jim hancock

<p>Here is the beauty of Alien Bees, I've been behind the lens for 26 years now, I shot Normans and Speedos for years, then I got my hands on Alien Bees. While amoung the pro's some smirked at the bees.... (I do hate the name and pull the stickers off, and get only black) but if you pick up a norman head, and then pick up an Alien Bee head they weigh about the same, difference being, the Norman requires a boat anchor power pack, and the Bee is self contained! So you can stick them on a boom, or whatever and the weight is no problem, and they are very efficient......I rarely break out the Norman's anymore unless I need a tri-light or something...... I go with the Alien Bees because they are lighter, cheaper, hell they are almost disposable, when you consider a flashcube for a norman cost more then a whole Alien Bee, the White Lightnings are too heavy.<br>

Jim Hancock http://www.jimhancockproductions.com</p>

<p>Of course there is never any reason to use constant lighting for still images..... when strobes are such a perfect lighting solution, if there were a similar solution to strobes in the constant lighting world, what a terrific thing for motion pictures, rather then dragging in giant 5k lights, dealing with heat and blown circuits or not enough f stop and the inability to accomplish long throw and such.. Stobes are lightweight put out more light then the sun for the second that counts, the exposure, it's cool and it's daylight... Newbies learn to shoot with through the lens metering and are afraid of strobes, don't be in the digital age, you're getting instant feedback anyway...... also my Normans have sat on the shelve since I bought a bunch of Alien Bees, what great little lights, they put out a LOT of light, the heads are as light as a norman and the Alien Bee is Self Contained! But if you're looking for cheap, ebay has 250w moonlights, that look to be good quality, maybe a better build then alien bee, for $136 per head! Hell that's almost disposable...:)<br>

They are sold under the name of Fotga Flash Studio Photo Lighting, they say jianisi on the side, btw, a strobe is not a complicated device, they should be fine..... <br>

Jim Hancock<br>

http://www.jimhancockproductions.com</p>

<p>Of course there is never any reason to use constant lighting for still images..... when strobes are such a perfect lighting solution, if there were a similar solution to strobes in the constant lighting world, what a terrific thing for motion pictures, rather then dragging in giant 5k lights, dealing with heat and blown circuits or not enough f stop and the inability to accomplish long throw and such.. Stobes are lightweight put out more light then the sun for the second that counts, the exposure, it's cool and it's daylight... Newbies learn to shoot with through the lens metering and are afraid of strobes, don't be in the digital age, you're getting instant feedback anyway...... also my Normans have sat on the shelve since I bought a bunch of Alien Bees, what great little lights, they put out a LOT of light, the heads are as light as a norman and the Alien Bee is Self Contained! But if you're looking for cheap, ebay has 250w moonlights, that look to be good quality, maybe a better build then alien bee, for $136 per head! Hell that's almost disposable...:)<br>

They are sold under the name of Fotga Flash Studio Photo Lighting, they say jianisi on the side, btw, a strobe is not a complicated device, they should be fine..... <br>

Jim Hancock<br>

http://www.jimhancockproductions.com</p>

An alien bee receiver cannot be fired by a pocket wizard transmitter..... that's the

incompatibilty..... ..... the price on the alien bees optical system is great...... about 25

percent of the pocket wizard receiver...... if you have invested some in pocket wizards and

would like to add alienbees recievers...... then you would need to hard wire an alienbees

transmitter to a pocketwizard transmitter buy using compatible plugs... you could attach

one to your camera and one to your tripod.... so you'd be using 2 transmitters one to fire

your pocketwizards and one to fire your alienbee recievers...... that's a lot of trouble, but if

you use a lot of lights like I do...... it gives you a substantial savings or just sell your

pocket wizard system..... and go with the cheaper alienbees system...