Monolight comparison Bowens, Profoto, or many others... HELP!!!

[bdubbs79]

Thanks to both of you. It will be a pro studio. Why do you consider ab's non-pro? Price point or wattage? I don't need the wireless triggers so you recommending spending that extra on better lights? I mean I'm seriously looking for someone to lay out a 3 light set more pro than ab's for under $2k. So if the fact I don't want to spend $10k on lights makes It less pro the. That will Have to do.

I will Be shooting portraits and products. I will Be outsoors as well so I didn't mind spending for the pocket wizard. Opinions vary greatly on lighting So its tough to Get a set of lights purchased before You second Guess everything.

Thanks

 

[Village Idiot]

If you're going with packs, I'd recommend more than one pack so you don't have the problem of not having cables long enough to run to your strobes.

If you're doing outdoor shots, you really need to consider when you're shooting and what modifiers you're going to be shooting with. If you're shooting during the middle of the day and want to kill the sun, you're going to want a lot of power. A B800 is only 320w/s and won't cut it if you're shooting under bright sun, trying to bring down the ambient exposure, and shooting with a modifier that offers heavy diffusion. At that point I'd recomment a monolight that's putting out over 600w/s or possibly even more, if not even a pack and head system.

The benefit to a pack is that they generally supply a lot more power for a lot cheaper than a monolight. A 1000w/s pack will let you shoot with 1 light at 1000w/s; the problem starts where if you're adding more lights. 4 lights on a 1000w/s pack will get you 4 lights at 250w/s each and then you're going to be limited on how you can adjust the power going to each light. Unless you've spent something like $7000 on a Profoto D4 pack, you're not going to be able to individually adjust the power going to each light by 1/10 of a stop. That's one of the other reasons I would recommend multiple packs if you're shooting multiple lights.

Either way, there's a sacrific you're going to have to make. It took me a while to get what I did. I ended up with 5 Speedotron 202VF heads, a 1200w/s pack, and a 400w/s pack along with an Innovatronix Tronix Explorer XT battery. I bought everything but the battery used and it came out to about $2100. The only other thing I could use is another 1200w/s pack. I was originally looking at used Profoto gear, but that would have cost me $2,000-$2,500 for one 1200w/s pack with 2 heads used. And even with the purchase I made, that's not including lightstands, modifiers, a case to carry them in, etc... etc... etc...

But even after all that, I still have my speedlights because I believe that there is no one size fits all option out there, at least not for me. I have the speedlight setup when I need ultra portable lights and I have the pack and head system for when I need the power and the flexibility of better modifiers.

Check out Dynalite. They were another company that I was on the edge of going with, but with the price I got the used Speedotron gear for, I couldn't pass it up. And it's like buy a certain type of car; you never notice how many other people own that car until you own one. I've seen everything from shoots by Annie Leibowiz to Playboy shoots being down with Speedotron gear.

 

[Big Mike]

Alien Bees do offer a decent product at a decent price...but while they are not pieces of junk, when you see & hold one, next to a higher quality unit, you can see & feel the difference. More importantly, they have a reputation for showing a color cast (inconsistent color temp), especially at lower power levels. They do have the Einstien light, which looks to be a great upgrade, but they aren't cheap. They (Paul C Buff) also have their Pro line, White Lightning.

 

[ghache]

Dont be so picky and buy something that will fit you needsWhat modifier are you going to use? if your so worried about quality just buy some profoto.

AB, white lightning, the adorama flashes, bowens, all of them will work. get something that has enought power for your needs and you should be good.
To me a flash is a flash, Most of brand names out there are good. I dont think you will be shooting 10 000 $ contract tomorrow, seems like you never ussed a strobe before.

 

[bdubbs79]

Thanks for the info. I'm going to have to learn more about the pack and head system. I guess it shares the wattage. I see a dynolite like this one here...

Dynalite SH2000 Studio 2000 Watt/Second Flash Head SH2000 B&H its only $550, but no softboxes... So i just grab boxes and it's controlled similarly?

Lots to digest on this one. So you have 5 heads on one setup and 2 more on another and speed lights? what are you shooting?

 

[bdubbs79]

Dont be so picky and buy something that will fit you needsWhat modifier are you going to use? if your so worried about quality just buy some profoto.

