Alien Bees 400 and 800 users...

[stevenD]

For the difference of about $55 you get a light with twice the power, which you can use at half power to get the same power as a AB400.

In other words get the 2 AB800's for your front lights and a AB400 for your hairlight.

[Vividvisions]

Zack,

you could take a closer look at the White Lightning 1600. It has two power settings for FULL and 1/4 power so you get 400WS and 1600WS in one strobe by simple pushing a button. Each powersetting has a 7stop adjustment range. I bought one several weeks ago because I wanted to be able to do studio work (1/4 and powered down if necessary) and location in bright sunlight conditions. I am not very experienced with strobe lights yet so take it with a grain of salt but the spec's looked great, seems like its a very flexible strobe (from 400WS-7Stops to Full 1600WS) and the price is not too bad either for what you get.
..and by the way, I had to find out that the WL1600 is pretty tough too. It survied a crash onto concrete (parking lot at Austin Supershoot) when my 7' lightstand was blown over by the wind. No damages !!!

..just food for thought..
Robert

[R_Fredrick_Smith]

When I look at the specs on the 400 and the 800 both allow you do dial the power over a 5 step range. So that means you can reduce the power of either one to allow you to use your lens wide open if you want to. So basically this means that either flash can be dialed all the way down to only 1/32nd of its full power. I have personally found that the 400's are all the power one ever needs for a small studio. If you might need more power for other types of shooting then you can buy a higher power version. With the 400 in a typical softbox at 10 feet, you are shooting at about f8. So dial it down 3 stops and you would be at 2.8.

Here is a shot made with Alien Bee 400's:



Cheers,
rfs

[JonScott]

It's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it; hence, I bought 2 B800s and 2 B1600s and have not regretted it.