Gareth said:
make sure you are looking at t.1 not t.5. there is still easily enough light left at half power (t0.5) to blur motion on most monos, but you're pretty safe with only 10% left (t0.1).

make sure you can get something that can be turned alllll the way down, and watch those recycle times!

multiblitz is another option. their profilux plus units are good, and the x10 is kick arse!

make sure you try whatever you buy before forking out the cash. you need to feel things in your hands with these lights.

AND FOR GODS SAKE MAKE SURE WHATEVER YOU GET CAN BE SERVICED RELIABLY! and preferably a loan is available if required while it's being serviced.

Thanks for bringing Multiblitz into the conversation Gareth. We always recommend - and I'm sure our European competitor's agree - buy something solid, even when the price is a little higher. It's an investment. It doesn't make sense to buy cheap Asia imports that you have to replace every 1-2 years.

All the European brands produce excellent products, with Profoto more on the pricey side. In the end it's personal preference.

t.05 means that the flash will have used half of its joules in the time specified. obviously the other joules will be still be emitting light and therefore blurring moving subjects.

that time of 1/2900 is not at full power. "flash durations as short as" is the best the light can do and is usually somewhere down around minimum power, although not necessarily absolute minimum.

you will need to find a manual that shows what the flash duration is at all of the power settings.

if you plan on using it outside I would seriously look at something with a built in radio transmitter / receiver. (elinchrom has this)

yeah you have to watch them ass some have variable durations based on power setting, ive spoken to bowens and the flash tube they use are always @ 1/2900sec on 500ws heads and recycle in 1.1sec @ full power just based on specs. but that said the flash durations to decrease on the bigger heads.

specs say flash duration @ Flash Duration (t=0.5) is 1/2900sec

make sure you are looking at t.1 not t.5. there is still easily enough light left at half power (t0.5) to blur motion on most monos, but you're pretty safe with only 10% left (t0.1).

make sure you can get something that can be turned alllll the way down, and watch those recycle times!

multiblitz is another option. their profilux plus units are good, and the x10 is kick arse!

make sure you try whatever you buy before forking out the cash. you need to feel things in your hands with these lights.

AND FOR GODS SAKE MAKE SURE WHATEVER YOU GET CAN BE SERVICED RELIABLY! and preferably a loan is available if required while it's being serviced.

@orangebox

The Elinchrom D-Lite-4 IT 400Ws 2-Light To Go Set (90-260VAC) are 1/800 sec duration and this does not vary as I remember. I asked them specifically about shorter times with less power, but apparently the 1/800th is fixed.

hey thomas thanks for the input, gareth mentioned the heads sagging when heavy modifiers were attached have you had any issues in this regard?

@ msmoto cool will check it out. im a bit ocd before i by things i like to mill through all the specs pros/cons and get other peoples opinions esp when spending alot of moneybefore i buy.

i looked at the elinchrom's and a few others last night i must say alot of manufacturers don't list flash durations in main specs or at least in an easy to find place ive found alot just say "Fast Flash Duration" which is annoying because i wont to know how fast, as this is a consideration for me. i know the bowens pro have a duration of 1/2900 sec which it good for freezing motion i know the ranger RX systems have a pretty fast durations.

Check out this thread on the Elinchrom units...

http://nikonrumors.com/forum/topic.php?id=4903

I have 5 Bowens mono lights. 2 Gemini 500 pros, one Gemini 1000, and 2 Gemini 250.
Love them

cool thanks for the info appreciated, looked at alien bees rules those out, didn't think about the elinchrom and hensel will have to check them out!

I have used bowens monos and I can't say I liked them. the mount is awful and I have had many light mods fall off. I also don't like the lightstand attachment arm, which is unneccesarily long and the blocks tend to sag when large mods are used.

Profoto have the best mount but look into Hensel, Elinchrom and Alien Bees.

I bought Hensel and am very happy, but they are expensive. Alien Bees are the cheapest, but many people are happy with them.

Ms Moto has Elinchrom so I'm sure she will comment. They have some good cheaper models, but I don't like their mount either.

Profoto, Elinchrom, Hensel and even Alien Bees all have a very good range of mods.

Hi all,

was wondering if anyone has any experience of the Bowens studio strobes specifically 500/1000pro versions, im in the market to upgrade my studio strobes.

I have used the Profoto D1's and i was really impressed with them find there a tad overpriced in my opinion for monolights although i know they are classed industry standards.

I was not planing on dropping 3k on lights that and the bowens can be used plugged in or with their travel pack system for location shooting which is ideal for me. which is much cheaper than the profoto equivalent but wondered if anyone had used them would love to hear.