Portable strobes

[Thomas Nutter]

I'm wondering what you people use as a portable (Battery powered) strobe set-up. I currently have a lumedyne kit that gets me to about 400WS, but their system is a bit hokey. In LF, 400WS is barely enough for maybe f/11 without getting the stand in the frame, and furthermore, it's barely enough to balance the strobe against broad daylight with 100 speed film and an umbrella. I'm interested in power--maybe 1200 WS --enough to make daylight look more like fill while the strobe becomes the key light--in a soft box or umbrella. What do you folks use? Is it cheaper and maybe more practical to either rent or buy a small generator and drag out studio strobes?

[David R Munson]

Well, how much money do you want to drop? I see three main options. Elinchrom Ranger, Hensel Porty, and Profoto 7b.

[Thomas Nutter]

David--If money were no object, which would you recommend? And if money was a very decisive factor, what would you do to solve this problem?

[Jeremy Moore]

There's also Aliens Bees and the White Lightning series of strobes. They both have a 1600ws strobe and with the Vagabond battery system, they are now portable. I was thinking about getting one myself.

I have an Alien Bees B800 that works great, but haven't used the B1600 or the battery system, just giving suggestions based on some research I have done into the purchase.

[Robert Skeoch]

I rent a small honda generator when I need a lot of power outdoors. I use a few long cords so the noise is away from the shoot. It works fine, but is still a bit of a hassel.

[matthew blais]

I bought the Alien Bees 1600 four light kit and Vagabond 300 (2 converters). Set me back about $2500 but that included their large softbox, three umbrellas, four light stands, set of honeycombs. Essentially their "busy bee" package with an upgrade to the 1600 series plus the $500 for the Vagabond-which is a great little beast. Used it shortly there after for a outside location shoot. Shot off about 30-40 images and worked great. They have a five year warranty and I based my purchase off others who have used white lightning products for years. Not sure if you can get all tthat from others.
My 2 cents.

[Henry Ambrose]

I have White Lightning X1600s and use one of their Vagabond battery packs when I can't get to an electrical outlet. They are both hard to beat for the money. The 1600 with the standard reflector at 8-10 feet will barely balance full daylight or maybe the sky will be down just a little bit. Their X3200 would be better with twice the power. Multiple light units in one softbox are another possibility - two of your Lumedynes in small boxes ganged together into one bigger light?



But really you should rent or buy a gas generator and use your studio packs, assuming you have the power you want in them. Unless you would do this frequently renting a generator for your packs would be the cheapest answer. Next might be to buy the generator. At this point an extra assistant would be handy!

[Thomas Nutter]

I just came across a link for Dynalite's XP1100 inverter.

http://www.dynalite.com/fxp1100_n.html (http://www.dynalite.com/fxp1100_n.html)

I have plenty of dynalites laying around and this might be an option, but at about $1200 (BHPHOTO) how does it beat a regular generator that would cost less than $400.00 and also be of use when the man comes down on us. (Just Kidding, lets stick with the topic, please!)

[Jay Lnch]

Why don't you try a UPS for computers. They are very cheap and do the same thing.... An $89 unit should get you about 100 flashes.....

[Thomas Nutter]

You'll have to enlighten me--I don't Know what a UPS for computers is.

[Frank Petronio]

I actually thought of doing that too, but I never got around to it - has anyone really tried running AC strobes off an Uninteruptable Power Supply (UPS) - the common $100 variety sold at Radio Shack and CompUSA? (They are used to keep your PC running during blackouts, providing a layer of surge protection and allowing enough run time to safely shut down your PC - very useful in rural areas, and for anyone who is worried about power line flucuations.)

[Mark Sampson]

A local dealer has a used Balcar P4 flash setup for sale- AC and battery powered. I think it will take up to 4 800w/s heads.

[Kirk Gittings]

It seems like the first question is what are you photographing? That will tell us how much power you need and what kind of system is appropriate. Are we talking about location portraits or deserted buildings?

[David Kaplan]

UPS is short for Uninteruptable (sp) Power Supply, they are designed to provide enough power to keep a computer going for a few minutes until power is restored or the machine is shut off.

A small home unit won't handle this load and the industrial size units are not portable.

David

[Thomas Nutter]

It's location portraits--I like to use the sun as more of a fill than the key light. With the 400WS setup I have now and a small umbrella or soft-box, I have to put the light so close to the subject just to get between F11-16, that it's in danger of being in the shot. Some people say just to crank the shutter speed to bring down the ambient, but that doesn't quite work all of the time. I'm just looking for a little more flexibility in the light output, so I can move the light around a bit and such.
Click on the "WYOMING" link at my website: www.tomnutterphotos.com at least two of the pictures on that page will give you a good idea of what I'm looking for. I'm not real interested in flying a bunch of scrims and stuff like that either, because I'm often alone and as you all know, the wind always gusts just after you walk away from the stand and reach for the cable release.

[Thomas Nutter]

That Hensel "porty" unit is looking pretty good, but it's a bit pricey--what's the opinion out there on this?