Watt Me Worry?

[jackell]

but not by much

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...879642403&rd=1

I think the difference between 6,000 watts and 7,500 watts is like the difference in being shot 5 times and 7 times with with a .45

This is the tyle of setup I'm looking at.
comments? suggestions?
And yes I am cheap. and Yes I am broke.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...878566603&rd=1

Thanks for the help guys.
J.D.

[MichaelJ]

I normally sing the praises of continuous lighting (see my post below), but for a thousand bucks you can get a good start on a set of Bees. And since you plan on shooting horses (I assume on location), some sort of strobes are going to be the way to go. If you just want to do glam in a small home studio, 7k-watts of tungsten is way overkill. Even if you do get the free cell phone antenna jiggy.

[jackell]

Aww you mean I shouldn't blind everyone for three blocks? and give the model 3rd degree flash burn?
That was kind of where I was going with this whole post. I thought the upper end of the wattage seemed excessive but I don't want to get something that's not going to be big enough either. And I really didn't know what a happy medium might be.

I am a little concerned that a strobe might cause problems with the horses the last thing I need is them getting startled and hurting themselves or someone else...they're really high priced to be facing a future that involves an Elmer's container...I'll know more after this weekend. I'm going to shoot a small show and ask some of the owners how other photographers they've seen set up for this type of thing.
Thanks again for all the help.

[grsphoto]

I was told once ( but I don't know for sure) that the flash of the strobe is too quick for the horse to even know it happened.

Shooting around horses... ie in barns full of grain and hay... the last thing i would want to use would be HOT lights.

grs

[jackell]

I know they spook at lightning...but you may be right.
I don't expect much hay but I'll know more after this weekend.
It'll just be at a show not in barns etc.

[LarryAB]

I've never shot a horse, but I take pics of animals all the time. I've never had an animal have an adverse reaction to the flash. Sometimes the popping sound that the strobes make will attract their attention, but more out of curiosity than fear. Sometimes I'll use it to my advantage. Since my 'bees rechare quickly, I can sometimes flash a dog, then he'll perk up and stare at the flash unit, then I have an opportunity to get a nice profile shot.

If you were worried about it, you could flash them a few times at low power to get the horse used to the flashing, then they'd be less likely to be spooked during the actual shooting. Animals are pretty flexible about such things.

Just a thought.

lb

[MichaelJ]

[ QUOTE ]
Shooting around horses... ie in barns full of grain and hay... the last thing i would want to use would be HOT lights.


[/ QUOTE ]

I wish I knew who started these rumors, I'd send the kidney thieves over to their house.

[R_Fredrick_Smith]

The kit in the second ebay ad is a pretty poor choice. They leave out critical information (such as recyle time - on these units probably 3-5 seconds or more, and you have to wait for the slowest unit). You normally want to have about 500-1000 total WS available for a reasonable glamour shoot.
The First kit is a hot light setup. You need more wattage for hot lights but I think this kit is overkill. You might take a look at some of the Amvona kits on ebay or the Alien Bees on the web.
Cheers,
rfs

[grsphoto]

[ QUOTE ]
I wish I knew who started these rumors, I'd send the kidney thieves over to their house.

[/ QUOTE ]

What rumors would that be? Quartz tubes exploding sending glass flying ( they thought the protective glass was for show) or hot lights being knocked over and leaving burn marks in the floor... these aren't rumors just experience....

grs

[MichaelJ]

I've been using them for going on 15 years, both incandescent and halogen, never once had a bulb blow; besides, they're in a vacuum, so they implode, not explode. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, it's just not a regular occurance. And if it did happen, things wouldn't just burst into flames. My Smith-Victor cans couldn't ingnite a fire from contact, they just aren't that hot on the surface. Someone using my studio once turned one of the 600-watters on while it sat face-down on the wood floor and left it there. Stunk up the place but never ignited anything. The motion picture industry has been using these things for 100 years. I don't recall the Mr. Ed set burning down at any point.