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02/28/2008 08:39:49 AM · #1 |
What's the difference? Is there a difference?
When do I use one, in preference to the other?
What factors do I consider in choosing, for home portrait setup? |
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02/28/2008 09:26:10 AM · #2 |
A strobe is any kind of flash.
A monolight is a strobe that is all in one- the powersupply, bulb, etc. The other kind is called 'pack and head' - the flash head and power pack are seperate items.
Monolights are generally cheaper and of the lower power (compared to 2,000ws or more for pack and head systems) needed for home portraitture.
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02/28/2008 11:05:48 AM · #3 |
| There may be a typo above. I think monolights do not include any power supply, I thought you have to plug them into an A/C outlet. They might include a power voltage converter. |
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02/28/2008 12:08:54 PM · #4 |
Originally posted by justamistere:
There may be a typo above. I think monolights do not include any power supply, I thought you have to plug them into an A/C outlet. They might include a power voltage converter. |
No, Prof's right, it's just the terminology is a bit confusing.
When he refers to the power supply, he means the charging/discharge circuitry that creates the flash in the flashtube. It's not just a voltage converter. The voltage and current capability of those circuits is much, much higher than anything coming out of a wall socket.
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02/28/2008 01:42:59 PM · #5 |
Okay, so let's talk about advantages / disadvantages of each. Here are a few of my thoughts:
With monolights, each light is a complete system. If one light goes out, any other lights will still work. With a power pack and heads, if the power pack goes out, all of the heads are dead. Advantage Monolights.
On the other hand, monolights have duplicate circuitry required for each light. Whereas with a power pack, it's all concentrated in one place. So each light in a monolight system is more expensive than a light in a power pack + head setup. Advantage power pack and heads.
Any other thoughts? Pros and cons for each?
I personally went the monolights route. That meant that I also had to buy Pocket Wizards (transmitter and receivers) for my setup. However, I have rented power packs with built-in PW receivers. So I think there can be some advantage there too if you don't already have PWs. Especially because a power pack only needs one receiver whereas I had to purchase two receivers (I don't want the slave sensor to fire my strobe when I'm on location, because then Uncle Joe's P&S flash might set off my strobes and I don't want him doing that).
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02/28/2008 01:54:33 PM · #6 |
A monolight weighs a lot more than a flash head. It's not such a big deal until you have a light on top of a 13' stand and it's wobbly.
Both have some sort of cable attaching the light to something else. Just run the cord through the legs of the stand so that if someone catches it on their foot, it will pull the bottom of the stand, making it more likely to just slide a bit as opposed to tipping over.
Pack systems can be MUCH more powerful, with some heads taking a full 4800 Ws. Probably not an issue for your average portrait shooter, but all that power can come in handy if you want to light something big.
Each monolight needs an outlet and you really don't want more than 2 lights on a 15A circuit. I can run 4 heads on one power pack, more with a power divider.
(Yes, you can plug an outlet strip into the wall and plug a bunch of lights into that, but you're just asking for blown fuses/breakers, overheated wiring and poor performance from your lights.) |
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02/28/2008 05:24:00 PM · #7 |
Thank you all, for your replies. I appreciate this.
I'm doing some shopping, before my visit to USA, and am trying to choose what I need. I've looked at
BH Photo link to light kits
I still dont think I have it really clear in my mind what the difference will be to me, and what there is to choose from.
Thanks, |
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