|
Forums >
Photography Talk >
No POWER!
...Unfortunately I do not have a studio...not even a place were I can set up once in awhile. I love the outdoor look...(as you can see from my port). Magically I have had some really skilled make up and hair artists that can create their visions without power..(because we are always on location getting prepped up). My question is...are there some kinda portible power generators you can bring to plug in things (curlying irons, small lights, etc) ? Might seem really stupid asking but...do those exist? Help a sista out Feb 01 08 10:49 pm Link Go to alienbees.com They have a portable re-chargeable power pack that is not awfully expensive. Feb 01 08 11:21 pm Link Cherrystone wrote: The Vagabond isn't enough power for curling irons and hairdryers and such. In those case a generator is a must. Feb 01 08 11:28 pm Link For stylists that aren't flying to location, butane irons are rather inexpensive and extremely effective. Feb 01 08 11:31 pm Link If you have a car available....you can pick up an inverter....1200 watt should be just enough and run it off you car battery. Otherwise, pick up one of those small generators (2000 watt), and they are relatively quiet. Honda is pobably the best, but pricey. Pep Boys occasionally sells a "digital" (meaning pure sine wave) generator that's about half the price of Honda, but a little bit louder. Feb 01 08 11:36 pm Link SonoraImages wrote: How much is that Pep Boys one. Got a link? Feb 01 08 11:41 pm Link You want a generator not a battery. The juice needed by things like blowdryers and irons is just too much to keep it too small. Wattage goes up, size goes up. I have used the 1000 watt model. You can look on your stuff to find the wattage it needs. I used a blow dryer and a curling iron on this model and they worked, but the iron seemed to take longer than normal. http://www.hondapowerequipment.com/gensup.asp Lights are another story, they don't need much power and a battery system is likely the best. It depends on what you need. Lets see a battery that can power a fan and a fog machine for a 6 hour shoot with out being the size of a truck and costing a $100,000. Feb 02 08 02:05 am Link Cherrystone wrote: great info! Feb 02 08 02:10 am Link Blowdryers use around 1500 watts. Need a generator for those. You can find a low output dryer to work with a smaller generator. You can't trust an impatient stylist to keep a two or three position dryer on low. They can ruin some generators by overloading. Curling irons are 15 to 60 watts, usually toward the 15-25 watt end except marselling irons. Butane irons are probably a better bet. Feb 02 08 02:26 am Link if your going to use a power supply i would tell you to get a honda u2000i very low noise 45lbs and will run 20 hours on 3 gals and you can use you laptop, strobes safely with it. Feb 02 08 02:32 am Link Here's what I use to run my strobes McCulloch 1600 Watt Inverter Digital Generator http://www.electricgeneratorsdirect.com … f3a94ec764 Feb 02 08 02:32 am Link Check some of the larger truck stops and get 12 volt curling iron and hair dryer. Feb 02 08 02:33 am Link Dan Hood mm/moderator wrote: The Honda generators are great for hair dryers etc. Just go to a dog show and you'll see groomers using these to power cattle dryers to blow dry heavy coated dogs right out of the bath. They're fabulous for what you're trying to do. I hear it's not a very good idea to operate most strobe systems off of a generator though, so if you're considering trying to run your lights off of the same system I'd check with the strobe manufacturer. Feb 02 08 04:12 am Link Craig Thomson wrote: Interesting...I've gotta check that out...re:my last comment Feb 02 08 04:14 am Link Phun Fotography wrote: I have the 2000i, have powered everything from fog machines to hair driers to small space heaters to my Hensels strobes and Laptop. Feb 02 08 07:01 am Link TheeBlueRoom wrote: I looked at the Honda "i" series for a while since they have the "pure sine wave" inverter that works best for sensitive computer and lighting equipment but the Honda cost was not in my favor so when I found the McCulloch generators for close to half the price with similar specs I bought one. Feb 02 08 02:14 pm Link . Feb 03 08 11:08 pm Link Check out the Yamaha 900 watt. All day on a gallon of gas. 27 lbs. quiet. $700 http://www.electricgeneratorsdirect.com … cts_id=481 You will want to use a 900 watt (or less) blow dryer though. Feb 04 08 01:13 am Link If you have a PepBoys (auto parts) near you they sell a small light weight 1200W Generator for a good price. But 1200W may not be enough for hair dryers. Feb 04 08 08:14 am Link Candace Elizabeth wrote: www.strobist.com Feb 04 08 08:44 am Link OK. I know this post is old, but you guys are killing me with this power thing. Here's everything you need to know... first off, not all power generators are the same. They are not all safe for our photog equipment, so be careful. Any gas powered generator that makes the statement that it is safe for electronics and computers is generalizing the fact that it has a pure sine wave inverter built in. These are safe to use. The other generators are easier to come by however they are designed purely for powering solid state devices and electric motors such as power tools. These are great for fans, hair dryers etc. How to figure how much power you'll need for the way you shoot... generators have a high and a sustained power output level. We need to look at both these numbers. The max or "start up" watts are those one shot blasts of power being drawn at once such as when a strobe triggers. That rating number should be higher than the all the watts of your equipment totaled up. For example two 500watt lights triggering at the same time will draw 1000watts. Immediately after the strobes are tripped the generator will start to compensate by running harder. If you had a fan or anything else plugged in at the time of the flash you would be underpowered and your recycle on the strobes would suffer and whatever else was running would possibly shut off. The second rating number is the sustained wattage. This is for the items such as fans and modeling lights that are continually on and drawing power. When you are adding up your wattage keep in mind typical floor type fans will draw anywhere from 100 to 300 continuous watts. If shooting two 400 watt strobes and a fan, you could get by with a 1000watt generator or one Vagabond Mini for the light and a small 500-800 watt generator. These are fairly cheap as they do not have the sine wave inverter built in. Awesome for just powering a fan. Scott Dec 12 11 09:02 pm Link ^^A curling iron is neither a computer, a strobe, or camera equipment. This thread is not about powering photo equipment. It's about powering, well, hair dryers, fans, etc... Dec 13 11 01:40 am Link OK. so I guess we were talking about hair dryers specifically. Missed that... Most hair dryers will be 2000watts or less. Use a pure sine wave generator at 2000watts to blow the hair then use it for the lights when you're done. Unless you are shooting multiple models there would be no need for the dryer and the lights to be pulling power at the same time....unless you were taking shots of the model getting her hair dried... Dec 13 11 05:13 am Link |
