Alien Bees Recommendation?

MDalby

Do any of you have a recommendation for a flash unit for a rookie that would like to be able to do weddings and high school senior pictures? I am tight on money so I need the most bang for hte buck.

Thanks

Trevlan

MDalby wrote:

Do any of you have a recommendation for a flash unit for a rookie that would like to be able to do weddings and high school senior pictures? I am tight on money so I need the most bang for hte buck.

Thanks

You already have a great strobe. SB-800. What I would recommend is getting two SB-600s and something to trigger them remotely. This will be cheaper than getting Alien Bees. Raido Popper JRs are comming out in Feb, they should be way cheaper, but as reliable as Pocket Wizzards.

ziggy53

MDalby,

I presume you are wanting a portable studio type of lighting. While I can recommend the Alien Bees, I can also recommend the FlashPoint II monolights from Adorama. I use 2 of the 1820A lights and I find this power output almost ideal for what I do. Unfortunately, it looks like the 1820A lights are no longer available.

The 1220A lights are available and you can get a 2 head "Wedding" kit:

http://www.adorama.com/FP1220APWK.html

The stands are OK, but the umbrellas are a bit on the small side. I would suggest an additional umbrella and I use a 60" convertible for the key light. I use a 48" reflective umbrella for the fill light, but the 40" umbrella in the kit would probably be fine.

You will also want RF slaves for wedding work, otherwise you have to use cords or the optical slaves and neither of those options is preferable. The built-in optical slaves work great for studio lighting where you have control over other's flashes.

Cygnus Studios

Trevlan wrote:

You already have a great strobe. SB-800. What I would recommend is getting two SB-600s and something to trigger them remotely.

The SB800 is a nice master that will trigger the Sb600 remotely. It is a cheaper option but not as good as the Alien Bees.

This is a great portable setup

CkPhoto

he can already trigger his sb800 and sb00's as well witht he d300 but the distance is limited.. but it works perfect for what I do.

Trevlan

Cygnus Studios wrote:

The SB800 is a nice master that will trigger the Sb600 remotely. It is a cheaper option but not as good as the Alien Bees.

This is a great portable setup

That is a nice portable setup, accompanied by the SB800 and SB600 for fill, or backlight, guess you can't go wrong with that. I'll most likely pick that up after I get my D300 in a month. Can't wait for the radio poppers. The Pocket Wizzards are just too expensive, and the ebay triggers might be too cheap.

One thing I noticed about the AB's, it looks like a giant light bulb. Is that the main flash bulb or just a modeling light? I never worked with one of these so excuse my ignorance.

CkPhoto

I'm sure AB's work the best but, consider the size of them.. I wouldn't want to carry those around... If I could afford one I'd have some though

gryphonslair99

CkPhoto wrote:

I'm sure AB's work the best but, consider the size of them.. I wouldn't want to carry those around... If I could afford one I'd have some though

Actually for weddings they aren't bad. The photographer that did my son and daughter-in-laws wedding used a White Lighting 1600 with a 48X72" softbox in the horizontal position. He used it for the pre and post ceremony shots at a height of about 7 feet in church with large vaulted ceilings. Filled the alter area with ample light. Not really a during the ceremony kind of unit, but excellent for before and after.