I'm looking to get a monolight kit and I was looking for some brand recommendations. I've used Profoto and Dynalite and am savvy to the Profotos but was wondering if anyone has any other recommendations.
Smoke jumpers have a pat answer to the question, "What brand of cigarettes are you smoking?"
Whatever brand you are!
Brand is a personal preference and choice.
$2-2.5K could be a little or a lot. And it's doesn't help eliminate many contenders.
How much monolight you need depends on how far you want to go and how much you want to do with it. I've had a real michmash of equipment over the years chasing this brand or that. I've settled on one system over the years, but I still use a wide range of products from some very inexpensive Interfits that work just fine to the Elinchrom 600RX's, which are cutting edge monolights that leave little left to be desired but would quickly blow your budget.
There is a tremendous range of quality products and brands capable of providing good performance that can meet your needs. You would do better to define your needs more specifcally than open the door to a pointless debate over which brand is best. Brand is important but it should really be the final determining factor not the first consideration in determining your needs. Would you limit yourself to one car brand before you looked at all mini-vans in a particular price range, if that is what you wanted?
What is important to look for in a brand when all else is considered is breadth of products, depth of system, availability, technical knowlegebase, customer service and possibly rental support.
Fortunately for you that covers almost too many brands to list without surely leaving someone out. Having said that there a number of brands that continue to surface to the top of the heap, not because they are necessarily the best but because, like Nikon and Canon, they work very hard to maintain their share and position in the market.
As to what I'm planning on using them for.. Pretty much everything :P I'm still a student trying to figure out what I want to specialize in, I was thinking of doing some table-top work, some interior architecture work, and was hoping to do outside work but would need a powerpack for that (or a realllly long extension cord!)
I use Bowens Geminis 500s. I like Bowens. I have lots of Bowens bits ad their beauty dish and ringflash adaptor for monolights are to die for. Battery Travel Pak works brilliantly. Light looks as good as anything else out there.
I work with students who are serious about growing in their lighting knowledge and proficiency. They often ask questions about brand because they simply don't know what else to ask. Sounds to me like you'll get past that in no time.
As someone looking towards a bright future don't hestitate to jump right in. But you would do very well to consider brands that you know will grow with you over the years. So maybe you're not ready to jump into that portable pack now, but it's nice to know that one will be there for purchase or rental in future without having to reinvest in your other light tools or modifiers.
You may already be aware that there are many brands that are very serious about supporting students with educational programs in their early growth period as developing photographers. You should discuss these opportunities with your teacher/mentor or inquire directly with the brands themselves.
One "Brand" I was looking at on the cheaper side is the Calumet Travelite kit. I am looking at the 1500 kit which comes with 2 750 ws lights, heavy duty stands, softbox etc for a price around $1100. You can buy a portable power unit for $500 which is small and light.
I checked them out and they are very sturdy. They are made by Bowens. I was looking at the Elichrom D series and the Travelites are more sturdy.
Just food for thought as Carmen was saying, not always the brand name.
Brit-007 wrote:
One "Brand" I was looking at on the cheaper side is the Calumet Travelite kit...
You can find some good deals on Travelites on eBay from time to time. I'm not sure why, but I've seen a bunch of them over the past month or so (possibly some are older units).
Brit-007 wrote:
One "Brand" I was looking at on the cheaper side is the Calumet Travelite kit. I am looking at the 1500 kit which comes with 2 750 ws lights, heavy duty stands, softbox etc for a price around $1100. You can buy a portable power unit for $500 which is small and light.
I checked them out and they are very sturdy. They are made by Bowens. I was looking at the Elichrom D series and the Travelites are more sturdy.
Just food for thought as Carmen was saying, not always the brand name.
I think they are kind of 90% the same as the basic Bowens Geminis but not quite. Elinchrom are a quite a bit ahead with some of the higher end remote control developments but Geminis are much better than D-Lites.
Plus some of the Bowens modifiers are utterly gorgeous and worth having in their own right - the ringflash adaptor, the softlite reflector, the supersoft 600, the wafer softboxes. It's all very much on a par with the Hensels, Elinchrom, et. al. I think Calumet own/part own Bowens so these aren't your cheapie chinese generics.
