Dear Santa, I've been a bad boy this year......... but I still want some gear

[kundalini]

I received an e-mail last week from corporate that I'll be getting a fairly significant bouns check in a week or two. Although my intial thoughts were to stuff a good portion into an interest bearing account and do the usual splurge on self for Xmas and BD (January), I've thrown my hands up in the air and cried WTF, buy what I want and be happy for any leftovers. I've been reading on the use of studio strobes for a while and PCB seems to be a good (enough) place to start.




I've decided (I think) to go with the White Lightning strobes instead of the Alien Bees. The price difference isn't significant and I have a 'further down the road' mindset. I believe further down the road I will be happier with better build quality, more consistant color temps and more flexibility with light control. With that, here is myXmas list for Santa.

• 2x X1600 flashes (the X800 is only $50 less..... a couple rounds of drinks)
• 2x Cybersync (for wireless)
• 30x60" Softbox
• 47" Octabox
• 10x36" Stripbox
• Barn Door
• 7" 4x Grid set + carry bag
• Set of 6 gels
• 13' heavy duty stand (I already have a 10' hd studio boom, 10' med duty, 8' light duty w/reflector arm and 2x 6' light duty)
• Baby Boomer Arm

That's ~$1700 +/- with accessory discount and shipping all from the PCB website. What else would be good to have, what can be dropped? What would you get from another manufacturer?

I will supplement a multi-light setup with my Nikon SBs for the time being.

Please give me some resources for the light modifiers that will work on the WL / AB lines (7" reflector). BUT I DON'T WANT CHEAP $HIT, as in material, construction, handling, etc.

Thanks to all the Santa's little helpers out there in cyberland.

 

[kundalini]

Nothing in five hours?......

You guys suck.

 

[chito beach]

Nothing in five hours?......

You guys suck.

Yeah for you! WHOO HOOO! :thumbup: feel better?

 

[Derrel]

Howza' bout a old Vivitar 3500, with a wonky peanut slave, 7 inch and 12 inch PC connector cords, a dinged up Vivitar 285HV with a broken wide-angle diffuser that's been repaired with a couple pieces of tape, two aged, yellowed 30 inch shoot-through umbrellas, a pair of wonky GoldStar umbrella swivel mount adapters, an old Quantum Battery 1, a well-used Roscoe Gel ampler Swatch Book, a creaky Manfrotto 7-foot light stand, and a home-made craft-foam-and-black-straw "grid" kit??? And a fifth of Jose Cuervo thrown in to mitigate the pain of cast off junk??? ANd this isn't cheap $hi+...it's just really,really,really old.

 

[kundalini]

Awww, you guys suck harder than the other 40 odd viewers that didn't have the wherewithalls (balls) to comment cause your responses are more useless than the no comments at all.

.... and Derrell, we do 1.75's in this household. Fifths are for light weights.

 

[chito beach]

Awww, you guys suck harder than the other 40 odd viewers that didn't have the wherewithalls (balls) to comment cause your responses are more useless than the no comments at all.

.... and Derrell, we do 1.75's in this household. Fifths are for light weights.

IF you actually pull the trigger and show us something worth while them we will be impressed

 

[Robin Usagani]

You need to buy more stuffed animals if you ask me.

 

[kundalini]

IF you actually pull the trigger and show us something worth while them we will be impressed

Excuse me!?

Would you like to rearrange those words where they actually make sense?

 

[chito beach]

IF you actually pull the trigger and show us something worth while them we will be impressed

Excuse me!?

Would you like to rearrange those words where they actually make sense?

I figured it went right along with the rest of this thread LOL:lmao:

buy the junk and share some pics :thumbup:

 

[kundalini]

buy the junk and share some pics :thumbup:

Do you have any better suggestions as far as the junk is concerned? My budget is in the $1500-2000 range. I'd love to hear your input. More for less is not a bad thing to know. Curious.

 

[chito beach]

buy the junk and share some pics :thumbup:

Do you have any better suggestions as far as the junk is concerned? My budget is in the $1500-2000 range. I'd love to hear your input. More for less is not a bad thing to know. Curious.

No I dont your list sounds great.

