I am looking to have a 3 light set up. I have $1000 right now, so, I am planning on buying a White Lightning 1600 and an Alien Bee 400 right now along with some type of modifiers and stand within the next week or two.
I a few months, I will add a second White Lightning 1600.
Does this sound like a lighting set-up that will be workable? If not I would like to hear what you would recommend. I am looking for the most verstile kit.
When seeking equipment advice it is necessary to describe the types of situations you plan to shoot: Indoors? Outdoors? Portraits? Weddings? Sports Team Photos?
Getting X1600's instead of AB1600's will let him take them down to 5WS, as opposed to 20WS with an AB1600, so it's definitely more versatile. If you can afford them, the WL's also have a better mount.
Don't forget about at least one good trigger and receiver. You can get by with that for now by just using the built-in slave sensor.
The reason I asked about intended usage is because the combination of WL1600 and AB400 doesn't seem to make much sense, especially when planning to buy another WL1600.
Unless you plan to overpower the sun outdoors the WL1600 may be overkill and a pair of AB800s would be sufficient. If you do plan to shoot outdoors the WL1600 is a good choice but your overall budget should include portable power like the Vagabond II. Either way I don't see the AB400 as being a very good choice.
As Baclionur pointed out one the versatile features of the WL1600 is its ability to scale back to 1/4 power (equivalent to an AB400) making it ideal for dual outdoor team shots or indoor/outdoor portraits. That being the case two WL1600 + Vagabond II would be a better use of the limited budget that winding up with 2 x WL1600 and the AB400.
Chuck, I totally agree with you about the Vagabond, but sometimes you just need 3 lights. The AB400 is only 2.5lbs and is perfect for booming without a counterweight. For anything indoor/studio-ish, 2 lights run out real fast, especially when you're using a non-black BG.
You can survive with 2, but as far as actual versatility goes, it's rather questionable.
I am looking for the most vestile kit. I will be shooting people anywhere from 1 to 5 people.
I have read that I should be concered about having too much power, but at the same time I do not want to be presented with a situation where I don't have enough power. I am looking to buy for the long haul. So I thought that since the White Lightning 1600 can be stopped down to use the same amount of power as an AB 400 that set up could work well indoors.
Again, shooting indoors I don't want to be over powered. So I think that I would be safe with 2 White Lightning 1600s stopped down to 1/4 power. But I want to know, will that be enough light with the 2 at 1/4 power?
Being able to go from 5-640WS is a whole lot better than what you'll find from almost any other monolight. The only question is if you'll need more than 2 light sources.
bacilonur wrote:
Being able to go from 5-640WS is a whole lot better than what you'll find from almost any other monolight. The only question is if you'll need more than 2 light sources.
I plan to buy the WL 1600 and AB 400 now, and in a few months, another WL 1600. I will use the AB 400 as a background, or hair light.....If this sounds like it will make sense.
But to throw another wrench in my head, what do you think about 3 Elinchrom Dlite 4 heads?
I've had Alien Bees 800's and 400's and did not like the output slide controls or output constistency, especially at lower output levels. Obviously, that's just one person's findings. Now I have Elinchrom and am very happy. Besides my BX strobes I have 2 D-Lite 2's. Great little lights with very consistent color quality and output. Wonderful controls. Plenty of light for hair, background, fill, or when you need to shoot wide open, etc. Plus Elinchrom modifiers are fantastic.
supermarvin76 wrote:
I will use the AB 400 as a background, or hair light.....If this sounds like it will make sense.
Counterintuitive as it sounds, it is not uncommon to need more power at your BG light or hair light than your key light. Especially if you plan on using gels, snoots or grids on any of them. Even without gels BG lights are often placed at greater distances to get coverage particularly with high key. Not taking into account you could easily need two stops (4X) over key if you want a white background. And if you want good recycle rates you don't want one light working harder than the rest and slowing everything down.
I'm all for units with greater range. The temptation most often is to buy more power needed than rather less, forsaking the low end and units that are better matched and more overlapped in performance. There is such a thing as overkill especially with digital and in typical small studio environment. I'm looking at cameras today with a minimum ISO of 200. Ouch.
The WL is a solid unit with great range, the 800's make more sense on the AB side and the digital D-Lite 400's will give you a bit more power than the 800's with greater accuracy and control in the low end. 400 ws is a pretty good all around range. I usually recommend starting out with mid range units and then adding an extra unit later for the low or high end depending on what you determine the need is to make the system perform to optimum. You'll always have a use for the mid range units.
Buying a 2 light kit and adding the 3rd later might not be the worse strategy starting out.
It would give you a chance to familiarize yourself with the units in different scenarios to better assess your needs in a 3rd light.
Now I am leaning more towards the Elinchrom D Lite 4 kit. I think that I'll have an extra $200-$300 to invest if I go with the D Lite 4. What other accessories would be ideal with this kit.
I'll still plan to add a third light in about 2 months.
If I only had $300 left and could only buy one thing, I would buy either a 39" or 53" Elinchrom Rotalux octagonal softbox. Or a 39" and a 39" square Lastolite Skylite reflector kit.
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