Luminous Landscape Forum
Equipment & Techniques => Cameras, Lenses and Shooting gear => Topic started by: dwdallam on December 27, 2009, 06:56:06 pm
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I shot with an AB 1600 + the alien Bees 86" parabolic reflector for the first time last night. I couldn't get the f stop below 22 @ ISO 100/ 250th until I moved the light about 10 feet away, and that was at it's lowest setting. Do you think that's normal, or iare the light low settings not working?
I shot with teh light facing the back of the modifier and with a white diffusion panel on the front.
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Something sounds quirky with that... you shouldn't get f/22+ ISO 100 at 10ft on the minimum power setting with the B1600. That sounds like a full power reading to me.
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Something sounds quirky with that... you shouldn't get f/22+ ISO 100 at 10ft on the minimum power setting with the B1600. That sounds like a full power reading to me.
Must be broken then.
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Must be broken then.
That, or double check your ISO setting. Also, I occassionally mistake modeling light slider for power slider, and since the modeling light dims, I think i'm moving power. My studio partner has AB kit, and that's a common mistake for me, but not him, who's more familiar with the kit.
Even so, moving a source that large 10 feet is not far very far.
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The ISO was 100 for sure and the shutter 250. Those were the first things I shut down. I like to shoot at ISO 400 or even 800 because I have more control over the light that way, and as a double effect, I can shoot almost continuously at 2FPS, bam, bam, change model position, bam, bam, bam, and so on. Actually, the ABs lights don't have separate sliders for modeling and output. There is a button that allows the modeling light to dim with the decrease of light output--follow--and that's it.
I had the power slider all the banked up to the left.
I just now plugged the light in and it is cycling the power from low to high. Maybe the capacitor control wasn't set correctly and the low really isn't the lowest it should be. However, it did seem like very little flash compared to the high setting which "popped" when I pulled the trigger. Tomorrow I'll use a light meter and see what I can get.
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the 86 (and the other smaller ones as well) have amazing output....i shoot them with profoto d1 (500ws) and get f8 at less then half power at 8-10ft at 100iso....they are my new fav. modifiers....and cheap!
but you have to play around a bit....slide the head in and out, make sure the bulb covers the entire umbrella....and play with distance....they are not as easy to use and adjust as the "real" paras (briese)....but you can get the same results if you know what you are doing.....
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the 86 (and the other smaller ones as well) have amazing output....i shoot them with profoto d1 (500ws) and get f8 at less then half power at 8-10ft at 100iso....they are my new fav. modifiers....and cheap!
but you have to play around a bit....slide the head in and out, make sure the bulb covers the entire umbrella....and play with distance....they are not as easy to use and adjust as the "real" paras (briese)....but you can get the same results if you know what you are doing.....
They are wonderful I think they are my favorite too. Really impressed with what buff has done--and the price!
I still can't believe that with the power turned all of the way down I still couldn't get below f9-11 at 8-10' using iso100.
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Alien Bees support emailed me saying it sounded like I used the RJ11 jack instead of the synch port, which was indeed the case.
Thanks for your replies.