Lions, Tigers, and Modifiers.. Oh, My!

[dcbear78]

Also, anyone ever work with studio lighting? Have a preference between the two? And finally, how's your day going

Like everyone I started with speedlight and I still find them useful for certain situations. I have a TTL one and a manual one on me at all times. But I also have my strobe kit in the boot of my car with me these days too. I prefer to use them due to the ease of connecting light modifiers and their extra output. I have a Jinbei DM3 dual head kit...

Ahem!

They are a lesser known Chinese brand but here in Australia they get highly recommended by a number of Pros as good quality, great value bit of gear. And I have to agree. They have equivalent specs to brands like Elinchrom lower spec strobes at half the price. This allowed me to also buy their battery pack to go along with them, so I can use them anywhere. I am thinking of buying another higher spec strobe from them that has a battery pack incorporated into the head (no cables or battery pack required) and also caters for HSS which these ones don't.

The extra power let's you overpower day light which is handy at times. Or even the ability to equalise it. This was taken in the middle of the day in the Australian summer...

Brittney Shenae by Crew One Photography, on Flickr

You can see there are no harsh shadows as you would expect from a photo taken at this time of the day.

 

[annieliptonphotography]

Beautiful photo! @dcbear78 I need to save some $ to be able to purchase that, but it seems like a good package to work with! Are strobes that more intense as far as light source?

 

[annieliptonphotography]

I now have this on my Amazon wish list @tirediron

 

[Designer]

Are strobes that more intense as far as light source?

You should always try to be very specific, and terminology-accurate when posing questions. So by "strobe" I shall presume you are talking about the studio strobe that plugs into the house electricity.

Yes.

The reason strobes can produce more light is because there is more power available compared to the amount of power that comes from 4 AA batteries.

Some differences will enter into the mix as well, such as; are they both set to maximum power, and; how much "power" is each one capable of, etc.

 

[annieliptonphotography]

I'm extremely new to lighting. I don't really have a grasp on it yet. @Designer That's why I'm here

 

[Designer]

I'm extremely new to lighting. I don't really have a grasp on it yet. @Designer That's why I'm here

I had hoped that my answer would have been somewhat informative for you.

Compare the light that comes from a small flashlight (using batteries) with a table lamp (using house power). Which one makes more light?

Both speedlights and studio strobes have a power range whereby the photographer makes adjustments depending on his need for more light or less light.

When either of the two types of light uses all of the available power, it takes a certain amount of time to "recharge" the capacitors. This is referred to as the "cycle time" for the device to attain full power reserve again after firing the light. Using house power will (all other things being equal) recharge the capacitors faster than the 4 little batteries in the speedlight.

 

[annieliptonphotography]

It was, but can't say it didn't come as a snarky response. @Designer I know that when I ask a question, it might not sound like I know what I'm talking about.. because I don't. I try my best to ask questions the correct way, but with lack of experience and knowledge that might not always work.

 

[Designer]

It was, but can't say it didn't come as a snarky response.

I did not intend my answer to be in the least bit snarky.

 

[Derrel]

The word strobe is fairly broad in its meaning. The popular web site Strobist, run by founder David Hobby, is for the most part, focused on using small,portable battery powered flash setups. He refers to AC-powered types of high-powered flash units as "big lights". Lights like his favorite Einstein monolights, or his Profoto studio flash units.

"Strobe" when I was coming up meant simply ANY kind of electronic flash or flash lighting of a shot or scene. There were strobes, like the Vivitar 285 and the Sunpak 422, and then there were STUDIO strobes...like Norman or Speedotron brand box-and-cable systems. Monolights were soooooo new in North America that they were called monobloc, using the European spelling and word.

Some people on this board insist that "strobe" is wholly inaccurate for normal, single-burst camera electronic flash units, and insist that "strobe" is short for stroboscopic flash, which fires extremely rapidly.

I fall into the camp of David Hobby and my 1980's upbringing--that "strobe" refers to electronic flash, either small and battery powered strobes, like the stuff the entire Strobist site has been built around, or to studio strobes.

The term speedlight is a fairly new word in common use. I never heard the term speedlight until the mid-2000's, and it developed on the internet's many message boards, web sites, and on-line communities.

 

[annieliptonphotography]

Sorry, sometimes it's hard to tell. I've dealt with lots of people that unfortunately tend to be on the snarky side. @Designer

Thanks for going further into the term @Derrel I do get confused with that term because I hear it in so many different contexts. Trying to learn new equipment and terms as much as I can, and sometimes I can get a bit lost. This is really a super new thing for me.