Chuck, thanks for sharing your experience with this. Battery packs
and lens hoods might be the most profitable items sold in the photo
biz and it's nice to have a semi-reasonable alternative to the
Quantum.
Cheers!/ScottGee1
On 10/12/05, Chuck Norcutt <chucknorcutt@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Bill Pearce wrote:
>
> > Someone on this list noted that there is a comparable product at a much
> > lower price. Found out about it after I had already got mine, but not
> > bitter. Mine was from KEH, in LN condition, but not LN price. Don't remember
> > for sure, but I think it may be SP.
> --------------------------------------------
>
> Yup, I'm the guy and it is the "SP Systems Power Pack". Don't look
> under battery, you won't find it. Too bad the disctributor is so lame
> that they don't even realize that they're importing a 100% compatible
> Quantum Turbo alternative at 1/3 the price. It puts out 330 volts and
> takes Quantum cables. Even the control panel is nearly identical to the
> Quantum including the 3 green and 1 red battery condition lights.
>
> You can buy this gem from B&H for $123.95 right here:
> <http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=294330&is=REG&addedTroughType=search>
>
> Now a word of warning. If you are a pro who regularly abuses equipment
> by dropping rocks on it you might want the Quantum Turbo instead. For
> $400 you do get something more rugged. For my money, however, I'll buy
> the SP Systems Power Pack and if I'm rough handed and/or need a backup
> I'll buy three of these instead of one Quantum Turbo.
>
> The SP Systems case is plastic with much thinner walls than the Quantum
> Turbo. The plastic parts are not as precisely cast and don't fit
> together as well as the Quantum. The entire assembly is also a bit
> larger and heavier than the Quantum but mostly because the SP Systems
> pack has a larger capacity (2.3 AH) lead acid battery vs. the (I think)
> 1.7 AH NiCad battery in the Quantum.
>
> The lead gell cell battery in the SP Systems pack is a standard 12 volt
> Panasonic style VHS video camera battery. It also happens to be about
> the same size as a VHS video casette. You can buy replacements or
> spares on the web for about $20. Replacing the battery with a fresh one
> can be done on location very quickly by opening the battery compartment
> door and exchanging batteries. Mark corrected me once before when I
> said the Quatum had a proprietary battery pack but in any case I believe
> you need a screwdriver to get into the Quantum case. Both the Quantum
> and the SP Systems pack have to be recharged using the power pack
> itself. While the battery is being recharged the power pack can't be
> used. But only the SP Systems pack is made to have a readily changed
> battery. You can keep a fully charged spare on hand and easily exchange
> them if needed.
>
> I will be the first to admit that there is no comparison in the quality
> of case construction between SP Systems and Quantum. However, the SP
> Systems pack actually works quite well and is reasonably protected from
> impact by its wraparound padded cloth case. Just don't throw it across
> the room.
>
> It's interesting that this note arrived tonight since I just completed a
> capacity test of the battery pack not more than an hour ago. I have a
> friend who tends to forget that her AA powered Vivitar 285 and Sunpak
> 383 can't recycle as fast as her shutter finger. She desperately needs
> faster recycling time and asked if she could borrow my SP Systems pack
> for a shoot coming up on Saturday night. I have a Sunpak 422 which is
> the same basic flash as her Sunpak 383 so I also happen to have the
> right Quantum cable for her to use.
>
> I had never before fully tested the capacity with the 422 and determined
> just now that the SP Systems pack will deliver at least 400 full power
> dumps from the 422 before the battery reaches 1/4 capacity. That's the
> point where the three "battery guage" green lights are all off and the
> only remaing light is red which means the battery is at 1/4 charge and
> it's time to rechage the battery soon. Since the flash is typically
> used in normal auto mode while covering various events it doesn't
> normally do a full dump. Its practical shooting capacity with a 422/383
> is probably more like 5-600 shots. At ISO 100 422/383 claim a guide
> number of 100 at 28mm lens coverage. The T-32 claims a guide number of
> 104 at 24mm so the T-32 is (by specs) a more powerful flash. It
> wouldn't likely be able to go 400 full dumps on this battery but maybe
> I'll try it one of these days.
>
> BTW, the way I did this testing was to set up the interval timer on the
> Minolta A1 to fire off a series of 60 shots spaced at 30 second
> intervals. After the 60 shots were done I checked the recycle time to
> see if it was getting any longer than the 1-1/2 to 2 seconds I estimated
> when the battery was fully charged. After this check I started the next
> round of 60 shots and kept it up until the battery indicated it was low.
> I never detected any deviation from the guesstimated 1-1/2 to 2 second
> recycle time during the entire test. I also have a Quantum "Y" cable to
> simultaneoudly power two T-32's. I haven't used this setup in a while
> but my recollection is that it takes about 3 seconds to recycle the
> pair. That would indicate that the T-32 and Sunpak 422/383 are actually
> fairly closely matched in power.
>
> Anyhow, I'm a happy owner of one of these things and consider it the
> perfect thing for someone who only needs to use one ocassionally.
>
> Chuck Norcutt
>
>
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