PDN
New York, NY
October 2006-10-09 Product Reviews
By David Schloss We have looked at a number of location-ready battery-based lighting setups in PDN – it’s really the only category of studio lighting that has seen breakthroughs in technology. But none are so instantly impressive as is the new Broncolor Verso A2. When I first caught sight of the massive battery-powered location lighting pack, I was reminded of the opening of 2001: Space Odyssey, where some apes come upon a monolithic slab possessing some sort of great power.
To begin with, those familiar with Broncolor dedication to engineering will understand how lovingly I mean it when I say that this newest member of the product line is built like a brick house. Like its non-portable siblings, the Verso A2 is a monster when connected to an AC current. Plugged in, it has recycle times under a second (making it faster at recharging than most medium-format camera backs are at capturing) and provides a seven-stop range of output from 9 Jules to 1200 Jules. Each of the three channels operates individually and the output can be adjusted in 1/10th of a stop range.
The top control panel would look equally at home in a studio or in a high-tech server room, with Broncolor providing individual controls for each aspect of operations. It’s possible, for example, to adjust the sensitivity of the slave’s photocell, eliminating the need to position a pack so that stray lighting doesn’t trigger a flash. That’s just one of the little human touches the likes of which are found on both Broncolor and Mercedes Benz cars.
When adjusting power levels, the internal capacitors automatically adjust to prevent flash pops that are too bright or too low just after a change in output is dialled in. It’s even possible to program sequential flash pops for photographers who are trying to capture an image with a stroboscopic effect, and then to save those settings for later use. (These are even auto-saved so that when a photographer turns on a unit, the previous shot’s settings will be used.)
The Verso A2 becomes more impressive when AC power isn’t available, however, thanks to the new Power Dock that’s part of the Verso system. The Power Dock is a massive battery unit that clips Lego-style to the bottom of the Verso and provides outlet-free power. While the combined system is very heavy (“this is why we have assistants.” Quipped one tester) weighing in at about 45 pounds, it’s tremendously more versatile than other built-in battery powered solutions we’ve tried.
There’s a two-fold reason for this. The first is that the Verso A2 was designed to provide nearly the same level of output when on battery power as when on AC power (more on this in a moment). The second is that by designing the system around an external, connectable battery the company was able to create a lighting tool which can be used without battery when necessary.
The Verso-using photographer can simply disconnect the battery from the pack, using the main unit while shooting in-studio, and then strap on the external power when shooting on location.
That’s a sharp contrast to many of the systems that include integrated battery. These require the photographer to either buy different units for studio and location, or to carry around ultra-heavy battery based units while in studio. It also means that a high-volume photographer could purchase a secondary (tertiary) Power Dock if necessary, allowing them to continue shooting when other systems run dry.
For our test shooting, we compared the Verso A2 to the standard Grafit A2, both attached to the company’s studio lights. (There are around ten different Broncolor lights available and dozens of light shapers – everything from snoots to softboxes, all of which work with the system.) In each of our shoots, testers triggered the packs with the company’s remote radio frequency based RFS remote triggering system.
One of our testers who has resisted using other remote triggering systems in the past due to complex-looking control panels was blown away by the simplicity of the RFS trigger: Just plug it into the hotshoe and shoot. Of course, the RFS trigger has a retail price nearly ten times some of the competing products, so one would expect good performance.
When off the Power Dock base, a small door covering the AC port opens up, allowing it to be connected to an outlet, but when the Power Dock is in use, this port slides up to cover the AC plug from being inserted. Smart.
Both units handled everything we could throw at them, and the Verso A2 operated as well in battery-based mode as when plugged in. There’s a slightly longer recharge time when the A2 is pulling its juice off of the Power Dock, but it’s still faster than many entry-level lighting solutions recharge when performing optimally.
Photographers will have to select their lights more carefully of shooting connected to the Power Dock. With 100-120 volt power the Verso A2 can fire three 300W lamps at a time, while the Power Dock charged system can handle a max of three 150W units. A built-in modelling lamp can operate continually under outlet power but has a timed duration (adjustable) under battery power.
Broncolor specs for the Verso A2 rate the unit at 350 shots under “fast charge” or a max of 450 shots when charging the unit normally. We were able to shoot more than three hundred images in our test without the battery losing any power, so many shots in fact that we finished any shoot and recharged it before running it completely down.
We tested the gear primarily with the Broncolor Ringlight and were as impressed with the build and quality of that gear as with the pack. Lights plug into the Verso via a massive uni-direction connector that allows for very precise adjustments to light output. We had no problems with neither pack nor lights during our testing.
Broncolor equipment is not for every studio. The same precision engineering and solid build that makes operation bullet-proof makes it prohibitively expensive for many photographers. Broncolor gear has long been the Rolls Royce of studio equipment, and the Verso A2 is no exception. It’s solid, functions flawlessly, and almost as much of a status symbol as an investment in photographic excellence.
If stranded on a desert island with only one remote pack system to choose from, we’d pick the Verso A2 over any of the models we’ve looked at to date, it’s that solid. Broncolor Verso A2 | |
