$$$ to burn...aiming for alienbees....

ok so i know nothing about flash studio photography really but the people i work for wanted to get some lights for a studio. is the alienbees "The Busy Bee" a good package? most of the shooting will be on location (yea i know this might not be portable) with people in action...cooking, cleaning, watching TV, you know daily life stuff.

any opinions, accessories recommendations would be great. thanks

ive also noticed that studios have this battery pack to power their flashes, dont think this package comes with one, is it needed?

You'd have to purchase the Vagabond II in addition to the "Busy Bee" package. But you'll also need a way to trigger the strobes remotely (otherwise you'll be tripping over sync cords) - something like PWs or Skyports. A flash meter would be a good idea too.

so without the Vagabond II will i blow out my entire house and its fuses?

i think the supplied wired remote should be fine...1x skyport or PW for each flash can add up in cost.

kaitanium wrote in post #5824160
so without the Vagabond II will i blow out my entire house and its fuses?

How the heck did you come to that conclusion? You just plug the things into the wall. You only need the Vagabond if you're somewhere that doesn't have AC power.

dunno again i have no experience with these things.

all i know is that ive seen studio setup where they are all connected to one unit on the floor.

The battery pack, like Curtis says - is just for locations without A/C power handy. The studio setup you're describing is a type of strobe; a pack unit rather than mono. The Alien Bees strobes are the latter type.

...and LOL, no, you won't blow out all your breakers.

The Busy Bee is a great package if you need a "All in One" package. If you do go that route, be sure and get the best lights you can afford ie, if you can, get the B1600s, or mix and match with two B800s and 2 B1600s. I just pushed the button on the Digi Bee package as I don't need the backgrounds etc...and I went for the B800s. I can't wait to get them!

Ok I understand your confusion. You're confusing a battery pack with a power pack.

Some strobe systems, known as pack & head systems, have their capacitors and regulating hardware in a power pack, a big box that sits on the floor, with wires going to the flash tubes and modeling lights up on the stands.

Alienbees are known as monolights. The capacitors and all of the circuitry is contained in the unit on top of the stand. They plug right into the wall and no separate power pack is required.

The Vagabond II is a combination battery/inverter, to provide AC power to plug the lights into when there's no AC power available.

oh yes, cleared up! you are the master flasher indeed!

A flash meter would be a great addition. It will make using multiple lights a snap. Well quicker any way. As to triggering - I'd try the new AB wireless, battery powered remotes. A bit less than half the price of PWs and a bit less than the Skyports. That is if you don't want a wire running to one of them - the rest will fire with the built in optical sync.

And I would recommend an upgrade to the heavy duty light stands.

mmm more stuff to consider. this is great advice guys!