Irakly Shanidze wrote:
you must be mad of you have something for sale, let me know.
think about visatec. same manufacturer, same quality, but much more budget-oriented prices on everything. admittedly, visatec line is not as versatile, but most of what you might ever need is there.

Don't like the Visatec controls. Not enough increments. That aside, my monolights are Pulso mount.

If you interested, I may be willing to sell one of the lights now. It's a slightly older model. A Minipuls S80 IIRC (I'm not looking at it right now). It's 600 w/s, adjustable in something like 1/16 stop increments. Modeling light, IIRC is the 300w halogen (part #34.234.XX), and can be set to off/proportional/full. Flash tube is user-replaceable with the 600J tube for the newer Minicom 80 (part #34.307.55). Also comes with 5500k protecting glass (part #34.336.55). It also has an input for a remote, which I don't have. It also has an optical slave built in. The strobe is Pulso mount.

Max Bloom wrote:

Don't like the Visatec controls. Not enough increments. That aside, my monolights are Pulso mount.

If you interested, I may be willing to sell one of the lights now. It's a slightly older model. A Minipuls S80 IIRC (I'm not looking at it right now). It's 600 w/s, adjustable in something like 1/16 stop increments. Modeling light, IIRC is the 300w halogen (part #34.234.XX), and can be set to off/proportional/full. Flash tube is user-replaceable with the 600J tube for the newer Minicom 80 (part #34.307.55). Also comes with 5500k protecting glass (part #34.336.55). It also has an input for a remote, which I don't have. It also has an optical slave built in. The strobe is Pulso mount.

no, it's ok, i am shooting with D160 and C200. i thought you were selling accessories.
i still have two S80 that i want to get rid of. what i have about S80 is that they were initially made for 220V, and when on 110V a modeling light of correct voltage is like 2000K or so. mine are actually older impact mount, so impact/visatec cheap accessories do fit there.
as for visatec, you are probably referring to Solo line. the new Logos monolights have the same digital controls as broncolor minicom and have a computer interface.

Ronald N Tan wrote:
July 2008 is my first year using strobes (Speedotron Blackline) and I like the customer support. I am using their Explorer 1500 power pack for my location shots.

The packs are a bit heavy.

Their customer support is great! I've never had an issue with something breaking, but when I call and ask a question like how my pack will handle modified sine wave power, they put you on the line with an actual engineer who knows his stuff. Very personable folks and easy to get answers from.

M_M_P wrote:
...when I call and ask a question like how my pack will handle modified sine wave power, they put you on the line with an actual engineer who knows his stuff.

I'm curious, what was his answer and which pack was it regarding?

Jarrad Kevin wrote:
I'm curious, what was his answer and which pack was it regarding?

I have the Brownline packs and he said it won't make a lick of difference how bad the power is. They'll be fine. I've got a modified sine wave gas generator by Yamaha (EF600) that's very quiet but doesn't supply the cleanest power and I've had not problems yet. I have also run the pack off an 800 watt Duracell inverter from Walmart with no problems (though it seems to resemble a 400 watt continuous inverter, nearly the same as the pack draws, despite claiming otherwise). I've used both configurations many times for hours on end with no issues. I didn't ask about the Blacklines, so I'm not sure how they would perform on dirty power.

Edit: For those who may wonder, I've found the Brownlines draw around 350-400 watts during recycle with the modeling lights off. This would appear to be regardless of pack size since as you double the pack size, the recycle time also doubles meaning it will continue to draw 350-400 watts for twice as long. This makes them ideal for portable use in my opinion since the require very little current and do not require clean power. My generator is capable of a mere 500 watts continuous and can operate the pack and one 150 watt modeling light without stalling.

Max Bloom wrote:
Well, living outside a major city, another issue is availability. Aside from the fact that there are local dealers with ample used Speedo equipment, it tends to be easier to rent Speedo or Profoto when I need a different modifier or an extra head or something. Broncolor not so much except for renting the Impact series, which aren't nearly adjustable enough for me and don't take my Pulso modifiers.

Speedotron is a bit harder to find in smaller markets (like Seattle). The local rentals here do not offer much in the way of Speedotron, just the basics which I mostly already own (they have 1 beauty dish but no grid, various 7,11,16, and 20 inch grid reflectors again no grids available, many packs and heads). The rental list here is about a page long for Profoto and about 1/16th of a page for Speedotron. If rentals is a key factor, Profoto is really the only way to go. With Speedotron, you can usually find what you need for a price you can afford up front, so renting is not necessary usually (though I wish they had one of the fresnels locally, I'd love to rent one).

Everything (modifiers) is like Alien Bees pricing, but I feel it's a much more robust line of modifiers. Plus, if you find used stuff, it's usually way cheap. 2 Brownline 16" sports reflectors in excellent condition went for about $30 including shipping on Ebay the other day (they'd normally be about $80/each). Keep in mind that you can put the Brownline modifiers made for the M11 heads on the Blackline heads and vice versa. They are identical aside from the color of the paint and often the Brownline modifiers get overlooked and sell for less. For example, you can get both Brownline and Blackline 7, 11, 16, and 20 inch grid reflectors as well as grids and the 22" beauty dish with grid. They are absolutely identical, but when you find a used Brownline reflector it is often less than the same Blackline reflector.

M_M_P wrote:

Speedotron is a bit harder to find in smaller markets (like Seattle). The local rentals here do not offer much in the way of Speedotron, just the basics which I mostly already own (they have 1 beauty dish but no grid, various 7,11,16, and 20 inch grid reflectors again no grids available, many packs and heads). The rental list here is about a page long for Profoto and about 1/16th of a page for Speedotron. If rentals is a key factor, Profoto is really the only way to go. With Speedotron, you can usually find what you need for a price you can afford up front, so renting is not necessary usually (though I wish they had one of the fresnels locally, I'd love to rent one).

Everything (modifiers) is like Alien Bees pricing, but I feel it's a much more robust line of modifiers. Plus, if you find used stuff, it's usually way cheap. 2 Brownline 16" sports reflectors in excellent condition went for about $30 including shipping on Ebay the other day (they'd normally be about $80/each). Keep in mind that you can put the Brownline modifiers made for the M11 heads on the Blackline heads and vice versa. They are identical aside from the color of the paint and often the Brownline modifiers get overlooked and sell for less. For example, you can get both Brownline and Blackline 7, 11, 16, and 20 inch grid reflectors as well as grids and the 22" beauty dish with grid. They are absolutely identical, but when you find a used Brownline reflector it is often less than the same Blackline reflector.

Thanks. As it turns out here there's a good market for Speedo Black rentals.

Hector Fernandez wrote:
IMHO if you are a pro buying, buy a brand that is supported by local rentals.

Still if you like Broncolor check Visatec

https://www.bron.ch/vt_pd_en/index.php

Visatec is the cheapo brother of bron and accept all the pre-1986 modifiers of broncolor you know, the baby blue ones.

Theoretically they are designed for portrait and location fashion.

Yes, Bron and Visatec is the way to go if your assignments can justify the purchase.

However, if you are not getting big jobs every now and then, it might be better to think of other systems.

Been sub distributing Bron and Visatec in the S.E Asia region previously and it is really tough answering all the Cost Benefit/Efficiency Analysis comparisons from the top photographers back then.