AlienBees B1600 Power Output Test

Continued testing of an AlienBees monolight unit.

There have been some reports floating around about the inconsistent light output of AlienBees monolights especially at low power. All of the tests that I saw were done by comparing photographs and their apparent variation in exposure. I decided to run a test for myself using a B1600 flash unit and a Sekonic L358 meter. At 1/4 power, the unit stays almost consistent throughout with only one variation. At 1/32 power, it stays consistent.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• AlienBees
• Photography
• Studio Lighting
• Flash
• Strobe
• B800
• Output
• Consistent

[kslagerman]

yep. 1/32 is the lowest power setting for any AB unit. i guess the new Einstein AB strobes can go lower, might want to check me on that info though.

[jaycephoto]

how was it not consistent it only changed once i mean ONCE

[kslagerman]

@jaycephoto exactly!

[iamkmaniam]

Problem with this is you don't have the meter set to read in 1/10 of stops, you have it set to measure in 1/3 stops. In digital photography 3 tenths is the difference between a good image and trash. You could see by your own test that even powered down low they are not consistent.

[kslagerman]

duly noted. they are not consistent and 1/10th stops would be more revealing. i'll look into it. however, it seems pretty insane to say that three tenths of a stop over or under exposure will make the difference between a good image and trash. there's a lot more to a good image. i guess if your right at that point where your highlights are blowing out, you should probably be stopping down anyways for some headroom. even so, if your shooting raw you still have the data regardless.

[jomphoto]

this is a GREAT idea ! but iamkmaniam is right - 3/10ths matters. Can you do it again with 1/10ths PLEEZE!

[Smooth8000]

If your complaining about the AB's then step up and put your money where your mouth is and buy a higher quality strobe. The AB's were built as light weight strobe for the LOW budget end of the market yet they deliver consistent value for your dollar. They have been field tested by thousands of photographers who use them everyday for a living.  Word of mouth has made them so popular with real photographers and not with so called photographers who are worried about a 1/10 of a stop difference.

[erjohnson227]

@kslagerman unless of course by some "inconsistency" (which the B1600 seemed very consistent) caused the picture to be overexposed by more than one stop, which honestly would be noticeable at the time of shooting. I noticed that at ISO 100 at 1/32 power the F/stop is still f/20. Is 1/32 as low as it can go?

[jaycephoto]

Yeah I don't see what the big deal is one missfire out of alot of shooting is fine with me