Alien Bees - I hate how things just ADD UP

[StealthLude]

ABR800 + AB1600

Thinking of getting my 4th and 5th light + a Vagabon 150 battery and a few other items like stand + boom, beauty dish, you get the idea. Foldable softbox seems so much more convenient now. Anyone have a chance to try one out?

Bill comes out to another $1700 on top of my AB400, two 800s, and stands, grids + ther stuff.

Its getting to the point where I am starting to wonder if I should just be building a nice Hensel set instead. I wonder if its worth getting into the pack and head game.

[TMR Design]

Hi Umesh,

My question to you is.. do you really think you need something better/different or is this just a want? I ask because from everything I know you shoot and intend on shooting, what is it that you feel is missing that you can't do with Alien Bees? and is it worth paying a lot more to have a lot less?

[Ronald S. Jr.]

I'm wondering about the softboxes. I have three of the normal ones (2 large and a medium) and luckily I've the room to leave them put together. No way I'd want to take them apart and back again each time. It's a pain, I think.

I've got 4 bees, the SB's, HD stands, etc., and it's an expensive prospect. However, it's a lot of fun. It bothers me sometimes that it doesn't get more use than it does. Having $3k+ worth of gear just sitting in a studio I somewhat rarely see can be rather frustrating. Knowing I could have most of the stuff I want instead of lights is pretty tempting. I try to stay reasonable, though.

As for changing brands, hensel is expensive. It's gonna cost that much more to buy all of their accessories, and what more would you get?

[StealthLude]

Hi Umesh,

My question to you is.. do you really think you need something better/different or is this just a want? I ask because from everything I know you shoot and intend on shooting, what is it that you feel is missing that you can't do with Alien Bees? and is it worth paying a lot more to have a lot less?

Robert,

For the modeling part, ive been craving the beauty dish / ring flash look... For in studio I am pretty happy with everything except the AB400 which IMO is a pretty weak BG light after you add a gel to it...

The ring flash is just something i love the look of, and cant be done with normal lights. The beauty dish just seems to be one of the standard type of lighting tools i see for things like swin suit or glamour at the beach shooting agaist a sunset. The AB1600 was for the just incase power, i like shooting at ISO 100 -200 max , and sometimes with my giving space, ive actualy needed the DOF / Power.

For battery power, ive been looking at this...
http://www.innovatronix.com/cgi-bin/productcatalog/index.asp

Trying to see if its worth going AB or this Brand...

I guess its a want / need thing. If I have it, I will sure use it.

[StealthLude]

I'm wondering about the softboxes. I have three of the normal ones (2 large and a medium) and luckily I've the room to leave them put together. No way I'd want to take them apart and back again each time. It's a pain, I think.

I've got 4 bees, the SB's, HD stands, etc., and it's an expensive prospect. However, it's a lot of fun. It bothers me sometimes that it doesn't get more use than it does. Having $3k+ worth of gear just sitting in a studio I somewhat rarely see can be rather frustrating. Knowing I could have most of the stuff I want instead of lights is pretty tempting. I try to stay reasonable, though.

As for changing brands, hensel is expensive. It's gonna cost that much more to buy all of their accessories, and what more would you get?

I see how you feel too, since my studio gear does not really see much action. But at the same time, when I do use it, I make sure I put it to damn good use. I just dont feel like "studio arsenal" is complete.. yet. I really wanted a few more lights, and a few more light modifiers. The battery, boom, and various other modifiers I dont even have listed here I wanted. ABs new Softboxes being one of them, and something Robert here loves to use too, which are barn doors + a defuser.

I too see myself atleast 3-4k into studio lighting and acessories before i am really set. Ive seen getting more and more chances to do outdoor shoots but cant since I dont have a battery. I can use my 580ex, but something about it just does not sit right with me. I guess I should give it an honest try.

[awad]

whenever i travel to calumet, i always end up wasting a ton of money on studio stuff. i've been buying softboxes and octaboxes from amvona, and they're usually super cheap. i got this octabox for 100 shipped. and its huge!

http://www.johnawad.net/octabox.jpg

[awad]

i also love my innovatronix battery. its been great so far.

(i just wanted to get one more post in so i could reach 500)

[Ronald S. Jr.]

barn doors + a defuser.

I use barndoors on both of my bg lights. When one of those becomes a hair light, I use a medium softbox. I like the barndoors, and I even use the AB ones that robert dislikes so much. :lol: I see no problem with them.

[coreypolis]

I'm wondering what you're shooting with so many lights. Some times KISS really is a good principle, its amazing what can be done with just 1 light.

[Ronald S. Jr.]

Minimum I ever use when I'm actually "in" the studio is 2. Main and hair, if it's a black bg, main and bg light if it's a textured or color background, main, fill, and 2 bg if it's a white bg, etc. I haven't gotten any one light results I've liked.

[awad]

I'm wondering what you're shooting with so many lights. Some times KISS really is a good principle, its amazing what can be done with just 1 light.

you know what else is amazing? what can be done with 10 lights.

[Ronald S. Jr.]

ok, 10 is pushing it. :lol: I can't see ever needing more than 6. 5 would do everything good enough, though.

