Why spend money on Profoto vs Alien Bees?

Robert -
UPDATE: Oops - with all the talk of Alien Bees earlier in this thread, I addressed a remote for them. Sorry, Robert - I know you're not shooting those. My mistake.

Original Post: I thought this new remote by Alien Bees allowed you to control from your camera? I know it uses a 4-wire telco cord to connect everything together causing a bit of a problem, but I would think it's better than climbing the ladder or bringing AB heads down to adjust them. http://www.alienbees.c​om/wired.html

TMR Design wrote in post #5631450
How do you handle power level changes when your monolight is 10 feet up in the air and positioned. I'm looking for good alternatives that give me power as well as remote capability.

I've owned AB strobes and have had first hand experience with the LG-4X. Honestly, it's a piece of garbage and the throw of the slider is only about 2/3 that of an actual Bee, so the power control is about as coarse as you can get. If you're using it below 1/4 power it may as well be an on/off switch.

I know that Elinchrom Skyport transmitter will talk to Style RX strobes as well as an IR remote for power control and I know Hensel has a wireless remote. Other than going pack and head what are the alternatives for remote (or at least ground level) control?

I'm seriously considering Dyna-Lite monolights because of the quality, build and analog circuitry to really maximize power from the V2, but I don't see a remote capability.

Haven't ran into any situations (yet) where my strobes are 10 ft in the air. If I did, I would just go through the tedius process of lowering them to make the adjustments - I don't care if the process is tedius as long as I get the shot that I want.

slivr wrote in post #5631477
Robert -
I thought this new remote by Alien Bees allowed you to control from your camera? I know it uses a 4-wire telco cord to connect everything together causing a bit of a problem, but I would think it's better than climbing the ladder or bringing AB heads down to adjust them.

http://www.alienbees.c​om/wired.html

Man, photographers are getting lazy! First zoom lenses for convenience, now Remotes for power changes... pretty soon we'll wire our cameras to a tripod that has a gryo that controls movement and we'll wirelessly take pictures at home in bed.

It's not about laziness as much as it's about speed, which means time saved, which means faster turnover which means money and satisfied clients.

If you're not in the situation where the above matters a lot to you then I really don't see you needing Brons/Profotos or remote adjustment, although the latter is just one of many benefits of the Elinchrom RXs

slivr wrote in post #5631477
Robert -
I thought this new remote by Alien Bees allowed you to control from your camera? I know it uses a 4-wire telco cord to connect everything together causing a bit of a problem, but I would think it's better than climbing the ladder or bringing AB heads down to adjust them.

http://www.alienbees.c​om/wired.html

That's not new. I've used that with my WLs for 3 years. Very nice to be able to adjust everything from near the camera--much quicker than getting out the step ladder and adjusting each strobe one by one. The extra cables aren't a problem since there are power cables going all over the place anyway with 3-4 strobes in use.

DocFrankenstein wrote in post #5631230
Powerpacks are the reason to go profoto... their monolights have issues and chromes are better, generally.

While most of Profoto's business is power pack based I've never heard any issue whatsoever with their monolights. Can you please provide a link to where you have heard about this?

Q. What do you mean by chromes are better?

It has nothing to do with laziness. If I were lazy I would not be rolling in a cart with cases, sandbags, tool booxes, stands, a V2, etc. and I wouldn't be so willing to set up, breakdown, move to a new location and do that 4 times in a day.

I don't use an assistant and everything is on me during a shoot. I move quickly and hate wasting time or making a model wait on me. I believe that the technical aspects of a shoot should be transparent to a model or art director and there should be a flow to the shoot.

If I was doing family portraits in my back yard it wouldn't matter but with clients and in the interest of creativity, being able to change not only position of a light but also power level allows me to work more efficiently and to make changes on the fly rather than being locked in to any one setup or taking aperture.

The same thing applies when I'm in the studio. If my main light is 8 feet in the air and my hair light is 8 feet in the air then I now have 2 strobes that I have to either lower and raise or I'm up and down on a step ladder.. and the step ladder doesn't even help when there's a strip light over my subject, mounted to a boom and coming from 6 feet off to the side. That strobe has its controls literally facing the ceiling so you can't just climb a ladder to make the adjustment.

