New lighting!

[FrankieTDouglas]

Okay, so rarely do I "talk shop" about camera bodies and lenses. I couldn't even tell you what new lenses are out there for Canon... once I found what I needed, I stopped looking.

But...

I will geek out about lighting. Pretty easily.

In the trunk of my car, I carry a lighting studio. Two Alien Bees 800s and a 1600. A Vegabond battery unit, an assortment of umbrellas, a parabolic, medium softbox, various reflector boards, stupidly heavy tripod, light stands, 10-40 degree reflector grids, Cybersync triggering system, and around 200 feet of power cords.

And, I just submitted an order to round out the studio and basically fill in most of the gaps. Around Monday, the following should be arriving...

Alien Bee 1600
parabolic reflector
22" white high output beauty dish
mainframe unit along with barndoors
a backup transmitter
both a 13' light stand and a backdrop stand
a new silver/white umbrella to replace the one that died during the last windy shoot
and bags for various items

 

[ComputersaysNo]

Interesting. I'm going to follow your blog.

 

[Artful Dodger]

Sounds really sweet but you left out one thing…maintenance request for a bigger trunk for your car
So you really like your Alien Bees, what do you recommend for starters in a small space and where have you found the best prices/service?

 

[MattSepeta]

Awesome

I love your work, and will surely be following your updates!

What cities are you planning on stopping by? Minneapolis, by chance

 

[FrankieTDouglas]

Well, I order my lights straight from the company. http://www.alienbees.com

Great products, FANTASTIC service. If there is ever anything wrong with something, a simple phone call and then i just mail it in. Turnaround is great for getting the gear back and in fantastic working order.

Suggestions for a purchase? Well, I'm not sure what you're wanting to photograph, but two Alien Bee 800 lights and 3 48" umbrellas (2 shoot-thrus and one silver/white) would be a good start.

http://alienbees.com/digi.html

That's a package offer. The default lights are the 400 models. Now these work fine in small spaces, but I think are 160 WS. Not what you need if you take them outside in daylight at any point.

Also, be sure to purchase a transmitter and receivers. I'm currently using the standard CST transmitter and CBR receivers. This way, there are no cords running around between you and your lights to fire them.

The Cyber Commander is a great system, though a bit more expensive. I'll probably upgrade to it within the next year, but am fine where I am currently. Its biggest advantage is being able to control power output from your lights, straight from the hot shoe device. That way, i could put a light 13' feet in the air and never have to lower it to simply pull the power down and adjust. I could do all of that from the camera.

 

[compuwar]

Sounds really sweet but you left out one thing…maintenance request for a bigger trunk for your car
So you really like your Alien Bees, what do you recommend for starters in a small space and where have you found the best prices/service?

For a smaller space, AB400's are fine, and you'll get a more useful power range out of them than 800's. All Paul C. Buff products are direct sales only, they don't do resellers.

Paul

 

[tekmoe]

Very nice. I will be interested to see how this turns out!

 

[Artful Dodger]

Thanks compuwar!
FrankieTDouglas, is this spring/summer travel or a once a month trip to all those cool places? Glad you made this thread because folks like me starting out may do fine but the lighting from other sources is overlooked to say the least. Most I've thought about was getting an SB-800/900 and calling it a day until as of late looking at photo forums where folks take the time to setup some lighting just so

 

[FrankieTDouglas]

Thanks compuwar!
FrankieTDouglas, is this spring/summer travel or a once a month trip to all those cool places? Glad you made this thread because folks like me starting out may do fine but the lighting from other sources is overlooked to say the least. Most I've thought about was getting an SB-800/900 and calling it a day until as of late looking at photo forums where folks take the time to setup some lighting just so

This is a special trip to kick off the summer.

 

[Abyssgh0st]

Wow, great picture! The lighting really is superb, and provides a very surreal image.