AB1600 or ABR800?

marikris

Hi! Have a quick question: I'm new to OCF and after watching the One Light DVD, I thought it would be cool if I got an Alienbees B1600 for, say, overpowering the sun. I have 2 580EX's that I still have to try with my radiopopper jrx (with flashzebra hotshoe adaptor on one of em).

Then I found the ABR800 and thought how cool would that be to have a ringflash and an OCF 800ws light with the moon unit on a stick.

So my question is, which would you purchase if you were in a similar situation? I'm not sure if the ABR is enough to overpower the sun as I originally intended this next purchase to do.

chrisdg

I can't comment on the ABR800, but if you decide to go with the AB1600, I suggest holding off a couple of months, due to this...
http://strobist.blogspot.com/2009/10/rob-galbraith-posts-full-ab-einstein.html

marikris

Oh that's right, I forgot about these Einsteins being released soon...err, soon-ish...Maybe I can hold out that long, though "Looking like December '09 release (translation: ~March '10?)" might test me lol.

Art Scott

FWIW....always get all the power you can afford....you can always cut the power either with the dimmer on the strobe or if that is not enuff with ND gels........but you can not add to the Lacking power of an under powered strobe.........
This has been confirmed when I started the HOTSHOE DIARIES by Joe McNally.......he also suggest studying strobist.........

marikris

Art Scott wrote:

FWIW....always get all the power you can afford....

Oh yes, I have already decided that this is the way to go. I have my speedlites if I wanted even lower output. After much thought, I figured this much power for the price point is the best for my level of non-pro-ness, and for traveling light.

Tim Kamppinen

If you're going to be shooting outdoors, get the AB1600. It will be much more versatile as far as working distance and ability to use modifiers and still overpower the sun.

marikris

Thanks, TIm. Modifiers are good things to consider. I had thought to be satisfied with the moon unit on the ABR, but probably should rethink that. I want to have the flexibility of shooting in and out of doors, really.

I was reading about the Einstein today and super sad that they will not be compatible with radiopoppers JRx (no port), which I just bought. So the AB1600 it will probably be.

Tim Kamppinen

marikris wrote:

Thanks, TIm. Modifiers are good things to consider. I had thought to be satisfied with the moon unit on the ABR, but probably should rethink that. I want to have the flexibility of shooting in and out of doors, really.

I was reading about the Einstein today and super sad that they will not be compatible with radiopoppers JRx (no port), which I just bought. So the AB1600 it will probably be.

One thing you might want to consider is one of the white lighting strobes if it's in your budget. The X1600 is $120 more than the AB1600, but it has a 7 stop range instead of 5, and there's a 1/4 power switch as well. That means at full power it's basically like an AB1600 (but goes down to 1/128 power instead of just 1/32) and at 1/4 power it's like having an AB400. This makes it much more versatile because if you're shooting indoors and want to use shallow DOF, the AB1600 is going to be WAY too powerful. With the 1/4 power switch you effectively have two strobes in one.