Yet more alien bees questions

Within the month, I plan on replacing my Photoflex Starlights with an

Alien bees flash system and Sekonic flashmeter. I am trying to save

money though and I was wondering a few things. I will be doing mostly

glamour and portrait photography using an Olympus E-10. I would like

to get 2 lights, but it is unclear whether I can get away with 2

b400s. 2 800s is 100.00 more, and that's a lot for me. Would the 400s

put out enough light on average to do full body type portraits? Would

it be beter to get 1 b800 instead of two lights to start with? I also

have the photoflex large softbox for the starlights and the heavy duty

stand that came with it, can I mount one of the alien bees on that

stand? I believe photoflex makes a mount for the softbow that will

fit, but will a B400 have enough power to shoot with a softbox of that

type? Finally, has anyone here used the alien bees with an E-10 and

can you give me any thoughts on using them.

I use AB's with a Nikon digital, and I think you'll like them. Consider splurging for the B800's instead of B400s, especially if you want to use with softboxes and reflectors. You can use one light plus reflector, and that's always a good way to start and refine your technique. The general consensus is to buy the highest power lights you'd consider using: you can turn them down, but not up, in power.

I use Alien Bees with an Olympus E-10, and have for nearly two years. The trouble is that my sets are usually quite small, i.e., table top stuff. There is ALWAYS too much light for that type of set up with my B800s (I have two). The nice thing is that I can always cut the light down to 1/4 or less which works fine with that camera at ASA 100. I also use these lights with my old Mamiya 645s and I seem to need more light even though I use slow film in them. You can always cut the light down, but it's much harder to increase it. Always get more than you now need. Needs change over time. I would advise (for what it's worth) that you get at least the B800. The cost to step up from B800 to the B1600 is substantually more than the step up from the B400 to B800. I think these are great little lights and they certainly do what I need at a reasonable cost. Great company to deal with too.