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As a working photographer, I've been privy to many late-night coffee shop meetings, during which my comrades and I compiled fanciful wish lists of "if only" photo gear. The new products I saw at the Photo Marketing Association (PMA) 2003 trade show in Las Vegas lead me to believe that our waitresses may have been spies for the photo manufacturers! Whatever the case, somebody out there is listening...
Momentous new meter
 I don't know if Minolta heard the lamentations of HDTV videographers, but the new Flash Meter VI is the answer to many of their prayers. Among its strengths: a combined incident and one degree spotmeter with a compact, self-contained viewfinder, and an unusually high sensitivity in the spotmeter mode (to EV -2.0). But it's an unexpected new "latitude" button that makes Minolta's Flash Meter VI unique. This meter lets you set the brightness range (latitude) of your output medium (slide, print, computer monitor, etc.) on a scale that runs along the side of its large LCD readout. After taking an incident reading to set the midtone, you make spotmeter measurements of highlight and shadow areas. These readings register as little arrows on the latitude scale, arrows that blink when they fall outside the latitude range you've set. Why is this important? It's been said that the printed page (like the one you're reading) can hold details across a brightness range of four stops. If you're shooting for magazine reproduction and your scene has a brightness range of six stops, one of two things will happen when the scene is printed: highlights are going to blow out, or shadows are going to block up. The Flash Meter VI's latitude button lets you know, with remarkable ease and precision, how various highlights and shadows will record, based on both your exposure and output medium. As another example, cinematographers, accustomed to working with color negative materials, have been pulling their hair out recently since switching to HDTV, with its relatively narrower latitude. Blown out highlights (and ulcers) have been the result. For them, the new Flash Meter VI could mean salvation.
Available now (approx. street price: $450), more info for U.S. shooters can be found at www.minoltausa.com.
High-powered yet portable
 At the last Winter Olympics, Elinchrom lent two 1100Ws (watt-second), battery-powered flash units to Sports Illustrated photographers for evaluation. After the dust had settled and the snow had melted, SI ordered nearly two dozen Elinchrom Rangers. No lightweight at 13.2 pounds with battery, this bruiser offers between 100 and 1300 flashes per charge, depending on both power setting and recycle times. At the lowest end of its 5-stop output range, it has a flash duration of 1/3250 sec, which means great action-stopping capability, and at full 1000Ws power, it packs a Guide Number of 410. A 410 GN on ISO 100 film means you can shoot at f/41 (between f/32 and f/45) when the flash is 10 feet from the subject. Sound powerful enough?
Equally important, the battery pack is removable and can be charged from an AC outlet or car lighter socket. Even better, the battery is located on the bottom of the pack and all the electronics are above. Putting the Ranger down in a deep puddle by mistake will take out the battery, but the electronics won't self-destruct. If the battery short circuits (damn that puddle!), a circuit breaker pops and isolates the battery from the electronics. This feature saves the pack from frying itself. Both Elinchrom and Bogen (the US distributor) say the pack is water resistant, as opposed to waterproof.
The Ranger comes as a kit (approx. street price: $2,270) that includes the pack, a Free Lite "S" head (about $530, if bought separately), battery, rapid- charger with universal-voltage capability, sync cord, and shoulder strap. The Free Lite "A" head (about $630) features a shorter flash duration for stopping action, and, if you choose it instead of the "S" head, it will add about $100 to the price of the kit. A single Ranger pack can power two heads. Spare batteries, which can be charged outside the pack, are available for about $210. If you want to be like the SI guys, contact Bogen Photo (www.bogenphoto.com) for more info.
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