The
three boxes from Alien Bees arrived by Fedex after about a week
I ordered. Here are the specifications of the main items.
Strobes
Alien Bees 800 Strobes - Black, Made in USA.
There were different colors that could be ordered but for professional look,
black wins.
The following are the specifications supplied by Alien Bees.
| True
Watt Second |
320 |
| Effective
Watt Second |
800 |
| Lumen
Seconds |
14,000 |
| Flash
Power |
5 f stops (to 1/32) |
| Recycle
Time (at 100%) |
1 second |
| Flash
Duration |
1/3200 second |
| Sync
/ Trigger Voltage |
less than 6 volts |
| Modeling
Lamp |
100 watt
(max 150 watt) |
| Flash
tube |
5600 K |
| With
Standard Reflector |
f16 + 2/10
GN #172 |
| With
Silver Umbrella |
f11 - f16 |
| With
Medium Softbox |
f16 - f22 |
| Weight |
2.9 pounds |
All Readings taken from 10ft distance.
Here are my first impression of the strobe system.
Pros :
1. Lightweight, fast recycle time
2. Stepless power output from full to 1/32.
3. Built in slave, IR.
4. Modeling lamp with track.
5. Built in cooling fan.
Cons
1. Low wattage modeling lamp.
2. Customized front attachments |
Stands
The stands, supplied by Alien Bees and made in China, turned out
to flimsier than I had thought, specially the 10 ft stand ($29).
I would have liked the 13 ft air cushioned ones but were expensive
and I found cheaper ones at different sites. But they work
| Desc |
13 ft stand |
10 ft stand |
| Max height |
13 ft |
10 feet |
| Min height |
52.5 inches |
35 inches |
| Max footprint |
45 inches |
33.5 inches |
| Total Wt |
4 pounds |
6 pounds |
| Wt Held |
10 pounds |
25+ pounds |
SoftBox - Large
The Large rectangular softbox is 32 inch width by 40 inch height
by 24 inch depth. For my home studio I probably could have done
with the Medium size (24 x 36 x 22). Illumination is good and
even, though I saw a few negative reviews in forums.
Honeycomb Grid - 18 degree spread
It is supposed to work like a snoot but the light leaks out all around
the main focus area. I am probably not able to set it up properly
- please send me any suggestions about its working.
Umbrellas
Standard fare, silver / white reversible.
Overall
I lke the system, it looks good and worked right out of the box. I
did a few model test shots - they came out allright. I need to experiment
with the setups to get an optimal configuration. |
