Everything you wanted to know about strobes but were afraid to ask......

[Inked Photography]

Ok, the title throws this way off but I figured it would get people to look. So I have a question. I heard of Alien Bee's and another that I forgot the name of. But what is a lesser cost alternative to the alien bee or other name brand. Battery or electric to travel for traveling purposes. Like hospitals or those days we have overcast. Any suggestions?

[brian.austin]

Originally Posted by Inked Photography

Ok, the title throws this way off but I figured it would get people to look. So I have a question. I heard of Alien Bee's and another that I forgot the name of. But what is a lesser cost alternative to the alien bee or other name brand. Battery or electric to travel for traveling purposes. Like hospitals or those days we have overcast. Any suggestions?

Huh?

Lesser cost alternative for what? Why would hospitals be part of the travel and how is it related to overcast?

Perhaps you can clarify what you want to do with strobes.

[Songman45]

Ernie,

What are your intended uses? I'm looking at portable flash systems too. I don't know that this is going to be a less expensive route. Some times household current is not available and sometimes self contained flashguns or speedlights are not strong enough for my needs. Either Lumedyne or Quantum Instruments make systems that bridge the on-camera off camera gap.

[JimH]

Originally Posted by brian.austin

Why would hospitals be part of the travel and how is it related to overcast?

I'll got out on a limb here and say they are two separate scenarios that he is looking to find a dual solution to both.

The hospital portion I am 99% sure is for NILMDTS.

Ernie .. I use the AB800s myself. But there isn't much room in those NICU rooms to set up a stand so you may need an assistant to hold any strobe/modifier setups (like the Larson strip that Sam recommends). When i did mine i just used my CB jr bracket and SB800 and bounced it off the wall and/or ceiling behind me.

[Mr. Pickles]

Not many lower cost alternatives to the Alien Bees. Only one I'd think is worth a flip is Adorama's FlashPoint units.

For traveling with "lights", I'd get hot-shoe units for your camera. At least one, if not two. if they can be controlled by the camera or one of the units, all the better. Otherwise, you got to use cables or some radio trigger device(s). If you camera brand has questionable flash units, look at the Metz lineup. Use a bracket if you need to so the flash isn't right above the lens, or a 3 foot cable in an out stretched arm, or learn to bounce (maybe a "better bounce card"?).

Flash units are great for traveling. Decent output if shooting "portrait close".

Strobes are great for light output and studio work, but suck at portability and setup.

As someone told me before, going cheap on lighting is one of the worst things you can do. It quickly becomes THE limitation in your setup and eventually becomes a cash cow because you got to buy more and more stuff, or replace the whole lot with something that works.

[Photog]

I'm not sure if I'm answering the question or not, but here goes.

Buy as much power as you can. Right now on ebay you can get a 3 light speedotron blackline kit with a 2400w/s box for $1300, or a 4 light brownline kit with a 1200w/s box for $750. The brownline will be better for travel, but has half the power. Either of these would be enough to shoot almost anything. How do I know? Because I have shot nearly everthing with a 1600w/s speedo kit before. Right now I use 1 1600w/s box and 1 600w/s box with 6 heads. I can fit it all into two cases, the only reason I have the small box is it was almost free. I used the big box and 3 heads for over 10 years, and was never undergunned. I've lit, houses, factories, cars, motorcycles, seniors, weddings, casinos, food, tabletops...etc, all with my one little kit that I got when I was 21 years old just starting out.

Working with other photogs I have also used, calumet, dynalight, and norman. All have seemed very good too. Of them I covet the Dynalights, I would love 2 1000w/s boxes with about 6-8 heads.
For one they are light for the power, two they have fan cooled heads, and three they have a ton of control. By that I mean you can go from full power on one head to spliting the 4 outlets into 2 500 w/s channels then you can turn each channel down by 3/4, 1/2, and 1/4 power then a further 2 stops down by 1/3 stop incraments. That is control. Only thing better is Elenchrome at 3 times the money, and they only have 3 outlets.

I'll echo what Pickles said don't go cheap. Get a brand new credit card and use it one time, to buy a decent light kit. Then cut it up, and pay it off. You will have the lights for a decade or two after you payed them off.

Good luck.

[Inked Photography]

Originally Posted by jhilgedick

I'll got out on a limb here and say they are two separate scenarios that he is looking to find a dual solution to both.

The hospital portion I am 99% sure is for NILMDTS.

