External Batteries

[manaheim]

Am I losing it or is there a HUGE difference between these two? Like 4x as many shots and two ports instead of 1?

Quantum Instruments Turbo SC Battery Pack TSC B&H Photo Video

Quantum Instruments Turbo 3 Rechargeable Battery T3 B&H Photo

Anyone have any experience in this space that they can give me any guidance? Seems like a no brainer to go for the turbo 3, but I'm grinding my teeth over $400... let alone $600!

Are there any less expensive options that actually work well? So far I haven't found a heck of a lot, esp when looking for rechargable solutions.

 

[Derrel]

In 1988 I bought a Quantum Battery 1, which is small, and lightish, and has a belt clip, and two flash outlets. That same year I also bought a Quantum Turbo, that cost about 2.9x more money, and was heavier,larger, and had one outlet.

The Turbo battery's lead acid cells died sometime around 1995. The Quantum Battery 1 still WORKS GREAT! It will still power me thru 300-400 flashes from a 285HV, or 500-700 flashes from TWO 285's running at 1/2 power and firing simultaneously from one shooting position.

Honestly, I think the "Turbo" level of battery power is best for what I bought it for in the 1980's---newspaper flash work for situations where you needed to shoot a LOT of flash pictures in just a FEW seconds, when the opportunity arose and you wanted to be able to get off maybe 10 frames in 20 seconds,and then the subject would be....gone...do NOT underestimate the convenience of having two flash outlets--it is a HUGE plus, in my book. You can cut the power in half, and mount two flashes back-to-back and get faster recyling time, and shorter flash duration, as well as the ability to aim the two flashes differnet, or the same, direction, as desired.

For my money, the smaller Quantum Battery 1, with two outlets and about 4x5 x 1.5 inch size is vastly preferrable to the old, full-sized Turbo. The new, slim Turbo SC sounds nice--very light. But pretty expensive. Also, Canon and Nikon have multi-AA-cell external booster packs that are pretty good from what I have read.

 

[manaheim]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... this is a key bit. Thanks, Derrel. I did notice the very different recycle times... 1 second for the turbo, 1.5-3 seconds for others.

Now I have to think... where I'm using this for weddings... I imagine it's going to be already faster than the standard battery setup, and that has only failed me once or twice as it is, so odds are pretty good that I wouldn't need anything faster.

Really my biggest concern is capacity... I'm worried 400 flashes won't be enough... but then I could always fail over to standard batteries if that happens. However I did see a note that some of the solutions require you to swap out the battery door. I'll have to check on that.

 

[Derrel]

Yes, the battery door issue...with the Vivitar 285HV, Quantum Battery 1 (and perhaps others) uses a "dummy battery pack" at the end of the cord...the dummy battery pack is inserted into the body of the flash and the battery compartment door requires that you drill/cut/Dremel out a roughly pencil-diameter slot in the battery cover door, about 1 inch in length...that allows the cord to poke put from the flash, and at the same time, keeps the battery compartment door intact enough that the flash still works with 4x1.5 AA's in their special battery cassette. So...that's the way the Quantum Battery 1 powers a 285HV--with a dummy battery pack. The Quantum Turbo on the other hand, uses a plug-in cord, but does require that batteries also be inside the flash. The Turbo cords were dreadfully expensive--something like $65 back when a 2-bedroom apartment rented for $240 a month...I remember how much the cords for the Turbo stung!!!

Yeah, the recycle times...the Battery 1+, seen here, is only $224 QB1+ Quantum Battery 1 Plus

Note-it says "250 flashes",meaning manual full-power pops, but "1,000+" in AUTO-flash mode. I honestly think their specs are conservative. I've used my 20+ year old Battery 1 to shoot as many as 500 flash shots over the course of a high school basketball game, powering TWO 285's simultaneously in AUTO-Thyristor mode for a wider-aperture, which equates to 1,000 automatic flash pops, over roughly a 90 minute time span. If you would like to calculate a reasonable estimate, try loading your flash with new AA's, and using FULL-power manual, and see how many flashes a set of batteries gives until the recycle time drops below XX seconds, and then use that number as it relates to Quantum Instrument's specification of 250 full-power flashes. AUTO-flash is soooooo much more battery efficient than FUll-power manual flash that it's not even funny. The difference is like driving full-throttle in 2nd gear, versus driving at 2,200 RPM in 5th gear. LIke you said, " imagine it's going to be already faster than the standard battery setup, and that has only failed me once or twice as it is, so odds are pretty good that I wouldn't need anything faster."---YES, the basic Quantum Battery is significantly faster than standard batteries...when using a flash at wider apertures, like f/5.6, the recycle capacity is very quick on shoe-mount power level flash units, and even at FULL power manual, the Battery 1 gives faster recycling than ANY batteries I've ever used.

 

[Garbz]

Remember at 1 shot per second you can melt your flash into goo

 

[Pgeobc]

The only difference that, to me, really counts is that a small QB1 only really replaces your normal batteries. I have had two of these for years: they are lead-acid and they died once, only to have new cells installed. Now they work fine, again. However, they add flash capacity and only add speed by virtue of the lead acid being able to pout out current a little faster than Alkaline or Ni-Cads.

I also have one of the high-voltage packs. I really like it because its high voltage moves current faster and, hence, the recycle time is faster. In addition, it has the expanded capacity of a larger unit. Having a high-voltage unit does not eliminate the need to keep regular batteries in some flash units. Sometimes, like on my Metz 45, the regular batteries handle the lights, the talking to the camera, etc., and the hi-voltage takes care of recharging the main flash only.

 

[manaheim]

Well I wound up getting one of these...

Quantum Instruments Turbo SC Battery Pack with CKE Flash Cable

Turned out it had a rebate bringing it down to the same cost as the lesser model that charged in more than 2x the time and had a longer recyle time, yadda yadda..... oo... in fact... it's already charged. Man that was like nothing.

And there was just no way I was drilling a hole in my flash door, so the smaller models were non-starters.

And yeah, I'll be very careful not to be firing it off too quickly.

Thanks for all the help, guys.