinchrom's new ELC 500 Monolight, HHS, TTL, LED

[@AJF4Me]

Best review of these units on KZbin! Thanks!

[@JohnGress]

Wow, thanks!

[@brettida5091]

thanks for a great review from a very practical viewpoint!

[@JohnGress]

Brett Ida thank you so much!

[@Chalito5]

Great video John!

[@JohnGress]

Stephen Gomez thank you so much! I hope you sell a ton! If you’re at wppi hmu!

[@MarkoNara]

Great video.. Easy to understand

[@JohnGress]

Thanks! Glad it was helpful!

[@kimharrison3146]

Hi John. I've been using Elinchrom BRX 500's in my school photography business for years. As they age they now tend to overheat, understandably after firing up to 1,500 times a day! We don't have too long to allow them to cool down when we get the "E2" (overheating) message on the rear of the unit. I understand the 500ELC 500 Pro has 4 capacitors that are able to switch on and off when the unit gets too hot to fire - which is a huge feature. Trouble is, I would need 26 of them and we don't have that kind of money. With the new tech featured 500 ELC, do you think it would be able to handle the job in an environment such as ours? The price factor does come into it here!

[@JohnGress]

Hi Kim, I know there is machine learning that helps them stay cool, but I really don't understand how it works. I haven't had any of my Elinchrom lights over heat, DRX 1200, ELC500, ELC 500 or Pro HD. Could you please email me, [e-mail], and I will get back to you with a better answer?

[@boatmanbermuda7255]

Good work man!! well done

[@JohnGress]

boatman Bermuda thanks! I really appreciate it!

[@Mowikan]

I bought 3 of them. Never use the ttl. The big advantage for me is the possibility to go really down on the power.

[@JohnGress]

I only use it when I am too lazy to turn on my light meter! But .01 is clutch! =)

[@kbelbern]

Thank you John for the great review and the nice images examples in the video as always a great presentation from you. Just for understand if I want to work with HSS for freezing the motion of the model if I have one ELC 500 for the key light and for instance 2 other flashes for making the background white have those also to be with HSS or can this two flashes in normal mode like with 2 dlites 4? Thank you in advance for your feedbacke

[@JohnGress]

kbelbern sorry for the delay. Thank you so much! All the heads would have to be HS or HSS capable, like the ELB400 with an HS head or the ELB500. www.elinchrom.com/learn/elb400-500-1200-in-tandem.html

[@martinpalombini2762]

Hi Jhon, Thanks for the great review!! just for undertand, the high speed sync reduces while increase the power? it means i can't use full power in 1/8000 or so...?? so to get that sync speed need to be in lower power? Thanks in advance!

[@JohnGress]

I'm not sure I understand your question, but If I do, I think the best way to answer this may be this: after going over my meta data from my last HSS shoot, it looks like at full power in a 120cm Litemotiv softbox at about 1.5m from the model was 1/4000 f2 ISO 100. With normal sync that exposure would have been around 1/200 f11 which is almost the same volume of light. I hope this helps.

[@martinpalombini2762]

@@JohnGress Thanks for replay, in the review you sed somthing that i didnt understud well, you sed somthing like if you increase the power of the light the sync speed decrease.. what i want to know if this light would be enough to capture motion like a dancer or twodancers, or maybe a sport guy doing some trick or something? Thanks again.

[@JohnGress]

Martin Palombini oh the flash duration. I would be happy using the ELC 500 for general people photography except for in large modifiers, like the Indirect 190, when shooting around f11 or when trying to freeze a dancer while using a softbox, like my Litemotiv 120 at anything higher than 5.6. If you need to shoot at full power and have a shorter duration, then I would suggest the ELC Pro HD 500, which is positioned a step higher in their line-up.

[@JohnGress]

Martin Palombini this video May help too. kzbin.info/www/bejne/aam8i2SYl7-pZ8U

[@sharadsingh635]

Hello John...love your videos...would like to know from you whether lights such as profoto b10 plus would be a better choice in terms of filling a softbox evenly..i read one of your articles where you compared d1 and pro heads and explained the shortcomings of profoto for filling a large modifier evenly with light...i am seriously thinking of buying a b10 plus due to its flexibility as an outdoor/indoor light and use it with elinchrom deep octa 39"...i would also like to know how the 2500 lumen modelling light on b10 plus fares against the 20w bulb on elc 500...

[@JohnGress]

I’d have to compare the specs of the two modeling light. 🤷🏼‍♂️

[@joepearson279]

Great vid 👍 does the ELC 125 have the LED modelling light too? Also would the modelling light be bright enough for video at 1/50sec shutter?

[@JohnGress]

I believe it has one, but the fan noise would make audio impossible. It would be bright enough depending on your ISO and aperture.

[@joepearson279]

John Gress does the fan need to kick in to cool the system down when it’s an LED light that gives off no heat?

[@Tracks777]

nice content

[@JohnGress]

MisterTracks thanks!

[@guidetheride2103]

Hey John, thanks for explaining these functions. Have you used the EL studio app with a Bridge unit? I think the sky port pro is top drawer but its screen is on top and the unit doesn’t pivot so if on the tripod you often need to remove the Skyport to change settings, not necessay with the app.