Ernie .. I use the AB800s myself. But there isn't much room in those NICU rooms to set up a stand so you may need an assistant to hold any strobe/modifier setups (like the Larson strip that Sam recommends). When i did mine i just used my CB jr bracket and SB800 and bounced it off the wall and/or ceiling behind me.

Thanks! Oh and try %100 correct. Being involved in one shoot already and visiting my wife as of late in the hospital There is definately a lack of light in the room. The gentlemen I went with first had a single strobe and a soft box.

Originally Posted by Mr. Pickles

Not many lower cost alternatives to the Alien Bees. Only one I'd think is worth a flip is Adorama's FlashPoint units.

For traveling with "lights", I'd get hot-shoe units for your camera. At least one, if not two. if they can be controlled by the camera or one of the units, all the better. Otherwise, you got to use cables or some radio trigger device(s). If you camera brand has questionable flash units, look at the Metz lineup. Use a bracket if you need to so the flash isn't right above the lens, or a 3 foot cable in an out stretched arm, or learn to bounce (maybe a "better bounce card"?).

Flash units are great for traveling. Decent output if shooting "portrait close".

Strobes are great for light output and studio work, but suck at portability and setup.

As someone told me before, going cheap on lighting is one of the worst things you can do. It quickly becomes THE limitation in your setup and eventually becomes a cash cow because you got to buy more and more stuff, or replace the whole lot with something that works.

Thank you Mr. P and everyone. I am sorry I wasn't more clear about what I was asking. But yes, for the hospital visits with NILMDTS. But I figured since I could get one I might as well use it for outdoor shoots on those overcast days. I called around town and I got price quotes but they were for two lights, two stands, unbrellas ect. My thinking is I could get away with one. But for the cost of a single strobe and the neccessaties for another $100 you get two. So I might as well go that route.

[Inked Photography]

Originally Posted by jhilgedick

(like the Larson strip that Sam recommends)

Just looked this up and yes, when I went this is what he had with a strobe.

[Photog]

Ok here is where I show my lack of knowledge. What is NILMDTS?

[brian.austin]

Originally Posted by Photog

Ok here is where I show my lack of knowledge. What is NILMDTS?

I am now a proud member of NILMDTS...

[Photog]

Ah yes, I looked into this 2 years ago. Right after having our 2nd perfect little girl, and I didn't think I could do it. Now, I don't know, I may be able to. But, untill I'm SURE I would be able, I will not try. That is the LAST place I want to fail getting the shot.

God Bless all of you who can!

[dch]

A few Vivtar 285HVs; wein peanut slaves. That's about as cheap as you can get.

Visit Strobist.com for more ideas.

[Mr. Pickles]

I think if 80% of this light purchase is for the hospital stuff, then I'm 99% sure I'd go with some shoe-mount like flash units rather than big strobes.

I think carting in an alien bees like light, with a 8 foot light stand and an umbrella or softbox and setting all that up will scare the crap out of people that don't need to be. A cord connected Metz flash (or similar), bounced with a purpose and control would be a LOT better option...plus, if you are in a room, with two beds and a couple extra people, where the heck you gonna set all this stuff up? Best to go in with a camera and flash unit, "setup" in 1 minute, shoot a few, and get out of their way....

[Ed Shapiro]

In certain cases people are comparing apples to oranges. There are many battery operated portable lights available on the market that I like to call "press units". Theses do not have modeling lamps, however, if you know how to use them you can simulate many types of studio lighting situations by guesstimating positions of the lights. There a few units, still within this category, that do have modeling lamps but they do drain quite a lot of battery storage and automatically shut off to save battery drain and prevent overheating. The modeling lamps are OK for direct flash use but it is difficult to see their effects when used in a soft box or umbrella setup.

The studio type of units have strong modeling lamps that can be easily seen even with a light modifier in use. Most of theses work on AC line voltage and the ones with accessory battery packs are somewhat pricey.

For general use the ABs are a good value- they are simple, well built and practical. Their repair and guarantee policies are great. Other brands to check out are Photogenic, Bownes in the "press category and Quantum and Lumadyne in the battery operated press category.

My observations are based of experience with the aforementioned units and the fact that I design and build custom made power packs and lamp heads- mostly in the high power range somewhat like the Speedotrons. As far as the ABs are concerned, I could not make units like those for the price of materials and the time required for construction. There are many units on the market that come cheaper but they don't have the moxie and the duty cycle capabilities of the ABs- the give you more bang and service for your bucks.

Ed