Strobes for 4x5 portraiture

[36cm2]

I have the opportunity to purchase a Speedtron 2401A powerpack and a couple of 102 flash heads for what seems to be a decent price. My understanding is that you need quite a bit of light to shoot studio portraits using a 4x5. I know almost nothing about strobes. Would this setup be powerful enough? I would be shooting in a small home studio with a 4x5 field camera, Fujinon 240A lens, mainly head and shoulders shots, 95% black and white. Hoping to shoot at apertures with ample depth of field for full head focus. I'm not sure what that would be, maybe F/22 - F/32?

[DanielStone]

DOF can be tricky with 4x5, even worse with 8x10. You need a good bit o' light to get through that lens to give you ample room.

I've shot 4x5 portraits with a 300mm, just back up a bit more. Most people would use a 210mm. I was generally shooting @ f/16 or f/22.

I've used Nikon Speedlights, shooting into umbrellas via an adapter. Worked for me. Using a power pack will give you faster recycle times, IF your circuits are strong enough. Be careful, older power packs, in particular speedo's, are known for blowing circuits easily.

I was generally shooting at f/11-f/22 on 4x5. speedlights were MAXED out, sometimes I'd have to borrow a friends as well and do double duty, shooting into the same umbrella. Worked though...

go for it. Lots of deals on used studio gear out there now as people retire/ go out of business.

-Dan

[Barry S]

It sound like a 2400 ws pack--that should be plenty for 4x5 shooting. Part of it depends on what f-stop you want to shoot at, but you can always add monolights or another pack. It's nice to have at least 4 heads for key, fill, hairlight, and background--but even with a single head you can light well.

[Mike Wilde]

I have a 2401A and now 4 102 heads, and shoot 4x5, as well as MF and 35mm. Most of my portraiture is with MF, and here the 2400ws can be a bit much. Sometimes with LF it can be a bit much, but not as often.

I have modified my flash accumulator internally by cutting the plates that each join up the 1200w/s positive and negative capacitor banks, to allow me to either use 1 capacitor per side to this bank (ie 200w/s) or to connect a jumper and then bring it back to 6 capacitors per side. The switch over neda a screw diver and takes about 5 minutes for me to do.

If I am doing a single person, and want narrow DOF, then 800w/s is usally enough for the main, and 400 for the fill. Then having 200w/s for the third head or fourth head to do hiar light or kicker is very handy.

[Nicholas Lindan]

How about available light, or at most a few 100W lightbulbs? I hate strobes, the sitters hate strobes. Strobes only belong on P&S's (did I mention I don't like strobes?).

4x5 environmental portrait taken with the light of two candles and a 100W table lamp (reflection of lamp can be seen in window), Sinar F, 150mm Sironar W, TMX 100


The lighting is a bit flat as no attempt was made to arrange the lighting. OTOH there aren't any really annoying shadows.

[TheFlyingCamera]

Probably f22 would be sufficient. The 240 is a nice length for portraiture on 4x5. Will your bellows give you enough draw to focus the 240 to portrait distance?

The 2401 pack is a 2400 w/s pack. If I recall correctly, it is a symmetrical output pack, meaning that the outlets for flash heads are divided into groups, and the pack divides the power equally amongst the groups (most likely an A and a B channel). If you plug in only one head, it will run 2400 w/s to that head. If you plug in two heads, it will put 1200 w/s to each head. If you have more than one head plugged in to a given channel, it will split the power equally amongst the heads on that channel (Channel A - 1 head, 1200 w/s, Channel B, 2 heads, 600 w/s each).

For head and shoulders portraits, the 2401a is more than sufficient for 4x5. You may find it is TOO much in some circumstances - you may have to back the lights off farther from your subject to get the output down to where you need it. What kind of light modifiers are you planning to use with this system? Umbrellas, softboxes, or something else? What size is your studio? I used to shoot in a home studio and was able to get what I needed for shooting an 8x10 from a pair of 750w/s monolights, provided I had the lights close to my subject. That was easy because my studio was my dining room, a 12'x10' room. One full-size softbox and I was pushing right in close on my subject.

[Mainecoonmaniac]

You could also shoot faster film to get more DOF if you don't have enough WS.

[36cm2]

Interesting stuff. Nicholas, how long was that exposure? Looks good, but flies in the face of everything I've been thinking. I will shoot available light as well, but I was thinking outside on overcast days.

I expect to start with simple lighting schemes, as I'm just starting out with lighting and strobes specifically. Three light setup. Softbox, umbrella and spot was what I was thinking. The space will be small, 10x12 basement area. Not looking to do this professionally, just to learn how to do it well.

It sounds like maybe I would be better off with a 1201 kit, but that might limit using the kit for still life with lots of DOF later on. Also wondering if I need to worry about blowing residential circuits with the draw off the powerpacks.

[peri24]

my experience tell me that if you like the look of soft lighting, or you need tons of power to get proper working appertures, or your work space is minuscule go for strobes, a small pack (1200w) with 2 heads should be enough to get f16/22
If you like working with shadows rather than with light don't go with strobes, you'll need fresnels lighting agogo. I tell you that because LF classic portrait style is not done with strobes, you'll need continous light and if you need control continous light and shadows fresnel is the way.
I've never tried fresnel+stobes but it can be a nice solution, when you get used to what you see is not what you get strobe thing.

[36cm2]

Thanks peri, I'm very interested in the "shadow" look I think you're describing, but there shouldn't be any reason you couldn't get that with either strobes or continuous lighting. I looked into continuous lighting options at length (easier to learn from and cheaper), but I keep reading that you're faced with too little light for reasonable exposure times and unbearably bright lights for the sitter in a 4x5 context. I'm pretty set on the strobes if that's the case.