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best portable strobe system
Hi, I'm interested to know what people are using for a portable strobe system. I'm doing some portrait beauty type shots in locations without electricity. I'm looking for something with a modelling light that will hold its charge over several hours. I don't need anything really over 300 watss seconds in terms of power. Inexpensive would be nice. Suggestions? Dec 04 12 08:25 am Link Dec 04 12 08:42 am Link Not really inexpensive but I rented the elinchrom quadra system and it was very nice & compact. The battery held a pretty good charge and the new li-ion battery is supposed to hold a better charge. It's definitely on my must buy list for on location shoots. Dec 04 12 08:47 am Link Paul C Buff. Einstein lights. Vegabond Mini. Dec 04 12 09:00 am Link Quantum Instruments Q-Flash line. Dec 04 12 09:13 am Link Your best affordable option might be the Paul C Buff AB 1600 and Vagabond mini. The bad thing is you can't do hypersync like speedlights so much of everything will be in focus on the background. One reason I still use my speedlights bunched together. Dec 04 12 09:20 am Link Well the best is not inexpensive? The new Profoto B4 is on par with the new Broncolor Move. Those are the best. Period. Dec 04 12 09:26 am Link lots of lighting systems will work. It is the moving them on location that you also need to consider... http://www.diyphotography.net/a-portabl … ion-studio See that link for converting a baby jogging stroller into a portable system as well. Something like this, might just replace my little red wagon. Dec 04 12 10:01 am Link I've been using the Lumedyne System 244 W/Booster, a 400ws unit and I can shoot all day with this rig for the past dozen years. Dec 04 12 10:12 am Link check out this lighting company in Hong Kong. I just bought the 600w set off of them for $820 including 2x 600W strobe units. 2x light stands 2x umbrellas 2x wireless triggers. i would check them out so far they are amazing. Good battery pack built it http://en.nicefoto.cn/Products/n_flash/2012280.html#2 is the company you can buy direct but i went through ebay and bought http://stores.ebay.com/UCOLOR/Studio-Fl … op=3&_sc=1 if i can help at all give my feedback etc let me know. [email protected] Dec 04 12 10:14 am Link Ezhini wrote: how many flashes did you get reasonably at full power on 1 charge? Dec 04 12 10:18 am Link David Griffith Studio wrote: In one full charge, when two einstiens are plugged in, I have had well over 150 pops out of that. I have never had to use full power on those light yet. Neither have I had a need to shoot any more than that many shots so far - except once - see below. That little Vegabond mini is so tiny, super portable. Dec 04 12 10:23 am Link has anyone tried led panel continous light sources with any success? Dec 04 12 10:37 am Link I've been using 3 JTL MOBILIGHT 301's 300 ws heads for almost 8 years and love them! Most of the time I only need one light. Nice thing is they take the Bowens speedring which also fit my Calumet travelites. http://www.jtl-lighting.com/JTL-Mobilig … hting.html JTL MOBILITE 301 Dec 04 12 06:52 pm Link one thing nobody has addressed is your requirement for modeling lights. Forget it. modeling lights eat charge. Dec 04 12 07:29 pm Link David Griffith Studio wrote: I have a little rechargeable work light panel I use to assist in the autofocus. It provides nothing compared to the blast of light that follows. Dec 04 12 09:41 pm Link I love my Elinchrom quadra system, for me it's the best bang for your $$$. Not cheap but if you want a system that is well built, accurate and very portable you can't go wrong with the Quadra. They also have great modifiers too. You could spend less but you will get less and you can spend lots more for a diminishing return IMHO. Unless you're a full time shooter and need it to be built like a tank the Quadra is the Goldilocks it's just right!!!! Dec 04 12 11:59 pm Link I personally like speedlites for portability and ETTL. But I bring out my flashpoint strobe when I need the power. A couple of brackets to mount 3 speedlites simultaneously and 6 speedlites will get you pretty good power. If you go full manual, you can assemble a pretty good kit for about $600. If you need a modeling light as an actual modeling light, you're not going to get it in the inexpensive range if you're looking to do outdoors in full sunlight. If you just need AF assist, then you can get 160 LED panels for less than $50 and 6 batteries can get you under 2 hours. Dec 05 12 12:28 am Link David Griffith Studio wrote: I use the Bowens Travelpak system, but can't wait until they update the Pioneer system (Their original Quadra-style package) Dec 05 12 02:32 am Link AVD AlphaDuctions wrote: +1 Dec 05 12 07:00 am Link Your best choices should depend on your