I look for the tools that will make my job easier, not those that allow me to be lazy.

M Powered wrote in post #5631484
I don't care if the process is tedius as long as I get the shot that I want.

Then save your money, keep your ABs setting a CWB whenever you change power an make any adjustments in PP.

RichNY wrote in post #5631638
While most of Profoto's business is power pack based I've never heard any issue whatsoever with their monolights. Can you please provide a link to where you have heard about this?

Q. What do you mean by chromes are better?

Yea I want to know! Their 1200ws monostrobe light is priced very attractively. I don't mind spending 1000k for a 1200ws monolight. The WL 1300 cost about 700 bucks, I don't mind spending the extra for a much better light.

CALM DOWN PEOPLE!

To the OP, why you didn't ask about Bronocolor or Elinchrom vs. AB? why not Bronocolor vs. Profoto?

Now i don't use Profto and i think many in middle east don't have Profoto, so why you just stated Profoto vs. AB? We don't have ABs here as well, so what we can do then?

M Powered wrote in post #5631683
Yea I want to know! Their 1200ws monostrobe light is priced very attractively. I don't mind spending 1000k for a 1200ws monolight. The WL 1300 cost about 700 bucks, I don't mind spending the extra for a much better light.

Personally I'd get a light meter before upgrading your strobes.

1200ws is a lot of light. If you want to shoot at lower f/stops then you may very well find yourself in situations where you have too much light and where moving the strobes further away will change the quality of the light. I'm not suggesting that 1200 watts will be too much for your application but if you find yourself wanting to shoot indoors in a smaller area you will have a lot more DOF than you anticipate unless you start using ND filters on your lens, etc.

Tareq wrote in post #5631695
CALM DOWN PEOPLE!

To the OP, why you didn't ask about Bronocolor or Elinchrom vs. AB? why not Bronocolor vs. Profoto?

Now i don't use Profto and i think many in middle east don't have Profoto, so why you just stated Profoto vs. AB? We don't have ABs here as well, so what we can do then?

Other brands such as Bron, Elinchrom, Dyna-Lite, and Hensel were all presented early on in this thread. https://photography-on-the.net …hp?p=5622481&po​stcount=16

If you are living in the middle east not having Profoto and ABs is the least of your problems

RichNY wrote in post #5631730
Other brands such as Bron, Elinchrom, Dyna-Lite, and Hensel were all presented early on in this thread. https://photography-on-the.net …hp?p=5622481&po​stcount=16

If you are living in the middle east not having Profoto and ABs is the least of your problems

Great, i will read that thread, thanks

And what do you mean by your last statement?

haha...sounds to me that those who buy the really expensive stuff more or less try to justify and convince themselves by "overly" bad talking the cheaper stuff. Then mentality goes with ALL aspects of life purchases by EVERYONE.

There are solid points on both sides of the argument...

I don't care what people say, MP posted some shots in here that almost everyone would love to have taken shots like.

Me...i buy the cheap stuff cuz this is more fun than a living... . And when I DO create stunning shots, It's cooler to say you did it with cheap stuff.

One of the most complimented images I have from joe on the street to the more professional shooters was taken with an XT, 80dollar lens and 50dollar ebay strobes. lol.

RichNY wrote in post #5631638
While most of Profoto's business is power pack based I've never heard any issue whatsoever with their monolights. Can you please provide a link to where you have heard about this?

Q. What do you mean by chromes are better?

I find Elinchromes more convenient, hence better.

Profotos monopacks have issues if you get the radio PW version. Sometimes they don't trigger. And I've had one rental unit that blew a fuse every time I've shot it at less than max output. My friend had to return his 1200 monolight twice, cause it just died.

1200 wattseconds is "a lot" only if you shoot in a small studio and can't adjust the power. I've shot with a 2400 ws non-adjustable powerpack for a while and the only problem I had was getting an f/45 for a headshot when you're shooting through doubly diffused panel. Had I had even a two-stop adjustment, I'd simply stop down two stops and have no problems at f/22