AB, white lightning, the adorama flashes, bowens, all of them will work. get something that has enought power for your needs and you should be good.
To me a flash is a flash, Most of brand names out there are good. I dont think you will be shooting 10 000 $ contract tomorrow, seems like you never ussed a strobe before.

that is mroe of what i'm looking for in advice but i didn't wasnt to discount what others are saying. i am not going to be needign the expensive lights and when i' get the shoots and see my qualit ymight be lacking i can upgrade... how do you feel about that? I think the 320w/s x 2 and 1 x 160w/s is fine for what i'm doing... Alien bees it is then?

thanks

 

[Village Idiot]

Thanks for the info. I'm going to have to learn more about the pack and head system. I guess it shares the wattage. I see a dynolite like this one here...

Dynalite SH2000 Studio 2000 Watt/Second Flash Head SH2000 B&H its only $550, but no softboxes... So i just grab boxes and it's controlled similarly?

Lots to digest on this one. So you have 5 heads on one setup and 2 more on another and speed lights? what are you shooting?

No. That's just the head. Monolights have the power source in them while a pack and head system has the power source in a power pack that you attach the strobe heads to. That often leaves a smaller lighter head on a stand. I have 5 heads that I can share between 2 power packs and the additional Canon speedlights when I need them. I shoot cars and people.

So the packs are not light, they are just power generators which provide power to flash heads. You can purchase kits that make them cheaper. Here is a more accurate representation of dynalite kits that contain packs and heads. You're going to look at $2,000 for a cheaper kit.

 

[bdubbs79]

Thanks for the info. I'm going to have to learn more about the pack and head system. I guess it shares the wattage. I see a dynolite like this one here...

Dynalite SH2000 Studio 2000 Watt/Second Flash Head SH2000 B&H its only $550, but no softboxes... So i just grab boxes and it's controlled similarly?

Lots to digest on this one. So you have 5 heads on one setup and 2 more on another and speed lights? what are you shooting?

No. That's just the head. Monolights have the power source in them while a pack and head system has the power source in a power pack that you attach the strobe heads to. That often leaves a smaller lighter head on a stand. I have 5 heads that I can share between 2 power packs and the additional Canon speedlights when I need them. I shoot cars and people.

So the packs are not light, they are just power generators which provide power to flash heads. You can purchase kits that make them cheaper. Here is a more accurate representation of dynalite kits that contain packs and heads. You're going to look at $2,000 for a cheaper kit.

2 things.. 1 how do you control the power of the heads if you need more light in a certain area... ?

and do you like the head system for lets say studio situations with occasional outdoor settings shooting mostly individuals, some groups, and products that are medium to large sizes? I have tv mounts we sell, we stage a room for installations that look good, and have yet to get great pics .. I need to decide how I want to go about getting lights for primarily a portraiture studio but also something that could work for staging rooms for our installs and for real estate? I could get away with the middle to lower end becuase I'm not going to be doing this full time yet. I'm going to work into my comfort level and if possible decide to be full time on this, but for now, I want to get good at one thing... So that is why portraits and weddings I've done, but this will be my first buy on nice lights.. The product shots i've gotten with my speedllites with natural lighting...

 

[Big Mike]

I'm not sure about those particular lights, but you usually control the power of the head, from the pack. I'm not sure if it's just the really old ones that I have, but the power setting only has three options, and it controls all the heads that are attached to that pack. So if I set the dial to 400, (I think) all the heads would fire at 400...and I could plug up to 4 heads into that pack.

Some photographers (Joe McNally, for example) end up using only one or two heads per pack, and using multiple packs, so that they have full control over each light/head.


I haven't really dug into this for a while...but I think it's safe to say that you can get more total power for the money, with a pack & head system. Especially if you buy used.
But I do think that monolights are the more popular choice these days, and that's probably because they are an easier, more simple, system to use.

Also, I don't know if anyone has mentioned this yet...but when starting out with studio lighting...especially when it's portrait lighting...it's often recommended to start with just one light....even some who start out with a full kit, say that they wish they had started with just one. The reason is that it's often much easier to learn with just one light. When you starting adding more lights, before you really understand how to use just one) it can get exponentially more complicated.
This may not be the best advice, as you can save money by getting a multiple light kit...but it is certainly good advice when it comes to learning how to use them.