current equipment, light modifier needs, and budget. I like location strobe systems where I can reuse my current lights and modifiers with lighter stands and a rolling case. I bought 2 AB Mini Vagabonds, a Photek 54 Softlighter, lightweight stands, and a rolling Photoflex case for location work using my regular strobes. The cost was about $800 to reuse 3 strobes for use on location and I get about 800-1000 shots on those 2 batteries. Portability, quick setup, and flexibility are key factors for me for lighting and just as critical as the right strobe. I use the Photek Sofghtlighter and Kasey Beauty Dish on location. If you have no existing equipment investment and a large budget, Elinchrom Ranger and Profoto make complete light systems with battery for location use in the $2500-5000 range. Dec 05 12 07:40 am Link David Griffith Studio wrote: Where are the locations? Indoors/outdoors? Modifiers? Dec 05 12 07:42 am Link Portable strobe light. http://www.glow.co.uk/strobe-light.html If you want the cheapest, simplest strobe then a home made disc with equally spaced slots and a central spinning point. Match your spin speed to the movement frequency and you will be able to freeze the movemant. Somehow I think this is not what you wanted or expected to hear. It is however what a scientist would be thinking. Dec 05 12 07:50 am Link Ezhini wrote: .... bingo .... Dec 05 12 08:24 am Link David Griffith Studio wrote: Before we can really make informed recommendations, we really need to hear about what ISO do you want to use, what f-stop and what conditions are you shooting under. Dec 05 12 08:39 am Link Jhono Bashian wrote: +1 Dec 05 12 11:34 am Link Innovative Imagery wrote: The B800 is only 320 w/s. Dec 05 12 11:38 am Link David Griffith Studio wrote: They are such low output you will be constrained to sunrise and sunset. Dec 05 12 11:47 am Link The Elinchrom is one of the best. You could go cheap and use studio strobes and a motorcycle battery but I would not. I prefer UL rated equipment and would sooner use sppedlights, plus that is about as portable as it comes. Dec 05 12 11:48 am Link since the point was ..... portable keep in mind, i'm using beauty dishes, which i love, on location on Bees and Einsteins because, i don't have to break them down and very important, they fit in my honda element i don't even take them off the lightstand for years i put dishes on Flashpoints (cheap and fantastic) but the much smaller Bees, are easier to load/ unload.... fyi if you hook up a motorcycle / car battery the a/c converter must be pure sine wave Dec 06 12 04:06 am Link I use an Einstein with a vagabond mini. Relatively inexpensive, reliable, consistent, and I've yet to run the charge out of the vagabond battery on location. Buff's website claims 400 to 500 full power charges with the Einstein connected. I've never had to crank it up to full charge that many times, as I typically never exceed about 3/4 charge in most of my work. It's relatively light, too. Dec 06 12 06:10 am Link I believe the modeling lights on the Ranger Quadra are LED and sip power... Of course they aren't cheap either... But I've heard that even using the modeling lights on location this set up lasts and lasts. http://www.pictureline.com/elinchrom-ra … d-kit.html Dec 06 12 06:30 am Link Generally I like to rely on natural light and a reflector when I shoot outdoors, but when I need fill flash, I've found an old Sunpack 611 handle-mount flash will do the job. Dec 06 12 06:44 am Link . Watt-seconds are meaningless other than, perhaps, "ball park" estimates in comparing various artificial lighting equipments. Watt-seconds indicate the electrical storage capacity and do *not* provide illumination data because of inefficiencies in the electronics, cables, flash tubes, etc. Use Guide Numbers (GN) to compare artificial lighting equipment. The GN will vary depending on the light modifiers one uses with artificial lighting equipment. . Dec 06 12 07:01 am Link Dynalite Uni400JRs, powered by a Vagabond Mini and synced with a Pocket Wizard makes for an amazing, very dependable, fast recycle (at low power) light source.. As stated above, the best ain't cheap. But it doesn't have to be expensive either. As also stated above, Watt/Seconds is more a guide than a steadfast rating. The Dynalites are known for putting out more light than similarly rated strobes. I like to use a very small amount of light. I carry diffusion that I clip over the reflectors to further decrease the light, to meet my needs. I highly suggest you look at the Paul C. Buff website. They make popular mono lights, power packs and strobes that will likely give you years of dependable service. The price is very good and when you consider the customer service they provide it's an amazing price. Dec 06 12 07:22 am Link Pshhhh, no love for my Speedotron 1500?! Dec 06 