What are the good brands to get for Monolights?

[Derrel]

I have used Alien Bees in the past and while I think they are a good fit for the budget conscious weekend warrior, I was not impressed with the build quality and "toy" feel. I know money is always an important factor when buying but that also has to be weighed against quality.

Prepare for a 12-paragraph rebuttal, Tee.

 

[Gavjenks]

Elegant point, Gryphon.

Anyway, no more opinions from me, but continuing with profoto as a comparison, I googled reviews of it versus Buff einsteins. So these are the three comparisons I was able to find, amongst people who have actually sat there and used both and run direct tests between them, hand-on:

http://kevsteele.com/blog/profoto-einstein-lighting/
Durability is higher on the profoto
Einstein is better able to freeze action
A large amount of the rest of the review is about accessories (it's a kit comparison not just basic lights)
Recycle is the same.

No particular mention of any differences in artistically-relevant abilities


Einstein 640 vs Profoto D1 w/ PhaseOne IQ {head to head} » Kern-Photo - Kern-Photo
[comparing to D1 1000 for $1700]
Winners of each category considered below:
Light quality: Tie
Flash Duration: Einstein by a nose
Overall Power: Profoto, although he says profoto wins by 1 stop, when he chose a profoto that's ADVERTISED as winning by almost a stop. So that's a little silly IMO, but whatever. Note that this disagrees with Derrel's table (would have won by 2 stops if it agreed)
Power Adjustment: Einstein
Expected cost regarding repairs: Einstein
Customer Service: Einstein
Weight: Einstein
Brand and Inspiration: Tie
Modifiers: Profoto
Resale Value: Profoto
Overall design and build quality: Profoto
Cost: Massively Einstein


Is Profoto Worth Its Price? The Showdown! - Ep#126
Basically: He thinks profoto is good if you make more than about $80,000 a year as a photographer. Though he suggests for your highest profile corporate clients you may want to rent profoto primarily just so that people will think you're more of a pro and not judge you, then use cheaper monolights the rest of the time.

 

[Derrel]

One fabulous place for professional photo equipment is Calumet Photographic. Look at this page and the subsequent few pages, and the "good brands" for lighting pop right up. Studio Flash Kits

These are lighting kits, with the majority of the needed stuff included. Profoto,Speedotron,Dynalite,Elinchrom,Broncolor,Genesis. These few pages also give a really good overview of the variety of products available.

 

[Tee]

I have used Alien Bees in the past and while I think they are a good fit for the budget conscious weekend warrior, I was not impressed with the build quality and "toy" feel. I know money is always an important factor when buying but that also has to be weighed against quality.

Prepare for a 12-paragraph rebuttal, Tee.

LOL. I was going to mention the color shift as well but that was already covered.

 

[table1349]

I have used Alien Bees in the past and while I think they are a good fit for the budget conscious weekend warrior, I was not impressed with the build quality and "toy" feel. I know money is always an important factor when buying but that also has to be weighed against quality.

Prepare for a 12-paragraph rebuttal, Tee.

LOL. I was going to mention the color shift as well but that was already covered.

Heck, if you have a color shift issue you just throw that unit away, go to your closet and pull out one of those backup units and just keep shooting. Oh wait, the closet might not be big enough to hold that many backup units.