Flash or Continuous lighting?

[steve simmons]

I regularly use one 2000w/s power pack with a large soft box (800-1200w/s) to the camera left (model right) and 400 ws in a hair light up and behind the model and another 400w/s light bounced into a white card to the camera's right (model left). With Tri-X I generally shoot between f11 and f16.

steve simmons

[Oren Grad]

I've tried some experiments with a pair of 750w Totas in my living room. But the subject gets well and truly cooked. And between my exposure and development habits, bellows extension in larger formats like 8x10, loss due to umbrella or bounce, etc., at best this setup buys me 1s at f/8 on HP5 Plus, which is untenable for my purposes. So I'm saving my pennies and shopping for some serious flash power.

[Helen Bach]

...
Someday we'll have Dedo HMIs ;-)

We have them now, don't we?

Best,
Helen

[Frank Petronio]

maybe you have them How do you like them, really?

[AnselAdamsX]

My first attempts were with 100 color and 200 speed B&W. I now have some Porta 160 and I do like the face and body in focus 2 people deep max. So I do try to use the smallest f-stop I can (and some tilt). It sounds like strobes is the way to go. I see from other posts that a single light/flash with reflectors can do quite a bit. I assume they are much more powerfull than my SB800. Can I use multiple small flashes like SB600/SB800? I don't know how to compare them to the speedotron you mentioned.

Thanks
Chris

Well Ansel I think the question is:

Are you looking for very wide open apertures and fast film? Dealing with the issues that brings? Then maybe you can manage with hot lights.

Or are you looking for smaller F/stops? Possibly with slow film? Then you'll want strobes of some sort.

I picked up an old Speedotron 2401 and one head for $300. Can be too much power if you want to shoot at F/5.6 but can handle smaller stops with ease.

[Ron Marshall]

The SB 800 has a quide number of 125 @ EI 100, equivalent to f12.5 at 10 ft. But that is without any light modifiers. Bounce or diffuse and you drop one or two stops.

Multiple pops are possible if the subject is inanimate, not for portraits.

Try to find a used pack or go for something like the Alien Bees 1600:

http://www.alienbees.com/b1600.html

[Frank Petronio]

A modeling light would be quite a concept... seeing what you're doing, focusing, knowing where the light is, etc.

The little shoe mount flashes are about 25-100 watt/sec, versus a 2400 watt/sec Speedotron (or Dynalite, Profoto, etc.). Different set-ups have different qualities, so an 800-watt/sec Dynalite can be within half a stop of a 2400 watt/sec Speedo, but we could talk for months about that.

Sure, you can point the SB-800 at people and if they are close enough you can hit f/16. But the light quality will suck. Once you start diffusing the light, you'll need that 2400 watt/sec pack pumping through one strobe head just to get back to f/16.

[phil sweeney]

I tried to do some portraits with my LF recently using only available light and realize I'm going to need some lighting or flash equipment. What kinds of setup are people using? Is 3 lights/flash sufficient for a basic setup? I don't have a proper flash meter either.
Thanks
Chris

A little info from left field: I wanted to do the same thing and have had great results bouncing bulbs off of an umbrella for 8 x 10. One gun. I do have a flashmeter (luna pro digital F) and it does meaures the bulbs accurately. All shots at 1/15s, f22-f32 and 1.5 bellows factor. You can pickup the bulbs and gun cheap if you are not in a hurry. If you are doing 4 x 5 you can use some of the smaller bulbs like #11s. I went that route because I did not want to spend much on lighting. I do not do many portraits. I use some direct lighting via a foot switch for a short time for focussing. I had an extra tripod to hold the flashgun.

Important for me was lamp headroom and distance from model to backdrop. And notes because I do not do it often. Have fun!!

[Richard Kelham]

Really the only way to do LF portraits in a studio setting is with proper studio flash gear (and that includes a meter). Trying to get the same effect with multiple SB800s would cost even more – and be a right PITA – while sufficient tungsten lighting to do the job would fry your sitter in no time at all.

[Frank Petronio]

Not if they're nude