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Portable strobes & packs...what are you using?
John Fisher wrote: OMG! Can I hold it and can we be friends? Oct 28 07 10:31 am Link you want to save money and get that shot. Do like I do. Go to Autozone and get ya one of those portable battery jumpers...bout 40.00 Get one of the 150-250w plug in inverters...19.99 and then run what ever small wattage strobes that you have. i still use my SP 150's and that small slave unit. a couple of extension cords later you are done. Power supply is soooooo easy to carry around and can be used as a weight if fyou need to put some weight on you light stands. recycle time is great too, i am used to it being hot in the desert so it can over heat if you are busting off a lot of shots at one time. Overall, it's a fun, cheap, and reliable set up for we photogs that don't have big pockets. Scott Oct 28 07 10:32 am Link S.Pierre Price wrote: Oct 28 07 10:35 am Link BryanSikoraPhotography wrote: right on. Oct 28 07 10:38 am Link AlienBees B800's, B400 and Vagabond II. Oct 28 07 10:40 am Link Norman 2400 power pack and dynalite battery Oct 28 07 10:42 am Link oo! one of my favorite subjects - i love shooting outside. - Hensel preminum porty pack with 2 heads (1200 watts total) - dynalite uni400 monolight with jackrabbit battery pack (320 watts) - strobist rig with 580/550 speedlights. i love and use them all - different rigs for different gigs Oct 28 07 10:45 am Link For ultimate in light weight and portability Nikon SB600 and a variety of small softboxes or umbrellas, just depends on where I am shooting and it works very well in command mode. My preference is for my Lumedynes, I can use them with battery or electric power. Battery recycle times are a bit slow but not bad. I need to update my Lumedyne's my set has been road tripping with me for over 20 years. Oct 28 07 10:47 am Link Palasade wrote: Same here. Seems well designed, well priced and works just fine for me. Oct 28 07 10:49 am Link Have others experienced stand "blow overs" on location, and if so, how do you limit them? Oct 28 07 10:51 am Link I own an AB1600 + Vagabond, which I use occasionally. I've used a number of the 750ws Travelites with the TravelPak batteries (Bowens/Calumet), but the recycling time is painful. Having recently shot with the Hensel Porty 1200B, I'm fully sold on the higher quality and performance. You do get what you pay for! Oct 28 07 10:57 am Link Most of my lighting is done with the Nikon CLS - SB600's and SB800's Oct 28 07 11:01 am Link One SB-800 through a 42" umbrella. Sometimes a second one to light background elements. Oct 28 07 11:07 am Link John Fisher wrote: Hey Fish, Oct 28 07 11:07 am Link rp_photo wrote: One of two ways: buy some sandbags from B&H, or hang your camera bag (or battery pack) from the stand. I never knew why light stands didn't come standard with hooks to hang weights. Oct 28 07 11:09 am Link Taylor Photography wrote: Right before this, I realized that using equipment boxes as weights might be the way to go. Oct 28 07 11:11 am Link 2 SB800s, Quantum Qflash 5Td with Q Nexus NX, Quantum Turbo 2x2 Battery. It's wireless and puts the portability back into portable. Most of the time I don't really have to bring the quantum battery and flash because the Nikon SB800's can handle most jobs. Cammander mode Rules. Oct 28 07 11:15 am Link White lightning and Vagabond Oct 28 07 11:17 am Link twilsonphoto wrote: I have heard that SB800's can "melt down" during extensive use with battery packs. Oct 28 07 11:20 am Link Bob Randall Photography wrote: Bob, this is my favorite Halloween costume, I'm disguised as a photographer who knows what he's doing. This disguise has the other benefit of covering my face, which allows me to wear the costume in public without scaring the children. Oct 28 07 11:29 am Link John Fisher wrote: How exactly do you direct a model when you are shooting with one of those? Oct 28 07 11:44 am Link Dan Howell wrote: Good question, Dan. I speak clearly and use correct English. That's part of what gives it away that I'm not a real professional photographer. If the model is deaf, I sign with my feet. Oct 28 07 12:12 pm Link Depends on the job and the travel situation 3 SB800 (on quantum Turbo 2x2) ... yes ... you can melt the front of your SB800 if you keep recycling at full power, 1 second intevals for ever ... Profoto 7b Quantum T5D-R (150 w/s) and two Quantum QPAQ X3D-R (400w/s), all wireless YMMV, Rudi A. Oct 28 07 12:54 pm Link Bob Randall Photography wrote: Bob, Oct 