Studio lighting brands/manufacturers...

[Walkabout]

I see many of you are gifted studio photographers...
Suggestions please, on lighting brands...I want to put together a studio set-up, and as I shoot all available light thus far, am not schooled in which brands perform the best. From softboxes to slaves, the most reliable and "can take a beating" gear you know of, have experience with, etc. Functionality and longevity, quality, etc.
Thanks for any and all input.
Happy Trails, fellow photo geeks.

[Ken Benjamin]

What you are shooting in your studio has a lot to do with the lighting and accessories you need. Will you be shooting on location as well?

[Adaptive]

What you are shooting in your studio has a lot to do with the lighting and accessories you need. Will you be shooting on location as well?

VERY good question.
There are so many great options it really all depends on what kind of photos you will be taking.

EDIT: before you read all the stuff below a basic summary is.....
- If you want cheap and pratcical lights get Alienbees or Profoto or White Lightning.
- If you want great portable lights get Quantum
- If you want powerful professional lights and have $$$ to throw around get Broncolor or Elinchrom





Dynalite
Pros:
Very small & compact light heads.
Very powerful for their size
Cons:
Light heads can easily be damaged if not handled correctly or dropped.
Light heads need to be powered by power packs 2 lights per pack (they're kinda heavy)
You will have many cables running everywhere.

Alienbees
Pros:
Very affordable
They are pretty durable for what they are
Lightweight
Flash tubes last a very long time.
Built-in Optical Slave
Cons:
Cheaply built (plastic)
Not very powerful (1600w/s) is the most powerful and only 640 true w/s

White Lightning
Pros:
They are the bigger brother to Alienbees, more rugged design, more durable
More powerful too, the X3200 head has 800 true w/s
Cons:
No ready beep

SmithVictor
Pros:
Very affordable hot lights
Does not require sync cable or radio/optical slaves
Very portable, minimal power requirements
Cons:
Build quality isn't too great, basically just a light and a dish
No strobe, tungsten hot light only

Broncolor
Pros:
They build some of the most powerful heads you can get
Very lightweight heads, very powerful
AC Powered heads, or can get heads that run with battery packs
Cons:
Super expensive

Elinchrom
Pros:
Tough and rugged, well built
I think they have the most powerful light, 2400 true w/s
Cons:
Super expensive

Profoto
Pros:
They have a good build and design like broncolor and elinchrom but they are more affordable
They are more affordable and practical
Cons:
none that i can think of

Quantum Instruments
Pros:
Made for to be portable studio lights.
Very lightweight & Compact
Very strong for portable lighting units
Powerpack can also be used to power speedlites (as long as you buy the corresponding module cable)
Cons:
Not strong in relation to most high end studio lights
2 prong plug for radio slaves (no pc port which kinda sucks)
Can not use too many light modifiers (softbox etc) But they do have their own little softboxes you can buy.


I have no experience with these brands
Hensel
Lumedyne
Bowens
Novatron

[Walkabout]

thanks for a VERY informative breakdown...I appreciate it.

[jstuedle]

I can add an opinion on the Bowens strobes. In the US the prime vendor is Calumet and they store brand them. We have 2 750 and 2 250 Travelites. Ours are an older style, but have very good adjustment range, very well made, do have slave sensor and ready beep. They are a little bulky and heavy but no more so than other higher end strobes. To date, the only failure has been a modeling light burn out. One of the great things I like about them is there rating is true watt seconds. The 750s are really overkill in any but very large rooms. Compaired to say the AB or WL from Paul Buff, the 1600 I believe is only 640 W.S.

We also had older Lumidyne flash equipment when we shot weddings with the Blads. They were not TTL capable, but neither were the Hasselbalds. I will say the light quality was outstanding and abundant and they were reliable but very expensive.

[TX_Gulf_Coast]

You left a major player completely off the list: Photogenic

I can think of 6 or 8 Major studios in Houston, TX and they all use Photogenic Power Lights and that is just off the top of my head. One of the most versitle, dependable strobes in the business. I have have some of my strobe for close to 15 years and they have been droppped, carried around from job to job and they STILL preform without issue. They also have a very usable system for attaching and removing modifers. (Hensel is the only other system that has a better on/off system than Photogenic, in my opinon.) I have used many lights in my 20 plus years as a photographer and I continue to use Photogenic in my studio. I have over 12 Strobe of at least 650 w/s and two sets of the StudioMax III portable strobes I use for weddings. (320 w/s strobe, battery or AC powered - or a Vagabond type unit.)

My opinion:

Profoto - Way too expensive and I had a head explode on me.

Broncolor - Most photographers I kow that use these do alot of large complicated groups that need very powerful light. I have used some of their more powerful strobes when shooting large groups because I can get the light I need for the DOF I want at mid day.

Elinchrom - Very nice stuff. Have at points considered swapping over to these. But after consideration, I stuck with the Photogenics as the performance, dependability and maintenance costs are much better for photogenic. (Price your replacement strobe bulbs before you buy!!!)

AlienBee - I owned them three days and returned them. Wal-Mart of the Strobe business. Very cheaply built and modifiers will not last.

Quantum - Love these things. We have the T5Dr's and use the for weddings on a regular basis. (We do not use the little on-camera strobes.) Exposure is much more predicatable and consistent with these strobes than anything Canon TTL produced in my opinion.

Final opinion, if I have extra money, Elinchrom; if I were purchasing to get the best bang for the buck, Photogenic.

Bear in mind thou, I am full-time and run about 250 seniors through my studio a year. We use our strobes daily.

If you are just starting out and use them only a few times a month, you probably could make AlienBees work.

[LuisV]

Great advice here. Very valid points.

Here are a couple more. Another difference between the high end lights and the low end lights is consistency. This materializes in two places. One is in color temperature and the other is in power. Higher end strobes will consistently give you the same output with each firing. In other words, if you measure a given exposure and set your strobes, higher end strobes will give you the same output each time, with no variations. Cheap strobes can vary a bit. This could be a problem in certain situations. With respect to color, highend strobes tend to provide similar color (white balance) with varying power settings. In other words, if you shoot at full power, the color of the light will be similar to the color of the light when shot at 1/2 power.

I shoot Elinchroms. They are awesome. I use them all around, background, foreground, hairlights, everything. I love them and can't say enough about them. They also provide a pleasing light for skin tones. ie. They render skin very nicely. Another thing I love is the wireless trigger system they use. It's called Skyport. What is best about them is that I have control over output on everylight from my computer. In other words, I can raise or lower power, light by light from one place. (they provide the software for it) I can also create presets, for example, "Kids lighting" or "high contrast" ect. I then press a button to load the presets. I can also add or remove power from the camera mounted transmitter. All very cool.

I don't know if other brands do something similar (I really have not done the homework there) but do look into options. Some lights may have options that would be better for your needs.

Last but not least...... buy the best you can now..... Don't buy cheap and upgrade. It will cost you more in the end. Lights are like your cameras. Once you choose a brand, you will buy into a system. These lights have differences in mounts for modifiers. If you buy Alien Bees and then move to Elinchrom, all your reflectors are worthless. Think about this, because some are expensive and they last a long time. No sense in spending twice. Target for the best you can and then spend 20% more........... you'll be glad you did!