Railfan Technology > Studio Strobes for RR Photography

Seems like there's a few of you out there in Photo Land that use studio strobes for outdoor RR photography at night. I'm talking about units like those from Lumedyne, Novatron, Quantum, etc. Q: Any recommendations on which are the best units for the money, most reliable and durable, etc, etc.?

Any info will be much appreciated!
--Steve Schmollinger

Richard, do the older LH2 lamp heads come with slave capability?

Never taken my studio stuff outdoors but I think now almost all mono lights have an optical trigger where one flash will fire all the rest. Just make sure your camera is not firing a pre-flash. I'll send you a gents name that does this kind of photography.

I have Alien Bees which I used for occasional portrait work. Work well and less expensive than others, most users report no problems with them.

Have not used outdoors for two reasons, 1st is a good battery power supply thats inverted to AC, and second dont have the sandbags to hold the light stands in place... once outside even a little wind will blow the stands down (not so good).

skyview Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have Alien Bees which I used for occasional
> portrait work. Work well and less expensive than
> others, most users report no problems with them.
>
> Have not used outdoors for two reasons, 1st is a
> good battery power supply thats inverted to AC,
> and second dont have the sandbags to hold the
> light stands in place... once outside even a
> little wind will blow the stands down (not so
> good).

Tim, don't the Vagabond power units work independently outdoors with the Bees? According to another user of the Bees, he uses Vagabonds outdoors and they work fine as the power source. He's planning to buy more Vagabonds so he has one per flash head, eliminating the need for long power cords. Q: Do you know something he doesn't?

I've got a like new Lumedyne 800 WS setup for sale in the Classified Ads section.

Be Well,

Tim Colbert K3HX

Beleive your right on the vagabonds but not having used them I don't really know for sure.

Lumedyne has a hanger that can be used to hang the power pack low on the light stand, to vastly improve the stability.

The Vagabond Mini will power Alien Bees or any of the other Paul Buff units for hundreds of flashes on a charge. They cost about $300. One of the best battery deals out there. Especially when the Profoto and Elinchrom packs cost $2000 or more.



schmo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> skyview Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I have Alien Bees which I used for occasional
> > portrait work. Work well and less expensive
> than
> > others, most users report no problems with
> them.
> >
> > Have not used outdoors for two reasons, 1st is
> a
> > good battery power supply thats inverted to AC,
> > and second dont have the sandbags to hold the
> > light stands in place... once outside even a
> > little wind will blow the stands down (not so
> > good).
>
> Tim, don't the Vagabond power units work
> independently outdoors with the Bees? According to
> another user of the Bees, he uses Vagabonds
> outdoors and they work fine as the power source.
> He's planning to buy more Vagabonds so he has one
> per flash head, eliminating the need for long
> power cords. Q: Do you know something he doesn't?

Don't count on optical slaves to work consistently in the great outdoors...inside, you have light bouncing off walls, floors, and ceilings that goes a long way toward helping them "see" the master light. There are newer strobes with built-in radio receivers, which saves you the cost of buying separate radio-control units (Pocket Wizards are quite popular but Quantum radio slaves can be bought used for a lot less).

Built in optical triggers will not work outdoors, unless you have them all bunched together. I tried. It doesn't work. Wound up buying Buff triggers for my Bee hive.

Since you're going to ask, the reason I didn't get Pocket Wizards was mostly cost, coupled with the fact that my set-up is a closed system -- I doubt I'll ever have the need to use anything else other than my own lights. A few friends have purchased their own camera triggers so they can "mooch" off my lights -- with recycle times of under a second, with a little bit of planning two or three photographers can get a shot of a moving train using the same lights.

Steve Barry
Railfan & Railroad