Spare batteries

[Nwcid]

I am a person that likes to be prepared for most situations. I have a ton of spare batteries for most of my devices. I rarely need the spare(s) and I usually just have them "incase" of a problem or damage, etc.

I currently have an AD600 and just picked up a pair of AD200's. The 600 is rated for just over 350 full power shots and the 200's are rated for 500 full power shots.

Spare batteries for the 600 is $180 and the 200's are $60 each.

I know this is a loaded question and highly variable, but how often is 350 full power shots not enough? Probably my biggest shoots so far was high school sports pictures a couple of weeks ago. I took a total of about 200 shots and all of my shots were between 1/2 and 1/2 +7.

 

[Derrel]

When 350 full-power shots are needed, then one needs 350 full-power shots. Since you just did 200 shots on a sports gig, then that might be a good indication. I dunno...the biggest gig I ever was associated with was a corporate headshot gig for a tech company,about 10 years ago, and it required 104 people to be photographed, 5 to 7 frames each, and was shot in about 2.5 hours, one person right after another after another...

A buddy of mine was hired to do this shoot, but I assisted and brought my lights because he felt that his White Lightning strobes would not have the capability to shoot fast,and rapidly,without a break, for 2.5 to 3 hours...convection cooling is NOT as efficient as fan-cooled flash...

This called for a Speedotron Black Line 2403B power pack, and three, fan-cooled 102 flash heads, stands, modifiers...the kind of gear that will _NOT_ overheat, and which when dialed down to small-room portrait levels, sees the pack loafing along at roughly 400 Watt-seconds split through three flash heads, or in other words, with the total output being around one-sixth of the 2,400 Watt-second capacity. In Speedo Black Line, "400" Watt-seconds is about what many Made in China monolights would call "800" or even "1,000" in terms of a model number...

I dunno...how many flashes depends on you, and how you will use flash. If you have a BIG shoot, you might need to shoot a lot of shots.

With today's HIGH ISO capabilities, less and less flash power is needed, compared to the 1980's, when we used 1,200 to 1,600 Watt-second power packs and three or four or five flash heads. When you need to shoot 350 to 700 flashes, which I have done often on modeling-type shoots that last 2 to 4 hours, AC-power Speedotron flash has been my go-to since the mid-1980's...AC power is just sooooooo convenient...

Not sure about the AD600 batteries themselves; can you buy battery holders, and self-install batteries from say Batteries & Bulbs, or whatever it's called? I'e bought a couple "$200" batteries from them for $54 over the years, and put them in myself.

Wish I could help you more, but you're going to be more-informed that we are in terms of how often you can get hired and need to trigger off a zillion full-poower flash pops.

 

[smoke665]

In looking at the literature on the AD600, it claims you have 500 full power flashes on a fresh battery. It also eludes to A/C power with the battery module removed, but didn't really give much more information on that. They also have an inverter in their catalog so you may be able to run off A/C (When available) and skip the batteries entirely.

 

[tirediron]

I am a firm believer in redundancy. I have at least one (and in most cases, multiple) spare battery for everything I own. 350 full-power pops isn't likely to come up often, but... what if the battery fails. I bought an AD360 a couple of years ago because I needed a cheap, one-time solution for portable light with HSS. Out of force of habit, I bought a spare battery with it. Good thing, as the battery that shipped with the unit lasted exactly three chargings and died.

 

[Nwcid]

Wish I could help you more, but you're going to be more-informed that we are in terms of how often you can get hired and need to trigger off a zillion full-poower flash pops.

As I stated in my post, I know it is a very loaded question with tons of variables.

I was just giving an example of one of my larger shoots so far.

Really I was curious what others experiences were and you gave a great example. Thank you.

 

[Nwcid]

In looking at the literature on the AD600, it claims you have 500 full power flashes on a fresh battery. It also eludes to A/C power with the battery module removed, but didn't really give much more information on that. They also have an inverter in their catalog so you may be able to run off A/C (When available) and skip the batteries entirely.

Sorry for incomplete details, mine is the Pro, which has a faster recycle time but a listed 370 shots. You can run off of AC, with the AC adapter which is $130.

The inverter looks interesting if you were running strobes that require direct plug in. If you are just looking for a portable inverter, there are much better options with much larger batteries for the same price.

 

[Nwcid]

I am a firm believer in redundancy. I have at least one (and in most cases, multiple) spare battery for everything I own. 350 full-power pops isn't likely to come up often, but... what if the battery fails. I bought an AD360 a couple of years ago because I needed a cheap, one-time solution for portable light with HSS. Out of force of habit, I bought a spare battery with it. Good thing, as the battery that shipped with the unit lasted exactly three chargings and died.

I was mostly looking at it from the stance of redundancy. You never know when a piece will fail, get damaged, left behind, ect.

 

[tirediron]

I would much rather spend a little up-front cash and never need the capability than to have to tell a client that I have to shut down the shoot because I had an equipment failure.

 

[ac12]

The problem is you don't have a crystal ball, and thus don't know the future and what your future need might be.
Your next big gig might call for more than 350 shots.

Example, at a school prom, where you are not shooting near an AC outlet. Or one with enough extra capacity.
5 shots per couple x 70 couples = 350 shots.​

I have BOTH a Quantum Turbo and Lumedyne Megacycler. On a big shoot, I take both, one as the backup for the other. Both for failure and running the battery down faster than I planned. I also usually bring a spare battery for the Lumedyne. I have never had to switch to the spare battery pack nor the spare Lumedyne battery. And it will be even less likely, once I recell the Lumedyne packs with NiMH batteries.
Yeah kinda overkill, but . . .
And I'm not squeezing for space, like I would be traveling by air, so I can afford to carry the extra gear.

At the local HS, when they are shooting school ID pix, they are plugged into the gym AC circuit for their flashes.
So, logically, you would need batteries when you do not have AC available, or the AC circuit (for various reasons) won't support the peak current drain to recycle your flash.

 

[JBPhotog]

I think your solution lays in your planning. Before every shoot, I do a quick sketch of the set up so I can assess the equipment needed with built in redundancy. If the gig requires a purchase then that is what I do based on real needs rather than wants or lack of creative gear selection. After 40 years in this business I have never been asked to show up with a camera not knowing what I’m in for, despite on many occasions we push the limits as creativity permits.