Is my gear sufficient for this job?

[Alpha]

The Elinchrom ranger is a great system but pricey. I would go Lumedyne. Lots of power when you need it, but small and light-weight. Some great deals on eBay right now.

 

[Destin]

Why are you guys reccomending stuido strobes over speedlights for this? He's going to be photographing factories, and I assume moving form one location to the other. Speedlights would be way easier to work with than studio strobes imo, and the would do the job just fine as long as you had ~4-5 of them with triggers.

You wanna see their effectiveness, look at joe mcnally's work.

 

[epatsellis]

Why are you guys reccomending stuido strobes over speedlights for this? He's going to be photographing factories, and I assume moving form one location to the other. Speedlights would be way easier to work with than studio strobes imo, and the would do the job just fine as long as you had ~4-5 of them with triggers.

You wanna see their effectiveness, look at joe mcnally's work.

Maybe, but then again, he has his given to him. For mere mortals like us (that actually have to pay for the equipment) Lumedyne is the sweet spot between cost and capability. While I have a lighting closet full of Broncolor lighting, one thing that always goes with me everywhere is my Lumedyne outfit. 400 w/s in a small, portable DC operated package makes life easy. You also get the added advantage of using the proper ISO to assure quality, instead of hoping Noise Ninja (or your N/R program of choice) will let you get away with shooting at that ISO.

Some of us old farts come from the film days, where you had to know your equipment, it's abilities and limitiations. A world where you had to get the shot, no if, and or but. Reliability, consistency and quality come first, above all else.

 

[gsgary]

Why are you guys reccomending stuido strobes over speedlights for this? He's going to be photographing factories, and I assume moving form one location to the other. Speedlights would be way easier to work with than studio strobes imo, and the would do the job just fine as long as you had ~4-5 of them with triggers.

You wanna see their effectiveness, look at joe mcnally's work.

POWER

 

[gsgary]

Why are you guys reccomending stuido strobes over speedlights for this? He's going to be photographing factories, and I assume moving form one location to the other. Speedlights would be way easier to work with than studio strobes imo, and the would do the job just fine as long as you had ~4-5 of them with triggers.

You wanna see their effectiveness, look at joe mcnally's work.

McNally wouldn't use speedlights for big shoots

 

[Destin]

Why are you guys reccomending stuido strobes over speedlights for this? He's going to be photographing factories, and I assume moving form one location to the other. Speedlights would be way easier to work with than studio strobes imo, and the would do the job just fine as long as you had ~4-5 of them with triggers.

You wanna see their effectiveness, look at joe mcnally's work.

McNally wouldn't use speedlights for big shoots

You clearly haven't read the hotshoe diaries then. Because he has, and will.

And your going to be indoors, you shouldn't need that much power. It's not like your going to need a super fast shutter speed to freeze action. He's not shooting sports, he's shooting the inside of a factory.

I'm not saying I'm right, I'm just thinking out loud honestly. If I'm wrong slap me.

 

[Christie Photo]

And your going to be indoors, you shouldn't need that much power. It's not like your going to need a super fast shutter speed to freeze action. He's not shooting sports, he's shooting the inside of a factory.

Being indoors is precisely why more power is necessary. It's likely a large area will be included in some of the views, and it won't be possible to move small lights in close. Too, much of the work will likely require shooting at f16 and smaller.

And with the high ceilings, it's not unlike shooting outdoors at night. The lights just goes... nothing really bouncing back.

-Pete

 

[Christie Photo]

Why are you guys reccomending stuido strobes over speedlights for this? He's going to be photographing factories, and I assume moving form one location to the other. Speedlights would be way easier to work with than studio strobes...

Yup. It IS "way easier" than lugging around all that gear. But taking the easier way isn't what we get to do.

Other factors come into play too. Sometimes it's just not possible to set up a bunch of gear due to the manufacturing process, safety concerns and so on.

-Pete

 

[Destin]

And your going to be indoors, you shouldn't need that much power. It's not like your going to need a super fast shutter speed to freeze action. He's not shooting sports, he's shooting the inside of a factory.

Being indoors is precisely why more power is necessary. It's likely a large area will be included in some of the views, and it won't be possible to move small lights in close. Too, much of the work will likely require shooting at f16 and smaller.

And with the high ceilings, it's not unlike shooting outdoors at night. The lights just goes... nothing really bouncing back.

-Pete

Gotcha, that makes sense.

I would wager that you aren't going to need THAT much DOF, and a larger aperture would probably work. But some factories are pretty big, so I can't say for this exact case.

 

[ironsidephoto]

Came across this thread and thought I'd update you guys on what I did.

I ended up getting a Strobist kit from MPEX--two LP160 strobes, a couple of stands, some umbrellas and pocketwizards--and didn't use them once during this shoot. It was too time consuming/hazardous to set them up, move them, adjust, etc., in the fast-moving factories. I'm glad I had them just in case, but opted to shoot wide open and at higher ISOs instead. If I had had an assistant to help me set up/break down and adjust the strobes more quickly, I'd probably have used them.

P.S. ...Joe McNally has assistants to carry his gear.

 

[gsgary]

Elincrom rangers can be adjusted from the transmiter on the camera

 

[GeneralBenson]

I'm with Christie, some battery powered studio lighting would be a good idea, i have been hanging my eye over these
ELINCHROM - Ranger Quadra RX

I'm with these two as well. And before I read Gary's post, I was going to suggest the flashes that he linked to. I just picked one up a few months ago and you WILL NOT be disappointed. In my opinion they are the best compromise out there for weight and size vs power. The overall kit is tiny compared to many other pack/head combos, and if you're shooting inside, 400 W/s is plenty. Thanks to the asymmetrical pack, these have a huge range as well. at full power from the A port, it's enough for many kinds of outdoor work, and at minimum power on the B port, it's about the same as 1/8 power on my hotshoe flash. So it's really easy to blend with smaller flashes and low ambient light, but also has the power to drive big modifiers and overpower ambient light when you need to. I think it's the most versatile setup there is right now.

 

[gsgary]

After using these Broncolor Mobil A2R Battery Operated Travel Kit 31.021.07 B&H on an ambien/flashmasterclass there is nothing to touch them