Agreed. no one ever stated that elinchrom and profoto have less color shift then alienbees in fact they definitely do color shift.
The point that others are trying to make is the noticeable difference of the color shift at the lower power output of the alienbees line which I had posted a sample of above. see f/5.6 result on the right side.
Elinchrom and profoto will shift and I encourage other profoto users to post samples of their power comparison like the piggy images above. I will run a test with my elinchrom d-lite 4 to show elinchrom's shifting sometime during the week.
If anyone in the los angeles area wants to let me borrow their ab800, ab1600, or ab400 for 5 minutes, i can run the comparison for those strobes as well.
I see the color shifting. If it's creating a white balance issue I'm sure it is easy enough to correct. Especially since most people don't change settings a lot over the course of a photoshoot.
The point I was making is that I regularly shoot with two lights at different power settings, one as main and one as fill, and I have never seen any difference in the color on the skin.
c2thew wrote:
Agreed. no one ever stated that elinchrom and profoto have less color shift then alienbees in fact they definitely do color shift.
Note that Profoto has three distinct designs. The Compact modulates light by voltage, and will shift Kelvin accordingly (PCB states -80K per f-stop reduction). The Acute2 packs modulate via capacitor bank switching, not voltage, so color temp is unaffected between whole stops (a varistor is used to trim fractional stops). The D4 uses IGBT technology, and remains within ±150K throughout its range 9-1200J with 0.1-stop resolution. I took extensive measurements of my D4, and determined that modifiers are most likely to induce unacceptable casts in multi-light setups. The environment can also impart nasty casting: I've been hit in surprising ways.
BrianO wrote:
For a few dollars more...okay, quite a few dollars more...you could get Einsteins instead of Alien Bees, and they have a mode that keeps color quite consistant across the power range.
Color shift isn't restricted to ABs, of course. Many models of flash, particularly in the lower-priced bracket, have the same issue.
OMG, I just spent 600.00 on ABs, 800s.. and now I find out a well known problem with them is chronic Color Shif?
alaskalive wrote:
OMG, I just spent 600.00 on ABs, 800s.. and now I find out a well known problem with them is chronic Color Shif?
Don't sweat it. Not a big deal for most uses. If your fill light is a little warmer than your key light it'll probably enhance a portrait, not detract from it.
If it's enough that it bothers you, gels are cheap.
alaskalive wrote:
OMG, I just spent 600.00 on ABs, 800s.. and now I find out a well known problem with them is chronic Color Shif?
It shouldn't be a big deal if you are using them for portraits. The problem occurs when shooting product photography which demands accurate color throughout the entire setup. For your purposes alaskalive you will be fine.
If you use an item like a passport color checker, you can always throw that in after a power adjustment.
I do it if the power swings are significant and or I add a modifier to the lighting. It's then in the work flow in sequence and I can take all those images past that point and apply the profile to them.
