Expanding my lighting, check my logic.......

[flea77]

Up until now I have been able to do what I needed to do with 3 SB-600s, wireless triggers, stands and two 43" umbrellas. I have now run into situations where I could use some softboxes and another light. The strobist method has worked well for me so far but I am having a hard time with this decision.

Choice A: expand my existing speedlight setup:
1 SB-600 $250
1 wireless trigger $35
2 24" double baffle softboxes $140
1 lightstand with umbrella/flash bracket $75
TOTAL: $500

Choice B: buy a completely new lighting setup (keeping the old as well):
1 Flashpoint 320M monolight kit w/2 320 (150w/s each) monolights w/modeling lights, stands, 2 40" umbrellas, snoot, case $329
2 Flashpoint II 320M monolight kit with 150w/s monolights, 24"x26" softboxes, stands $298
1 wireless trigger $35
TOTAL: $662

Am I overthinking this? Once I write it down like this it seems like a no brainer. What the heck is holding me back from choice B?

Allan

 

[RockstarPhotography]

portability, being able to run off double a's. What and where are you shooting? If its studio work then yea, go with B. If you need portability and being able to shoot anywhere.....

you can also replace that sb-600 with a much cheaper speedlight. Just because it's expensive and says nikon does not mean there are not other alternatives (like the yongnuo). that will still perform.

 

[Big Mike]

The big difference between the two, is power type. Your current set up and option A, run on AA batteries and is a completely portable system. So if you work 'in the field' then having a small, portable kit is fairly important.

The studio strobe kit will require AC power...so either you plug it in or you run it off of a good sized battery and a pure sine wave inverter. If you are working in a studio environment, then I think option B is a good one. But if you are mobile, then option A...or you could save some money and go with something cheaper than the SB-600. Since you're using wireless triggers, I'm guessing that you're not using the CLS TTL system...so why pay extra for SB-600 flashes?

Ah...rockstar beat me to it and said the exact same thing.

 

[RockstarPhotography]

The big difference between the two, is power type. Your current set up and option A, run on AA batteries and is a completely portable system. So if you work 'in the field' then having a small, portable kit is fairly important.

The studio strobe kit will require AC power...so either you plug it in or you run it off of a good sized battery and a pure sine wave inverter. If you are working in a studio environment, then I think option B is a good one. But if you are mobile, then option A...or you could save some money and go with something cheaper than the SB-600. Since you're using wireless triggers, I'm guessing that you're not using the CLS TTL system...so why pay extra for SB-600 flashes?

Ah...rockstar beat me to it and said the exact same thing.

you type too much.......lol

 

[Alpha]

I'd like to add that I hate hate hate using portable flashes with softboxes. Yes, real strobes are cumbersome. It's just a very different animal. One option to consider is Lumedyne. Strobe-like power with Speedlight-like portability. There are some excellent deals on eBay right now.

 

[gsgary]

Your second option is very weak for studio flashes, i would also look at lumedyne heard lots of praise from some top UK photographers especially this one he used them a few years back and thought they were great briangriffin.co.uk

 

[flea77]

@Rockstar The reason I went with the SB-600s is flexibility. I can use them off camera just like any cheap flash, or I can put them on camera and run TTL, or I can use a combination of the two, or I can run CLS. I bought all SB-600s so I can grab any flash and do what I need since they are all the same.

What am I shooting? Theres the rub. I was just doing mainly on site portraits and groups which I used a combination of ambient light and the speedlights. Now I am doing more studio stuff, product, still life, and still doing the on site stuff.

@BigMike I will be shooting both. On occasion the studio lights might travel (which obviously will be more of a pain than speedlights) but most of the time the speedlights will travel and the monolights will sit in the studio.

@Alpha What is the problem with speedlights and softboxes? Quality of light? Amount of light? Pain in the butt factor?

@Gsgary The monolights are to replace speedlights in my studio shooting. The speedlights work fine, I just need more of them and different modifiers. I thought the monolights I picked would be at least twice as powerful as the speedlights with about 1/6th the recycle time, plus modeling light. You think I need more power?

Thanks for all the input so far.

Allan

 

[gsgary]

@Rockstar The reason I went with the SB-600s is flexibility. I can use them off camera just like any cheap flash, or I can put them on camera and run TTL, or I can use a combination of the two, or I can run CLS. I bought all SB-600s so I can grab any flash and do what I need since they are all the same.

What am I shooting? Theres the rub. I was just doing mainly on site portraits and groups which I used a combination of ambient light and the speedlights. Now I am doing more studio stuff, product, still life, and still doing the on site stuff.

@BigMike I will be shooting both. On occasion the studio lights might travel (which obviously will be more of a pain than speedlights) but most of the time the speedlights will travel and the monolights will sit in the studio.

@Alpha What is the problem with speedlights and softboxes? Quality of light? Amount of light? Pain in the butt factor?

