Alien Bees and studio size

I am going to get a four light package of AB's, my studio at this time is 16'X20', will the B800's be to powerful, I'd like to be able to grow a bit without buying new lights, however, dont want to have to shoot at 1/500 and f/16 or somthing like that.

The B800 would not be too powerful for your planned studio. No flash system is ever too powerful since you can dial in the amount of light that you need. A strobe can be too weak but never too powerful. For the size of your studio, the B800 might just be enough. But it would be a good idea to get one B1600 at least for the main light just in case.

plumcrazy20 said:

I am going to get a four light package of AB's, my studio at this
time is 16'X20', will the B800's be to powerful, I'd like to be
able to grow a bit without buying new lights, however, dont want to
have to shoot at 1/500 and f/16 or somthing like that.

Click to expand...

If I understand it correctly, the WL1600 has a 7 f-stop range. It's 1/128th power setting is equivalent to the lowest setting on the AB400. And you always have up to full power if you need it.

I've read that some folks have to use neutral density filters on their lenses to effectively reduce the power of their AB800's if they are working in small studio spaces. The WL1600 might be overkill, but if you plan to need more power later on, it might be worth it. It might cost nearly twice that of an AB400, but it has 4 times the maximum power.

plumcrazy20 said:

I am going to get a four light package of AB's, my studio at this
time is 16'X20', will the B800's be to powerful, I'd like to be
able to grow a bit without buying new lights, however, dont want to
have to shoot at 1/500 and f/16 or somthing like that.

Click to expand...

The ABs have steepless adjustments in power. Like I said before, the concern should always be too little and not too much.

shanstu70 said:

If I understand it correctly, the WL1600 has a 7 f-stop range.
It's 1/128th power setting is equivalent to the lowest setting on
the AB400. And you always have up to full power if you need it.

I've read that some folks have to use neutral density filters on
their lenses to effectively reduce the power of their AB800's if
they are working in small studio spaces. The WL1600 might be
overkill, but if you plan to need more power later on, it might be
worth it. It might cost nearly twice that of an AB400, but it has
4 times the maximum power.

Click to expand...

If you can just turn them down, why does anyone need ND filters in the studio? Especially someone like Chuck Gardner, who knows his stuff - http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1025&message=9460635

From what I've read, "stepless" means between the stops. 1/32 power of 160 wattseconds is as low as it will go on an AB400. That means the lowest ws on an AB400 is 5ws, and the lowest on an AB800 is 10ws. 1/128th power of a 660ws WL1600 is 5.16ws, which would put it's lowest power setting on par with an AB400.

Can you get less than 10ws with your AB800? Since you have an AB800, maybe you can clarify this for me. Like I mentioned before, I'm still researching all of this before I purchase. And I said, "if I understand it correctly," which I may not. Please let me know if your AB800 can go down to 5ws, or even 1ws, then I need AB800's instead of WL1600's. I'd love to save $200 per light on this!

Respectfully,

Shannon

I have to agree with shanstu70. I found my WL 800's to be too powerful, forcing me to shoot at f/16. Once I got my 1600, I was able to shoot at a nice f/5.6.

-jonathan

http://www.jc-photographer.com

shanstu70 said:

If you can just turn them down, why does anyone need ND filters in
the studio? Especially someone like Chuck Gardner, who knows his
stuff -
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1025&message=9460635

From what I've read, "stepless" means between the stops. 1/32
power of 160 wattseconds is as low as it will go on an AB400. That
means the lowest ws on an AB400 is 5ws, and the lowest on an AB800
is 10ws. 1/128th power of a 660ws WL1600 is 5.16ws, which would
put it's lowest power setting on par with an AB400.

Can you get less than 10ws with your AB800? Since you have an
AB800, maybe you can clarify this for me. Like I mentioned before,
I'm still researching all of this before I purchase. And I said,
"if I understand it correctly," which I may not. Please let me
know if your AB800 can go down to 5ws, or even 1ws, then I need
AB800's instead of WL1600's. I'd love to save $200 per light on
this!

Respectfully,

Shannon

Click to expand...

Most strobes would be used with light modifiers so the light output decreases quite a bit compared to the factory specs would are rated mostly with a large reflector. And gues shantu70 meant 1600 first and then 800. I personally have used the 400s, 800s, and 1600 and have found the 800s to be just ok in most situations. it would allow you to shot at around f11-16 depending on the light subject distance. The 400 at around f11 and 1600 around f22-32. And this is the maximum output. I use them mostly with a softbox. If you use a silver umbrella you will be able to get more light. So if you think that you don't need more that f16 then the B800 are fine. Now if you are shooting tiny item for ebay or a catalog then the B400 are more than enough since the lights would be fairly close. But for portraits the B800 would be the minimum and as I said, I would reconmend the B1600 as the main light just in case you need more light.

domussua said:

-jonathan

http://www.jc-photographer.com

shanstu70 said:

If you can just turn them down, why does anyone need ND filters in
the studio? Especially someone like Chuck Gardner, who knows his
stuff -
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1025&message=9460635

From what I've read, "stepless" means between the stops. 1/32
power of 160 wattseconds is as low as it will go on an AB400. That
means the lowest ws on an AB400 is 5ws, and the lowest on an AB800
is 10ws. 1/128th power of a 660ws WL1600 is 5.16ws, which would
put it's lowest power setting on par with an AB400.

Can you get less than 10ws with your AB800? Since you have an
AB800, maybe you can clarify this for me. Like I mentioned before,
I'm still researching all of this before I purchase. And I said,
"if I understand it correctly," which I may not. Please let me
know if your AB800 can go down to 5ws, or even 1ws, then I need
AB800's instead of WL1600's. I'd love to save $200 per light on
this!

Respectfully,

Shannon

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

I find B800 to be near minimum at fulll-length or couples distance once you put it in a softbox or bounce it from a reflector.

--
RDKirk
'TANSTAAFL: The only unbreakable rule in photography.'