Junk is a 4 wheelin' term for your cool toys, the better your toys the better your Junk

So buy your junk and show us some schweet pics

 

[Village Idiot]

buy the junk and share some pics :thumbup:

Do you have any better suggestions as far as the junk is concerned? My budget is in the $1500-2000 range. I'd love to hear your input. More for less is not a bad thing to know. Curious.

Are you going to be shooting away from a power outlet? If so, you'll need a battery. The Vagabond II is $300, but it's on back order. A better alternative, imo, is the Innovatronix Tronix Explorer XT SE. I think it's $429 shipped with the carrying bag and is a much better made piece of battery.

Grabe a snoot, too.

A beauty dish is a good investment. PCB has one, but I'm not a fan. Kacey Enterprise has a very nice dish for $143. Kacey Enterprises 22″ Kacey Beauty Reflector & Bracket Accessories

The Parabolic modifier system from PCB is killer. David Hobby from Strobist is even using one...with his profotos.

 

[Derrel]

How much power flexibility do you want or need? How much total power do you need? How much total power do you want to be able to fire through ONE, single flash head?

I ask because for $1,700 on eBay, a guy could put together a very complete Speedotron kit, with better quality everything than White Lightning....more power, like 2,400 watt-seconds total (REAL watt-seconds, not 'effective' w-s,whatever that means) through one head, for say $300 for the pack, and $150 for the flash head with a 2,400 watt-second flashtube...

interchangeable reflectors in 7,11.5,16,20,22 inch , including beauty dishes made by Speedotron, Kacey, or Chinese offshore...same with grids....grids in all sizes...barn doors too...snoots...umbrella spill-kill reflectors...

Brown Line is super-affordable...you can buy used packs of 200,400,600,and 800 watt-seconds for $100-$200 every day of the week...you can pick up 3-light 400 w-s, 4-outlet D402 system for $350 most weeks in Brown Line...

Black Line is more flexible. It is the absolute opposite of cheap $h!+, lasting for 20-30 years with zero maintenance most times. Black Line 405 packs were JUST discontinued....7 lbs, three outlets, click-stop adjustable power from 400 to 25 watt-second through one head, symmetrical/asymmetrical power distribution, entry into a professional system at $459 brand new for the pack...it gives you the power of ONE $439 W-L, but with the option to run 1,2,or 3 flashes off of it...and it is SMALL. A 405 pack + 3 x103 light heads (no fan) + Tronix Explorer weight less than three W-L 1600's and a Tronix battery...

Again, it depends on what you want in terms of power overall, power distribution setups, and total power through ONE head...personally, I think monolights in the 1600 class are overkill,and will most likely be used at 1/4 power muchy of the time, especially if they are paired with speedlights, and so it actually makes much more sense to have 400 watt-second power packs as an option.

Other people might have different opinions. I've used Speedotron since 1986, as well as Norman, DynaLite,Photogenic, Sunpak, and JTL monolight. Ranging in power from 200, to 400 W-S, 600,1600,and 2,400 w-s...the JTL monolight is 300 watt-seconds and that is ample power with a 200 ISO base-level NIKON. With a view camera or medium format camera, where f/16 is your friend, and f/45 is your best buddy, the older 2,400 watt-second packs that power 6 flash heads (2401, 2403 Speedo, $275-$400 now used) were about right used full-power, but NOW, with 200 ISO d-slr's you might find yourself dialing the variator down to Minus 3.0 stops in 1/3 stop clicks...

As a guy said this week on TOP, "make sure your gear guru is a good match for you."

 

[kundalini]

Junk is a 4 wheelin' term for your cool toys, the better your toys the better your Junk

So buy your junk and show us some schweet pics

I'm sober now, feel the love.....

​

:lmao:​

 

[kundalini]

Are you going to be shooting away from a power outlet?

No

Grabe a snoot, too.

In consideration

A beauty dish is a good investment. PCB has one, but I'm not a fan. Kacey Enterprise has a very nice dish for $143. Kacey Enterprises 22″ Kacey Beauty Reflector & Bracket Accessories

The Parabolic modifier system from PCB is killer. David Hobby from Strobist is even using one...with his profotos.

Cheers.....