White Lightning or Elinchrom D-Lite 4

[natc143]

Hi Everyone,

Which strobe would you buy the White Lightning or Elinchrom D-Lite 4? I'm using my canon 20d, 70-200 IS, for in-house portrait/children photography in a 15x14 room 10' ceilings.

I was considering getting the following equipment:

1) White-Lighting
WL x1600 and x800 as a main light and background light. I have a canon speedlite 580exII. I get more for my money with WL, however, I'm tempted to get a better brand altogether.

2) The Elinchrom equipment includes:
two 400Ws, significantly less. I could of course build upon the Elinchrom if you felt it was a better base system. Will the two 400Ws be useful in a 15x14 room w/10' ceilings?

- I'd like to go wireless: Elinchrom EL-Skyport Universal Trigger Set. PW too expensive I feel.

Thank you in advance for reviewing the equipment. Greatly appreciated!
Natalie

White Lightning Equipment

Light One .
X1600/ White Lightning X-Series X1600
TS13AC13-foot Air-Cushioned Stand
FOB47 Foldable Large Octabox (47") with attached speedring
LSCA25MM Set of 3 Casters
speedrings: plastic/resin (Photoflex brand) fully metal.
Two flash tubes: uv and non-uv (gold tube/yellow and warmer).

Light Two .
X800/BAGWhite Lightning X-Series X800
UBRBackground Reflector
ls1100Backlight Stand
HGX4Set of 4 Honeycomb Grids$99.95

Light Three .
Canon Speedlite 580exII
ls1100 Backlight Stand
Photoflex Multiclamp with Shoe Mount

I plan to buy the following:
Snoot (restricts light to narrow beam)
Barndoors
White/shoot through umbrella
Wireless: radio trigger system, possibly Pocket Wizard?

Any thoughts and comments, would be much appreciated!
Natalie

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[Village Idiot]

I have bees. They're nice, but ultimately I wish I would have went with Elinchrom. There's just more room to expand. The WL's are nice. I've shot with one before, but I think they still suffer from having a magenta tint and I would prefer the digital controls of the Elinchrom.

But then again, you're going to be spending more on the Elinchrom stuff. Personal preference really.

[Big Mike]

I don't think that you will need a whole lot of power for shooting in a smaller room like that. I've found that my B800 lights are set to 1/8th or less most of the time when in smaller rooms. Usually, it's good to have the option for more power when you need it, but it can be troublesome if you can't turn your lights down far enough.

I use Alienbee lights and I like them, but there are certainly better lights available.

I've heard that there is a new line from Paul Buff coming out, with digital control. I've also heard that there is (or will be) an AB speed ring/adapter for Elinchrom accessories.

[Village Idiot]

The WL strobes have a power cut feature in them though.

[notelliot]

AlienBee's have a new wireless thingy coming out that works a little like Nikon's CLS - you get a master unit and can control output levels for individual lights or groups instead of running to each light to adjust it.
I use AlienBee's stuff and haven't been let down by it. When I decide to step up, it'll be for Profoto 7b stuff.
Personally, I'd say go AlienBee's/WhiteLightning or Zeus and you'll get more bang for the buck.