What lights should I buy?

[SAShruby]

I use White Lightning X3200s as my main lights for all formats up to 8x10, and for people and tabletop-like stuff. At full power, they put out enough light to get into the f/32-f/45 range with the standard reflectors, a stop or two less with softboxes. But, I often need supplemental lighting for fine focusing the 4x5 or 8x10 - even with the 250W modeling light in the X3200s.

The Alien Bees are really intended for situations where wider f-stops can be used, and for lighter-duty applications, I think. But, with a battery pack, they're also nice for on-location shoots as fill.

Thanks Ralf. Do you have power packs as well?

[Ralph Barker]

Thanks Ralf. Do you have power packs as well?

If you're referring to the Alien Bee packs, no, I actually don't have any of the Alien Bees (nor the battery pack), but know several people who do use them as described. They've been pleased with both the lights and the battery packs within the design constraints.

If you meant Speedotron-style power packs, no again. But, I have used them. They are great for heavy use in a studio, but not as convenient as monolights for moving around. Note, too, that the total power of the pack is divided among the number of heads attached. While multi-pops can be used with stationary objects to compensate for the divided power, that's not feasible when shooting people.

[David R Munson]

To the OP: how well do you value portability? Monolights can be great for location work, but my personal inclination is that you'll get a more versatile bang for your buck with a power-pack system. You might consider looking for used Speedotron equipment. There's a ton of it out there and it's bombproof, so good deals can certainly be had if you keep your eyes open. It's not the most sophisticated strobe equipment in the world, but it's as solid and dependable as you're going to find.

[Peter Lewin]

Since no one else mentioned them, if you're looking for a power-pack system and need portability, look at the Dyna-Lite packs and heads; they're about the most compact per watt-sec that I've found. The Speedotrons mentioned in several posts are certainly good equipment, but heavier and bulkier - not a problem in the studio, but an issue if you need to move them around a lot. Dyna-Lites are at a pretty good price point, ProFoto and Broncolor make the Rolls-Royces of lighting equipment, and price them accordingly.

[David R Munson]

The Dyna-Lites are great location lights to be sure. Yeah, the best lighting equipment out there is Profoto IMHO, but for the cost of one Profoto power pack you can get a full lighting setup from Dyna-Lite and still have enough left over for a new lens. It's all about finding that compromise of price/performance/purpose that works best for you.

[SAShruby]

Thank you all for the inputs. I'm not a professional photographer, so I'm not gonna make money, yet. I'm not in rush either, so I can be patient and wait for a good deals on fleebay.

Well to summarize, I need three lights two main lights and one fill with output at minimum 2400Ws, like this one?

[Frank Petronio]

Part of what you pay for as you work up the food chain is a strobe's consistency and accuracy. An Alien Bee will put out good light -- and light is light -- but a 10x expensive ProFoto will put out exactly the same amount of light with each pop. With some of the lesser units you'll see more variation, esepcially when shooting quickly, such as a fashion shoot or any kind of stop action photography. I'm talking 1/3 to 1/2 a stop, not anything huge unless the unit is really messed up. Try it with flash meter....

If you are shooting negative film and working slowly with LF, then it probably is a non-issue.

The other factors are compactness, durability, and range of light modifiers... Profoto has wonderful stuff but it is very expensive.

FWIW, I like shooting wide open - f/5.6, f/8 -- and a pair of 800-1000 watt/sec Dynalites with four blower heads was more than enough for everything, including full length portraits at f/11-f/16 when needed. I used that Dynalite set-up when I did a lot of 8x10 work and it was plenty. They are nice compromise between price, durability, and compactness. I also like that they use Lowel light modifiers -- they have the connectors built-in.

However, to Ben's point, if I did a lot of traditional f/32 studio or table top then I'd want 4-8x that power, like the Dyna or Profoto >2000 w/s packs.

[Brian K]

Consider several factors:

portability, consistency of power output, evenness of illumination in softboxes (some flash tubes put out more even softbox light), overall power, the ability to tune that power in small increments, splitting among several heads and power ratios, flash duration (if one needs high power and still needs to freeze motion, either people or like pours/splashes in still life) , reliability, system accessories, repairs and spare parts, accuracy and consistency of color output, recycling time (for people/fashion photography), ease and speed of use

If you are doing 8x10 still life, especially at closer focus, you will most likely use a separate hot light to aid in focusing, most strobe heads use 250watt modeling lights, in softboxes this can be inadequate.

[Michael T. Murphy]

most strobe heads use 250watt modeling lights, in softboxes this can be inadequate.

If you have access to 220 volt power in the studio, you can use modelling lights up to 650 watts.

Some packs will automatically switch between 110 and 220 volt. You do have to change the modelling light itself - the bulb. But it is really a nice setup if you can do it.

Of course if you are on location, etc. it is much less likely that you will find 220 here in the US. Not so sure about Canada?

[Scott Davis]

You mentioned 15 meters/45 feet distance for your subjects. At those kinds of distances, even a 4800 ws pack isn't going to give you much. Remember that light falls off at the square of the distance. If your strobe gives you f32 @ 8 feet, at 16 feet, you get f 11. At 24 feet, you get f5.6, and at 32 feet, you get f4. At 45 feet, you'd have something around f2.8.

To give you a real world example, a Broncolor 3200 W/S pack (Topas A4) is rated to give f90 @ 6.6 feet, in a standard reflector, using ISO 100 film. Put that in a softbox and you can cut that to f45 (2 stops) at the same distance. Also, bear in mind that 3200 w/s is not 3200 w/s. One manufacturer will rate their power output at 3200 w/s, but at a given distance, it will produce more or less light than a different manufacturers 3200 w/s light. I wish there were a better guideline to compare flash units, but nobody will standardize a test to rate the units, out of self-interest. Even within brands, power is not all the same. For example, the Speedotron black line 4800 w/s unit actually produces the SAME output as their 2400 w/s unit, according to their own specs! Why this is true I have no idea, and once people know it, why they would buy the 4800 over the 2400 unit I don't know also- I suspect there may be other factors like recycle times and/or robustness that would mitigate the matching power output.