Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

I recently unloaded my Dynalite kit to get something more portable... I had a three light kit with two 1000 watt packs... I want to be able to stick with three heads and I want to be able to get two mini vagabond packs... I would prefer B1600 heads but I am wondering If I can get away with B800 heads... I am looking at fill light use not so much overpower the sun... With the Nikon D7000 I can easly shoot at 400-600 ISO with no real noise... I would be using a 5 ft octo or a 24x30 in softbox...

Any assist / opinions?

http://www.paulcbuff.com/output.php

This link will show you expected output measurements of various modifiers with the different powered lights. The foldable soft boxes should be similar to most softboxes, regardless of size. The closer the light is, the less strong it needs to be. Without knowing what you are shooting (singles vs. groups vs. buildings, etc.) it would be hard to make a recommendation. Also, a shift in ISO would not be helpful in overpowering the sun. If you raise it to accomodate a lower powered flash, you will also increase the exposure of the ambient light.

If it were me, and I knew outdoors/bright light was a big part of my work, I would opt for a B1600 or, even better, an E640.

People shots, 1 to 4 people... Not concerned with overpowering the light. Just fill and accent light really...

A B800 in a softbox would give you f/5.6' 7 at 10 feet, or f/11' 7 at 5 feet.

A "sunny 16" day would have you at f/11 ISO100 1/250 for proper ambient exposure.

this means a B800 would be 1 1/3 stops under at 10 feet, or 2/3 stops over at 5 feet. This is with our softboxes, other boxes may vary some. I think it would be sufficient, but just.

My used b800 came ( b1600 on the way )

Metered it out doors at full power at ten feet at ISO 400 in a Photoflex silverdome soft box and was able to get a reading of f22 at 250th... My ambiant was f 23... Al in all as I have a D7000 and the noise at 400 in next to nill... I am pleased...