First monolight purchase

[MOREGONE]

Hello,

So I am preparing to purchase my first moonlight soon. I do not have a studio and am working towards doing weddings. I will need it to be portable and able to operate off a battery.

I have seen the flashpoint that has been suggested on here and my reservations with it are that it is only 150w and that it doesn’t seem to have a standard mount. I don't want to get stuck into a system that could limit me. Or are the adapters and such that I am unaware of?

CowboyStudio sells a 400w on Amazon for $150 that has great review and uses a Bowens mount. I do not believe it has a slave mode and I am not sure I could use a battery pack with it. Slave may not be necessary but it seems like it could come in handy.

Do monolight slaves have S1 and S2 like I am used to seeing on Yongnuo Speedlights?

As for battery power, I have seen the Vagabond mini and really like that it has a standard house hold plug but are a bit pricey. I have a car camping trip coming up and could see where that would be a great accessory to have for misc use. Other than vagabond, I have found Flashpoint/Mettle flashes that have a proprietary battery which looks like a good value considering for $280-320 you get the flash, stand and battery. But it is limited to use with the flash.Are there other options I might not be aware of?
If I go the vagabond mini route, I will probably get that down the road.

Any other monolights you would recommend in the $200-ish range that I can get a battery later for, are > 150w, and have a common mount?

 

[pixmedic]

for portability, get speedlights. they are great for weddings and portraits, and they double as spare flashes for your body. it might be a little more expensive than the monolights you listed when you add in stands and diffusers. you can always look for used third party speedlights.

 

[MOREGONE]

for portability, get speedlights. they are great for weddings and portraits, and they double as spare flashes for your body. it might be a little more expensive than the monolights you listed when you add in stands and diffusers. you can always look for used third party speedlights.

Hello, I currently have one SB 600 and a YN-560 II. They have been great and I don't intend to go without speedlights. I actually am picking up another SB 600 tonight just because it is too good of a price to pass up even if I just resell it.

I am not sure of power output and strength, but this is why I am looking for something more powerful than 150w.

Could a speedlight adequately fill a 24x36 softbox? I don't like using my speedlights at full power (1/1). Seems like a lot of concerns with over heating, shooting too fast etc.

I have a external battery pack for my YN-560, roughly speaking, what would that be equivalent to in a monolight?

Is there a difference between strobes and monolights? Don't know, but they seem to be used interchangeably.

 

[cgipson1]

Cowboy studio is not known for high quality or longevity. Do a google search on "Cowboy Studio Quality" and read for yourself! There is a reason they cost less than anything else out there...

Flashpoints are much higher quality.. and you can use either the Flashpoint battery packs or the Buff Vagabond battery packs.. Calumets have a good reputation also....

S1 and S2 on Yongnuos.. one is an optical slave (sees flash and it fires) and the other is a "Ignore TTL Preflash" mode for TTL usage.... and monolights do not have TTL.

 

[MOREGONE]

Cowboy studio is not known for high quality or longevity. Do a google search on "Cowboy Studio Quality" and read for yourself! There is a reason they cost less than anything else out there...

Flashpoints are much higher quality.. and you can use either the Flashpoint battery packs or the Buff Vagabond battery packs.. Calumets have a good reputation also....

S1 and S2 on Yongnuos.. one is an optical slave (sees flash and it fires) and the other is a "Ignore TTL Preflash" mode for TTL usage.... and monolights do not have TTL.

Thanks for the response. Yeah Cowboy products are hit or miss. I know they don't make all their products and sometimes just rebrand them. The one I mentioned is made by Meinke I believe which also isn't a big name, but does have good solid reviews.

I am aware of what S1 and S2 are for, I was just asking if Monolights have them. I have a Sony NEX-5R camera and thought it would be fun to use it with the mono if possible, without getting a hotshoe adapter, it would need to have S2 because it always fires preflash.

Thanks again

 

[Village Idiot]

Cowboy studio is junk.

Softboxes, beauty dishes, etc... usually mount via a speed ring collar which is attached to the modifier so they can generally be swapped out. I've used the same beauty dish I've had on an Alien Bee, Speedotrons, and Dynalite. That's three seperate mounting systems. I also have an Elinchrom octobox I used on my Speedotron lights and a photo flex box that was mounted on my Speedos that's getting adapated to my Dynalites.

