Adolight 150 studio flash powerful enough?

matvogel · 2009-11-05T14:19:33+00:00

Hallo, ich spiele mit dem Gedanken, mir eine kleine Studioblitzanlage zu kaufen, will aber nicht allzu viel investieren, weil meine Passion eigentlich Lands...

matvogel

Hello, I’m thinking about buying a small studio lighting kit, but I don’t want to spend too much as my main passion is actually landscape photography. However, with the darker months now setting in, I’d like to do a bit of studio work. I work with a Kiev 88 (6x6) and 8x10 large format. I particularly want to use the latter in the studio, although because of the depth of field, I usually have to stop down to f/11 or f/16. I’ve experimented with a couple of Adolight tag lights and the accompanying lamps – too dark for the 8x10! That was 2x Adolight 4500 and 2x Adolight 1600. With this lighting, I’d have to achieve an exposure of about 3 seconds at f/16... What do you think? Will it work with the Adolight 150 strobes? Do they have enough power to light a typical portrait situation? How many strobes should I use, or would it be better to go straight for more powerful (and unfortunately more expensive, 400–800Ws) ones? Thanks for your tips! Matthias

StefanCaspari

Hello, I’m thinking about buying a small studio lighting kit, but I don’t want to spend too much as my real passion is landscape photography. However, with the darker months now setting in, I’d like to do a bit of studio work. I work with a Kiev 88 (6x6) and 8x10 large format. I particularly want to use the latter in the studio as well, although because of the depth of field, I usually have to stop down to f/11 or f/16. I’ve experimented with a few Adolight fill-light bulbs and the corresponding lamps, but they’re too dim for the 8x10! I used 2x Adolight 4500 and 2x Adolight 1600. With this lighting, I’d have to perform an exposure of about 3 seconds at f/16... What do you think? Will it work with the Adolight 150 strobes? Do they have enough power to light a typical portrait situation? How many flashes should I use, or would it be better to go straight for the more powerful (and unfortunately more expensive 400–800Ws) ones? Thanks for your tips! Matthias

Hello Matthias! That’s not an easy question to answer, as it depends very much on your planned lighting setup. Generally speaking, the small ADOLIGHT strobes do provide a ‘usable’ amount of light output. However, if you diffuse them using a softbox or indirectly, the usable working aperture becomes relatively small (e.g. with the CHS 100) If you need f/11 or wider, you should switch to more sensitive film, but with 8x10 that’s going to be a tight squeeze. So if you want one (!) dominant main light that’s soft and diffused (light trough or softbox), you should look for something more powerful. If you can and want to ‘bundle’ two or three ADOLIGHTS (indirectly onto a reflector wall, or an umbrella, or a matte sheet), I’d definitely recommend the ADO flashes, because they’re incredibly cheap and their light output is almost infinitely adjustable! Plus, they always make such a nice ‘beep’ when they’ve recharged... Warm regards from Munich: Stefan

matvogel

Hello, I’m thinking about buying a small studio lighting kit, but I don’t want to spend too much as my real passion is landscape photography. However, with the darker months now setting in, I’d like to do a bit of studio work. I work with a Kiev 88 (6x6) and 8x10 large format. I particularly want to use the latter in the studio as well, although due to the depth of field, I usually have to stop down to f/11 or f/16. I’ve experimented with a few Adolight fill-light bulbs and the corresponding lamps, but they’re too dim for the 8x10! I used 2x Adolight 4500 and 2x Adolight 1600. With this lighting, I’d have to perform an exposure of about 3 seconds at f/16... What do you think? Will it work with the Adolight 150 strobes? Do they have enough power to light a typical portrait situation? How many flashes should I use, or would it be better to go straight for the more powerful (and unfortunately more expensive 400–800Ws) ones? Thanks for your tips! Matthias
Hello Matthias! That’s not an easy question to answer, as it depends very much on your planned lighting setup. In principle, the small ADOLIGHT strobes do provide a ‘usable’ amount of light output. However, if you diffuse them through a softbox or use indirect lighting, the usable working aperture becomes relatively small (e.g. with the CHS 100) If you need f/11 or wider, you should switch to more sensitive film, but with 8x10 that’s going to be a tight squeeze. So if you want one (!) dominant main light that’s soft and diffused (light trough or softbox), you should look for something more powerful. If you can and want to ‘bundle’ two or three ADOLIGHTS (indirectly onto a reflector wall, or an umbrella, or a matte sheet), I’d definitely recommend the ADO flashes, because they’re incredibly cheap and their light output is almost infinitely adjustable! Plus, they always make such a nice ‘beep’ when they’ve recharged... Warm regards from Munich: Stefan