[@JohnGress]

Thank you! Shhhhhhh, next week's video is about the Bridge =P And yes it would be nice if it pivoted. =)

[@guidetheride2103]

@@JohnGress Looking forward to the next video. 👌📸

[@josephboldt8065]

Is there a video about model releases coming? Seems like an often overlooked subject people might not understand.

[@JohnGress]

I did think about that, but essentially doing so would be legal advice and that would be improper since I am not a lawyer. But there must be a lot of videos on the topic from lawyers.. I would hope.

[@PedroGameiro]

Nice!!!! The Skyport transmitor is the same? or we have to buy new one?

[@JohnGress]

Pedro Gameiro thanks! It’s the same, you just need to have the current firmware which is ready for TTL.

[@JohnGress]

Pedro Gameiro to clarify it will work with any Skypoty transmitter at your cameras normal sync speed. But if you want to use high-speed sync or TTL you will need a Transmitter Pro with the current firmware.

[@cesarebonazza]

I saw this 2 unit at WPPI in Vegas and I was very impressed great reviews very seriously considering buying 2 125 and 2 500 have test them with a external battery ? What is that you don't like so far ? are the modeling light bright enough if you using a Rotalux 69? II never been a Elinchrom user ( I own Profoto, Buff, Multibltz, Priolite, Quantum, Godox)

[@JohnGress]

I think that would be a great combo. I was able to power one flash with the recycling speed set to eco and the modeling light switched off with a Paul C Buff Vagabond Mini Lithium Battery. However you will need to switch it to eco mode while plugged into a wall as the start up draw in normal mode is too much for the battery to handle. I know this doesn’t sound ideal, but it does give you additional flexibility. While the ELC 500’s modeling light is the same effective brightness of the halogen bulb in my ELC Pro HD 500, I did find it to be too dim when I was using it with my 5DIV and shooting at 1.4. But now that I have been using an R5 the camera works great with the modeling lights. Here's a full blog post I wrote after using them for two months. johngress.com/review-elinchroms-new-elc-500-monolight-hss-ttl-led/ Once the world opened back up they became my primary lights. I really enjoy being able to shoot in TTL in a pinch, or when setting up my lights for that initial exposure, and I also love shooting at 1.4 now whenever I want in the studio thanks to HSS and eye autofocus. I also have learned to live which shooting at f8 and not f11, but sometimes I have to use my Pro HDs when I need a lot of power with quick recycle times.

[@cesarebonazza]

I will read your post. For the external power I will be using the Interfit Nomad I try the buff one I do own 6 Digibees for that is really good, but on my old profoto compact it will work on the 300 watt but not the 600 the Interfit will do any power up to 600. Great advice to turn on the eco mode I’m very glad to ear that you have a bright EVF with R5 because with my R is really dark on really strong backlight or just outdoor. After the elections I will make my move for now I’m really happy that I’m working at list 3 days out the week. Thank you 😊

[@karlweb1]

Hi John Thanks for this review Man you are going to kill my wallet. Thanks for all that you do

[@JohnGress]

Sure thing Karl. I don’t know if India’s it but the ELC 500 Pro HD is basically a D2 without the TTL and HSS.

[@readyfoto]

great one

[@JohnGress]

Pro Vision Photo video Photo video thanks!!

[@claudenovak3368]

So, why buy the ELC PRO HD, assuming you don't need the 1000w version and you can deal with a worse flash duration at full power? The new 500w flash has HSS, led instead of that horrible tungsten, TTL, a better flash duration of 1/9430 (i assume at around mid power which will still allow you to shoot at F8) , a larger OLED display and it even looks a little bit better.

[@JohnGress]

All around I think the new ELC is great! They are now my primary lights. A side from the multiple pop and other creative features of the Pro HD, the light does recycle lightning fast at full power and the flash duration at full power is just slightly better. So I would use the Pro HD in those rapid shooting high powered situations. ELC 500 Recycling Time 230 V (FAST) 0.06 to 1.1 s Recycling Time 115 V (FAST) 0.09 to 1.9 s ELC PRO HD Recycling Time 230 V (FAST) to 0.6 s Recycling Time 115 V (FAST) to 0.7 s

[@紅葉亀]

Hi John, i just try for first time my new flash yesterday, I’m very impressed by the modeling light much better as before on my rx4. So cool 👍 Btw I checked your gear list, and I was wondering about that powder for makeup, never heard about it before, is there a video you talk about it?

[@JohnGress]

Enjoy your new light. Yes! There is a video for that! Makeup basics for male models of all skin tones

[@JohnGress]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/e6fEn6OInLB9gJY

[@紅葉亀]

@@JohnGress ok 👍 thanks John

[@joeyshene3300]

I have the Samsung nx1 mirrorless camera would it work ??

[@JohnGress]

Sorry, I’m not familiar with that camera.

[@humanfitness7650]

Hi, can the strobe freeze water?

[@JohnGress]

Possibly. The ELB500 has better specs for freezing movement.