 

[cgipson1]

You may find this interesting.... it looks more or less accurate: Better Family Photos: Power Comparison: Speedlight vs. Strobes

 

[cgipson1]

Cowboy studio is not known for high quality or longevity. Do a google search on "Cowboy Studio Quality" and read for yourself! There is a reason they cost less than anything else out there...

Flashpoints are much higher quality.. and you can use either the Flashpoint battery packs or the Buff Vagabond battery packs.. Calumets have a good reputation also....

S1 and S2 on Yongnuos.. one is an optical slave (sees flash and it fires) and the other is a "Ignore TTL Preflash" mode for TTL usage.... and monolights do not have TTL.

Thanks for the response. Yeah Cowboy products are hit or miss. I know they don't make all their products and sometimes just rebrand them. The one I mentioned is made by Meinke I believe which also isn't a big name, but does have good solid reviews.

I am aware of what S1 and S2 are for, I was just asking if Monolights have them. I have a Sony NEX-5R camera and thought it would be fun to use it with the mono if possible, without getting a hotshoe adapter, it would need to have S2 because it always fires preflash.

Thanks again

Really? You can't turn off the PreFlash on SONY's? Interesting...

 

[MOREGONE]

Softboxes, beauty dishes, etc... usually mount via a speed ring collar which is attached to the modifier so they can generally be swapped out. I've used the same beauty dish I've had on an Alien Bee, Speedotrons, and Dynalite. That's three seperate mounting systems. I also have an Elinchrom octobox I used on my Speedotron lights and a photo flex box that was mounted on my Speedos that's getting adapated to my Dynalites.

Thanks I did not know they were interchangeable from system to system. I'll research more into this so I understand it better

You may find this interesting.... it looks more or less accurate: Better Family Photos: Power Comparison: Speedlight vs. Strobes

I did, thank you. So 400w would be noticeably stronger than the SB 800 which is obviosuly more powerful than the Sb600 I have and likely the case compared to the YN-560 II as well.

Really? You can't turn off the PreFlash on SONY's? Interesting...

It's not a DSLR. It's an APS-C sized mirrorless camera. Kinda like a bridge camera, or the crazy offspring of a RX100 and Sony DSLR. Love the thing though! Amazing IQ for such a small camera!

 

[cgipson1]

It's not a DSLR. It's an APS-C sized mirrorless camera. Kinda like a bridge camera, or the crazy offspring of a RX100 and Sony DSLR. Love the thing though! Amazing IQ for such a small camera!

OK.. not familiar with it! Is that what you plan to shoot weddings with? Should be interesting to see the results....

 

[MOREGONE]

OK.. not familiar with it! Is that what you plan to shoot weddings with? Should be interesting to see the results....

It's my second camera. Much better suited for keeping in the car, taking with you on hikes etc. My D90 is my primary camera for my serious photography. If all goes well, I'll be moving to a D600 in the coming months.

But all joking aside, I left the NEX-5R in the car on accident this last weekend at a wedding I covered. I wish I would have had it cause it has far better ISO performance than my D90. Easily shoot up to 3200 with good results. D90 maxes out at 800. It was a cathcolic wedding and flash was not permitted. Even then, it takes such good pictures, I would have been fine using it for my wide stuff with the 18-55 kit, and keeping the 70-200 on the D90.

 

[Designer]

I see that Menik unit comes with a couple of models. Sweeet!

You could call the retailer and ask some questions.

 

[MOREGONE]

Me again

Just curious if anyone could recommend a softbox that I could use with a speedlight that could also work with a monolight.

Im still getting a monolight, but want to have something I can setup on a monopod and walk around with too.

 

[Mach0]

Me again

Just curious if anyone could recommend a softbox that I could use with a speedlight that could also work with a monolight.

Im still getting a monolight, but want to have something I can setup on a monopod and walk around with too.

The speed rings are different. You ever think of a Brolly box?

 

[MOREGONE]

The speed rings are different. You ever think of a Brolly box?

I ordered a set once and Found it hard to insert the when it had a trigger attached to the bottom. The hole in the canter looked more geared towards a monolight being inserted than a speedlight. I could insert the flash all the way in, but then couldn't adjust the settings.

Think I could use a mount like this?

Amazon.com: CowboyStudio Bowen, Calument, Travelite T Speedlight Bracket For Canon and Nikon Speedlight Flash Units: Camera & Photo