Hello Stefan, thanks for the tips. Film stock really is a bit of a hassle. As for colour film (I only want slides), I currently only have Velvia 50 in bulk quantities, and that’s out of the question for portraits anyway. I’ll probably pick up 1–2 packs of E100G. For B&W, I currently have: Foma 100, T-Max 100 and 400. What would you recommend? I’m planning to take classic Hollywood-style portraits (B&W, of course), so with accentuated lighting, without trying to avoid every shadow. Perhaps a front-facing flash with a softbox and 1–2 additional flashes with silver umbrellas as accent lights? In colour, I’d prefer to do something a bit more unusual. I’m thinking of close-ups, faces with all their signs of life, possibly with deliberate out-of-focus effects. Maybe even using a pinhole instead of a lens. But I’ll start by experimenting with a 6×6 pinhole camera first. Best regards, Matthias

StefanCaspari

Hello, I’m thinking about buying a small studio lighting kit, but I don’t want to spend too much as my real passion is landscape photography. However, with the darker months now setting in, I’d like to do a bit of studio work. I work with a Kiev 88 (6x6) and 8x10 large format. I particularly want to use the latter in the studio as well, although because of the depth of field, I usually have to stop down to f/11 or f/16. I’ve experimented with a few Adolight fill lights and the corresponding lamps, but they’re too dim for the 8x10! I used 2x Adolight 4500 and 2x Adolight 1600. With this lighting, I’d have to perform an exposure of about 3 seconds at f/16... What do you think? Will it work with the Adolight 150 strobes? Do they have enough power to light a typical portrait situation? How many flashes should I use, or would it be better to go straight for the more powerful (and unfortunately more expensive 400–800Ws) ones? Thanks for your tips! Matthias
Hello Matthias! That’s not an easy question to answer, as it depends very much on your planned lighting setup. Generally speaking, the small ADOLIGHT strobes do provide a ‘usable’ amount of light output. However, if you diffuse them using a softbox or indirectly, the usable working aperture becomes relatively small (e.g. with the CHS 100) If you need f/11 or wider, you should switch to more sensitive film, but with 8x10 that’s going to be a tight squeeze. So if you want one (!) dominant main light that’s soft and diffused (light trough or softbox), you should look for something more powerful. If you can and want to ‘bundle’ two or three ADOLIGHTS (indirectly onto a reflector wall, or an umbrella, or a matte sheet), I’d definitely recommend the ADO flashes, because they’re incredibly cheap and their light output is almost infinitely adjustable! Plus, they always make such a nice ‘beep’ when they’ve recharged... Warm regards from Munich: Stefan
Hello Stefan, thanks for the tips. Film stock really is a bit of a hassle. As for colour film (I only want slides), I currently only have Velvia 50 in bulk quantities, and that’s out of the question for portraits anyway. I’ll probably pick up 1–2 packs of E100G. For B&W, I currently have: Foma 100, T-Max 100 and 400. What would you recommend? I’m planning to take classic Hollywood-style portraits (B&W, of course), so with accentuated lighting, without trying to avoid every shadow. Perhaps a front-facing flash with a softbox and 1–2 additional flashes with silver umbrellas as accent lights? In colour, I’d prefer to do something a bit more unusual. I’m thinking of close-ups, faces with all their signs of life, possibly with deliberate out-of-focus effects. Maybe even using a pinhole instead of a lens. But I’ll start by experimenting with a 6×6 pinhole camera first. Regards Matthias

Hi Matthias! I love the Hollywood style! I do it myself sometimes too. And for black-and-white film, I use the ADOX CHS. Because of that wonderful conversion of colours into greyscale. It’s a shame it only goes up to 100 ASA! I set up the lighting in a similar way: a large softbox as the main light (usually) from the front left, flattering the nose and curls; a fill light diametrically opposite at the back right on the background (creating a slightly ‘dramatic’ silhouette on this side…); and fill lights where necessary… Lovely! Plus the time needed so that I can ‘get into’ this mood with the client. The crowning glory is then a print on baryta paper (gloss pressed onto matt)! My tip: give the T-Max 400 a go, which you’ve got on hand. I’d definitely take the close-ups ‘handheld’, i.e. on 120 or 35mm. Best regards: Stefan