Profotto vs. Norman

[Misfitlimp]

I'm looking into upgrading my lighting equipment soon. I'm currently using alienbee 800 monolights and I'm pretty comfortable with em but ima pull a tool time quote and say "I need more power"! I'm looking to spend anywhere from 26 hundred on the low and about 45 hundred on the high end. That's selling my soul pretty much to get the 45 Hundo. I've got some things in mind and I'm hoping u guys can help me with the rest. Well let's start with the wat seconds. I'm looking at the 1200 watt pack and heads for Norman and proffoto in either the 4 light one pack setup or the two light one pack setup. I have had a lot of experience with the Normans cuz my professor has pretty much taken me on his last 20 shoots that he has done outside of school as his assistant so I know how to use those pretty much inside and out. I also like that they have a good reputation seeing as how I have read many a story's about how some studios have had the same Norman packs and heads in service for 30 plus Years. I know my professors are 20 plus yrs in service. So yeah. I like em. But.....
The proffotos I hear are the Lamborghini of pack and head setups. I hear they are also very reliable and u have shooters like one of my idols Annie leibovitz using their gear. I hear she is very picky about the gear she uses so that says something about profotto I'm also thinking about the 4800 watt systems but those are the ones that I'm kind of iffy about cuz of the price range.
I shoot everything from glamour to family portraits to photo booths I setup at weddings I shoot.
I'm kind of not sure of what I want so maybe u guys can help me decide.

 

[Derrel]

Profoto is a lot like Rolex. You spend a ton of money on it, to get the same, exact time-keeping abilities as a Seiko.

 

[Misfitlimp]

Derrel. I trust your opinion. When I first came to this site as a noob yourself amongst others answered my questions well. Would u care to elaborate on what you would buy? Do u like the normans? What do u use? Monolights or pack and head? And at what watts?

 

[SpeedTrap]

I do not know what you will be shooting, but we are currently using Monolights, If I need just one it is less stuff to carry around.
I am currently running 3 of the Rimelight 700 Digital and 2 of the Rimelite 400 Digital. This along with a nice selection of modifiers has always been enough light for me, but this would be pushing the high end of your budget for the lights alone.

If you only need 4 lights I I would also look at Speedtron Brownline or Blackline.

 

[Sw1tchFX]

I have a friend who uses Profoto 600R's, and if I were to buy monolights, those would probably be the ones i'd get. They're awesome, Good durations, easy to put modifiers on and "zoom" them in and out, cake to sync with PW's, and cake to adjust.

 

[Derrel]

I have used the Norman P2000 power pack and the LH2400 before, a long time ago. Norman equipment has been made for a long,long time. It offers reasonable power for reasonable money. I have also used Photogenic Machine Company lighting gear, as well as Speedotron, both Brown Line, and Black Line. I also have used White Lightning monolights, Sunpak monolights, and JTL monolights, and a little bit of DynaLite pack and head equipment. I have the absolute most experience with Speedotron, which I consider as good as, or better than,Norman equipment. Speedotron is known as perhaps the most-rugged lighting equipment. Profoto is known as one of the most precision brands of pack and head lighting; I am not familiar with Profoto's monolights. I personally am not a fan of monolight systems.

I have two Speedotron Black Line 2400 W/S, 6-outlet power packs, plus a 4-outlet 800 W/Ss pack, and a 3-outlet 400 W/S pack. I have one light head for each outlet + a spare. I bought it all used, except for the 400 W/S pack and the total cost for the four packs and all the heads was about what Profoto charges for 1 big power pack and two flash heads. I have bunch of Brown Line stuff as well: 1602,604,402,402,202 packs and 4x M11, 4xM90,3xMW3U,2xMW3r, and that was all pretty reasonably priced, and accumulated over 25 years. If I were YOU, I would buy used Speedotron Black Line power packs, like a 2400 w-s model, for around $500, and buy 4, fan-cooled 102 heads, and two 202VF heads. I would also like to have a smaller, lighter pack or two, like the 405 or 805 models,both recently discontinued as I understand it, in favor of the new 1005 model. I believe in buying Speedotron equipment on the used market.

 

[Misfitlimp]

Thanks everyone. I just wanna clarify that I'm currently using mono lights but wanna start using a pack and head system. Thanks Darryl for the info. I'll look into buying used. I've done this for my glass and that's worked out well. Thanks again guys.

 

[Village Idiot]

Thanks everyone. I just wanna clarify that I'm currently using mono lights but wanna start using a pack and head system. Thanks Darryl for the info. I'll look into buying used. I've done this for my glass and that's worked out well. Thanks again guys.

The flash durations of the Profoto packs are going to be shorter than the flash durations of the Speedo packs. The profoto adjustment is in 1/4 of a stop vs. 1/3 of a stop like the Speedo packs. The prices are going to be more. Even when I was looking at used Profoto gear on e-bay, it was going to cost me $4,000-$5,000 for two 1200w/s packs and 4 heads. I really like the gear, but it's expensive.

 

[c.cloudwalker]

I use Broncolor myself because I had that in my first studio, never had a problem with the gear, liked working with them and so I went back to the same brand this time around.

But to be honest, the main reason I picked that brand was the fact I had a dealer in town who also rented gear and it made my life a lot easier. If I needed some extra lights (I started with only 3) for a bigger job, I'd rent. If I broke anything it was a 10 minute ride to pick up a replacement.

If you work with those lights instead of them being for a hobby, I would suggest looking at what brand (s) is sold in your area. If you still have a real photo store, that is.