AlienBees ABR800 Ringflash - first impressions
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**Kilonad** · 01-17-2010 10:14 PM

So my AlienBees ringflash showed up on Friday, and I finally got time to play with it this weekend.

At $400, it sits in between the $150-$200 speedlight adapters (RayFlash, Orbis) and the $1000-3000 (head only) high-end professional ones (Profoto, Elinchrom, etc.). If you keep that in mind, everything seems to make sense.

It's a lot more powerful than the RayFlash/Orbis, it has a modeling light, and it takes different modifiers (I bought the 20° grid and the 30" moon unit). On the other hand, by being stick-on modifiers, the RayFlash and Orbis support TTL metering, which is really easy to overlook the importance of. With the ABR800 (and the high-end units), if you walk closer to or further away from your subject, you have to stop and re-meter (or do a few shots of trial and error). So even though I have the bee, I'm still thinking about picking up one of the other two (for epic, shadowless fill flash).

I haven't actually used any of the high-end ringflashes, so I can't really speak from experience. I've heard that the bee is a lot lighter though. On the other hand, the high-end ones are a lot more powerful, a lot more adjustable, and are built like tanks. What do I mean by adjustable? Well, the bee has adjustments that allow you to center the lens in the central opening. What it does not have are adjustments to let you tilt it up/down or side to side. This is a lot more important than you'd think. If you're shooting a full-length portrait with it, you want to be able to tilt the light up so the face is well-illuminated. You can kind of angle the camera to the side in the bee, but it won't necessarily stay in that position.

As far as quality of light goes... it looks like a ringflash. It's better than the cheaper flash mods, but not quite as good as the ones that cost 6 times as much. It's really a moot point though, since the cheapest ringflash head/pack combo is the profoto acute 2 head and acute 1200 power pack, for $2500.

The quality control leaves a little to be desired. When I first tried attaching the moon unit, it wouldn't fit. There were 3 or 4 nubs left from the injection molding process, and I had to sand those down with a dremel before it would lock in place on the ringflash.

The process of attaching your camera to the ringflash is simply hellacious. You have to screw it on with a stubby little screw using a flat head screwdriver, through a smallish gap on a sliding plate that you can't remove from the unit, and then hope that you got it centered. The screw is non-captive, so it's all too easy to drop it and lose it if you're on location. Since everything's plastic, I doubt I'd be able to add an arca-swiss mount to it. This is the one thing that I hate most about it. If they just came up with a better way of attaching the camera, and gave you more positioning adjustments, it'd be a really great light. As it is, it's just decent. It does make a pretty nice hard light source off-camera though.

**jacobsen1** · 01-17-2010 11:24 PM

**Slack** · 01-18-2010 07:07 AM

I use the ABR800s all the time when I'm shooting sports teams and I agree that attaching a camera to it is a pain. But, the light quality for the price is definitely a good bargain. I'll most likely get one in the future.

**Kilonad** · 01-18-2010 09:36 AM

Ben - I'll try to take some pictures of the unit itself later on. I plan on doing some uniformity tests on the moon unit after I get home from work, and I might snag my brother's camera and take some shots of how the whole thing goes together.

I shot a dancer in the studio yesterday, but I'm waiting on her to get back to me with release forms (I could've sworn I had one in my bag, but it was nowhere to be seen once I got there). So, in the meantime, here's a test shot of my assistant (another photographer who lives like a mile from the studio):

Setup: ringflash mounted to the camera, gridded B800 pointed at the background, louvred softboxes behind the "model" on both sides, pointed slightly forward. You can see hints of the ringflash shadow if you look closely, especially where the background is a little darker. The only post processing on this shot was a slight reduction in saturation and the removal of a scuff mark on the floor.

I've got a lighting style in my head that I'm working towards achieving. Whether or not it will look any good when I get there is another story entirely. Basically, I plan on using the ringflash shadow to help accentuate some moderate-to-heavy rim lighting on the model. I'm hoping that if I can keep it somewhat subtle, it will end up being like an in-camera "clarity" slider.

