Shadows won't stand a chance!

GAD

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Profoto-B2.jpg



As you probably know, all my photography is done on my office floor. I've manage to upgrade some things like my backdrop, and I've been using a softbox of late, but I have too many issues using speedlights (on and off-camera flashes) with things like power and too many damn AA batteries to worry about. I've been lusting after ProFoto strobes forever and since they just announced a new B10, people are dumping their B2s. I got this one on eBay for damn-near half of retail from a photographer that bought it as a spare and never used it. Of course, I've since spent a *ridiculous* amount of money on softboxes and speedrings to work with it, not to mention a ridiculously priced extension cable for one of the heads, but dammit, I now have a Profoto lighting rig!

For the photographers out there, this is a 250 watt-second setup and that is split between both heads. Given that my Canon speedlights were about 60 W/S each, that's a significant upgrade for me. Since I'm not outside shooting portraits and trying to outperform the sun, the 250 W/S is not an issue at all. In fact, for what I do 99% of the time a higher-rated strobe can be a problem because I might not be able to dial it low enough, but that's mostly me just justifying my purchase. :redface-new:

For the non-photogs out there, Profoto is the "why would you spend that much money on a light" company.
 
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GAD

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Grumble - mods please change "son't" to "don't" in the title.
 

JohnW63

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Bright like the surface of the sun ! I have an umbrella and a stand for shooting simple things. I had some creative ideas with my guitars, that I have never pursued, but, I was GOING to, when I got the gear. Nikon's remote flash system is really cool. I have too many almost hobbies.
 

dbirchett

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And here I thought you were going to outplay Hank Marvin.
 

HeyMikey

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Then please also change Shadows to Dhadows.
 

GAD

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Whelp, I shot a bunch with them today and I love the lights, but discovered a couple of things that I didn't entirely think through.

First, the pack is 250 W/S, so when i hook up both heads that's cut in half. Grumble. With both heads attached I can no longer dial each one up to 10. That sucks.

Second, the whole "I don't need that much power" argument was dumb. I generally shoot at f/11 or more for the depth of field and as a result I'm firing these things pretty much on max power all the time, especially since I'm shooting through softboxes. Sure, if i was trying to portraiture with a big softbox and lower DOF that would make sense, but that's 1% of what I do.

Third, since I'm firing at max power, the battery does not last long enough; I shot one guitar and the pack was dead. Luckily I'd bought another battery, but even the batteries are stupidly expensive because it's all pro gear.

I think i may have to step up to full-on 500 W/S monoblocs. Buying these was like getting the first taste of REALLY good stuff, though. In one afternoon I'm ruined.

The shadows really didn't stand a chance, though!

5D3_1102_1600.jpg
 

fronobulax

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It is a tribute to your technical writing skills that even when I start out not really knowing what you are talking about I end up knowing more than I did. You also do a good job of explaining why something is important or interesting.
 

GAD

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It is a tribute to your technical writing skills that even when I start out not really knowing what you are talking about I end up knowing more than I did. You also do a good job of explaining why something is important or interesting.

Thanks!
 

GAD

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After some pondering I raised my ISO to 200 from 100 and that allowed me to lower the power of the strobes by a full stop and keep the same exposure while shooting at f/11. That helps a great deal with the battery life but because i like to shoot with the modeling lights on, and that also drains the battery, I've come to the conclusion that this just isn't the right solution for my problem. If you watch any of the promotional stuff from ProFoto they use this system with one head which, of course, doubles the battery life and increases the power of the system by a full stop. I was trying to use a portable system for my "studio" and the limitations of the system just don't jive with my needs.

So I ordered a pair of Profoto D2 500 W/S monolights. All i can say about that is that I won't be buying that 2003 R7 Goldtop with the Brazilian Rosewood fretboard I'd been looking at. :grumpy:

To put my madness into perspective, I've needed studio lights for probably 10 years and just refused to buy them. I've had a set of Alien Bees in my cart for probably seven of those years and I'd waffled back and forth about which ones to get and how much to spend. For a while I was convinced that Elenchroms would do the job but I was never convinced. A couple of years ago I bought a pair of Canon speedlights and the radio transmitter and most of my photographs have been done with them, but I've never been happy with the results. Then I got this D2 system and I freaking love it but it's *just* short of what I need. The curse of being reasonably proficient at something is that you suddenly start to notice actual limitations of your gear.

Anyway, that's me justifying a Gibson Custom Shop R7's worth of money that I just spent on lights. Meanwhile one of my favorite guitar pics is me throwing a nightbird in the grass, flaws and all.

5D3_7495-16x9_1600.jpg



Honestly, I think opiates would be cheeper...
 

GAD

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Alien Bees! Now there's a name I haven't heard in a long time....

Yeah - they're still going strong. They released the Einstein a couple of years ago to great acclaim and I was convinced that those were the ones for me for a while.
 

GAD

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Got the D2s in today. Hol-ee-CRAP. WAY more light than I'll ever need, though the word "need" and I have a tenuous relationship at best.

The B2s are 250 W/S split between two heads while these are 500 W/S *each*. I swear I can feel the light shooting out of them. Crazy.

I flashed them too many times, though, and managed to trigger a migraine. When I feel normal again I'll take pics. Figure Friday. :emmersed:
 

GAD

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The upgraded strobe. It's a beast. Believe it or not, I have two of these! I don't have the room to use them both inside. I so need a bigger house.

Octabox.jpeg



I'm digging the results, though!

2018-LesPaul-R9.jpg



That's a 2018 Les Paul Historic R9. Sorry it's not a Nightbird. Sometimes I just need a Les Paul. :emmersed:
 
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