Elinchrom Ranger Test

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So far on this blog, you've read about me talking about photography but you haven't seen me pony up any shots.  I thought now would be a good time to throw some pics in the mix so to speak.  I recently acquired a new toy, the Elinchrom Ranger Speed AS set with the "S" head.  I ordered it from B and H because they were, well, the cheapest.  It didn't come with the proper power cord which was annoying, so I couldn't charge one of the batteries.  I had to wait two days before I could contact them (warning: B and H is closed on saturday) and get a replacement.  Luckily, I ordered the set with two batteries so I was still able to do some shooting.  When I finally got the cord, the first battery charged and then gave me an "Er" msg, which isn't good, but I charged it again and it seemed to be working.  I also ordered the 53" octabox from Amazon which is a big ole softbox.  First impressions....well, the 53" softbox is big and not the easiest thing to put together by yourself.  It's kinda like putting a tent together, so if you've ever done that you'll probably be alright.  It also came with a 33" shoot through umbrella, which I'll put to use on other shoots.  When it came time to shooting, I used the supplied sync cord plugged into the pc-sync port of the D300 and fired away.  I'm still relatively new to off-camera lighting, so it's gonna take me awhile to get the hang of it, but I'm pretty pleased with the shots I got.  Plus, I fired off about 240 shots and it didn't even make a dent in the battery life.....and my set came with two batteries.  Pretty pumped about what I can do on location with that.  Nikon CLS users take note: one annoying thing about trying to use CLS and my SB900 in conjunction with the pc-sync port....doesn't work.  CLS takes precedence and your pc-sync port won't fire.  I wish both did, but since I'm planning on getting radio triggers in the near future, this shouldn't be a big deal.  Anyway, check out the shots below....not bad for a first time with the set.  Shot with a Nikon D300, Nikon 24-70 f2.8g, flash power ~ 5.3, aperture ~11-13.  Enjoy!