Shelby Wylde wrote:
I have 4 AB800's they work fine ( even my pink ones  lol )but a little cheesy in construction.
If I could do it all over again Id get
1 Speedotron Force 10
2-3 Speedotron Force 5's

Not sure why you want a AB400, the AB1600 is a good choice as is the AB800
I wouldnt bother with the AB400 it will be too under powered for everything else
S~

I shoot in a room the is only 14 x 12,don't need any thing more than the AB 400's. When I move into a bigger space in the future I will move up to a bigger set of lights.

Jonathan D Holloway wrote:
Yes.

LOL...so YES to all my questions I take it?

C~

SCrude Photography wrote:

LOL...so YES to all my questions I take it?

C~

yes they're excellent I've never had a problem with them and from what I heard if something does go wrong, they replace it no questions asked.....I own (2)1600's and (2) 800's and the vegabond II and yes PW do fire them.....cheers

SCrude Photography wrote:
Hey everyone....I have been renting different lights for my portrait work...unfortunately I can't seem to find Alien Bees lights for rent....but their price looks great for the 4 light kit. Do any of you use them and can you back up their quality? Are they good for portrait work? Can they run on Pocket Wizard Plus II system? I was thinking about gettin 1-400 2-800s and 1-1600.....is this a good idea?

Thanx

Chris~

Hi Chris!
With the exception of three images (which were shot exclusively with low-power shoemount flashes), my port was done with Alien Bees. Only two of those images included an AB800. The rest were done using one AB400 set to half power, as the main light. Hair and rim lighting, etc., were done with little battery flashes. I have had no problems whatever with my Bees. I own two 400's and one 800.  One thing you may consider is that the Bees are limited to 150watts of modeling lamp. This is not a problem for me, but what with the rental strobes that you have been using, I think that you might want stronger modeling.

SCrude Photography wrote:
Hey everyone....I have been renting different lights for my portrait work...unfortunately I can't seem to find Alien Bees lights for rent....but their price looks great for the 4 light kit. Do any of you use them and can you back up their quality? Are they good for portrait work? Can they run on Pocket Wizard Plus II system? I was thinking about gettin 1-400 2-800s and 1-1600.....is this a good idea?


Thanx

Chris~

Good enough is subjective but for me I'd say yes...but I wouldn't get any kit and I'd look to others for umbrellas and softboxes. And you might check out the Zeus system by them...a step up. And another step up would be their white lightening system

Trent Boysen wrote:
Buff seems to have a great reputation for customer support. But, their lights are more of a sore point. They are great lights for the money, but the construction of them leaves a lot to be desired. I have been using his lights on and off for many years, without many problems and always had a wonderful experience with having the problems taken care of. Color temp varies, as did the output of the strobe at any given setting.
If it is all you can afford, snap them up, but I would save and buy into a better system...


t

The construction isn't amazing but they do get the job done, I use a few of their sister brand, White Lightning, X1600's and they are wonderful.  The 1600's are plenty to overpower with sun in the background.  The warranty is great;  I've had one light replaced about 2 1/2 years after purchase.  They also have student discounts along with accessory discounts with lights.

SCrude Photography wrote:
Hey everyone....I have been renting different lights for my portrait work...unfortunately I can't seem to find Alien Bees lights for rent....but their price looks great for the 4 light kit. Do any of you use them and can you back up their quality? Are they good for portrait work? Can they run on Pocket Wizard Plus II system? I was thinking about gettin 1-400 2-800s and 1-1600.....is this a good idea?

Many people think so.

Yes, you can connect a PocketWizard (or other radio trigger) to them.

See the What to Buy section of the Lighting, Flash, Ring, & Battery Strobe Reference thread for more threads on this topic.

* Alein Bee Lights (200+ posts)
* alienbees pro and cons
* Alienbees
* Alien Bee Lighting
* Question for Alien Bee owners (Alternate/improved modeling lights)
* AlienBees and one grand to spend (50+ posts)
* Alien Bees - Anybody Using? Pros & Cons...

etc. (There's also other brand discussions and comparisons as well)

SCrude Photography wrote:
I was thinking about gettin 1-400 2-800s and 1-1600.....is this a good idea?

