jdesigns
03-06-2006, 11:02 PM
After much convincing of the wife, I finally allowed to order some Studio Strobe lights, aka Studio Flashes. :lol:
In doing research into what brand gave the best bang for the buck, Alien Bees came up on my searches again and again. In reading all the opinions, I did not find many negative opinions, which is quite surprising as most photog's are really picky about thier lighting. I finally made up my mind last week. I decided to go with the Alien Bees B800 in Deep Space Black. Here are some Specs:
True Ws--> 320 True Ws
Effective Ws--> 800 Effective Ws
Lumenseconds--> 14,000 Ls
Power Range--> 5 f-stops
Recycle to Full Time--> 1 second
Flash Duration--> 1/3200th second
Sync Voltage--> less than 6 volts
Weight--> 2.9 pounds
Dimensions--> 9" x 7.5" x 5.5"
First impression: I am pleased that Alien Bees shipped both B800 boxes taped together to save on shipping costs. :goodjob: Upon opening the first box, I was greeted by the reflector wrapped in plastic (as it should be.) It was well protected by ample space to keep from getting crushed by Brown, aka UPS. Stuffed on the outside, seperated by cardboard, were the Sync and Power Cords, both 15' long.
Getting down to the strobe itself, it was surrounded really well by cardboard, again with lots of space to protect from those burly UPS guys. :lol: Pulling the strobe out, even though it only weighs 2.9 pounds, it felt quite solid. The Sleek Deep Space Black body is made of Lexan, which is what Bulletproof glass is made of. The buttons and power slider were smooth and feel like they could take a bit of punishment.
The flashtube and modeling lamp were covered by a thick removable plastic dome, not some cheap bubblewrap.
One of the things that tipped the scales toward spending my hard earned money on these strobes was the warranty. The Alien Bees come complete with a 60-Day Absolute Satisfaction
Guarantee and 2-Year Warranty. If something happens after the 2 year warranty expires, most of the repairs are less than $40, and shipping from the factory back to you is included in that $40!
Another cool feature that some other expensive strobes don't have that the Alien Bees do, is user replaceable flashtubes. The Bees flashtubes typical life expectancy around 250,000 flashes.
Right now, I am shooting using them as Slaves until USPS delivers my Hot Shoe PC adaptor since my Nikon D100 does not have a PC connnector. :rant:
These two photo's were shot using one of the B800s, metered with a Sekonic L358 flash meter, ISO 200, 1/100th sec at f6.3. Both B800's have Photoflex convertable white umbrella's.
So my first impressions are that they seem to be well built and packaged with care. Having shot less than a dozen shots, I can't say how these lights will be long term, but I'll update this thread with my impressions after a while shooting with these.
For more information, visit the Alien Bees Beehive! (http://www.alienbees.com/index.html) :goodjob:
If you have any questions as to what some of this stuff means, feel free to ask! :D
:D
In doing research into what brand gave the best bang for the buck, Alien Bees came up on my searches again and again. In reading all the opinions, I did not find many negative opinions, which is quite surprising as most photog's are really picky about thier lighting. I finally made up my mind last week. I decided to go with the Alien Bees B800 in Deep Space Black. Here are some Specs:
True Ws--> 320 True Ws
Effective Ws--> 800 Effective Ws
Lumenseconds--> 14,000 Ls
Power Range--> 5 f-stops
Recycle to Full Time--> 1 second
Flash Duration--> 1/3200th second
Sync Voltage--> less than 6 volts
Weight--> 2.9 pounds
Dimensions--> 9" x 7.5" x 5.5"
First impression: I am pleased that Alien Bees shipped both B800 boxes taped together to save on shipping costs. :goodjob: Upon opening the first box, I was greeted by the reflector wrapped in plastic (as it should be.) It was well protected by ample space to keep from getting crushed by Brown, aka UPS. Stuffed on the outside, seperated by cardboard, were the Sync and Power Cords, both 15' long.
Getting down to the strobe itself, it was surrounded really well by cardboard, again with lots of space to protect from those burly UPS guys. :lol: Pulling the strobe out, even though it only weighs 2.9 pounds, it felt quite solid. The Sleek Deep Space Black body is made of Lexan, which is what Bulletproof glass is made of. The buttons and power slider were smooth and feel like they could take a bit of punishment.
The flashtube and modeling lamp were covered by a thick removable plastic dome, not some cheap bubblewrap.
One of the things that tipped the scales toward spending my hard earned money on these strobes was the warranty. The Alien Bees come complete with a 60-Day Absolute Satisfaction
Guarantee and 2-Year Warranty. If something happens after the 2 year warranty expires, most of the repairs are less than $40, and shipping from the factory back to you is included in that $40!
Another cool feature that some other expensive strobes don't have that the Alien Bees do, is user replaceable flashtubes. The Bees flashtubes typical life expectancy around 250,000 flashes.
Right now, I am shooting using them as Slaves until USPS delivers my Hot Shoe PC adaptor since my Nikon D100 does not have a PC connnector. :rant:
These two photo's were shot using one of the B800s, metered with a Sekonic L358 flash meter, ISO 200, 1/100th sec at f6.3. Both B800's have Photoflex convertable white umbrella's.
So my first impressions are that they seem to be well built and packaged with care. Having shot less than a dozen shots, I can't say how these lights will be long term, but I'll update this thread with my impressions after a while shooting with these.
For more information, visit the Alien Bees Beehive! (http://www.alienbees.com/index.html) :goodjob:
If you have any questions as to what some of this stuff means, feel free to ask! :D
:D