Lighting and Pocket Wizard Questions

Lee Massey

Hello all,

This is my first post on dgrin. I am looking at getting some studio strobes along the lines of Alien Bees or White Lightning and I had a few questions.

1) In respect to the Alien Bees, what is more popular, the AB400 or AB800? I don't want to limit myself in regards to power but I have often heard that many people don't even use the AB400 at full power. I suppose the AB800 at a lower power setting would have a lower recycle time.

2) How many lights do you use in a typical light setup? For learning I will stick to one and then slowly add more lights however I live in Canada an only want to order these lights (plus shipping/duties/taxes) once...

3) I would like to get some Pocket Wizards as well. For those of you that use them, do you have 1 receiver per light or do you use 1 receiver for the main and trigger the remaining strobes of off the main light (i.e. slave)?

Any advice would be *greatly* appreciated... :

Thanks,

Lee

Shay Stephens

Welcome Lee, good to have you aboard.

1) I am one of the people that does not use the AB400 to full power. It depends on the size of the space you are trying to light and the aperture you will be using. The AB are AC powered, and I have never had a problem with recycle time using them. And the AB800 is a stop brighter than the AB400, so you're not talking a big difference there anyway. So what it really boils down to is what are you going to be shooting, where, and with what?

2) I frequently use between one and three lights. I have eight lights (bees and sunpak), but rarely use more than 3 at any one time. A two light setup would be practical (main & fill or main & background), and three would be ideal (main, fill, background). But if you have specific needs, then of course buy however many you need :-)

3) The Bees have an optical slave built in. So you could easily get by with a pocketwizard transmitter on the camera, a receiver on the main light, and the rest triggered optically off the main. You don't have to worry about other receivers unless you don't want them being triggered optically (i.e at weddings)

jimf

Lee Massey wrote:

3) I would like to get some Pocket Wizards as well. For those of you that use them, do you have 1 receiver per light or do you use 1 receiver for the main and trigger the remaining strobes of off the main light (i.e. slave)?

I use a single receiver and set the other lights on slave. This is a little bit of a bother during setup (have to keep moving the receiver around whereas if I had one per light I could just flip channels) but is otherwise very effective.

Probably the best little gadget I ever bought was the PocketWizard adapter card for my light meter. Very very handy, and cheap at like $25 (assuming you have a compatible meter that is).

Lee Massey

Shay Stephens wrote:

Welcome Lee, good to have you aboard.

1) I am one of the people that does not use the AB400 to full power. It depends on the size of the space you are trying to light and the aperture you will be using. The AB are AC powered, and I have never had a problem with recycle time using them. And the AB800 is a stop brighter than the AB400, so you're not talking a big difference there anyway. So what it really boils down to is what are you going to be shooting, where, and with what?

Thanks for the advice Shay... I really appreciate it.

Shay Stephens wrote:

2) I frequently use between one and three lights. I have eight lights (bees and sunpak), but rarely use more than 3 at any one time. A two light setup would be practical (main & fill or main & background), and three would be ideal (main, fill, background). But if you have specific needs, then of course buy however many you need :-)

I was originally thinking either three or four (main, fill, background, hair/kicker) but I imagine I could save a bit of money by going for three and using a reflector (already owned) as fill. Hmmmm... Food for thought.

Shay Stephens wrote:

3) The Bees have an optical slave built in. So you could easily get by with a pocketwizard transmitter on the camera, a receiver on the main light, and the rest triggered optically off the main. You don't have to worry about other receivers unless you don't want them being triggered optically (i.e at weddings)

Interesting. I recall one of your posts from a wedding where you mentioned that you used cross lighting. I am assuming that in those cases you didn't use the AB's but instead used the Sunpack with the Pocket Wizards (for portability reasons - no AC). Is that correct? That would make a lot of sense... If so, do you use umbrella's as well or just bare flash. I imagine that the umbrella's would provide a softer light but make the arrangement a little less portable.

Also, did you use the "heavy duty" AB stands? I hear many people stating that they are much better than the ones that come standard....

Thanks again for taking the time to help me. I really appreciate it.

Lee

Lee Massey

jimf wrote:

Probably the best little gadget I ever bought was the PocketWizard adapter card for my light meter. Very very handy, and cheap at like $25 (assuming you have a compatible meter that is).

Thanks for the advice! I was looking at this myself along with a Sekonic L-358 meter. I heard that if you purchase it with the meter it is $25 but if you buy it after it is $50!?! Strange...

Anyway, I truly appreciate the advice...

