Shoe Mounted Strobes or Move up to Studio Lights?

Question> Should I go Strobist or get studio lights?

Shoe mounted strobes are extremely capable and very portable. They are generally getting more robust and more powerful every year. I own several shoe mounted strobes and I use them extensively. You do have to know what their limitations are however.

I originally had 1 Canon 550ex (shoe mounted strobe) mounted on an light stand with an umbrella. I looked into getting a second one. For about the same price, I ended up getting 2 AB400’s (400 watt-second Alien Bees Studio Lights). I also got 2 light stands, a light meter, a 60″ umbrella, and I fire the strobes with an Ebay wireless trigger.

The AB’s are much more powerful and cheaper than the Canon 580EX’s and a Canon ST-E2 (optical trigger). The new Canon 580EX II’s are even more expensive! Don’t get me wrong, 580EX’s are very capable and extremely portable so they do have many good uses.

The 580EX can focus the beam very tight to make it a very concentrated intense bright light, but if I put it through a modifier (like an umbrella) to spread the light out, that is when you quickly find out how much total light it really puts out.

From my experience, my Canon 580EX is about 1/2 as powerful as my AB400’s. I found this out when I put them both in the same umbrella and I took a meter reading of each at full power. That would make my Canon 580Ex around 80 watt-seconds (my best guess of around half of an AB400). When shooting indoors, a 580ex with an umbrella is enough for around iso200 and f4. Anything above that I would need studio strobes.

I also found that they are difficult to fire wirelessly outdoors with an ST-E2. There are other wireless triggering devices are available that would easily get around this problem.

Most of the times I use only 1 AB400 with a 60″ umbrella on a light stand and 1 collapsible reflector (6ftx4ft) mounted on a light stand. This setup is very portable and quick to setup. I now use the second AB400 light mostly for studio work as a rim light. I also picked up a third AB400 to light up the background. I like to sometimes use color gels with these 2 lights to add a little pizazz.

The great thing about the studio strobes is that I don’t have to worry about batteries. In situations where there are no electric outlets near bye and the 580EX is not powerful enough, I use a power pack system similar to the Alien Bees “Vagabond” (riding mower sized battery with a pure sinewave inverter).

I found that with studio style lighting, shooting outdoors is much more difficult that shooting indoors. Wind, temperature, rain, dust, clouds can change the lighting conditions quickly, the sun can sometimes be overpowering, bugs, etc. This is when I usually need a LOT more power than a shoe mounted flash can provide. For many outdoor shoots on bright sunny days even my AB400 monolights are not powerful enough. I sometimes need AB1600’s or even WL3200’s. Instead, to tame a harsh sun, I prefer to use diffusion panels, reflectors, and even circular polarizers in combination. I can then even sometimes get away with using a shoe mounted strobe to fill in some shadows instead of the reflector.

If I am shooting in the shade, or on an overcast day, then the power requirements are MUCH less. That is when I can use a 580EX off camera with an umbrella. I just have to make sure that it does not go flying away with a gust of wind.