Looking for outdoor light setup.. Too many choices.. Which one?

[jerryph]

Originally Posted by checks202

Typical daylight here produces F32 - 1/30 - ISO100 and that isn't even summer.

For a moment I thought "holy crap where does he live?", but then I fast realized that F/32@ 1/30th is only F/16@1/125th... lol

That's only what is commonly called "the sunny 16 rule" back from the film days and nothing all that uncommon, to be honest.

The way I interpreted your needs is that the Elinchrom Ranger 2400 pack and head setup is about the only thing that would be strong enough, however, be careful... as strong as they are , biggest issue you could easy end up having is not enough ability to dial them down when needed, and that is a major PITA.

Have you ever worked with a setup in that power range? I have, once. I could not dial the damn thing down under F/16, no matter what I did. Everything was at minimum power, double diffussion materials and backed away as far as the room permitted. It was very frustrating.

No matter what you will want to get a Singh-Ray Vari-ND filter, unless you enjoy F/32 all day long... lol

[Ed Shapiro]

The reason I don't recommend big power pack AC units for outdoor and/or beach location is practically. Oftentimes it is impossible to access line voltage and using generators or inverters can be tricky in terms of sine wave issues and noise from generators let alone difficulty of transport. Of course, modeling light won't help you very much in daylight conditions. What I mentioned "out-of0door elements; you don't want to get into rainstorms, mud, or high winds with bulky equipment and sand can be you flash units worst emery especially when it is combined with salt water and salty air. Smaller flash unit that entail shoulder power packs have plenty punch, long duty cycles and can easily be covered with small sheets of polyethylene if inclement weather should occur. Reflector are even more practical in certain cases- no electronics to fail and what you see is what you get in terms of contrast and detail.

Q- Flash equipment and Lumadyne are my favorite choices for truly PORTABLE equipment. As a long time wedding, portrait and industrial photographer, I have dragged my portables all over creation with every kind of hazardous environments without equipment failure. I use Q flash heads with Lumadyne power packs since the late 1970s - Pryor to Q-Flash the heads were made by GVI which Quantum took over that company. I still have 2 of those heads in service with no problems.

Ed

[checks202]

Well I haven't vanished..

Would like to just say after all the advice and the learning curves I've decided to get a Elinchrom Ranger AS 1100w pack with two heads, 39inch octa and 53inch octa. ( Plus a few bits and ends )

I think taking in every bit of advice it should cover everything I need. If I need that little power I will have two 580EXII flashes that will serve that purpose.

Everything will be controlled by a PW setup.

I'm not a wedding photographer and I'm not having to chop and change location that quickly. More going for outside portraits/fashion work.

RE: Jerry I already have that filter. It is amazing bit of glass that I cannot recomend enough to people. The convenience is worth it ten times over.

[jerryph]

Definitely!

If your setup is a PW ControlTL setup and you are shooting Nikon D200, D300, D700 or D4, you should also be good for some HyperSync fun if you so wished too.