What Ever Happened to ....

ColColt · Sep 7, 2015

Many moons ago(mid 90's) I had two Photogenic power lights(PL1500) that were rated at 600 watt/seconds. Great lights but I don't know if they're even in business anymore or at least don't seem to offer the PL1500 series. I did many portraits/weddings with those lights. Anyone know what happened with them or why? They were superb in my 28" Recessed Westcott Apollo and 60" Halo modifiers.

Same scenario for the Quantum 4i Radio Slaves. I had two of those to trigger my lights-both Channel B...can't find those anymore either. They were great and very dependable. Those seem to be gone as well.

Sirius Glass · Sep 7, 2015

Samys [http://www.samys.com] does carry some Quantum parts [http://www.samys.com/p/Triggering-Accessories/515/AC-Adapter-for-Radio-Slave-4i/7196.html] and Photogenic power lights [http://www.samys.com/s/Photogenic power lights]. I hope that helps.

TheFlyingCamera · Sep 7, 2015

Photogenic is still around I think, but the ones you're talking about are probably discontinued. Here's what B&H has for Photogenic, and that's just their monolights:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/Monolights/ci/11433/N/4232862150

Quantum is also around but the radio slave is also passé. These days the hot items in wireless triggers are PocketWizard and Odin (depending on your system).

M Carter · Sep 8, 2015

The Quantum Radio Slaves are still in production far as I know (at least they're still stocked at some shops).

I still use mine with my RB - big and clunky, but the sub-$100 radio units won't fire my RB lenses. Those $25 amazon models work fine on everything else I own, just not the RB.

The worse thing about the Quantum? The transmitter was always too big for me to use with 35mm model shoots, just hated having it on the hot shoe, so I clipped it to my belt if I wasn't using a tripod.

TWICE in the film days, I pulled a polaroid and walked over to the art director - and heard my camera crash to the ground. Really need to remember to unplug the damn thing when it's on your belt!!!

ColColt · Sep 8, 2015

I had looked on B&H's website and although they showed them it was discontinued. Sad, they worked well as designed and did great. The sending unit I had mounted on the side handle of my 6x7 while on a tripod and it was not in the way. I never used the 4i's for 35mm. I foolishly sold the two I had to KEH back in the late 90's thinking I'd never need them again after I got away from wedding photography...lessons learned. Ditto the two power lights I had.

I still have a spare flash tube for the PL1500's and is probably useless since those 600 w/s lights are no longer made.

M Carter · Sep 9, 2015

Adorama still shows a few new receivers at least… but they cost tons more than the modern stuff, PocketWizard etc - I can't imagine they could survive long with the market penetration of the modern triggers. More expensive and just gigantic, clunky things.

Though I still don't know why only the quantum will fire the RB; someday I'll take a couple lenses in and test some modern triggers with them, the cheap chinese deals don't cut it (though they're great with all my other gear, and $28 sure is a nice price…)

ColColt · Sep 9, 2015

Best I recall, the Quantum 4i units, both receiver and sending unit, weren't much bigger than a pack of cigarettes. They worked every time in situations that you relied on their dependability-like weddings.

M Carter · Sep 9, 2015

Well, like a 30-pack of 100's, but fairly close. Compared to today's triggers, they're gargantuan (and the receiver sucks up AA's like crazy, finally got the AC adapter).

They work quite well, but I did get occasional pops from radio interference (or something - some locations they'd just go off a lot on their own). I used them regularly on shoots where travel, models, stylists and so on made it a $10 - $20k day and they never let me down, and the rental houses always had extra receivers.

I don't think they compare well to a modern trigger, which are just as dependable and have longer battery life, and are very small with far more channel choices. Throw in how many pro level packs have built in receivers, too. Shooting with the transmitter on the hot shoe of a 35 was pretty sucky.

Still, mine must be close to 20 and still useable.

ColColt · Sep 9, 2015

I never had any trouble from mine. Even at a wedding or other outing with other people taking pictures they never triggered my lights. If I was doing weddings today I'd pay twice for them if they were still available. I liked them that well.

I don't know about today's lights but understand some have a built in pocket wizard photo cell. I think Photogenic has at least one model that does.

M Carter · Sep 10, 2015

And many Profoto packs. I don't think Speedotron ever went there though.

I imagine setting up an eBay alert could pay off if you really want a few more, they may be going very cheap.

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