12 11:38 am Link RSM-images wrote: What are you talking about? guides numbers are even worse, lots of manufacturer lie on GN also the guide number is not referring to the power of the flash, its the reflected angle, so the flash might be putting all of it's power into a narrow angle, which is weak , so its ridiculous to use GN as a reference. The watt second is your only way to tell how powerful your flash is, unless again the manufacturer's are lying, so then again the only real way to know is use a light meter and test each at the same "supposed" power levels. the Paul C Buff strobes are honest about their WS, as what I hear, I think it's even more than what they say sometimes. Nov 24 15 11:59 pm Link Godox AD360II, it's a speedlight on steroids... 300ws, GN80, ETTL and HSS. All for around $400.  http://www.ebay.com/itm/Godox-AD360II-C … SwlV9WTuDZ Nov 25 15 12:55 am Link I used to use the dynalite jackrabbit and jr. I then switched to Profoto and now I am with nicefoto. It is about $350 and the battery is included as one piece. It is lighter and more mobile. My weddings move fast and I need to be mobile. It has a modelling light which is pretty useless. Other than that it is my favorite light I have had in forever. My assistant is a petite girls and she can carry two of these at a time so I don't have to get another assistant anymore. I usually get 500 shots and I am on 1/8 power most of the time except group shots which I am at full power. just for the record I shoot video with goled led1000 bicolor. They are great but you might have to sell your children to afford them. The power is fine but half of it goes to 3200 kelvin and half to 5500. I use v-bats and they last about 3 hours. I have 6 lights and 12 batteries and I could have sworn I had to sell a kidney for this. I do love them and it gives me a different look than other videographers. I bought them when I had a good video job that paid for half the cost. If not I probably wouldn't have splurged. Nov 25 15 01:27 am Link The Broncolor Move is the best performing pack I have ever run..It will outrun a D4 in the fast T1 mode...The B4 is a beautiful system, but is a heavy cow and can not run in Fast T1 mode above PL #4-#5....Which is when we really need a fast T1 light...This would have made some Profoto action guys mad! Big huge money for both systems. Profoto B1: 500WS, High speed Sync, TTL, fast T.1...Does anything you could possibly want from an exterior strobe. 6.0 pounds so you need a real light stand...not some rubber speedlight wonder waiting to ruin your day. My first choice if you have the money. Elinchrom Quadra: 400Ws. Lots of comments about quality, yet the one I used could not hold up a 60" Octabox and was sketchy as hell with my 48 Octa? The owner also complained of multiple battery issues and a trigger he gave up on. The latest version comes with a HSS trigger, but only gives full HSS performance with a special slow T.1 light...So you have to pay for a slower T.1 light....Same money as a B1....Hmm...No thanks Einstein with the Buff battery pack. Great basic light...The only fault to the light is the mount is a bit light duty for really big/heavy boxes. The little battery pack has a reputation for not lasting and recycle times are slow. I would not hesitate to use the big Buff battery pack...pretty good system for the money and has proven to be durable and robust. Jinbei HD 600 (Adorama Rove light). We tend to mix the Chinese lights together as junk, but I found out a few years ago that Jinbei has a reputation as the goto brand of most Asian professional photographers. Bowens mount, Pretty fast t.1, rated at 600Ws (makes 1/2 stop more light than any other 600Ws light I have worked with), and also does HSS. The trigger was soso on my first unit, but the newer units come with better triggers. Construction seems fit for a battle axe and the light is pretty stout at 5.5 pounds. Flimsy speedlight light stands need not apply. There is a detectable color shift between power level #1 and #2...Took me a while to even notice. Output is otherwise consistent to 1/1 but I can see a barely detectable color shift between those two power levels only(easily fixable). 7 stop of adjustment so you wont be shooting wide open with small light mods.. I have 3 of these and run the crap out of them most every day....So far so good. The price is about the same as the big Buff battery pack. I can't say enough good things. I have owned a few other Chinese lights and could not find anything else that had enough power or color consistency where I wanted to keep it. the other problem with these lights is getting warranty coverage when your purchase point it 10,000 miles away. I would not recommend it. Godox makes some great lights, but if color consistency is an issue (it is for me) I would no go there. Nov 25 15 03:54 am Link |
