Optimized for the great outdoors, although equally at home in the studio, the Elinchrom ELB 500 TTL goes wherever you need the power of a 500ws strobe. Designed with portability in mind, the ELB 500 TTL’s components—heads and power pack—are lightweight and compact. And, thanks to the power pack’s rugged, weatherproof design, you’ll feel confident taking the full-featured ELB 500 TTL with you, even on your most adventurous assignments. This is a lighting solution that’s not only portable but has all the bells and whistles you’ll need for whatever assignment comes your way.

The “To Go” Lighting Solution

Available in single and double “To Go” kits, each configuration includes a rugged and weatherproof power pack with shoulder strap, one or two heads (with 8 foot cables and protective cap), Q-mount reflectors and a well-designed location bag to store and carry the gear.

With 500ws of power, the 3.5 x 3.1 x 6.3-inch, 1.5 pound ELB 500 TTL heads are surprisingly small and lightweight, as is the 5.5-pound power pack. Mount a head to a boom pole, sling the pack over a shoulder and your lighting assistants can power through the shoot without a lot of stress or strain. Working solo? Just hang the pack from a sturdy lightstand or place it on the ground and you’re good to go.

Compatibility

Natively compatible with Q-mount modifiers such as Elinchrom’s great-for-location-shooting Portalite line, the ELB 500 TTL can accommodate the full array of Elinchrom light shapers in combination with the Q-Reflector Adapter MK-II

The optional Elinchrom Transmitter Pro (formerly Skyport HS Plus), as well as the Phottix ODIN II, provides seamless wireless performance and at-your-fingertips control of the ELB 500 TTL. Already have the Skyport HS Plus for your Canon or Nikon DSLR? No problem, Use the transmitter’s USB port for a free firmware update so you can continue to use your current Skyport HS Plus with the ELB 500 TTL.

Ease of Use

Out of the box, the ELB 500 TTL kit is easy to use. In addition to no-muss, no-fuss setup, both the power pack’s OLED display and that of the wireless transmitter are bright and clear. Menu systems are logical and easy to navigate, so you can spend more time shooting and less time fiddling with your lighting gear.

The ELB 500 TTL comes equipped with a 40 watt equivalent LED, daylight modeling lamp with several operational modes. The modeling lamp offers On/Off, power adjustments independent of the flash settings, proportional adjustments (in conjunction with the flash output), timer and visual confirmation options.

But the big news for the ELB 500 TTL is the inclusion of TTL in a light this powerful. Better yet, you can lock in the TTL exposure reading and tweak it in manual mode to get the exact look you want either in 7 full stops or 1/10th of a stop for super-fine tuning.

Performance and Features

Despite its compact size, the battery pack has what it takes to keep your shoot running smoothly even when you’re in the middle of nowhere. At full power, a charged battery can output up to 400 flashes with a maximum recycling time of 2 seconds. Multiple flash setups are easy to manage thanks to a choice of 4 groups and 20 frequencies.

Among its many useful features, the ELB 500 TTL displays the exact flash duration as you adjust the power output. Set the light to action mode and you’ll get a flash duration as short as an amazing 1/20,000th sec—perfect for capturing outdoor shots of athletes at their peak moments or a dancer’s leap in mid air.

Curious about battery life? Elinchrom has built in tracking that shows the total amount of time the battery has been used and the number of flashes that have been discharged.

The ELB 500 TTL also offers several other advanced options designed to enhance the unit’s functionality.

HSS: You don’t always have a choice of when and where to shoot, but you can easily overpower the sun (and maintain your shallow depth of field with an f/2.8 or faster lens) with the ELB 500 TTL’S High Speed Sync shutter speeds of up to 1/8000th sec.

Asymmetry: Balancing light outdoors is rarely easy but you’ll have full control over your multi-strobe lighting set up thanks to the ELB 500 TTL’s full asymmetry. This feature allows you to be as creative as you need to be during a shoot by adjusting each strobe’s power output individually.

Active Charging: The battery takes only 100 minutes to get back to full power, but you can continue shooting while the battery is being charged, so there’s no time lost when you have an AC outlet nearby.

There’s a lot more to the Elinchrom ELB 500 TTL than we have room to list here so please go to https://www.elinchromus.com/battery/elb500.html for the full array of specifications and features. This powerhouse unit is priced well, too, at $1900 (single To Go kit) and $2125 (dual To Go kit).