[coreypolis]

Minimum I ever use when I'm actually "in" the studio is 2. Main and hair, if it's a black bg, main and bg light if it's a textured or color background, main, fill, and 2 bg if it's a white bg, etc. I haven't gotten any one light results I've liked.
I knkow you can use them, but anymore than 4 and it just becomes a disaster unless you have a lot of control and experience with them. Seems like its just throwing light all over the place.

[Ronald S. Jr.]

without modifiers, it would be.

main, fill, and hair light with SB's, and two bg lights. That's 5. :eek: No mess...just a lot of lights and power cords.

[coreypolis]

without modifiers, it would be.
even with ;)

I think we used 9 hot lights on a shoot once for a product, and let me tell you it was the worst shoot we've ever had.

[awad]

using hot lights for anything is always a pain in the ass. i use them with my view camera when im shooting still life. so much of a pain.

[Ronald S. Jr.]

LOL...what type of product needs 9 lights?

Must have had 3 AC units running to get over that. :lol:

[coreypolis]

LOL...what type of product needs 9 lights?

Must have had 3 AC units running to get over that. :lol:
a black box with mirrors on each side and maybe top, can't remember, on top of black glass with a colored gradation

[coreypolis]

using hot lights for anything is always a pain in the ass. i use them with my view camera when im shooting still life. so much of a pain.
nah what you see is what you get, no worries about recycle times or anything else. strobes are obviously more useful, but hot lights aren't that big of a deal, just bring gloves ;)

[Ronald S. Jr.]

a black box with mirrors on each side and maybe top, can't remember, on top of black glass with a colored gradation

Sounds really interesting. Is the shot yours to share, or is that copyrighted?

[coreypolis]

Sounds really interesting. Is the shot yours to share, or is that copyrighted?
its on polaroids and 4x5 chromes somwehere in a box :(

[Ronald S. Jr.]

aw darn. Sounded like a fascinating shoot. Oh well.

[coreypolis]

aw darn. Sounded like a fascinating shoot. Oh well.
one exposure was like 90 minutes with reciprocity on iso 50 or 100 film, and needing f/32-64 from DOF :lol:

Some day I'll buy another scanner and get it all online

[thekid24]

using hot lights for anything is always a pain in the ass. i use them with my view camera when im shooting still life. so much of a pain.
Yeah they can be

[Double Negative]

whenever i travel to calumet, i always end up wasting a ton of money on studio stuff. i've been buying softboxes and octaboxes from amvona, and they're usually super cheap. i got this octabox for 100 shipped. and its huge![/IMG]

Wow, that looks like a sweet setup with great light. Do you have the results of that setup online also (the portrait)?

[StealthLude]

I'm wondering what you're shooting with so many lights. Some times KISS really is a good principle, its amazing what can be done with just 1 light.


Its not that I plan on using ALL the lights at the same time... With planning on actually doing paid work, I do believe in having backup gear...

Here is my mental thinking and why owning 5 lights would work for me.

a) Having multiple lights for backup reasons (I also have spare flash tubes)
b) AB400 is for wide open aperture shots.. sometimes less power is better.
c) AB800 seems to be the standard for me and I have two of them.
d) AB1600 is for that just incase I need that extra stop of power, im sure it would work very well when using with BIG light modifiers like a huge softbox.
e) ABR800 ring flash, a flash that yield unique results and also doubles as a backup light.

When I go chromakey (green screen shooting) I would have...
Two AB800 background lights.
AB400 Hair
AB1600 Main
ABR800 Fill.

I put a lot of thought into my setup, and feel 5 lights would do me just right.

Also, if I ever did an event, different lights in different rooms and all you are doing is switches PW channels to work with different strobes.

+ all the light modifiers I think I need.

I know its a bit much, and a little ambitious, but its what I want.

What do you think.

[awad]

Wow, that looks like a sweet setup with great light. Do you have the results of that setup online also (the portrait)?

this is just a quick unedited one.

http://johnawad.net/kate/new/images/IMG_2385.jpg
http://johnawad.net/kate/field/kateedit.jpg

[coreypolis]

this is just a quick unedited one.


You moved the light ;)

[awad]

heh heh heh.

[Double Negative]

this is just a quick unedited one.

Nice, soft light. I like it.

[coreypolis]

heh heh heh.
from the east coast to the west coast . . .

[Longwatcher]

I currently have 6 AB's (2 each 400,800, & 1600 ) and 2 photo hot lights and 2 Home Depot Work lights.
There has only been one occasion to date where I used all 6 ABs and one home depot light and one hot light (maybe, can't remember if I was running video or not )

The Home depot light is so I get enough ambient light to get the autofocus to work, I bounce it off the back ceiling/wall. It adds a nice pleasing golden glow to the images when I use it.

The hot light is usually just far behind and below the main and is there solely for the video if I am running video for background material. It maybe adds at most a stop of light and is very close to the same temperature as the ABs.

The one time I used all 6 ABs the 400's were main and fill, the 800's were back/background lights. I used one 1600 w/3-stop ND filter and snoot as spot. And the final AB1600 with ND and a color gel was used to add color to the background itself only.

If I had more lights in use then that I would need an assistant as the only purpose would be spot lights and I would have to be changing them constantly.