Need some advice...

[Kerbouchard]

So, my birthday is around the corner, and I convinced my wife to let me spend what I just earned assiting in a few weddings on a studio flash. I bought an AB 1600 and have absolutely nothing to go with it. I've always shot with speedlights(Sb-600/SB-800's). I have light stands, umbreallas, soft boxes, etc, but I don't have any wireless triggers or battery packs. In any case, I have been reading some reviews and I think I may have made the wrong choice. The stories of the color shifts at lower power levels worries me, especially since I will probably be at lower power levels 80% of the time. About the only time I can think of that I will be at the higher power levels is in broad day light and I will need to buy a battery pack before that happens.

This is my first studio flash and I'm just not sure about anything. It is supposed to get here on Monday, but I am already thinking about returning it for a White Lighting 800.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[The_Traveler]

So, my birthday is around the corner, and I convinced my wife to let me spend what I just earned assisting in a few weddings on a studio flash. I bought an AB 1600 and have absolutely nothing to go with it. I've always shot with speedlights(Sb-600/SB-800's). I have light stands, umbreallas, soft boxes, etc, but I don't have any wireless triggers or battery packs. In any case, I have been reading some reviews and I think I may have made the wrong choice. The stories of the color shifts at lower power levels worries me, especially since I will probably be at lower power levels 80% of the time. About the only time I can think of that I will be at the higher power levels is in broad day light and I will need to buy a battery pack before that happens.

This is my first studio flash and I'm just not sure about anything. It is supposed to get here on Monday, but I am already thinking about returning it for a White Lighting 800.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Don't admit that on the Internet.
You're setting back the cause of men's liberation.

 

[Kerbouchard]

Well, other than The Travelers excellent, but completely useless and irrelevent advice, does anybody have anything else to add?

I got a chance to try it out today, but even at low to mid power levels, I am still ending up at base ISO and f/16...not exactly a place I want to be limited to shooting at. I may have just chosen too powerful of a flash.

I also figured out one other thing. I won't be able to use it to supplement light from my TTL speedlights until I buy a pocket wizard or some other remote device. The pre-flash from the TTL triggers the optical slave and messes with the synch.

Honestly, considering the limitations, the fact that I don't have a battery pack, and I don't have radio triggers, I'm not all that happy with my purchase. I can make it work, but until I can add some other gear, it will probably sit in the closet. The power requirements and wires seem to make it more trouble than it's worth.