Balancing Speedlite & Studio Light

[natek313]

I am just wondering if any here have any experience in using an Alien Bee B800 studio light in conjunction with a Speedlite. I am thinking about purchasing an Alien Bee B800 to add another light to my setup. It would be cheaper than buying another strobe (I would get the 580EX II if I were to get another strobe), and I could use the B800's optical slave feature to have it be triggered by my 430EX II (if I understand it correctly).

If all that is correct, how difficult is it to balance the color temperatures of the strobe and studio light? Can I just set the white balance to the "flash" preset on my camera, or should I do a custom white balance by shooting something white so the camera can import the data?

I know ultimately there are too many factors that can affect white balance (ambient light, color of walls/ceilings, etc.), and I always shoot RAW, so fixing the white balance in post-processing isn't hard, but I'd like to get it as close as possible in camera.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

[bhursey]

Originally Posted by natek313

I am just wondering if any here have any experience in using an Alien Bee B800 studio light in conjunction with a Speedlite. I am thinking about purchasing an Alien Bee B800 to add another light to my setup. It would be cheaper than buying another strobe (I would get the 580EX II if I were to get another strobe), and I could use the B800's optical slave feature to have it be triggered by my 430EX II (if I understand it correctly).

If all that is correct, how difficult is it to balance the color temperatures of the strobe and studio light? Can I just set the white balance to the "flash" preset on my camera, or should I do a custom white balance by shooting something white so the camera can import the data?

I know ultimately there are too many factors that can affect white balance (ambient light, color of walls/ceilings, etc.), and I always shoot RAW, so fixing the white balance in post-processing isn't hard, but I'd like to get it as close as possible in camera.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

As for balance I dono if the AB800 shoots daylight. However you can balance with gels if needed. Do you want a mobile setup? If so just get the 580ex II or even buy a say SB-28 and get cheep radio triggers if your going to just do off camera. An AB is hard to lug around.

[natek313]

Originally Posted by bhursey

As for balance I dono if the AB800 shoots daylight. However you can balance with gels if needed. Do you want a mobile setup? If so just get the 580ex II or even buy a say SB-28 and get cheep radio triggers if your going to just do off camera. An AB is hard to lug around.

Given I don't have space for a studio setup at the moment, and I certainly don't have the money to rent one regularly, I would prefer a mobile setup. I mean, I certainly wouldn't be carrying it everywhere. I would just take it when I need it for a shoot.

I would go for a 580EX II, but it's around $120 more than the B800 (that's if I purchase it before January 16). In addition to that, I'd have to drop another $60 on CyberSync CSRB. That turns out to be almost $200 I could spend on other things like a light stand, softbox or umbrella, etc.

I'm torn on what to do. I'd really like to save the money, but I'm not sure if it's worth the hassle of trying to balance the two (430EX II & B800).

EDIT: You said I could balance with gels. What unit would I gel - the strobe or studio light? And this may be a dumb question, but are the Speedlites daylight balanced?

[ttosifa]

I have an AB800 and an AB1600, and I occasionally use them with speedlights -- the speedlights for accent or hair lighting. Before and after I bought my ABs, I asked about color temperature shift, particularly at low power. Some people swore there was no shift, others swore there was a shift, and one guy actually did a gray-card test and found there was a slight shift to magenta.

From personal experience, I think there is a shift at lower power towards magenta and maybe a tiny bit yellow. I always do a custom white balance, particularly when I change power levels. Colorwise, my pictures are always correct (whatever that means) straight out of the camera. I don't shoot RAW because I don't need to. But even on the occasions where I've forgotten to custom WB, the fix is pretty easy -- just straight line curve adjustments in the green and blue channels.

As for balance with speedlights (your actual question, I know), I think the answer depends on how exact you need your colors to be. The way I use the lights, there is no obvious or discernable difference in color. I think even if you were using one as a main and the other as a background, you probably wouldn't run into too many problems. But if you need perfect color (for product or catalog photography, or whatever), you should probably be using Profoto or something.

IOW, I don't think the problem is any more severe than combining flashes of different brands or even flashes of different age (which can also cause color mismatch).

[natek313]

Thanks, ttosifa!

Your comment is very useful. I don't need "perfect" color; at least I don't think I do. I would mainly be using the lighting for any portrait shoots I have (models, family, children, etc.). I don't really think I need "perfect" color for that type of photography since the subject is the person, not the clothes she's wearing or whatever.

It sounds like I could get away with the 430EX II and B800.

Decisions, decisions. Ugh...

[Benji]

All flash units from all manufacturers whether A/C or D/C and whether made in the USA, China, Japan, Korea or Europe are daylight balanced to 5500° Kelvin when new. Over time the flash tubes will tend to get warmer but if you shoot in Raw and shoot an 18% grey card before each session you will not have any problems whatsoever. My normal way of shooting is a Bowens fill light that is about 20 years old, a Photogenic Studiomaster II that is 30 years old, a cheap plastic Chinese unit that I use as a hair light that is two years old and kickers that are about 40 years old. None of these units have the exact same color tempertaure yet my images look great. This is because the lights tend to mix together and when I shoot a grey card I get perfect white balance in ACR.

Benji

[natek313]

Awesome. Thanks, Benji!