Why Alien Bees?

[terribletomterrific]

Hi,

 

Does anyone know what Paul C. Buff's rationale was for introducing Alien

Bees. Seems like they're very comparable to White Lightning. What's the

point. What's he getting at?

 

Tom

[beyondphotos]

To give photographers another option I guess... Something a little less expensive and the wild colors may attract some white lightning customers... who knows...

 

Scott

[streetlevel]

I sorta equate it to buying a civic instead of an accord...

[jim c]

White Lightnings are built stronger and have cooling fans. They hold up better for commercial work even though I know some pro's like Art Ketchum use bee's too.

[frank_kimble]

Alien Bees also have fans'

[chris m., central florida]

ABs are slightly cheaper than White Lightning, smaller, easier to transport, and they are very reliable. They're the perfect answer for most folks who need a great lgihting setup at a reasonable price. I use mine for weddings, magazine shoots, advertising work, portraits, commercial work. They've not failed me yet. The ONLY reason I bought them over the white lightings was portability. The ABs fit neatly into my rolling tool cart.

[marcin harla]

For example WL are better built, and modeling light is 250W vs. 100W (150W if optional bulb is used).

 

<P>Same question as why Canon has 1D mkII and 20D, or Nikon F5 and F100, or... you got the idea. They are similar, yet different, and aimed at different market.

[johnmarkpainter]

I think that the Alien Bees are actually an old White Lightning Design (electronics). They

put that in a Plastic case and give it a dumb name to make it look semi-pro.

 

Great for me cause now I can buy them :)

 

I would guess that the Color Temperature might not be as constant with the AB's (A

GUESS...I have no idea) and there are probably a few nitpicky drawbacks with them, but

they are quite durable and work great and priced well.

 

LOVE THEM

 

jmp

[kelly_flanigan1]

More sexy than "Smith Victor" or "Mole-Richardson" :)

[jeff medkeff anchorage, a]

The color temp consistency with my AB's is no different than with the WL's in the rental studio I used to use. Neither is the exposure consistency. Which is to say, neither are perfect, both are far from bad. The main reason I got AB's is that my lights get thrown into and out of small planes pretty routinely (and large airliners rarely), and I liked the idea of a really hard plastic body and a very low price tag that would allow me to view the inevitable attrition with equanimity.

[dan_brown4]

I bought the Alien Bees because they are so lightweight, I use lighter stands, even with

softboxes. They are also very compact, they have cooling fans to inflate the softboxes,

power adjustment and tracking model lights work very well, and they seem to work

perfectly. Mine are a couple years old and they have given me zero problems. I might get

the wired remote pretty soon. BTW, mine are black.

[michael_spencer3]

Tom,

<br>

<br>

There is an excellent <a href="http://davidweikel.com/E20_Page/alienbees/bees.shtml">review</a> by Dave Weikel that goes into some detail about the Alien Bees. Most interesting to me is that he disassembled his unit and provides pictures of the 'insides'. He says "The reason Alien Bees are so small, light weight, fast and cost effective is because there is no transformer or switching power supply". Apparantly Mr. Buff's electrical engineering talents were applied to make a very attractive unit at low cost.<br><br>

Mike Spencer

[stevensimages]

Just one more person here to say that I have zero problems with my Alien Bees, whcih are the first studio lights I've ever purchased. Honestly, the only reason I can think of to get something more expensive is if I need more power. The White Lightnings and ABs are rated using the same standards, but the ABs only go up to 1600s. The White Lightnings have a 3200WS model.

Otherwise, I just can't imagine having any use for any features not available on the ABs. I meter the lights, I shoot a series of photos and when I get my negs back from the lab, they have plus or minus exposure values printed on the negative sleeves. Consistent to within a third of a stop, which is more than sufficient for anything I will ever do as a photographer. Anyone who does normal wedding and portraiture work who kvetches about ABs (calls them cheap, or "not really pro equipment)is just being an equipment snob.

Great lights, reasonable price.

[medina photography cherry]

White Lightning - Die cast aluminum (from the same stock as aircraft aluminum)

 

Alien Bees - Hard plastic.

 

ABees are the downgraded version of white lightnigs and he had some fun with it.

 

Either way Pual Buff company is great to work with.