@Gsgary The monolights are to replace speedlights in my studio shooting. The speedlights work fine, I just need more of them and different modifiers. I thought the monolights I picked would be at least twice as powerful as the speedlights with about 1/6th the recycle time, plus modeling light. You think I need more power?

Thanks for all the input so far.

Allan

With more power you can always turn it down but with less you can't turn it up if needed, i would think the lights you looked at may have a lower guide number than your SB600

 

[flea77]

@Gsgary from what I have read people say the SB-600 is somewhere around 75-100w/s, these monolights are 150w/s. The SB-600s are GN 98, these lights are 118. I could jump up to the Flashpoint 620Ms which are 300w/s but that would cost an additional $406. When the price difference between option A and option B was $162 it seemed like a no brainer to take option B, but with the price difference jumping to $566 I don't know.

What about option C:
1 Flashpoint 620M kit with 2 620M 300w/s monolights, stands, umbrellas, snoot and case $490
2 Flashpoint II 320M monolight kit with 150w/s monolights, 24"x26" softboxes, stands $298
1 wireless trigger $35
TOTAL: $823 (+$323 vs option A, +$161 vs option B)

Better?

Allan

 

[benhasajeep]

I agree with the others, and you really don't need sb-600s if your using radio wireless triggers. I have 3 SB-600's, but I also kept my 3 SB-80DX's as well (also still have 28's and 25's too). By the way the SB-80DX's can be use wireless without radio recievers because they have built in slave light sensors (SB-26's are the same way). So if you want to stay completely portable. I say grabe a few SB-80dx's or even SB-26's. The SB-80's are very strong units as well. If you found some of them used, you get a very strong flash and don't need extra radio recievers if you don't want them.

But if you find your flashes are beeping (firing at max power all the time). Then its time to step up to monolights.

 

[gsgary]

Just had a quick look at the flashpoint and the thing i do like is they can be used with a battery, Calumet do a 300B http://www.calumetphoto.co.uk/eng/product/calumet_genesis_300b_flash_head/cf0507 and battery http://www.calumetphoto.co.uk/eng/product/calumet_genesis_300_powerport_power_pack/cf0508 that looks nice

 

[RyanLilly]

The flash points can be bought as a kit with a battery pack for a pretty cheap price at Adorama. Cheaper than buying the battery separately. I just saw a link to there the other day, and they looked pretty good to me, especially for the price and portability.

 

[Alpha]

I have a couple issues with portable flashes and softboxes:
First, they're a pain in the ass to set up, even with good adapters.
Generally you've got your speed-ring either
a) Going straight onto the light stand, with the adapter setup separately; or
b) Going onto the adapter, which is also holding the flash.
One problem is that softboxes are bulky and heavy, and if you don't have them attached to something substantial, like an actual light head or monolight, they can be really troublesome to move around the way you want. There may be adapters on the market beefy enough to handle a large softbox well but I haven't seen them. Another problem is that screwing your speed-ring onto an adapter or light stand is really annoying. Also, you can't rotate your softbox around its center axis if the speed-ring is screwed onto something.

Granted, those problems also exist with the Lumedyne flashes. But if you really need power and portability, Lumedyne is the way to go.

Second, another important difference between real studio lights and portable flashes is that when you fire them into a softbox, you're mostly using the softbox as if you were shooting through a white scrim. Granted, the reflective coating on the interior of the box will catch some of the light that bounces back from one (or both) of the box's baffles and redirect it back where you want it. With a studio strobe, the bulb is non-directional. It extends into the softbox and fires light in every direction. The practical difference is that you're less likely to get hot-spots on the face of the box with a studio strobe, particularly if the box is large. Moreover, if you find that your box is absorbing too much light from your portable flash, you will need to remove the interior baffle (if there is one), which only magnifies the hot-spot problem.

Finally, I think if you're considering spending this kind of money on lights you should look at used gear made by some reputable companies. Do not worry about the price of stands and umbrellas. They are a dime a dozen until you start needing very large modifiers or very tall lights.

If you are seriously investigating studio lights I would look at used:
1) Speedotron Black line pack lights. Cheap on eBay. They have their own system which takes a little getting used to but they are very powerful and very reliable. There are also a LOT of accessories available for cheap.
2) I hate to say it but Alien Bees or White Lightning, because the overall system (lights and modifiers) is pretty affordable.
3) Visatec or Elinchrom. The lights are awesome and there are some good deals to be had on eBay. Modifiers are becoming more easily available due to the Chinese. The only major drawback is flash tubes, which are significantly more expensive than choice 1 or 2.

 

[kundalini]

Only to add further to Alpha's comments, with monolights you can see exactly where the light is falling on your subject before you touch the shutter release.

I have and use both setups. I like the portability of the speedlights, but love the power of my monolights.