Originally posted by brofkand I suppose I should come up with a budget, then I can get some recommendations.
Thanks! What is it with the current infatuation with small strobes? I don't see the attraction to be honest...inferior light, and to be honest I think it looks unprofessional to have SB-600s taped to door hinges while commanding $5000 for a shoot...I guess that's just me.
Quite honestly that sounds like the "it's not FF, it's no good" or "you're not shooting with Canon or Nikon, you're not a professional" arguments.
If someone has the talent that commands $5000 for a shoot, should they get less for using less expensive equipment? That's just good business right there on their part.
Now on to the original question: You're saying portable flashes are as much or more expensive as the studio strobes. Sure, $350+ for an AF540GZ, that's as expensive as the B1600.
But unless you need all that power, what's the difference? Well, for starters, almost 3 pounds difference. I imagine you'll need a heavier duty/more expensive stand to hold up the B1600.
On pricing, you're comparing apples and oranges. You said initially "unless you buy an undedicated, fully manual flash" - Well isn't that what the Alienbee is, essentially? (just a lot more power) So for $50-$70 you can get a used Vivitar all manual flash. So for that same $360 you could get 5 manual flashes. If you're not lighting up a huge studio or trying to overpower the sun all the time, you just opened up a lot more options to light your shots than you do with that one Alienbee.
Not that I'm saying the Alienbees aren't good, or aren't useful, actually they are very good and I would love to have some. But if someone does get $5k for a shoot and uses small flashes taped to doors
and gets the shot, isn't that all that matters?