Comments on: DIY: Alien Bees Power Pack — Lose Weight on Location for ‘09 — pt.1

By: Lane Nahrstedt

Lane Nahrstedt — Mon, 17 May 2010 04:10:30 +0000

I have been to your site before. Beautiful glamour photos. IMHO you have a nice blog

By: h

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:56:32 +0000

i mean you’re mentionning for the AB1600 flash duration as 1/600 th wich is oubviously too slow but the T5 is 1/1800th so i guess the real flash duration should be between these two speeds right?

By: h

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:43:02 +0000

Ok fine
And what about the AB1600?
still not sure about the flash duration but it seems OK for action. Seems around 1/1000th right?
does this battery set up would work or do we need to change the battery and/or inverter?

By: tim_kemple

tim_kemple — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 20:05:00 +0000

@ Paff — Because I was speaking to the Ranger RX head which is 1100W/s: http://www.elinchrom.com/products.php?p_id=64#content

By: h

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:02:18 +0000

yeah i saw that too
and what about the lumedyne?

By: paff

paff — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:23:23 +0000

How come the elinchrome is quoted as 1100 watts?
i thought it was a 400
http://www.elinchrom.com/products.php?cat=96

By: Tim Kemple » DIY: Alien Bees Power Pack — Lose Weight on Location for ‘09 — pt.2

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 07:59:28 +0000

[...] This is the second of a two part post, if you haven’t seen part 1 check it out here. [...]

By: tim_kemple

tim_kemple — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 02:22:15 +0000

The duration for the B800 are straight from the AB Website. I know lots of people who use the B800 at full power, the problem comes when you dial the power down. At lower power the B800 (and all Alien Bees) have slower flash durations. The B400 maintains flash durations above 1/1000 at all power outputs.

Yes the weight and therefor the price of the Alien Bee was calculated using the DIY battery + Head.
tk

By: Aaron Muchnick

Aaron Muchnick — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 02:13:05 +0000

Are you sure about the duration for the B800? From what I’ve heard, the B400 is the only Alein Bee acceptable for action photography. And how did you figure the overall cost of the alein bee? Im guessing its the head+the DIY battery and not the head+Vagabond II.

By: tim_kemple

tim_kemple — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 22:06:08 +0000

Ryan -

You are looking at $1.4k for the newest Norman 400b setup, it weighs about 8lbs, and has a flash duration (T1) of about 1/450th at full power. The durations get better as you dial it down (1/900) for half power etc. The 200b has the same durations, just half the power to start. I can’t imagine the old ones are faster, if anything they will more likely be slower.

These aren’t bad kits, although I don’t know what’s up with the 4lb charger. They have their own custom grids, reflectors, and soft boxes available too. I’m working on a bigger master list that will be updatable, I will get these on there for sure. Thanks – tk