Modeling light "tracking"

I am narrowing my search down for my first set of studio lights and while reading through the AB's specs I read that they have a "tracking" button. When this button is engaged, the modeling light will mimic the power set for the flashtube. For example, if your flash is cut to 1/2 power, your modeling light will cut to half power as well. This enables you to have true "what you see is what you get" modeling. My question is do most other lights have this feature or this only true of AB's? I am also looking at Photogenic and Calumet lights and can't find the info regarding this issue.

Its a pretty common feature. The genesis lights have a manual setting that lets you set the relative brightness to the same proportional value as the flash. It doesn't have a track button per se. My digital photogenic powerlight has a tracking feature. The analog control photogenic lights we have at work have a separate modeling light slider... line them up for the same effect. our older buff lights (ultra 1800's) had the dual slider configuration as well. It's nice to have the ability to set the modeling lights independently of the flash. I use them mostly for checking highlight position / glasses glare... so in a brighter room it makes sense to just turn them up to full.

One thing i will say about the genesis lights... the feature is not very intuitive... meaning that unless you read the manual you could easily overlook the feature altogether. Once you see how it works it's almost as quick to set as the simpler 'track' button.

+1 most monolights have this feature.

Keep in mind that if you mix units of different power, the 'tracking' feature is absolutely NOT going to represent the outcome of the flash. For example, 800 w-s Main and 400 w-s Fill, both 4' from the subject...modelling light would be the same 150W from both of the units, being used at full power, but outputting different amounts of flash!

Wilt wrote in post #11636348
Keep in mind that if you mix units of different power, the 'tracking' feature is absolutely NOT going to represent the outcome of the flash. For example, 800 w-s Main and 400 w-s Fill, both 4' from the subject...modelling light would be the same 150W from both of the units, being used at full power, but outputting different amounts of flash!

Good point--thanks for that reminder.

Good thread.

Nojja567
Katha

blackandwhitekeys wrote in post #11636870
Good point--thanks for that reminder.

That's why I think the ability to dial down modelling light power is important, but automatic modelling light power tracking tied to flash tube power is not all that impressive.

Wilt wrote in post #11637217
That's why I think the ability to dial down modelling light power is important, but automatic modelling light power tracking tied to flash tube power is not all that impressive.

I hadn't thought of that. Very interesting. So independent modeling light adjustment is superior to tracking if the lights are different, though if all lights are the same, they accomplish the same thing. This also explains why the photogenic lights i use have both options.

So how does one figure out where to put the modeling light power on a given flash when the flashes on set are different ws?

You can tell wysiwyg modeling lights are not a normal part of my routine, but i am curious.

111t wrote in post #11639904
I hadn't thought of that. Very interesting. So independent modeling light adjustment is superior to tracking if the lights are different, though if all lights are the same, they accomplish the same thing. This also explains why the photogenic lights i use have both options.

So how does one figure out where to put the modeling light power on a given flash when the flashes on set are different ws?

You can tell wysiwyg modeling lights are not a normal part of my routine, but i am curious.

If one light is 2x the power of the other and both are at the same distance from subject, you simply want the more powerful light to have the brighter modelling light.
Simply put, you want the intensity at the subject to be related to the brightness of the flash tube at the subject.