Can an alien bees 1600 be too strong for some situations?

[dennis osipiak]

Numerous lighting posts have the same reply..buy as much power as you can

initially afford. Just to be clear..since AB and other units can be dialed down

to 1/32 power etc, is it reasonable to assume that in a smaller setting

(smaller room..say at a house etc) that the AB 1600 won't present a problem with

being too strong? ( I know that ISO and f-stop factor into this but I still

want to ask the question.

Dennis

[uriah]

Well, I'm still new at lighting but I myself own one of these and have had to use a ND filter before on my 50/1.4 when opened up to 2.8. I like to have the main light close to get the catchlight a little bigger. Other than that no other problems shooting at f4 or above.

 

Good luck and maybe someone will chime in and help you out a little more than myself.

[Matt Laur]

Well, I'm sitting around this evening shooting some jewelry, and I'm using two AB800s. The situation seems to call for a pretty wide open lens, and here I am with a 50mm at f2.8 (for DOF reasons)... and both AB800s have to be shut all the way down to the lowest end of their range in order to not blow things out (and I'm at ISO 100!). Some light modification helps even more (in my case, a softbox on one light, and a honeycomb on the other) ... but they are pretty damn bright. I suppose some neutral denisity gels would be another way to deal with that. So, you're asking a very good question. If you'll be shooting with a lens closed up a bit more, you're in good shape... and I can't make an 800 as bright as a 1600 if I need it.

 

I got two 800s to see how I liked them, knowing I'd get at least one more light before long. Probably it will be a 1600 next for bigger work, followed by a 400 later for fill work, etc. It will be interesting to see what else you hear.

[andrew duncan]

Denis,

 

Another option would be to buy the White Lightning flash units. They are made by the same people as the Alien Bees, but are sold as pro level units. The <a href="http://www.white-lightning.com/flash2.html">white lightning X-1600</a> can be swithed to one quarter power, effectively making them an AB400 and AB1600 in one unit. I don't own either of these, but I came across this information on another forum.

 

<p>Hope this helps,

 

<p>Andrew

[garry edwards]

Dennis,

 

Depends on what you're shooting and the effect you want to get (i.e. whether you want to use a large or a small aperture) but whatever brand or model of light you have, there are almost bound to be some situations where you have too much power or, come to that, too little.

 

Neutral density gels are the standard answer for too much power. I find that 0.9 (3 stops) is about right for a flash unit with a fair range of adjustment - in effect, cut the light down by 3 stops and then adjust it upwards if necessary. 3 stops not enough? Double it, quadruple it.

 

And if you find yourself with too little power, as long as you're not selling your work and can make some quality sacrifices you just increase the ISO setting as necessary.

[eric merrill]

Dennis:

 

I've never shot at the minimum possible power with an AB1600. It's always been above that. So in my case, no...the 1600s are not too strong. Most of the time, I find myself shooting around 1/4 to 1/2 power. The times when I shoot greater than 1/2 power, I'm glad I went with 1600s instead of 800s.

 

 

Eric

[beauh44]

Hi Dennis, Here's my .02 cent's... feel free to ignore! It depends on how large your room is and how bright the walls are. I have several AB 800W lights and never get close to cranking them half way, even if I'm just using one. In fact, I sometimes have to use modifiers to lessen the light output because sometimes I like to shoot wide open and can't even with them cranked all the way down - there's too much light for the room that I often use.

 

If you're in a reasonably cramped space, then IMHO 1600w bees are overkill. If on the other hand you have gobs of room and dark walls, go for it!

 

Oh... I almost forgot; the lights really aren't linear. In other words I stupidly thought that if I bought a 400W bee, and cranked it all the way down, it would be half as bright as an 800w. Not so. If I take a meter reading of an 800W cranked all the way down and a 400W cranked all the way down, they're pretty much identical.

 

When you increase power you're actually increasing the duration of the light. But using your lights at low power has the advantage of fast re-cycle times. Good luck!

[picturesque]

Another factor is whether you are using a modifier or bouncing. I know that my Norman 200B suddenly became to strong even at 50 watt seconds to be my "room light" at wedding receptions when I went digital and began using wider apertures.

[conraderb]

dennis - for a small room, they can become powerful, especially if you like to get your lights REALLY CLOSE to your subjects.

 

I put my AB 1600s in a 2x3 foot softbox for portrait work and dialed down all the way, and I still got I get around f11 at ISO 100 at 5 feet away (I want SOFT light that falls off quickly!).

 

I don't like shooting above f11, so they are sometimes a bit too hot. on the other hand, when I shoot big reception rooms and crank them up to full power, it is great.

[bill c.]

Dennis-- As the previous respondents have said, it depends on what you're going for. If you want to shoot with very soft light at f2.8, like a lot of the NYC headshot artists are doing, there is pretty much no system out there that can give you what you want without a lot of finagling. I managed to do it with two AB800's and an 11-foor-wide, custom-made baffle.

 

For a technical example, using an AB 800 bounced into a 72" umbrella, placed about three feet or so from the subject for maximum softness, I was still getting almost f5.6 at ISO 100. I was using a brand-new, highly efficient umbrella and the shallow pan umbrella reflector. YMMWV, especially if you use an old umbrella.

 

If you like lights very soft and depths-of-fields shallow, then even the weakest monolights might give you more than you want. But for shooting groups and standard headshots and the majority of what I need them for, the AB's can be dialed down to a sufficiently low power for all of those.

 

Happy shooting. -BC-

[rehor]

Im going to get the 1600s - heres why (Am I making a mistake?)

 

Outdoors, Ill need the 1600s on a sunny day if I am using it with a softbox or the octabank and want it to have any impact

 

Indoors, I can always use ND gels over the lights to soften the light even if it is too much dialed down.

 

I just get the feeling that having 800s may not always be enough (especially outdoors when I want to blast the subject through an octabank or box).

 

Correct or not?