To Kit or not To Kit:

[MDJAK]

That's the question.

I recently, after much research and angst, purchased a Hensel monolight kit from B&H. 1,000 w/s, two monolights, German made, two seven inch reflectors, one nine inch, two light stands, one wheeled carry case that holds all.

While I'm generally happy with it, if I had to do it over again, I'd have bought everything separately. Here's a few reasons why:

1. The light stands are of cheap quality. Don't feel very secure when fully extended, especially if there's an umbrella or softbox attached.

2. The case, while infinitely more usable than the alien bee caseS, has poor quality zippers. The wheelbase is also quite narrow which makes it tip rather easily.

3. The umbrellas are okay, but not what I would have purchased if buying separately.

4. The softbox that came as a bonus is nice, but rather small.

As far as the lights are concerned, they are very high quality with excellent operating controls which are well thought out and placed for ease of use.

As stated above, all in all I'm happy with them. They certainly do the job for which they are intended. But if I had to do it over again, it would be no kit for me. I'd rather buy the light fixture I wanted, then sample the different stands until I settled on one, then go to the cases and see which fits best and is of good quality for the money.

Just my thoughts. I'd love to hear yours.

mark

[JohnCollins]

Hey, Mark! I'm struggling with the same decisions because I'm going to get a studio light setup around April. I've heard that the AB accessories aren't that good. I'm wondering if they're that bad, though, too, because I'll get a 20% discount if I get them from AB, where I plan to get the lights.

Hope this thread takes off! I'll be watching.

John

[brivett]

It's worthy of note that Bowens kits are shipped with Italian Manfrotto stands which are arguably the best in the world...

Some Elinchrom sets come with the same, others have a cheaper "Cliplock" design.

It's a suprise that hensel supply low quality stands... was it a dealer package or actual hensel goods ?

Baz

[MDJAK]

Actual Hensel goods.

Maybe I'm expecting too much.

One thing I don't like about the alien bees is the multiple cases they come with. One case for each head. That's a lot of stuff to carry around. Kind of forces you to get an all in one bag.

I originally wanted Elinchrom, but much more expensive and the salesman at B&H "steered" me to Hensel. The lights are great, as I said.

When I was at Nilologist's studio first week in January, she uses alien bees, and they actually overheated at one point causing them to shut down. She kept shooting as she was unaware of it for the moment. I told her, as I was standing behind the lights watching them. Turning them back on and they went right back to work. I know that autoshutoff is a safety feature. However, when one looks at the controls, the lack of an led to show you the power instead of the slider, one can see that the more expensive lights, such as bowens or elinchrom or even the hensels are of considerably better quality.

Overall, stands are not that expensive, so I may just buy two for now to have better ones. Also, a sandbag may be a good idea.