The En Plein Air Pro Easel is a palette box that fits over tripod legs used together with an aluminum channel panel holder that fits onto a tripod camera mount to support your painting.
Company name: En Plein Air Pro
Website: www.enpleinairpro.com
Pochade box name: Advanced Series Oil & Acrylic Easels
Type: Palette Boxes/PanelSupport
Package Price: $400
Total Package Weight: 10.7lbs./4.86kg
Palette size: 15.25″x 9.5″, 38.74cm x 24.13cm
Construction: Aluminum
Description
The En Plein Air Pro Easel is a system with a palette box that fits over tripod legs and an aluminum channel panel holder that fits onto a tripod camera mount to hold your painting.
There is a grey PVC slide on cover that lets you transport wet paint to and from the field. Turps jar is made of lightweight PPG plastic (not glass).
There is also a Slide Out Side Shelf, made of 6mm grey PVC, for holding your palette knife or your ‘thumbnail sketch’, or cups for painting mediums, oil, etc..
The Panel Holder
The panel holder handles canvas panels or stretched canvas up to 22” tall or down to 6” x 8” (the most popular range for outdoor painting). The panel holder is structural aluminum channel with ABS brackets. Max height to center of panel or canvas is 58″. Tripod easily adjusts for a sitting painter.
Equipped with a 1/4”, 20 thread mount, it is a standard mount on all photographic tripods. Its vertical mounting design eliminates the “top-heavy rocking” that can occur in other tripod/pochade box set-ups. It attaches easily with a quick-connect shoe included with the SLIK U8000 Tripod.
Convertible Backpack
The 60L backpack is designed to carry the setup. A side zipper gives easy access to the large main compartment. The main compartment will hold the complete easel set-up- palette, panel holder, tripod, with room left over for a 12×16 wet panel box.
Construction
The palette’s frame is constructed of tough thermoformed 1/4” ABS material and features a 6 hole brush holder. The mixing surface is a neutral gray PVC, suitable for color mixing comparisons in outdoor light.
The working surface is a layer of clear PETG (not acrylic). The surface resists scratching and cleans up with a paper towel moistened with turps. Underneath the PETG is a built in value scale.
Aluminum Plates on the tripod leg attachments increase stability. Max height to top of palette = 37″.
How to set it up
Accessories
Comparison
To compare Advanced Series Oil & Acrylic Easels with other pochade boxes, see my Guide to Pochade Boxes.
Reviews of En Plein Air Pro Easel
Using the watercolor version
I bought the Plein Air Pro Watercolor version to serve as both a plein air and studio easel for my vacation home. I like it a lot for my purposes. However, I prefer more paint wells than are provided, so I made a simple modification to some of them by building a dividing wall with… Read more “Using the watercolor version”
En Plein Air Professional Series My Favorite
I have used many (including the Daytripper) and built many of my own pochade boxes, but the new version of the En Plein Air Pro Series (with two sliding shelves) is by far my favorite. I have modified it by using an 18″ Daytripper Upright Panel Holder and by drilling my own Paint Brush holding… Read more “En Plein Air Professional Series My Favorite”
Backpack no good
I used the backpack less than 5 times before the seam released at the point that the strap and the belt meet. The company provided no solution for the issue. If that is their customer service model I would avoid this companies… Read more “Backpack no good”
Good lightweight option
I have a couple of these Plein Air Pro rigs (but not the one pictured), for watercolor and oil, and in fact use just the piece on which you set a canvas on a Slik tripod in the studio, with paints set on a table next to it. It’s easier for me to use for… Read more “Good lightweight option”
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