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DPChallenge Forums >> Hardware and Software >> Alien Bees VS White Lightning
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 10/04/2005 05:44:56 PM · #1
Any experience with these two in comparision. I know they are made by the company but I am curious to the difference in the two.

Also, any other good competition to these lights?

Alien Bees
White Lightning
 10/04/2005 05:45:54 PM · #2
//www.elinchrom.com/

Message edited by author 2005-10-04 17:46:00.
 10/04/2005 05:46:23 PM · #3
Originally posted by leaf:
Any experience with these two in comparision. I know they are made by the company but I am curious to the difference in the two.

Also, any other good competition to these lights?

Alien Bees
White Lightning


I love my dynalites. I wouldn't use anything else, except maybe for comet, but those are expensive.
 10/04/2005 05:53:40 PM · #4
Just showing my ignorance, but I was hoping to see some awesome picture of a freakish bee being zapped with lightening...I'm kinda disappointed! :)

Message edited by author 2005-10-04 17:54:29.
 10/04/2005 06:34:27 PM · #5
I own White Lightning strobes. 4 of them. They are fantastic, and the customer service from Paul C. Buff is outstanding.

The biggest difference between the AB and WL units is that the WL units come standard with a 250W modeling light. The AB's use a standard 100W bulb, but it can be upgraded to a 150W halogen bulb, but no larger. In my personal opinion, the extra brightness from the larger modeling light is a welcome addition in the studio.

The WL units also have an extruded aluminum case, as opposed to plastic (not saying plastic is bad; just pointing out a difference. The AB plastic housings are practically indestructible). The WL units can support larger lighting modifiers a little more easily because of their larger / more rugged construction.

Internally, the WL units have multiple circuit boards, instead of the single-board design used in the ABs.

Finally, the WL units have two independent sliders to separately adjust strobe output power and modeling light intensity (as well as a setting where the intensity of the modeling light tracks strobe power.) This is useful to have the modeling light at full intensity, like I do on my main light to keep my client's pupils from being "huge" (a common side effect of working in a dark studio). On the AB units, I think you can have the modeling lamp "On", or "Tracking" the power slider.

I am extremely satisfied with my WL strobes in my studio, and don't regret going with them one bit. However, I don't think you'd be disappointed with AB strobes either!

Message edited by author 2005-10-04 18:57:00.
 10/04/2005 06:43:53 PM · #6
Originally posted by EddyG:
I own White Lightning strobes. 4 of them. They are fantastic, and the customer service from Paul C. Buff is outstanding.

The biggest difference between the AB and WL units is that the WL units come standard with a 250W modeling light. The AB's use a standard 100W bulb, but it can be upgraded to a 150W halogen bulb, but no larger. In my personal opinion,
the extra brightness from the modeling light is a welcome addition in the studio.

The WL units also have an extruded aluminum case, as opposed to plastic (not saying plastic is bad; just pointing out a difference). The WL units can support larger lighting modifiers a little more easily because of their more rugged construction.

Internally, the WL units have multiple circuit boards, instead of the single-board design used in the ABs.

I am extremely satisfied with my WL strobes in my studio, and don't regret going with them one bit.


I think the WL lights are a bit on the "more power" end too. AB has the B400 (400 Ws), but the least powerful unit for WL is the X800 (800 Ws). WL also has the X3200 (3200 Ws), whereas the most powerful AB light is the B1600 (1600 Ws).

I have 4 AlienBees B400 lights, and they're great.

10/04/2005 07:00:02 PM · #7
The primary difference besides power is the white lightnings have more robust duty cycle. The lightnings can pretty much go all day, poping as soon as the capacitors charge. The bees will life span will be greatly reduced by pushing them that hard. For 95% of users the bee are all they need.

10/04/2005 07:14:43 PM · #8
Originally posted by hyperfocal:
The bees will life span will be greatly reduced by pushing them that hard.

I've never heard that before... and there is nothing in the AB manual about duty cycle that I could find. Even so, the Bees have a 2-year warranty (which even covers the flash tube), so push them as hard as you can during the first 2 years. Also, within those two years, you can upgrade your Bee to a higher-power Bee for the price difference + $25. (See AB guarantee page.)
 10/04/2005 08:16:59 PM · #9
Actually I prefer my Photogenic StudioMax II set to either of these.
 10/04/2005 08:20:59 PM · #10
Originally posted by mavrik:
Actually I prefer my Photogenic StudioMax II set to either of these.


Care to elucidate?

10/05/2005 08:45:23 AM · #11
Originally posted by mavrik:
Actually I prefer my Photogenic StudioMax II set to either of these.

Why exactly? The StudioMax II only has a 40W modeling lamp (which can only be set on or off, no tracking), take 3 seconds to recycle at full-power (the B800, which is 320 true Ws and 800 effective Ws, only takes 1 second), and the B800 has a much shorter flash duration at full-power (1/3200th of a second, compared to 1/120th of a second according to this page, which is important so you can stop motion, i.e. when your model is vogueing in constant motion, with fans blowing her hair all around) and costs only $60 less than a B800.

Also, according to this page, the StudioMax II 320 only has a Guide Number of 90 (assuming the standard 7" reflector). Although GN is not necessarily a good measurement to compare flash efficiency (just as watt-seconds are not), the B400 has a GN of 118 with the standard 7" reflector, and B800 a GN of 172. That indicates that the AB's are much more efficient in converting power (watt-seconds) to actual light output. So even a B400 would produce more light, and it costs only $5 more than the 320Ws StudioMax II...

So I am curious why you would prefer the StudioMax II over the Bees, let alone the White Lightning strobes? Not trying to "trash" your equipment, I'm just curious what I'm missing that the specs aren't telling me so that I can learn something.

Message edited by author 2005-10-05 08:53:54.
 10/05/2005 10:27:36 AM · #12
I love this site :-)
One of these days I will get the alien bees.
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