**Kilonad** · 01-21-2010 12:02 AM

moon unit light pattern:

the central annulus is about one stop brighter than the rest of it.

**jacobsen1** · 01-21-2010 04:47 PM

the central what now?

**Kilonad** · 01-21-2010 04:55 PM

From now on I'm calling it an annulus flash, just to confuse Ben, who doesn't know what an annulus is.

For example, here's a picture of an annular solar eclipse:

The fact that the photo I took reminded me of an eclipse is probably why the word annulus was the first to spring to mind.

**porschewrx** · 01-21-2010 06:45 PM

Originally Posted by jacobsen1

the central what now?

**q-ball** · 02-11-2011 10:06 AM

Kilonad - Good overview thanks. Any more recent thoughts after having used it for a while? I am going to purchase in the next few days but would like to hear some more thoughts. Thx

**subimatt** · 02-11-2011 10:18 AM

x2, We are probably picking one up soon.

**edssti** · 02-11-2011 10:35 AM

I had one for a while, nice unit for the price, but yes, a huuuuge PITA to put on and off. I sold mine off recently on POTN when I swapped to all Elinchroms

**Kilonad** · 02-11-2011 11:57 AM

Haven't been in a studio in a while, so I haven't used it lately. It's a ringflash. If you want that kind of light, get it. I think it's pretty versatile since you can also use it off-camera and have a pretty unique crisp (semi-hard) light. My primary complaints are that it's a pain in the ass to get on and off (it's not that hard, but you need a screwdriver), and the color of the light is kinda screwy. Nothing you can't correct for via white balance, but it's just plain weird. It might be the moon unit fabric though.

It's a fun light to play with - I should probably give mine another shot the next time I shoot a model.

**jjswee** · 02-11-2011 12:10 PM

So I didn't know what louvered softboxes were so I googled it. This thread shows up as result number 4, and the picture of your assistant is number 2 in google images for "louvered softboxes" haha

**Kilonad** · 02-11-2011 12:36 PM

Originally Posted by jjswee

So I didn't know what louvered softboxes were so I googled it. This thread shows up as result number 4, and the picture of your assistant is number 2 in google images for "louvered softboxes" haha

rofl. i have the top two google image search results for "louvred softboxes". helps when i misspell it.

**jjswee** · 02-11-2011 01:22 PM

I didn't even notice.

Highlight, right click, google search.

**q-ball** · 02-11-2011 07:32 PM

Originally Posted by Kilonad

Haven't been in a studio in a while, so I haven't used it lately. It's a ringflash. If you want that kind of light, get it. I think it's pretty versatile since you can also use it off-camera and have a pretty unique crisp (semi-hard) light. My primary complaints are that it's a pain in the ass to get on and off (it's not that hard, but you need a screwdriver), and the color of the light is kinda screwy. Nothing you can't correct for via white balance, but it's just plain weird. It might be the moon unit fabric though.

It's a fun light to play with - I should probably give mine another shot the next time I shoot a model.

Thanks for the info and I'm going into this knowing that its probably going to be a PITA to attach and detach but I like the fact that even if it turns out not to be practical on camera it makes a great hair light...

**subimatt** · 02-11-2011 09:21 PM

can you take some pics of how it attaches Geoff?

**Kilonad** · 02-12-2011 12:46 AM

i'll do you one better. here's a video someone else made:

**subimatt** · 03-02-2011 02:26 PM

ours arrived today, definitely see what you mean the by attachments geoff. I hate how its free sitting too, I wish there was some bracket on the bottom just in case since I dont really trust the lock

**Kilonad** · 03-02-2011 03:18 PM

yeah, it'd be nice if there was some sort of a QR plate on it too (or that someone would make a cheap low-profile arca-swiss compatible mount for it)

**q-ball** · 03-09-2011 08:34 AM

Originally Posted by Kilonad

yeah, it'd be nice if there was some sort of a QR plate on it too (or that someone would make a cheap low-profile arca-swiss compatible mount for it)

