Before you run off and buy a B1600 (or any light) you really should think carefully about how you intend to use it. What will you be shooting? If people, is it one person or groups? Head and shoulders or full-length? How big is your studio?
And most importantly, what is your shooting style like?
Whether a B400 or B800 or B1600 is right for you (or any other light/brand) you need to think about these things.
For example, there are a few things you should consider: A "rule-of-thumb" is that the proper distance for any modifier from the subject (whether it's a softbox or umbrella or whatever) is approximately the same as the diameter of the modifier. That means a 5' diameter Octodome softbox should be about 5' from the subject for optimium light quality. If you move the modifier further back (as beginners would tend to do in order to reduce the amount of light hitting the subject) the quality of the light "changes" (I won't say gets worse, as that depends on what you are trying to do) and it becomes "harsher".
Think carefully about how you like to shoot portraits... do you like lots of depth-of-field and want to shoot at f11-f22? Or do you favor really shallow DOF (as I do) so you can focus on the eyes and have everything else nicely softer? I like to shoot at f2-4.
And if you get a light that's too strong you are unable to do that. I have two B400's and four B800's and by far I preferred the B400's. Even then I wasn't always (depending on the modifier) able to shoot as wide open as I'd have liked. With a B800 it was impossible. And a B1600 would be harder still.
Yes, the power output is variable, but my own experience with Alien Bees (also confirmed about a year ago by their tech support folks) was that at anything less than 1/8th power the light output wasn't consistent. Sometimes it varied as much as a full f-stop! And color temperature also varied across the power range. So don't think you will be able to reduce the output of a B1600 sufficiently to shoot portraits at large apertures.
I've just switched to Hensel lights, mainly because they give consistent power and color temp output across the full power range. And there's a greater range of accessories available for them (better quality too). But the Alien Bees are certainly great value and in spite of their plastic bodies, stand up very well to lots of use. Just make sure you choose which power light to get very carefully.
Try to understand the differences in shooting styles, subjects, modifiers, etc. and don't just listen to me (saying get B400's) or someone else saying to get B1600's... try to make the right decision based on how YOU like to shoot.
Good luck!
Eldor
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