1st strobe

[Carpe Imago]

Originally Posted by eldor

Wow, that's quite a "first formal studio equipment purchase"!
This is a fine kit and one you'll be able to grow into for years.
The grid that comes with the kit is either a 20 or 30 (can't remember as one came with my kit and the other came with the Beauty Dish.
The Beauty dish is one of the main accessories I drooled over and now that I've got it, I've only had one shoot with it (lack of a model), so I've got a lot to learn. But I love it!

Yeah, I don't really do things half way. I'm a big believer in buy quality and take care of it. I know that the Hensel stuff is light years ahead of me right now, but if you're going to do something do it right. Do or do not...there is no "try".
An added bonus with purchasing the kit at Samy's is that I actually end up getting a Hensel Beauty Dish gratis (as an added perk for attending Rolando's recent Chicago workshop). I've heard very good things about it, and am looking forward to trying it out here in the coming weeks. I also managed to pick up a new Pocket Wizard Plus (yes, I made sure it had both the transmitter and receiver) on just a screaming deal on E*Bay.
Now if I could just find a way to push the 10 ft ceilings in my basement to 20 ft ceilings...

[onyxmodels]

Originally Posted by TomRobin

After using old White Lightning lights for years, I recently upgraded to Bees. Unless you have a really large area, you are best using two smaller strobes than one large. Look at their packages with stand, umbrella, etc.
Tom

i too am looking into gettin some lights, stands, backgrounds, etc.

who's the best out there overall (price, shipping, reputation)?

i dont have a studio, but im starting to travel a bit, and most of the places require your own equip. most of what i shoot are models for commercial, editorial, and web. Thanks in advance for all suggestions.

[Carpe Imago]

Originally Posted by onyxmodels

i too am looking into gettin some lights, stands, backgrounds, etc.
who's the best out there overall (price, shipping, reputation)?
i dont have a studio, but im starting to travel a bit, and most of the places require your own equip. most of what i shoot are models for commercial, editorial, and web. Thanks in advance for all suggestions.

Hey Onyx,
I have been researching hard for about three months, and this is a very subjective thing. I am by no means an expert, but I'll share my views. I invite and welcome others to correct me as they see fit.
For a first set of lights and "bang for the buck", Alien Bees seem to be the most popular. Head over to www.AlienBees.com and check out their packages...it's easy to see why they are popular. They give you a ton of equipment for the dollar, they are reported to be very durable, and just generally are very good lights. I have heard that they are not powerful enough to power the largest softboxes, but I cannot verify that. I would have gone with them, if not for going to one of Rolando's workshops and using the Hensels first hand.
I ended up with one of the Hensel kits (http://www.samys.com/product.php?Ite...plus+pro&USED). They are more expensive, but repeatedly I heard about the tighter quality of light. Rolando also made a comment, which I have since heard repeated on here, the a guy will spend $6,000 for a top level camera that will be relaced in 2-3 years, but doesn't spend an extra $1,000 on lights that will last a lifetime. I took it to heart. At the heart of every picture is the light...without good light it becomes much harder to capture the best image.
My two cents...figure out what your needs are now, try to anticipate what they will be in two years, and finally decide how much you can reasonably afford to spend. With those thoughts in mind, buy the best lights that you can and then learn to get the most out of them. Good luck!

[eldor]

Carpe, I agree with most of what you said, but...

Your statement that you'd heard Alien Bees weren't powerful enough to power the largest softboxes, well, it's not quite that I disagree but I think that statement needs to be clarified...

Photographers have many different shooting styles and not everyone likes to shoot their portraits at f11-f22. I personally favor very shallow DOF for my portraits, shooting maybe f2.8-f4.

My largest softbox is a 5' Photoflex Octodome and I regularly use it with a B400 set in its LOWEST useable power setting. And even then I end up with f4-5.6. For some shots I'd like even less power.

As you know, the ideal distance a softbox should be from the subject is about equal to the diameter of the sb. Meaning that a 5' Octodome should be about 5' from the subject. This is only a rough rule-of-thumb but if the distance is increased in an attempt to lower the light hitting the model, the quality of that light also changes, becoming more harsh.

I must say that so far in my shooting career, I've never used my B400's or B800's at anywhere near their full power. So in my opinion the lights are plenty powerful enough.

Now of course if you're shooting cars and using gigantic softboxes and need f16, you'll need even more power, but for the shots I've done so far, the B's have been plenty powerful enough.

You often see people saying things like "you can always reduce the power but you can't increase it" to back up their suggestion of buying B1600's. That's really not all that easy to do... Once the light is set to the lowest power output what do you do? Sure ND filters can be used, but they're difficult to apply to a head in a softbox, and if you put them over the lens, you darken your viewfinder, making it harder to focus. Sure it can be done, but it's just not a nice solution in my view.

Having said all that, I really love my new Hensels. And my Porty Premium kit with extra head should arrive tomorrow.

Cheers!

Eldor

[Carpe Imago]

Originally Posted by eldor

Carpe, I agree with most of what you said, but...
Your statement that you'd heard Alien Bees weren't powerful enough to power the largest softboxes, well, it's not quite that I disagree but I think that statement needs to be clarified...

Eldor

Very well said Eldor, and much more complete than my statements. I understand your points and agree completely.