Thanks for all the info in this thread. I got my ABR800 last week with the moon unit and gels. I had an all day shoot on Saturday and did a 3 hour shoot on Sunday and used it pretty extensively on both occasions. Initial observations are that the stories about it being a heavy unit when hand-held are all true! After 10 minutes of continuous shooting I had to put it down and rest up the left arm! Namby pampby b!tching aside, the light that this unit puts out combined with the very unique shadow that only a ring light can put out, I am very happy with my purchase. I had a couple of comments from two of the models when I got in too close saying that they felt like the moon unit was going to eat them up! After that I would warn them before moving in too close. The most plaguing thing for me is the lack of handle when hand-holding. Im looking into a simple handle from B&H with tripod thread to insert into the bottom.

**Markitos** · 03-09-2011 08:37 AM

I'd love to see a thread with some examples from your shoot. I have gone back and forth on a getting a ringflash... sometimes I think it's a really good idea, and sometimes I think the whole ringflash portrait thing is sort of a played-out fad like the tilt-shift miniature effect (though I am guilty of that one, and still want a 24mm TS-E...

)

**q-ball** · 03-09-2011 09:13 AM

Originally Posted by Markitos

I'd love to see a thread with some examples from your shoot. I have gone back and forth on a getting a ringflash... sometimes I think it's a really good idea, and sometimes I think the whole ringflash portrait thing is sort of a played-out fad like the tilt-shift miniature effect (though I am guilty of that one, and still want a 24mm TS-E...

)

Markitos - I only have a couple posted so far but cannot directly link you due to our draconian IT policy, but you should be able to see the latest few shots in my Flickr stream here: www.flickr.com/photos/cuprasport

**jacobsen1** · 03-09-2011 01:09 PM

Originally Posted by Markitos

I'd love to see a thread with some examples from your shoot. I have gone back and forth on a getting a ringflash... sometimes I think it's a really good idea, and sometimes I think the whole ringflash portrait thing is sort of a played-out fad like the tilt-shift miniature effect

I also want a ringflash....

**Kilonad** · 03-09-2011 03:07 PM

Originally Posted by q-ball

Thanks for all the info in this thread. I got my ABR800 last week with the moon unit and gels. I had an all day shoot on Saturday and did a 3 hour shoot on Sunday and used it pretty extensively on both occasions. Initial observations are that the stories about it being a heavy unit when hand-held are all true! After 10 minutes of continuous shooting I had to put it down and rest up the left arm! Namby pampby b!tching aside, the light that this unit puts out combined with the very unique shadow that only a ring light can put out, I am very happy with my purchase. I had a couple of comments from two of the models when I got in too close saying that they felt like the moon unit was going to eat them up! After that I would warn them before moving in too close. The most plaguing thing for me is the lack of handle when hand-holding. Im looking into a simple handle from B&H with tripod thread to insert into the bottom.

It's actually really lightweight for a ringflash unit. Man up.

(or buy a cheap monopod)

**danm** · 03-09-2011 03:10 PM

Originally Posted by q-ball

Thanks for all the info in this thread. I got my ABR800 last week with the moon unit and gels. I had an all day shoot on Saturday and did a 3 hour shoot on Sunday and used it pretty extensively on both occasions. Initial observations are that the stories about it being a heavy unit when hand-held are all true! After 10 minutes of continuous shooting I had to put it down and rest up the left arm! Namby pampby b!tching aside, the light that this unit puts out combined with the very unique shadow that only a ring light can put out, I am very happy with my purchase. I had a couple of comments from two of the models when I got in too close saying that they felt like the moon unit was going to eat them up! After that I would warn them before moving in too close. The most plaguing thing for me is the lack of handle when hand-holding. Im looking into a simple handle from B&H with tripod thread to insert into the bottom.

and where are these pictures you took ?

**q-ball** · 03-09-2011 04:19 PM

Originally Posted by danm

and where are these pictures you took ?

Here's two quick unedited shots form this weekend. Cant get on flickr so tinypic will have to do

**danm** · 03-09-2011 04:22 PM

much better, i would certainly like to see more

**jacobsen1** · 03-09-2011 05:55 PM

Originally Posted by q-ball

WINNING!

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