Strobe System Advice?

[nicholas_siebenmorgen]

I'm about to invest in my first strobe kit and would like some

professional advice. I shoot everything from still-life to fashion and

was considering buying Speedotron equipment because of the

price/quality. My question is would you recommend buying two 1200 watt

packs or one 2400 pack? I plan on working with 4 strobe heads at

first. Does anyone have any complaints about Speedotron or

recommendations for other systems? By the way I do have experience

with strobe lighting so this won't be my first time using strobes.

thanks for any help.

 

Nick

[danny_liao]

I would say buy one 2400 than save up for one 1200 or two 600 later. You don't want to be stuck with not enough power. I would also recommend you look into Dyna Lites.

[ellis_vener_photography]

Two 1200 packs. If you really think there are times where you'll need more than 1200

watt-seconds going into a single source make one of your heads a bi-tube head.

 

Speedotron is very reliable gear. The next step up is Profoto and that gets very expensive

very quickly.

[fotofile2002]

I dislike Speedotrons because they are heavy and dangerous. If you accidentally unplug one of the packs (like I had one client do) they blow. I would recommend Dynalites instead. They are easier to travel with and a far better system. Eiterh that or buy a used Profoto set - they are the industry standard.

[bill c.]

Nick-- I fully agree with Michelle. I have found Speedos to be the worst built of all the alleged "professional" grade strobe systems.

 

I highly recommend Comet strobes. I've had some of mine since the 1980's, and they work and look like new despite having been slammed through airports, set up in dusty outdoor environments, and popped for hours on end in commercial shoots day in and day out. No problems ever. Dyna-lites are also good, and ProFoto/Acute units are excellent and very light-weight.

 

I would recommend two 1,200-WS systems, no matter which system you decide to get--if you can afford it. There are several reasons for this. First, you will have redundency, in that if one pack goes out, your second one can carry you through. Second, there will be times when you will be going on location, and lugging a bigger pack along will run your body downhill faster than you think. Third, there may be times when you will want to set up some lights far away from the primary area you are photographing in (this happens a lot on architectural shoots), and the cables just won't reach. And fourth, with many systems the variable power will move all the heads up and down in lock step. With two generators, you have much more independence of variation.

 

95% of the times you will require the full 2,400 WS of power you will be using multiple heads, so putting all the power through one head won't be a factor. Even if that is the case, most manufacturers put out heads that will take power from more than one generator.

 

Frankly, if I were in your position I'd be looking at the compact systems from Comet and ProFoto/Acute. Beautiful little well-built jewels. I've had Speedotrons blow up on me and literally come apart in my hands.

 

Happy shooting. -BC-

[todd_k.]

Check out the Norman D12R. It is a thing of beauty.

[nicholas_siebenmorgen]

Thanks for your suggestions. I've been assisting photographers and have acutally seen a Speedotron pack blow from it being unplugged while turned on. I'll check out Profoto, Dynalite, and Comet though I know they are pricey. I'd rather do it right though the first time.

 

Nick