Photographer
Minneapolis Headshots
Posts: 1114
Minneapolis, Minnesota, US
Lets' say I was just going to be using two 500 watt lights and maybe a 300 watt light. I would be shooting indoors only and there wrer lots of outlets. Is there an advantage to using powerpacks over mono lights?
Should I spend money on the packs or just stay with the mono lights?
Photographer
Vanishing Point Ent
Posts: 1707
Los Angeles, California, US
The issue isn't " just a lot of outlets ", it's how many circuits,
you may be using. In other words, try not to plug all of the
heads on to the same fuse circuit.
Now with the amount of power, you are using,
it shouldn't be an issue, but add a couple of lights &
it could be.
Photographer
nwprophoto
Posts: 15005
Tonasket, Washington, US
Pluses and minuses to both.
The 2 big issues
When a pack goes out you are dead in the water
Mono lights are heavy and more money
Photographer
Kevin Connery
Posts: 17824
El Segundo, California, US
Images By Jonathan wrote:
Should I spend money on the packs or just stay with the mono lights? Yes. 
Pack systems have different advantages--and different disadvantages over monolights. Some photographers are best served with all pack setups; others by all monolights. Many more find that a mix is more effective.
See the Different Types of Lighting Equipment section of the Lighting, Flash, Ring, & Battery Strobe Reference thread for some older discussions about this, including a number of 'pack vs monolight' threads.
Photographer
Photos by Lorrin
Posts: 7026
Eugene, Oregon, US
Monolights are not heavy -- Not when you factor in the weight of the power cord on a pack head.
Alien bee heads are 2.5 and 2.9 and 3.7 for 400, 800, 1600 units.
When you add heads with monolights you increase power. with packs each heads divides the power until you buy another pack.
Power extension cords for packs can be very expensive and you will need at least 1 or 2 as most pack heads have short cords on them.
Each time you add a extension cord you can loose up to 1/2 the poser depending on the brand.
Photographer
nwprophoto
Posts: 15005
Tonasket, Washington, US
Lorin Edmonds wrote:
Monolights are not heavy -- Not when you factor in the weight of the power cord on a pack head.
Alien bee heads are 2.5 and 2.9 and 3.7 for 400, 800, 1600 units. Would depend on the brand. But pack lights tend be very light.
Lorin Edmonds wrote:
When you add heads with monolights you increase power. with packs each heads divides the power until you buy another pack. Start with enough power. Most pack systems have
lots of w/s to spare
Lorin Edmonds wrote:
Each time you add a extension cord you can loose up to 1/2 the poser depending on the brand. Huh?
Photographer
WMcK
Posts: 5298
Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom
Images By Jonathan wrote:
Lets' say I was just going to be using two 500 watt lights and maybe a 300 watt light. I would be shooting indoors only and there wrer lots of outlets. Is there an advantage to using powerpacks over mono lights?
Should I spend money on the packs or just stay with the mono lights? Flash can't be measured in Watts. Watts is for continuous lights only.
Photographer
Benjamen McGuire
Posts: 3991
Portland, Oregon, US
I like that my Normans have lightweight heads and I can adjust all heads from one location. I hate that they are heavy and all the heads have to be plugged in at the same location.
I like that my White Lightnings are simple, strong, and self contained. I don't like having to adjust individually or buy a wired remote, and they are a bit heavier than pack heads.
Photographer
GCobb Photography
Posts: 15898
Southaven, Mississippi, US
nwprophoto wrote:
Lorin Edmonds wrote:
Monolights are not heavy -- Not when you factor in the weight of the power cord on a pack head.
Alien bee heads are 2.5 and 2.9 and 3.7 for 400, 800, 1600 units. Would depend on the brand. But pack lights tend be very light.
Lorin Edmonds wrote:
When you add heads with monolights you increase power. with packs each heads divides the power until you buy another pack. Start with enough power. Most pack systems have
lots of w/s to spare
Huh? My Novatron 3 head kit weights at least 40 pounds.
Photographer
TG Cocciolone
Posts: 199
Garner, North Carolina, US
Images By Jonathan wrote:
Lets' say I was just going to be using two 500 watt lights and maybe a 300 watt light. I would be shooting indoors only and there wrer lots of outlets. Is there an advantage to using powerpacks over mono lights?
