In Your Opinion Which Would Be Better? (Alien Bees)

Hello everyone,

 

I'm looking into purchasing an Alien Bees lighting kit but I'm not sure which

would suit my needs better.

 

I do mostly portrait work of young children..... normally outside with an shoe

mounted flash for fill. However in the winter/colder months most take place

indoors, in the clients home. The down side to this is that it's often dull and

dark inside. Today I found myself shooting at f4 with an ISO of 1600, flash

output at +1, just to get a decent exposures. Because I was dealing with a 1

year old I wanted to keep my exposures at a nice 1/100th of a second. Now I've

got to deal with some noise issues because of the high ISO.

 

I've been toying for a while with buying a portable flash system just for this

very reason, but have been putting it off.... after today I realized that it's

time to get my lazy rear end in gear, and pony up for the purchase.

 

I've heard good things about Alien Bees, and I these are the two systems I'm

interested in, but I'm not sure which is better for me....

 

Would the 4th light be useful? Would having the softbox be better than

umbrellas? Just need some constructive opinions to help me think this through.<br>

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The two systems as listed:<br>

 

#1<br>

4 AlienBees B800 Flash Units<br>

4 CB1 Single Light Carrying Bags<br>

2 LS3900 13-foot Heavy Duty Light Stands<br>

1 LS3050 10-foot General Purpose Light Stand<br>

1 LS1100 Backlight Stand<br>

1 SB3060 30-inch x 60-inch Giant Softbox (with LGSR speedring)<br>

1 LG4X Four-Channel Wired Remote Control<br>

1 U32SW 32-inch Silver/White Reversible Bounce Umbrella<br>

1 U48TWB 48-inch Translucent White ?Shoot-Thru? Umbrella<br>

1 HG4X Set of Four Honeycomb Grids (10?, 20?, 30? and 40?)<br>

1 LSB48 48-inch Light Stand Carrying Bag<br>

<br>

#2<br>

3 AlienBees B800 Flash Units<br>

3 CB1 Single Light Carrying Bags<br>

1 V300 Vagabond Portable Power System<br>

2 LS3900 13-foot Heavy Duty Light Stands<br>

1 LS1100 Backlight Stand<br>

1 HG20 20? Honeycomb Grid<br>

1 U48TWB 48-inch Translucent White ?Shoot-Thru? Umbrella<br>

1 U32SW 32-inch Silver/White Reversible Bounce Umbrella<br>

1 LSB48 48-inch Light Stand Carrying Bag<br>

 

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Any input much appreciated!

Michelle

I just wrestled with deciding which strobes to go with. I finally settled on a pair of Flashpoint 1820's (900 w/s)- you can always dial down the power, but you cant add what you dont have, 1 Alien Bee 400 and wired remote (for hair light) 2 Photek 60" Softlighter umbrellas, 4 Adorama heavy duty stands and a Bogen Boom. I use a Photoflex x-small soft box for the hair light and a Photoflex rolling case to put it all in. Dont forget the Pocket Wizards to set off the lights, and a couple of heavy duty extention cords for power.

 

For portable power look at a Innovatronix sine wave power supply - I just borrowed one for a shoot, it worked great, plenty of juice.

What camera are you using? These lists seem like an awful lot of stuff to be taking to someones house to take portraits.

 

Why not just buy a couple brand matched speelights, and a couple of small light stands.

 

It could just be me, but I wouldn't want to haul all of that stuff to someones house, set it all up, take a few portraits, (worry about all of the liability), tear it down, and head home.

 

Mike

Hi Michelle - I agree with Mike... those are way too many lights for what you'll need. Ninety percent of my work is young children and I mainly shoot with one AB400 and a large reflector. Once in awhile, I add another fill light. I use their giant octobox and love it. If I were you, I'd start with one AB800, one heavy duty stand, giant softbox or octobox and a reflector and go from there. Good luck!

Get a pair of B800's so you have a backup.

 

Use only one most of the time- try it in a corner with a shoot-through umbrella. (Don't do this in a blue or green room because of color casts- in those rooms use it in normal reflector mode.

 

More than one stand in a home setting is hard to handle.

Thank you, thank you! You've all helped me put this into perspective a little better. I agree that all that equipment is a lot to lug around..... it would make sense to get the minimum now and build on that if necessary.

3 800ws powerpacks, 3 heads, 2 softboxes, 2 grid/reflectors, 1 collapsable 48" reflector, 4 light stands, occasionally a bkgd, Mac laptop for tethered shooting/review and digital camera/lenses/flash meter is my normal equipment pack for digital corporate location portraits.

I would get the AB1600's instead, or at least 1. You may need it if you are outside and want to do fill, especially if you are using stop-eating modifiers or even a bounce umbrella.

 

You can always dial down, or move the lights further away if you have to.

 

My recommendation is get 2 AB1600s.