28 07 12:55 pm Link Amedeus wrote: Actually ... Alien Bees has a softbox for their ringflash too ... Moon ... Oct 28 07 01:01 pm Link Taylor Photography wrote: Because the knobs work fine? Oct 28 07 01:51 pm Link GG-Deluxe wrote: That's a lot to carry. Oct 28 07 01:53 pm Link Sure is heavy. But Im strong not stupid. Other features aside, just looking at power and portability, Elinchrom, Hensel, Profoto etc - their battery packs are very nice - but they take old off the shelf technology, package it and sell it to idiots (and guys like you and me) with an enormous markup. Its a lot more sensible to use a pure sine wave generator or an innovatronix/vagabond type AC unit at a fraction of the cost, and when you arent on location use the same lights on AC. Oct 28 07 02:07 pm Link Vagabond and three Calumet 750's. Can also run my portable Klipsch and iPhone/iPod sound system with the Vagabond and the strobes for nice background music on location. The Vagabond charges my iPhone while it plays. Oct 28 07 02:16 pm Link BlindMike wrote: Until they break off or bend the screw. Not to mention that they're only 3/4" wide--hardly a stable "hook" on a windy day. They're fine in a pinch, but I don't think I want to bet a $900 strobe head (and $350 flash tube) on it. If you want to loan me your equipment, however... Oct 28 07 02:20 pm Link GG-Deluxe wrote: Generators and inverter/battery setups aren't as portable as dedicated DC setups. There are locations I shoot at that I can't cart things to. Oct 28 07 02:22 pm Link Taylor Photography wrote: I've broken the Alien Bee knobs just from tightening them down so I probably wouldn't try it with them, but I've been hanging stuff from my Bogen and Matthews stands and they're holding up strong. Oct 28 07 02:25 pm Link Old Norman 200 and 400B's or Vivitars with power packs. Has worked just fine for many many years Oct 28 07 02:27 pm Link BCADULTART wrote: As an offshoot of that - Oct 28 07 02:34 pm Link rp_photo wrote: Milk jugs filled with small rocks. Oct 28 07 03:00 pm Link rp_photo wrote: I don't run the sb800's off of the turbo 2x2 battery (only the T5d). That would require cables and I prefer the wireless functionality plus there is no need for real fast recycle time with what I shoot. Thats a demand that manufactures put on photographers. I rarely run into a recycle problem and when I do, it's nothing I can't live with. Oct 28 07 03:08 pm Link BlindMike wrote: And most sand bags and water weights come with hooks. Oct 28 07 03:11 pm Link GG-Deluxe wrote: I guess the implication is that the Elinchrome/Hensel and Profoto users are stupid, but before you say that you might want to recheck your math. A good reliable generator is not cheap and you can't fly with it. I don't know what fraction you are talking about, but you can't exactly compare an AB product with the other brands in terms of recycle, color/exposure consistancy and durability. Oct 28 07 04:18 pm Link I now am playing with Broncolor verso, they are amazing. I still have an old broncolor mobilite, that I never liked, and recently picked up 4 hensel porty premium packs and heads/ringflash. They are nice and I will be using them for a DVD tutorial series as they are a good lower priced alternative. I also have lumedyne which I think offers some of the best bang for the buck and is great becuase if the super small head size, I use them wih ac adapters often mixed with larger strobes since they are so small they fit into lamps on location or as accent lights where nothing else fits. I have and have used canon 550 and 580 ex setups, and I still tell anyone who asks that if they want a cheap small portable strobe get a vivtar 285hv. they are great within their limitations. On some shoots I bring honda generators, I have two 2000 watt units that are great but heavy and smell of gas in a car. Now that I am doing TV commercials more I am using more hot/cool lights and generators are becomeing standard and of course they are not 5000 and 10000 watt versions, but I never would have missed them with the broncolor verso, hensel, lumedyne, or even older broncolor mobilites, and I have played with the speedotron explorer which was also very niec just very large for what it does. Stephen Eastwood http://www.StephenEastwood.com Oct 28 07 05:06 pm Link 2 Calumet 750's and the portable power. i use to run a few ex580s, but i like the softness of the calumet... maybe i just suck with the strobes.. since the strobist does an awesome job... yeah, i just suck with lighting Oct 28 07 06:57 pm Link |
