Newbie Lighting Question

[BayAreaPhotog]

On very short notice I was asked to shoot some headshots of a friend. I used some "hot" lights. They were Lowel lights that I use in video . . . it's all I had. The key light was a 500 watt light. This is plenty of light to shoot video under. I was shocked at how wide open I had to be for stills and in fact, in an auto setting, my low light function kicked in and my on camera flash took over. A few questions:

Are 500 watt strobes putting out the same amount of light as 500 watt Tungsten video lights? I know this sounds stupid, but . . .

Do we need less wattage for stills because the strobe is "stopping the action"?

What kind of wattage are the on-camera flashes putting out on a D60?

On a side note, I want to try some "Playboy Style" full length lingerie shots. I want to be able to have a bit of range in f-stops so I can blurr the background. Using a 135mm lens, what kind of wattage should I expect to have to use? I realize that there are many factors here. Models completion, hair, clothing, set, etc . . . but a ballpark? Are guys at Playboy using 160 watt strobes, 200, 500, 1000 watt . . . anybody know?
I'd appreciate your comments, thoughts, and or suggestions.

[Yance]

I don't think there is a definite comparison between the light output of strobes and continuous lighting. The wattage of a continuous light has to do with power consumption and isn't too much related to light output. Strobes output is measured in watt-seconds and even ten there isn't a "real" standard of comparison between similarly labeled strobes. Using the correct reflector has a lot to do with getting the best amount of light from a light source. Also video cameras have less powerful lighting requirements than still cameras. It probably isn't a good idea to try and use video lights for film.

[w10d]

Yance is right, you can't make a direct comparison between the power ratings for tungsten/HMI and flash. Flash packs/monoblocks in Europe are usually rated in Joules, with monos in the 250 to 750j range and packs in the 1500 to 4000j range. For the kind of photography you are talking about, pros would probably be using about 6000j at the front and the same or more on a white background, 3,000j on a coloured background.

Too many variable to be more precise...