Opinions of Studio Strobes Needed

[pahowes]

I'd like to buy one or two strobes for use with my 5DMk2 body and need your help.

I intend to buy a kit that includes strobe, stand, and diffuser. I'm not sure if I should go with a brolly, lightbox, or one of each. Thoughts?

Brand-wise, I have heard a lot of good things about Alien Bees and their Beginner Bee or DigiBee packages look good. But, given that the light output of the B400 is 160 J, Calumet has their own store-brand Genesis 200 J units for less money. I have heard that Bowens is the actual manufacturer of the Genesis line, which means finding accessories could be easier.

While I understand that Alien Bees has great customer service, I live near the Boston Calumet location, so there is always someone I can scream at in case of problems.

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

[zona5101]

I don't know what you plan to light...but buy enough light. If you're doing singles or small groups a lower output light maybe be just fine. Bigger groups or larger settings may prove more difficult to light. Umbrella AND softbox depending on what and how you want to light...but remember your softbox will chew up light so...buy enough light.
Calumet is a great store and their Travel-lites are well respected (and Bowens) I don't know about their new small lights but I can only assume if they put calumet name on it they are better than fair.

[pahowes]

Thanks for the tips!

Most immediately I have some Christmas portraits planned.

In the near future I'll shoot group portraits of children at a local dance gallery. Since the costumes are quite colorful, I think a plain white background will make them pop. The overhead lights are really harsh in the studio, so I will need to get at least one, possibly two in the front to remove the shadows. Because of the amount of top-light, I probably won't need a hair light.

Thinking of "bang for the buck" for a moment, I did some searching on flea-Bay for strobes. There is a storefront named "e-Photo Discounters" that sells no-name brand 300 Joule strobes in packages (kits) for pretty short money. Are these worth considering?

[jdepould]

Nevermind, I didn't realize w/s and joules were the same. For monolights, those ratings all seem to be in the ballpark. Given the ISO quality on newish cameras, you could also bump it to ISO400 with basically zero problems.

Also important to consider is your distance to subject. If you want soft light, you're going to be positioning your lights pretty close to your subject, where they'll be extremely effective (inverse square rule).

I work with 1200w/s 4-channel speedotron packs pretty regularly, and it's actually a pain when I'm shooting on one of my bodies with a base ISO of 200. I usually have the pack dialed all the way down to -2.0.

[inkista]

The Strobist posted recently on choosing monoblocs.

[pahowes]

@jdepould Sorry about the confusion in terminology! I'm still not completely "with it" regarding the accepted acronyms. I have an electronics background, so I automatically convert Watt-seconds to Joules in my head. :-)

@inkista I wish Strobist would complete the series! It looks like he's going to draw it out over the course of a few weeks. *grumble*

[nuttsiuws]

Good post. I appreciate it.
Many thanks to ur post. I love it.

[pahowes]

After a week of research I had decided to go with a set of Calumet Genesis strobes. They looked like a good bang-for-the-buck, and the Boston Calumet location is near me.

I found a Genesis 200 kit (strobe, stand, and umbrella) on eBay, which I won for $75.

Then, I found a pair of Calumet Travelite 750 strobes for $450. I couldn't pass that up! At the same time I was bidding on those, I found another pair of slightly older Travelite 750 strobes on Craig's List, also for $450.

So, for under $1000 I now have four 750s and a 200. I bought a couple stands and umbrellas yesterday for the 750s and will start using them shortly.

Thanks for all the input! I can't wait for Strobist to finish his Monday series... I'm rather curious what he's going to decide.

[zona5101]

Originally Posted by pahowes

After a week of research I had decided to go with a set of Calumet Genesis strobes. They looked like a good bang-for-the-buck, and the Boston Calumet location is near me.

I found a Genesis 200 kit (strobe, stand, and umbrella) on eBay, which I won for $75.

Then, I found a pair of Calumet Travelite 750 strobes for $450. I couldn't pass that up! At the same time I was bidding on those, I found another pair of slightly older Travelite 750 strobes on Craig's List, also for $450.

So, for under $1000 I now have four 750s and a 200. I bought a couple stands and umbrellas yesterday for the 750s and will start using them shortly.

Thanks for all the input! I can't wait for Strobist to finish his Monday series... I'm rather curious what he's going to decide.

holy smokes! you are all set to light up just about anything. Nice job on equipment procurement!

[pahowes]

Thanks! I thought I got pretty lucky with all of that. The one 750 that was nonfunctional (expected) has been sent out to Calumet's main office in Chicago. I should hear back in a few days what it'll cost me to get it fixed.

I may have a photo shoot this Saturday and will need all the lights I can get. My daughter's dance studio is hosting a "Santa's Workshop" trolley tour of the town it's in. They're going to decorate the studio this week and have someone dressed as Santa. As far as I know they don't have a photog, so I've offered, but yet to hear back.

I'll shoot with my 5DMkII tethered to a MacBook Pro. My wife can print them from Aperture as fast as the tether allows.

The attached photo shows what a couple of 750s and a white sheet can do.