Nikon SB600 - SB800 vs AlienBees - Test Results

04/28/2009 07:53:10 PM · #1

A lot of people are asking how does portable flash compares to studio strobes such as AlienBees. Well today I found out thanks to a wonderful photographer Amy Dunn who let me borrow AB1600 for a few days. Check out her site AmyDunn Photography

The setup was simple. One umbrella with variety of light sources. Sometimes I used multiple flashes in the same umbrella. Camera setting were all the same (1/250,iso 100, etc) and only aperture changed from shot to shot. I visually checked if expose matched from shot to shot so give these results +-1/3 stop.

So here are the results...

SB600 - f4
SB800 - f5.6
SB600 + SB600 - f6.3
SB800 + SB600 - f7.1
SB800 + SB600 + SB600 - f8

AB1600 1/8th power - f5
AB1600 1/4th power - f7.1
AB1600 1/2th power - f10
AB1600 full power - f16

Nick

geoffb

04/28/2009 08:23:57 PM · #2

What power are your Nikon strobes at? 1/1?

Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 24-70mm f/2.8G ED

04/28/2009 08:33:11 PM · #3

Originally posted by geoffb:

What power are your Nikon strobes at? 1/1?

oh yeah.. good one.... all Nikon flashes were at full power

Neil

Fujifilm X-T30

04/28/2009 10:01:50 PM · #4

Hey Nikolai, while you have that there, does the AB work with Nikon's wireless system?

It would be cool to have a monoflash, but my D90 doesn't have a sync output! I presume it can trigger as a slave, but does that really work in practice with the Nikon?

VitaminB

Nikon D800

Nikon AF-S Zoom-Nikkor 28-70mm f/2.8D IF-ED

04/28/2009 10:21:39 PM · #5

I am very interested to see where this thread goes.

Currently, I am looking into either getting strobes, or getting a pair of SB600's (I already have an SB800) and some umbrella reflectors.

The only problem is that I have NO CLUE what to look for, how it works, and only vaguely know what Nikolai meant by:

SB600 - f4
SB800 - f5.6
SB600 + SB600 - f6.3
SB800 + SB600 - f7.1
SB800 + SB600 + SB600 - f8

AB1600 1/8th power - f5
AB1600 1/4th power - f7.1
AB1600 1/2th power - f10
AB1600 full power - f16

So, I would love to hear from someone that knows... what would you recommend? Getting a pair of SB600s, or an AB1600 (or another set of lights for that matter).

I mainly want this for portraits, and would find portability convenient.

Thanks in advance for any help.

04/28/2009 10:43:49 PM · #6

Originally posted by nshapiro:

You can trigger AB from any flash. You can even use your P&S with it! I don't know if Nikon pre-flash communication will falsely trigger AB. You can always use SB in manual mode but I gotta see what happens in auto. Will test soon...

Nikon AF-S Zoom-Nikkor 28-70mm f/2.8D IF-ED

04/28/2009 10:50:03 PM · #7

Originally posted by VitaminB:

.... and only vaguely know what Nikolai meant by....

Another way to sum the results is combined power of SB800 + SB600 + SB600 = to about AB1600 at 1/4th power.

Basically AB is dumb cheap and very powerful. SB is very smart and small but doesn't give you much power. SB give you abilities to control other slaves from the distance and gives you enough power for typical tasks.

VitaminB

Nikon D800

04/28/2009 11:15:00 PM · #8

Originally posted by Nikolai1024:

Originally posted by VitaminB:
.... and only vaguely know what Nikolai meant by....

Another way to sum the results is combined power of SB800 + SB600 + SB600 = to about AB1600 at 1/4th power.

Basically AB is dumb cheap and very powerful. SB is very smart and small but doesn't give you much power. SB give you abilities to control other slaves from the distance and gives you enough power for typical tasks.

Thank you. This gives me a good starting point.

geoffb

04/29/2009 12:37:39 AM · #9

To add to what Nikolai said, remember that the type of work you do is very important. If you're interested in outdoor portraits, then get something like AB1600s. However, if you work with your strobes close to the subject at wide apertures, there is such a thing as your lights being TOO powerful.

04/29/2009 09:50:49 PM · #10

Originally posted by nshapiro:

...
I presume it can trigger as a slave, but does that really work in practice with the Nikon?

Just tested it and it work fine as long as your flash is set to manual mode. During auto/master mode AB will fire off too early being triggered by pre flashes.