Digital Photography 1 on 1: Episode 54: Speedlights vs. Studio Strobes

In this episode Mark compares the differences between speedlights and studio strobes.

[spudd]

great video, straight to the point and no chit chat yabba gabbaz

learnt alot and made my decision to buy more speedlites (portability is the selling point)

[bhagyasenanayake]

A grate tutorial session Mark bro....
Learnt lot of things very clearly only in 15 mins...
thanks a lot...& good luck

[arberlikaj]

some bunch of thiefs who sell their stupid tutorial dvd sure will dislike marks videos, keep up with good work mark your team is the best ever seen

[handsome]

This is Beautiful. I have learned so much from you. Thanks you so much Mark

[bodyonesome]

Well explained! I prefer speedlights because of their mobility, but changing those batteries are time consuming and expensive after a while :)

[TheTajproductionz]

Great Job..its really helpful ..thanks a lot for your effort... (Bangladesh, Chittagong)

[matthewstevens]

Paul C Buff makes a remote trigger and receivers for speed lights. They have pretty good range so you don't have to worry about line of sight.  

[evelasq]

You should do an update video on the difference between speedlight and strobe because the technology has change and even you can have a strobe at 200 Watt Seconds at the size of a speedlight. You should showcase the Flashpoint Evolv 200 when it comes strobes vs. speed lights. More and more strobes have builtin batteries for on the location shoots. Peace, Flood!

[kevinqueen]

watt seconds is the amount of light output*power available but the actual total output is divided by flash duration, no flash is staying on for one second, it would melt. After that math the inverse square law comes into effect, speedlights tend to look better with a low power setting anyway and they work particularly well with close in tight shots. I don't know when I ever used my speedlight on full power even when shooting directly into the sun.

[JohnAldred]

"On a speedlight we actually use something called TTL metering". Umm.... I (and most people I know) almost never use TTL with speedlights. 99% of the time they're in manual power mode settings, and you can meter then just like you can with studio strobes.

[lokedog]

First View!.. lol always wanted to say that! Great vid BTW Mark.

[Panamafotografo]

What about rear light pictures during sunsets or sunrise? I am about to buy at least one strobe to get dramatic results involving the sun on the background (with blue sky and bla bla bla) Speedlights is surely not that powerful to allow me such resullts :(

[kevinqueen]

speedlights won't melt, they have a temp sensor in them that stops them from firing, when shooting less than full power the Speedlight fires as often as you can press the shutter. hy-sync alows the speedlight to fire many continuous flashes in succession with a faster shutter speed. Most studio strobes don't do this.

[kevinqueen]

I think the question of strobes vs speedlights isnt' a question of which is better but which is more practical. A speedlight has it's limitations and will reach them much quicker than a strobe will. The xeon gas in a speedlight along with the shape of the bulb makes a very harsh direct light that makes the texture in the skin get lost sometimes.


when we really talk about practicality we're talking about price. Do I want to build a collection of speedlights or strobes? Six years after this video is made monoblocks are very common, continuous lighting is on the rise and the the sun is used by a lot of image makers who get paid professionally as the only source of light.


What your customer wants to know is the limitations and the value of choosing one stock system over the next. You really do a disservice to yourself by not answering the question. We live in a day and age where companies are gobbeling up the professional photography market and to take a neutral stance on anything business related is an ignorant move and just plain bad business decision making.

You should be in the business of creating and building a customer base, expanding market share is important or should be but if you're not interested in that then don't label phony videos that aren't really teaching anything. A poor content marketing strategy is money unwisely spent. Spending little money on content marketing is money wasted.

[dreamer]

Hey, are you familiar with "MagicSFXphoto" (do a Google search for it)? On their website you will find a good free video demonstrating the way to shoot brilliant pictures. This helped Joe to make pictures which leave you with a wow-effect after you take a look at them. Hopefully it helps you also...

[JohnAldred]

30ft softbox? I think even with studio strobes you'd need more than one light. ;)

[kevinqueen]

No movie plays at 10 fps, most are 120fps or greater.

[lizardboy]

Ahaha...someone accidentally hit the dislike button. Silly.

[edmunddworakowski]

You should delete this video. It is too out of date considering the efficiencies made by Godox/Flashpoint monolight technology.