Speedlite vs strobe - where do you choose one over the other?

[Overread]

Just musing over this sort of as I see people using various setups and I've come to wonder - at what point do you put down the speedlite and pick up the studio strobes (eg alienbee type strobe lights - or indeed any similar brand of strobe lighting)? What are you really getting when you swap from one system to the other?

So far faster recycling and greater power output are most of what I expect one gets out of shifting to the larger strobe lighting setups - however I feel that there must be a little more to it than that over the speedlite flash unit.

Further - to take things one step a little further in my own work where would the use of the strobes really fit in with a wildlife/macro type photographer who might take a pic or two of his pets and maybe one portrait a year
__________________

 

[tirediron]

To be honest, I'd say not at all. I've yet to find any use for my strobes when shooting macro work, and if you want some extra light at a reasonable price, there are usually lots of old Sunpak and Metz grip-flashes for a reasonable price. Most of them can be plugged right into the wall, have pretty good recycle times, and are cheap. I picked up a couple of Sunpak 500 series for ~$40/each last year.

 

[Derrel]

Studio strobes give modeling lights, so you can visually see where the catchlights and the shadows are positioned. This helps with people and with objects. In many lighting setups there is a preferred location for the main light, so that it casts the "right" kind of light for the subject being photographed. (ie in Rembrandt lighting, in butterfly lighting, in over/under lighting,etc) and in all product and still life shots,etc.

Studio lights will not overheat the way speedlights will when a lot of frames need to be exposed in rapid succession, or over a long time frame, like say 45 minutes to two hours. Studio lights, most of the larger ones, have cooling fans, or convection cooling through the housing and more often, the reflector, plus the flash tube is not enclosed in a tiny little area behind a Fresnel lens made of plastic. So, studio flash units can be fired many,many times (into the hundreds of frames,literally) without needing to stop to allow a cool-down.

Studio flash is easy to modify with many types of larger modifiers than speedlights. I'm not sure how studio flash might enter into your close-up shooting and macro work; many people do use studio flash units for macro work...it can provide ample light even with lengthy extension and very small working apertures at very low ISO values.

 

[Sw1tchFX]

For me, it's Portability vs. Power. Speedlights have very little power, but they can fit in your pocket and can go anywhere. Strobes generally have more power, but you're tied down with cords and alot of weight.

 

[Overread]

Hmm I think some speedlites have a modeling light mode (fairly sure both my twinflash and 580EX2 have it - though I've never used it on either all that often). Other than that the faster refresh and increased durability with regard to heat are attractive - esp when working with focus stacking and insects when one really can't always wait for the speedlite to recharge (though the worst time for this is in the field doing handheld stacks - but the strobes are too big and heavy for this application unless its an outdoor studio approach).

 

[Village Idiot]

Hmm I think some speedlites have a modeling light mode (fairly sure both my twinflash and 580EX2 have it - though I've never used it on either all that often). Other than that the faster refresh and increased durability with regard to heat are attractive - esp when working with focus stacking and insects when one really can't always wait for the speedlite to recharge (though the worst time for this is in the field doing handheld stacks - but the strobes are too big and heavy for this application unless its an outdoor studio approach).

Not the same thing. A monolight or flash head have modeling lights that can be turned on all the time. A speedlight has a modeling light that's fired in a short burst. A monolight or flash head use a dedicated bulb for the modeling light that can often be set to adjusted to a ratio to match the flash output adjustment. A speedlight has one power and AFAIK, it's actually the strobe bulb strobing for a short duration.

And flash=strobe. They're pretty much interchangeable.

Imho, it's not good to ever just totally lay down one system or sell it off in favor of another that serves a different purpose. I have a pack and head system and my speedlights and will use either depending on what I'm shooting. If I were to sell off my speedlights or just not use them ever again, I'd have a lot bigger problem when doing shoots at Patapsco state park in Baltimore. There's a nice waterfall there that's only about a 1/2 mile walk from the parking lot, but the trail is pretty much a twisty incline the entire way. I'd have a hell of a time getting something like 60lbs of studio grade lighting up there vs. one extra bag and several small lightstands for my speedlight kit.

 

[Big Mike]

For me, it comes down to portability and what I need (want to pack & carry) for the shoot. For a proper portrait shoot or something like that, I don't mind packing a fair bit of gear, so I bring a studio strobe with battery pack. I like the power and quick recycling.

If I don't feel like packing that much, then I'll just use the Speedlite....maybe on-camera maybe off.

 

[c.cloudwalker]

Portability does not come into the equation for me. The job dictates the gear and I have carried/dragged way more than 60 lbs to some locations. That's just part of the job.

Some shoots just cannot be done with flash units. These days I shoot quite a few cars and I've used over 30 strobes for one set up. Can you imagine the number of flash units that would be needed?

On the other hand, to do the kind of photography you mostly do, I can't see using studio strobes.

 

[ghache]

30 strobes? can we see one of these shots were you used 30 strobes?

 

[Overread]

Portability however isn't something to be snubbed at - and I've just been shown these:


looks like - for me - a perfect combination of the faster and higher power of a studio flash along with the modeling light (consideration for video macro) all put into something really small! Heck with a decent backet setup and diffusion one could even try using this handheld easily (battery pack in a backpack of course).

 

[Patrice]

Elinchrome ranger quadra: hmm very nice, a bit expensive, apparently not many modifiers (just an observation but don't really know).

 

[Overread]

Aye most of the price is locked up in the battery unit
However on the modifiers front if one wants larger you just use the adaptor to use the regular Elinchrome modifiers. For the smaller scale chances are I'd end up doing some DIY maybe

 

[Derrel]

Elinchrome ranger quadra: hmm very nice, a bit expensive, apparently not many modifiers (just an observation but don't really know).

REALLY a bummer that it requires Elinchrom or other brand of umbrellas with the skinny 7mm shafts...what an incredibly stupid engineering/proprietary decision!!!! Otherwise, it looks nice. Very slick, very sexy. It's nice to see new ideas and new concepts entering the studio flash category; the increasing popularity of OCF has finally made the engineering and R&D costs recoverable.
I'd like to see a Chinese version of this, priced affordably!

 

[ghache]

I use my studio stobes whenever i can, if i had a battery pack i would probably use them ALL the time

 

[David Dvir]

This is a super interesting discussion. My point of view is that studio strobes are always better than speedlights, however sometimes speedlights offer that portability that can't be beat. The truth is that often we use our strobes just like above, my assistant carries a battery and a strobe and I trigger it wirelessly. The battery is really cheap, we use the alien B vagabond. That's the only thing we've got from them but I've heard their strobes are pretty great as well.

Another thing that's not mentioned about the strobes... our profoto strobes have a flash duration of 1/12,000s. That's faster than my camera even, which means I can stop motion even better with the studio lights than with my cam.. not only that, but they have a blazing fast recharge, also limited by my camera's 9fps not the lights, AND something that not everyone seems to think about CONSISTENCY!!!!!! When you take a lot of shots, you want to be sure that your WB is bang on. So most strobes are a great deal more consistent than speedlights.

They are big and heavy, but very useful, for many reasons. We use strobes about 98% of the time I believe. And for the big shoots that are outdoors, we use a gas generator to power them.. works great. But yeah... they are kind of pricy, their only downfall in my opinion.