Should I spend money on the packs or just stay with the mono lights? Over my 22 years in the business I have used both. Started with monolights, and didn't really like them as I had a lot of misfires do to the slaves not registering the other flashes. I switched to novatron power pack units. They work great, but lack the flexibility of the monolights.
Now, I use both, and love the results that I get.
I have started using alien bees, and white lightening units (monolights), but I also have them connected with trip wires, so they all flash when needed. Plus I can go to the slave option with one light here and there when needed. Much more versatility.
Sometimes I even use the novatrons as main lighting, and monolights strategically placed for accent lights, hair lights, etc etc etc.
For more versatile setup, I would go with the monolights, get a remote triggering unit, and have fun. Once a powerpack goes bad, or down, you cant shoot unless you have a spare. If one monolight burns out, you can still work with the remainders with a little creative lighting, and reflection boards, or disks.
Good luck.
Photographer
Minneapolis Headshots
Posts: 1114
Minneapolis, Minnesota, US
WMcK wrote:
Flash can't be measured in Watts. Watts is for continuous lights only. I will inform all of the stores that they are selling them wrong (B&H, Adorama) and let them know you said so thanks!
Photographer
Minneapolis Headshots
Posts: 1114
Minneapolis, Minnesota, US
TG Cocciolone wrote:
Over my 22 years in the business I have used both. Started with monolights, and didn't really like them as I had a lot of misfires do to the slaves not registering the other flashes. I switched to novatron power pack units. They work great, but lack the flexibility of the monolights.
Now, I use both, and love the results that I get.
I have started using alien bees, and white lightening units (monolights), but I also have them connected with trip wires, so they all flash when needed. Plus I can go to the slave option with one light here and there when needed. Much more versatility.
Sometimes I even use the novatrons as main lighting, and monolights strategically placed for accent lights, hair lights, etc etc etc.
For more versatile setup, I would go with the monolights, get a remote triggering unit, and have fun. Once a powerpack goes bad, or down, you cant shoot unless you have a spare. If one monolight burns out, you can still work with the remainders with a little creative lighting, and reflection boards, or disks.
Good luck. Thanks I have been happy with my mono lights but two of the slaves started to not function. It even happend on the same shoot. I think I'm going to stick with mono lights.
Photographer
RJ Ohrstedt
Posts: 546
Columbus, Ohio, US
Images By Jonathan wrote:
I will inform all of the stores that they are selling them wrong (B&H, Adorama) and let them know you said so thanks! The light power of strobes is measured in Watt-seconds (number of watts per second, or per flash), while the output of hot lights is measured in watts.
The catalogs tend to mix these up a bit, and they are similar enough to be confusing.
Photographer
Justin Berman
Posts: 826
Brooklyn, New York, US
nwprophoto wrote:
Pluses and minuses to both.
The 2 big issues
When a pack goes out you are dead in the water
Mono lights are heavy and more money More money? Maybe its because I use ProPhoto, but one Acute 1200 pack and 2 heads is currently 2900 at B&H. Compact 600s come in at 780 per head. Obviously these arent exactly equivalent, but you get my point I think. Pack and head is normally more money from my POV.
(And usually worth it)
Justin
Photographer
jeff n
Posts: 153
Seattle, Washington, US
Also, it seems that packs are typically faster then monolights, at least in terms of flash duration.
I think a mix is a reasonable way to go.
Photographer
Kevin Connery
Posts: 17824
El Segundo, California, US
RJ Ohrstedt wrote:
The light power of strobes is measured in Watt-seconds (number of watts per second, or per flash), while the output of hot lights is measured in watts.
The catalogs tend to mix these up a bit, and they are similar enough to be confusing. Further quibble: Watts and Watt-seconds or Joules are measures of power usage. They are not measures of light.
For example:
A typical 100 Watt tungsten bulb generates roughly 1600 lumens.
A typical 25 watt compact fluorescent bulb generates roughly 1600 lumens.
A typical 13 watt LED bulb generates roughly 1600 lumens.
All three have about the same light output, but use very different amounts of energy in watts.
Photographer
Minneapolis Headshots
Posts: 1114
Minneapolis, Minnesota, US
RJ Ohrstedt wrote:
The light power of strobes is measured in Watt-seconds (number of watts per second, or per flash), while the output of hot lights is measured in watts.
The catalogs tend to mix these up a bit, and they are similar enough to be confusing. The point was not to be right about watts but that he said nothing about th OP. He only told me what he knew, that I was was wrong and left. I don't really care who was right or wrong he knew what I was trying to say.
