Your opinion- which monolight strobes are the best?

ddtrieb

Please help!!! I am stuck and trying to figure out where I want to sink my money, but can't make a decision. The most I want to spend is $3,500. I have watched a ton of YouTube videos and still can't decide.

Parke1953

You can send it to me cause I'm sure I can help you spend it. LOL
Oh your going to get a lot of help with that.

Vipmediastar_JZ

Look into the Godox ad360II TTL. Godox ad600 and Rovelight 600. Those are making a good name recently.

I have the ad360. They are 300ws rounded down. Weight is not an issue and they run on a battery pack and you get 300-500 shots depending on usage.

Nikoniser

How many strobes do you want ?

What features do you want ? ( TTL/HSS ? )

How much power do you want ?

How do you want to trigger them ?

Once you know the answers to those questions....you can start to narrow it down.

ddtrieb

I want a minimum of two strobes, would prefer TTL, but it is not a deal breaker. As for power, I would like a minimum of 500 w/s, and to trigger them wirelessly.
To be honest, I would really like to buy a couple profoto B1's, but are they worth the money? Are there better lights for less money???

@Vipmediastar_JZ I have looked those in the past, I may revisit them again.
@Parke1953 I think you are right!!

nek4life

Are you planning to shoot on location? B1s are very expensive because they run off of a battery that is made to clip directly into the light itself. I have been doing the same research because my White Lightning I've had for 10+ years is on the fritz. There is a dizzying amount of options out there and you're really buying into a system when you buy lighting.

I haven't bought anything yet, but from doing research I've found that.

– Profoto is expensive, but is apparently easiest to rent from most places when you need modifiers for a specific shoot.

– Elinchrom modifiers look amazing and are quick to setup. Try to find some videos they look really easy compared to the speedrings with spokes.

– Paul C Buff's softboxes have a similar setup that open like an umbrella.

– Flash duration is important depending on what you want to shoot and if you need to freeze action, but also if you just want the sharpest pictures to stop small movements in portraits.

Check out this video if you want to build a location kit.



I'm personally interested in the ELB 400 from Elinchrom just because I like the idea of doing location shoots, it's tiny. I can trickle charge using in a studio and I can use Elinchrom modifiers. However, they are super expensive compared to what I could get if I just went with regular monolights and monolights would probably work better for continuous studio uses. I have a small space so the size of the ELB 400 is really appealing. Having easy to setup modifiers is also a huge deal for me because I can't leave lights setup at home currently. I also would like a system that I can control the lights from the camera and not have to constantly fiddle with the back of each light. I've been doing that with one light for a long time, I would imaging it's even more a pain once you start adding more lights to your setups, especially if they are up high in the air.

ddtrieb

@nek4life I do plan on doing a majority of the shoots on location, and am intrigued by setups that are battery powered. Most of all, I am wanting to avoid running cables everywhere. I watched the video that you posted, and that seems to be where the Profoto interest is coming from. Right now, I am confused and am looking for opinions.

paulr

I think your confusion could grow.

DenverShooter

I carry an Elinchrom Ranger Quadra with the high speed AS heads, extension cables, 3 umbrellas and a soft box. 400 watt seconds. Expensive but great.

Denver Shooter

nek4life

The profoto B1s seem like they would have the same problem as regular mono lights since they are big and heavy. And also expensive. I'd probably want an assistant holding that sucker up. You have cords with the other systems. B2s and B3, but the actual heads are much lighter. If you don't want to run cords you could get 1 battery pack per head. Just a thought. The battery packs can also double as sandbags. especially the one that DenverShooter mentioned. It's 12lbs! ELB is much smaller, but less powerful.

http://www.richardterborg.com/blog/elinchrom-elb-400-review/

Vipmediastar_JZ

IF you want TTL the Godox ad600 (there are 4 versions 2 are manual and 2 are TTL, the other 2 are godox mount and Bowens mount). Adorama will carry the TTL version, Godox version will aslo have TTL. For now CheetahStand will not offer the TTL version. They can be triggered with the X1 remotes.

Rovelight on sale is 400.00 from adorama and offer HSS

Both lights the battery clip onto the light.

Ad600 is about 500ws and Rovelight is 600ws. Rovelight you need HSS remotes like the yongnuo 622 to trigger it.

JakobG

ddtrieb said:

Please help!!! I am stuck and trying to figure out where I want to sink my money, but can't make a decision. The most I want to spend is $3,500. I have watched a ton of YouTube videos and still can't decide.

Since you mention the Profoto B1 but are budget conscious, you could do worse than take a look at the Interfit S1.

I'm a Brand Ambassador for Interfit and have done a lot with the S1 now, after spending a long time renting the Profotos.

http://www.danishapple.com/2016/02/interfit-s1-review/

Any questions go ahead and ask