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Question for Alien Bee owners
The modeling light that comes on the lights is 100 watts, itr says you can go up to a 150 watt.....What is the best type to replace it with? Daylight balanced? Mar 07 08 07:38 am Link Doesn't matter, but you should make sure the wattage is uniform across all the lights you own if you plan on using the tracking feature. Mar 07 08 07:41 am Link The color temp of the modeling light shouldn't really matter, unless you're going to use just the modeling light as your source of illumination (like maybe you're wanting to try a 50mm f1.0). I used Phillips halogen 150 watt bulbs. They're the sorta odd-shaped bulbs that are a little smaller than normal bulbs. The protective cover will fit over those. Even with a 150 watt bulb, you'll still need a darkish room in order to see the effects of your modeling lights. It's one of the "cons" of shooting with Alien Bees. Mar 07 08 07:44 am Link Check the Alien Bees site, they have one there it is a quartz type, probably a Sylvania hallogen. The thing to watch for is that bulb is probably not available at your local discount store. I have found the 100 watt bulb to be sufficient for my studio, but I have a small camera room. Mar 07 08 07:44 am Link No need for daylight balanced on the modeling lights. They are for a sanity check on shadows and to help in focusing. Once the flash fires, it is much more overpowering and the modeling light will drop out. Insure that all you lights are changed accordingly. If not, you will have ratio issues. Mar 07 08 07:47 am Link Second Chance Imaging wrote: Actually the modeling lamps go off a millisecond before the flash fires. They have zero effect on the exposure. Mar 07 08 07:48 am Link Jeremy Todd wrote: Jeremys right. It took me a little bit to realize this. Mar 07 08 07:51 am Link Thanks everyone for the advice. I just got the lights yesterday and have never used strobes before. I know there is a bit of a learning curve with them, but I'm looking forward to the challenge!! Mar 07 08 07:52 am Link No Bull Photography wrote: I just received my first AB the other day as well. For a while I am going to use it with my current lights but by the end of the year AB's will be my studio lights. You can see a couple one light shots on my flickr page that I did the other night with the AB. Yes the first two, the little red head with the big nose...lol Mar 07 08 07:55 am Link KC Photography wrote: I bought 2 to get me started. A 400 and an 800 plus a couple of softboxes. Mar 07 08 07:59 am Link KC Photography wrote: Hey now, what's wrong with big noses? LMAO Mar 07 08 08:02 am Link LOL, Erin is my favorite model and she works real cheap. Snacks and head scratching keep her happy. I did the second shot, the darker one, with a 20 degree grid and a reflector, the other one is done with a medium Photoflex multidome and a reflector. I also didn't change backgrounds. Mar 07 08 08:12 am Link Jeremy Todd wrote: Ah, but the shutter is already open by the time the modeling light goes out. Also, modeling lamps give off light for a few milliseconds after power is shut off. Mar 07 08 08:25 am Link KC Photography wrote: I purchased all of my 150w Halogena bulbs (either Phillips or Sylvania) at Home Depot... about $4 a pop. You may have to look around tho, because every HD does not carry exactly the same stock as every other HD. I keep a 150w lamp in my AB800. The AB400s get a Phillips 100w soft white.. the one rated at 1620 lumens and 750 hours life. This is the brightest 100w bulb that I have come across. It outputs exactly 1/2 of the light that the 150w halogena does. It does cost 1/10 of a stop in flash power due to the heavier frosting... not enough to bother me. Mar 07 08 09:47 am Link 4C 41 42 wrote: Somewhere there must have been a "goober" who thought the AB's were hot lights. Mar 07 08 10:08 am Link Michael Fryd wrote: The modeling light could stay on and still not contribute measuribly to the exposure, and turning off an incandescent bulb just before the strobe fires would mean there is still much light at the time of firing, given the "intertia" of a glowing filament. Mar 07 08 10:11 am Link I think most people go with the 150W Philips Halogens mentioned above. That brand in general is really nice - they put out more light than a regular bulb, last longer, and have a whiter light. Mar 07 08 12:29 pm Link The modeling light has a exposure of 4 seconds at the same f-stop your correct exposure. this is so many stops below your correct exposure that the modeling light has no affect. Even if it remains on -- which in some modes its does. You could set your shutter speed as slow as 1/2 second and still not get any affect from the modeling lights. You can use the trick of metering at 4 seconds to get a exposure reading and then switch to 1/125 for correct exposure. The color temp of the modeling light has no affect. (do not use a flourecent as they do not like to have the voltage reduced and can cause interference with the AB (thats what the tech at AB said) Mar 07 08 12:54 pm Link This is just a follow-up to my previous post. It turns out that Phillips, Sylvania and GE all make halogena-style bulbs. Found this out at Lowe's today. I also discovered the GE 100w halogena, rated at 1600 lumens and 3000 hr life. This is essentially the same rated output as the Phillips 100w soft white referenced above, but with 4x longer life. I bought some. My AB400s will now have 100w halogena, while the AB800 will have the 150w halogena rated at 2400 lumens. Mar 07 08 08:36 pm Link Mar 07 08 09:58 pm Link |