Photographer
Minneapolis Headshots
Posts: 1114
Minneapolis, Minnesota, US
Images By Jonathan wrote:
RJ Ohrstedt wrote:
The light power of strobes is measured in Watt-seconds (number of watts per second, or per flash), while the output of hot lights is measured in watts.
The catalogs tend to mix these up a bit, and they are similar enough to be confusing.
Photographer
FullMetalPhotographer
Posts: 2797
Fresno, California, US
Images By Jonathan wrote:
Lets' say I was just going to be using two 500 watt lights and maybe a 300 watt light. I would be shooting indoors only and there wrer lots of outlets. Is there an advantage to using powerpacks over mono lights?
Should I spend money on the packs or just stay with the mono lights? Both have their advantages. Power packs give you a nice single control point for you're lighting set ups. They are very effective for studio setups.
I prefer monolights because I work locations. I can spread the lights out because of radio slaves and I have redundancy. If one fails I still can shoot unlike a single powerpack. My experience with powerpacks has been if you need 1 you better have 2.
Photographer
F Rob
Posts: 27
New York, New York, US
jeff n wrote:
Also, it seems that packs are typically faster then monolights, at least in terms of flash duration.
I think a mix is a reasonable way to go. This seems generally true. A notable exception to this is Elinchrom's Style RX monos, especially the 300 & 600 W/s models, which seem to be best-of-class monolights right now (although Profoto's D1 looks good).
I think Paul Buff's mono stuff is pretty fast too.
Photographer
Rp-photo
Posts: 42711
Houston, Texas, US
I would assume that there are significant distance limitation as to how far apart two heads can be on a pack unit vs. unlimited for monos.
Photographer
Le Beck Photography
Posts: 4114
Los Angeles, California, US
nwprophoto wrote:
Lorin Edmonds wrote:
Monolights are not heavy -- Not when you factor in the weight of the power cord on a pack head.
Alien bee heads are 2.5 and 2.9 and 3.7 for 400, 800, 1600 units. Would depend on the brand. But pack lights tend be very light.
Lorin Edmonds wrote:
When you add heads with monolights you increase power. with packs each heads divides the power until you buy another pack. Start with enough power. Most pack systems have
lots of w/s to spare
Huh? Huh indeed. The cord would have to be 300 feet long to effect such a drop.
Photographer
Le Beck Photography
Posts: 4114
Los Angeles, California, US
I prefer monolights. I can carry them in my suitcase, and I always trip over the cords from power packs. If I had a studio, I might use a power pack but I would suspend the lights from the ceiling.
Photographer
Matt Knowles
Posts: 3592
Ferndale, California, US
Cspine wrote:
I like that my Normans have lightweight heads and I can adjust all heads from one location. Photogenic's DR line provides the same capability with monolights as they are remote controlled. When you have a monolight up on a boom for a hair light, remote control is wonderful.
The remote control feature was the main reason I went with the Photogenics, because I can control everything from camera position, without having a bunch of cables going everywhere.
My studio is well set up with outlets, and I use wireless from camera to the main light. So other than short power cords, there aren't any cables to trip over.
Photographer
Peace
Posts: 468
Dumont d'Urville - permanent station of France, Sector claimed by France, Antarctica
I own monolights but use both. The big advantage of pack lights (to me) is the ability to adjust them at the pack, rather than the back of the light itself.
It's a hassle to have to lower a light stand or climb on a stool to make an adjustment to the power on a monolight.
Photographer
SKITA Studios
Posts: 1572
Boston, Massachusetts, US
Neil A wrote:
I own monolights but use both. The big advantage of pack lights (to me) is the ability to adjust them at the pack, rather than the back of the light itself. Assuming the Radiopopper JrX Studios ever get released, you can do this from your camera running AB/WLs. Would that change your preference? :-)
Photographer
Peace
Posts: 468
Dumont d'Urville - permanent station of France, Sector claimed by France, Antarctica
SKITA Studios wrote:
Assuming the Radiopopper JrX Studios ever get released, you can do this from your camera running AB/WLs. Would that change your preference? :-) If I used AB/WL, yes it would.
Photographer
Nick of Vegas
Posts: 1486
Las Vegas, Nevada, US
Lorin Edmonds wrote:
Each time you add a extension cord you can loose up to 1/2 the poser depending on the brand. I hate posers!
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