monolight questions ...

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-RS- - 06 Sep 2004 17:47 GMT

Could someone please direct me to the best newsgroup for asking
questions about monolite-type of strobe lights ?

***************************************
Recenty I had occasion to rent a pair of Photogenic monolights. I had a
lot of fun with them ... and it occurred to me that it might make sense
to consider buying a similar pair of such lights ... either used or even
new. I bought an issue of Shutterbug to re-familiarize myself with the
photographic equipment market place. I am taken back by the plethora of
makes of monolight-type lights !

My questions include:

- are most of them still made in the good old USA ... and/or Europe?

- what brands are considered to be well made, well supported and
cheapest? Does such a combination exist ?

- is there a Yahoo group devoted to strobe lights? ;-)

Thanks !

-RS-
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

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zeitgeist - 07 Sep 2004 07:43 GMT

> Could someone please direct me to the best newsgroup for asking
> questions about monolite-type of strobe lights ?

search google.groups for previous discussion. However most of it is the two
major camps, photogenicists vs the white lightningbugs. similar to the
nikon/canon and kodak/fuji 'discussions' where the participants just talk at
each other about miniscule and incremental differences.

Most of the discussion that I'm aware of was in rec.photo.technique.people

> Recenty I had occasion to rent a pair of Photogenic monolights. I had a
> lot of fun with them ... and it occurred to me that it might make sense
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
>
> - are most of them still made in the good old USA ... and/or Europe?

Is ANYTHING still made in the good old USA, European makers have an
advantage, they just allowed several former 3rd world countries into their
union, so now they move their manufacturing to the east, already workers in
the west are loosing many of their fabled perks like 35hr work weeks and 6
weeks vacation.

> - what brands are considered to be well made, well supported and
> cheapest? Does such a combination exist ?

white lightning and photogenics get the most attention with portrait photogs
for value, customer service, quality.

> - is there a Yahoo group devoted to strobe lights? ;-)

There are several groups that talk about their usage in portrait
photography, Portrait_Photography, or is it portrait-photographer, something
like that. A the z-prophoto list for professionals

though you should realize that lights are tools, and like many consumer
products are sold in a competitive market, which means that you pretty much
get what you pay for with only incremental differences between makes and
models.

in the end its not what you use but how you use them, and more attention
should be paid to what you use to modify them (the softboxes, umbrellas,
scrims, reflectors) and surprisingly the better solutions are often the
cheapest DIY panels and curtains.

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Wilt W - 11 Sep 2004 21:23 GMT

<<Recenty I had occasion to rent a pair of Photogenic monolights. I had a
lot of fun with them ... and it occurred to me that it might make sense
to consider buying a similar pair of such lights>>

Congrats, you chose one of the finest brands of monolights. I saw a
'shootout' at a tradeshow about 5+ years ago, and the Photogenic was far
superior in a wide variety of tests. The WLightning is a fine brand with many
satisfied users, but the Photogenis even more impressive.

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