Buying Strobes...

I've been doing some research and now I'm ready to buy some strobes. Here is my situation: After a 10 year hiatus I am shooting sports again. This has led to some equipment upgrades(fast zooms) and lots of exposure for me.

I have had a lot of requests for portraits and had been turning them down because I didn't feel I had the equipment and lighting experience. The more my photos appear in the newspaper, the more I have been selling. The requests for portraits kept coming also. So, I took a lighting seminar. I've had an SLR for 22 years so some stuff was "old hat" but I came away with some knowledge I didn't have.

So...I need strobes that I can use in dark gyms and for portraits. I've been back and forth on what is the best for both and the compromises. My choice at this point are the Alien Bee 800's and the 11" LTR's for sports. I've seen some nice portrait examples using the Bees also.

Is this the best choice for the direction I'm headed?

Thanks for any input,
Tim

What is your budget? You will need at least two strobes and a wireless kit.

I would go with the White Lightning X1600 myself.. You get the equivalent of a B1600 for your dark gyms, and with the 1/4 power switch it turns into a B400 for indoor portrait work. A pair of those should work well, or maybe one X1600 and a pair of B800's..

They're both PCB strobes so the same 11" LTR will work on both.

digadv wrote in post #12093948
What is your budget? You will need at least two strobes and a wireless kit.

Budget for this is $800, yes two, already have triggers as I have played around with 580 off camera....

As for the 1600, I like the recycle times and T.1 time of the B800. I have considered Einsteins, too.

Buff web site states that AB1600 has effective output that equates to GN240 or so (10' f/22 +0.2EV). If you turn it down to 1/4 power, it is conceptually like AB400, but only to a limited degree...it is like AB400 at full power! So you need to turn down the AB1600 down to 1/16 to be like AB400 at 1/4 power, or turn down the AB1600 to 1/64 power to be like AB400 at 1/16 power. But Alien Bees are known to have considerable color shift toward pinkish, at the lowest power level (below 1/16) and that may not be acceptable to you. (It might not be an issue to you, too).

At 1/16 power with the AB1600, you would have a GN60 unit, or f/11 at 5.6' from source. In a softbox, that might be f/8 or f/6.9 at 5.6' from source. The acceptability for that for a shooting aperture is again your judgement call.

All of these considerations might make the White Lightning 1600 a better choice to meet your needs, rather than an Alien Bee 1600.

Wilt wrote in post #12097154
AB1600... If you turn it down to 1/4 power, it is conceptually like AB400, but only to a limited degree...it is like AB400 at full power!

Except since the OP mentioned sports, make sure you also compare the t.1 flash duration of a 1600 at reduced power...

http://alienbees.com/s​pecs.html

B1600: 1/600" t.1 at full power, 1/300" t.1 at 1/32
B400: 1/2000" t.1 at full power, 1/1000" t.1 at 1/32

For the OP's use-cases (sports and portraits), I'd recommend 4 AB400's over a pair of AB1600's.

The WL X1600 that Brandon mentioned gives better options than the AB1600 for 1/4 power better.

A couple of Einsteins would be a great option, but would quickly blow your budget.

clarence wrote in post #12097257
Except since the OP mentioned sports, make sure you also compare the t.1 flash duration of a 1600 at reduced power...

http://alienbees.com/s​pecs.html

B1600: 1/600" t.1 at full power, 1/300" t.1 at 1/32
B400: 1/2000" t.1 at full power, 1/1000" t.1 at 1/32

For the OP's use-cases (sports and portraits), I'd recommend 4 AB400's over a pair of AB1600's.

The WL X1600 that Brandon mentioned gives better options than the AB1600 for 1/4 power better.

A couple of Einsteins would be a great option, but would quickly blow your budget.

Exactly Clarence, the T.1 time was my concern. It just seems that the B800 hits more of my needs. The Einsteins are almost double the cost for double the light (14000 Ls vs 28000 Ls). If I thought I could get away with just one they would fit my budget. They might be a better choice with their other advantages.

why not one AB800 and one Einstein?

Tim, as someone who has used White Lightning X1600s (2 units) and X800 (2 units) in home studio, I can attest that their output, controlled by a slider is not particularly reliable. As I mentioned in my earlier posting this morning, I am evaluating "Profoto D1" for its digital-based control of output.

yalemba wrote in post #12099087
Tim, as someone who has used White Lightning X1600s (2 units) and X800 (2 units) in home studio, I can attest that their output, controlled by a slider is not particularly reliable. As I mentioned in my earlier posting this morning, I am evaluating "Profoto D1" for its digital-based control of output.

If you wanted to extend those WL's a few more years (I've got some WL's that are probably older than a few forum members here), you could look into the digital controls of Paul Buff's CyberCommander or the PW FlexTT5/AC3/AC9 for remote power adjustments.

What about the Elinchrom Ranger Quadra? They have great reviews and are very portable, Im looking into them myself. link

yalemba wrote in post #12099087
Tim, as someone who has used White Lightning X1600s (2 units) and X800 (2 units) in home studio, I can attest that their output, controlled by a slider is not particularly reliable. As I mentioned in my earlier posting this morning, I am evaluating "Profoto D1" for its digital-based control of output.

I wasn't looking at White Lightnings....

wendyc wrote in post #12099911
What about the Elinchrom Ranger Quadra? They have great reviews and are very portable, Im looking into them myself. link

Must have missed my budget figure($800)....and pack systems are a lot more equipment to carry around.