Thanks,

Lee

jimf

Lee Massey wrote:

Thanks for the advice! I was looking at this myself along with a Sekonic L-358 meter. I heard that if you purchase it with the meter it is $25 but if you buy it after it is $50!?! Strange...

I bought mine afterwards for $25.

In a previous note you talked about using a reflector to manage fill instead of a dedicated light. That will be make it a lot harder to get the right light balance between main and fill. If I'm looking at cutting down light count (and I do, because I don't have a dedicated studio so the fewer lights to lug around the happier I am) I tend to eliminate either hair or background or both.

Lee Massey

jimf wrote:

I bought mine afterwards for $25.

That is good... I just heard complaints from others regarding buying it afterwards. After some investigation I saw this:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=221079&is=REG

It is strange... The price is $49.99 but when you add it to your cart it says it is $25. A little confusing...

jimf wrote:

In a previous note you talked about using a reflector to manage fill instead of a dedicated light. That will be make it a lot harder to get the right light balance between main and fill. If I'm looking at cutting down light count (and I do, because I don't have a dedicated studio so the fewer lights to lug around the happier I am) I tend to eliminate either hair or background or both.

Thanks for the advice Jim... I know what you are refering to (or at least I think I do ) when talking about managing the fill with a reflector. Thanks again...

Lee

Shay Stephens

I was originally thinking either three or four (main, fill, background, hair/kicker) but I imagine I could save a bit of money by going for three and using a reflector (already owned) as fill. Hmmmm... Food for thought.
In a small area, fill is usually not a problem, especially if you already have white walls.

Interesting. I recall one of your posts from a wedding where you mentioned that you used cross lighting. I am assuming that in those cases you didn't use the AB's but instead used the Sunpack with the Pocket Wizards (for portability reasons - no AC). Is that correct? That would make a lot of sense... If so, do you use umbrella's as well or just bare flash. I imagine that the umbrella's would provide a softer light but make the arrangement a little less portable.
That's right, I use the sunpaks on location because you can never count on AC power being where you need it. Plus the cords can be a hazard. I typically use the flashes bare. If I use an umbrella, it's on the roving light or during formals. When you use the flashes bare in a big venue, you can light larger areas with less power than if you use an umbrella. But it depends on the venue. If I need to I use them.

Also, did you use the "heavy duty" AB stands? I hear many people stating that they are much better than the ones that come standard....
There is a contingent out there that harps on the "biggest baddest equipment or die" philosophy. I do on-location work, and portability is more important to me than having a lightstand that will outlast cockroaches. I use the regular old 10 foot stand. Have been using them for over 2 years and can predict many more years of use before they bite the dust.

When someone suggest something is better, get specifics. Everyone has different needs, and too often, those narrow needs dictate what the person recommends as "better". If their needs match your own, then good, if not, then take the recommendation as such until you can get an opinion that is more objective to your usage.

I have the 13 foot stand, and while it is the only practical stand to use with the boom attachment and or giant softbox, it is at the same time big and heavy and I rarely use it. The minimum standing height is a whopping 4 feet and a minimum leg spread of 3 feet. It is more of a specialty stand for me. I actually wind up using the wee little background stand more often ;-)

So it depends on what equipment you will be shooting with and where, etc. that determines what equiment really is better than others.


p.s. the pocketwizard remote for the sekonic L-358 is pure gold even if twice the price ;-)

Lee Massey

Shay Stephens wrote:

That's right, I use the sunpaks on location because you can never count on AC power being where you need it. Plus the cords can be a hazard. I typically use the flashes bare. If I use an umbrella, it's on the roving light or during formals. When you use the flashes bare in a big venue, you can light larger areas with less power than if you use an umbrella. But it depends on the venue. If I need to I use them.

That's what I thought, but good to know for sure... I can see how at a wedding this would work *very* well. Of course, the PW make this a great option...

Shay Stephens wrote:

There is a contingent out there that harps on the "biggest baddest equipment or die" philosophy. I do on-location work, and portability is more important to me than having a lightstand that will outlast cockroaches.

I must admit that the cockroaches comment made me laugh out loud! Point well taken...

Shay Stephens wrote:

When someone suggest something is better, get specifics. Everyone has different needs, and too often, those narrow needs dictate what the person recommends as "better". If their needs match your own, then good, if not, then take the recommendation as such until you can get an opinion that is more objective to your usage.

You are right... I think that I have been putting a little to much emphasis on what other people feel is better rather than spending enough time on what my needs are...

Thanks,

Lee

p.s. the pocketwizard remote for the sekonic L-358 is pure gold even if twice the price ;-)

Thanks... It definately sounds like a great time saver and an extremely useful accessory...