I would advise anyone purchasing Alein Bees to buy all 800's. 

One reason is that working in the studio, you will hardly ever need the full power of the 1600's.  Even working events with large groups, I rarely shoot the 800's at full power.  The 400's are a bit limited in their usage...for the small money difference the 800's are the way to go.

Another reason is when you have all your lights the same power, you can use any light, anywhere in your setup, at any given time.

von francklau wrote:
I would advise anyone purchasing Alein Bees to buy all 800's. 

One reason is that working in the studio, you will hardly ever need the full power of the 1600's.  Even working events with large groups, I rarely shoot the 800's at full power.  The 400's are a bit limited in their usage...for the small money difference the 800's are the way to go.

Another reason is when you have all your lights the same power, you can use any light, anywhere in your setup, at any given time.

I am about to buy my first AB, and am teetering between a 1600 and 800.

Perhaps I should start with the 800?

Is it true that a strobe dumps all the capacitor power each time it is fired, regardless of power?

Is recycle time constant?

If so, the 800 has the advantage of a 1 sec recycle vs. 2 for the 1600.

rp_photo wrote:

I am about to buy my first AB, and am teetering between a 1600 and 800.

Perhaps I should start with the 800?

Is it true that a strobe dumps all the capacitor power each time it is fired, regardless of power?

Is recycle time constant?

If so, the 800 has the advantage of a 1 sec recycle vs. 2 for the 1600.

So go with 2 AB800's in one softbox and get the same output and half the recycle time of the AB1600

jtsmith wrote:
60 day after purchase money back guarantee satisfaction. Buy em and put them to the test.

J T

This is honestly what got me to order the AB ring light...figured if it turned ou to be crap I could return it. that was a year and thousands of shots ago! I've since ordered the Vagabond pack and the never Vagabond 2 pack. the first V2 was defective in an odd way..It took a couple of weeks before I noticed it. On the fast recycle it would occasionally not work but on slow it always did. I called AB and they sent a new one to me and then had their shipping service call me to arrange PU of my old one all free of charge. So there truly is NO RISK ordering from them.

SCrude Photography wrote:
so much to say....lol....thank you all again. I think I made up my mind Ok...so this system works with the PW plusII, but do I get the cord with the radio 1/8 connector from Alien Bees or from pocket wizard? When I rent the pocket wizard it comes with a bigger cord than 1/8th inch.

C~

Assuming that the PW end of the cord is not some oddball proprietary connector, then you can get what you need from Radio Shack. If the PW end _is_ special, then you get the cord from Pocket wizard. If all else fails, go to flashzebra.com  As for me, I use the Cactus V2s (aka "poverty wizard"), and simply plug into the sync cord that came with the strobe. Generally speaking, you need only trigger one strobe by wireless. The optical slave sensors on the 'Bees are actually quite good.

rp_photo wrote:
There are important differences between the 400, 800, and 1600 other than pricing:

1. Recycle time - Longer on higher-powered units even when turned down.

2. Flash duration - Higher-powered units have longer duration when turned down.

3. Power consumption - Higher-powered units use more power at same flash level.

Actually, the difference between these units is in the number of storage capacitors used. The 400 uses one, the 800 uses two, and the 1600 uses four. The differences in recycle _at full power_ are different based upon the number of capacitors that need to be filled. That said, an 800 set at half power is gonna' be ready just as fast as a 400 set on full power, as the same amount of energy is being sent to the same flashtube. A 400 set on 1/32 power is going to recycle twice as fast as an 800 set to 1/32, but the 800 at minimum is putting out the same light as the 400 does at 1/16 power.

Shelby Wylde wrote:
Not sure why you want a AB400, the AB1600 is a good choice as is the AB800
I wouldnt bother with the AB400 it will be too under powered for everything else
S~

I rarely take my AB800s over 1/2 power for portrait work, usually I'm at 1/4 power.  If I remember correctly from my last shoot, I was at f/8 @ ISO 200 with my AB800 at 1/4 power, shooting with a medium softbox just out of frame.