Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

I am currently using AB units and they are working well, but I need more power than they are able to produce. Can any users of Zeus units share their thoughts with me. Thanks.

I don't want to sound insulting, but do you know much about pack and head?
How much power do you need?
The Zeus is nice, but it's going to cost you some coin to get that power and may not be what you need.
It'll take one head and one 2500 power pack to get 2500ws of power. Plug a second head into a 2500 pack and you now get 1250ws to each light. One power slider powers both heads and modeling lights.....flip the switch down one light gets 3/4 power, the other gets 1/4 power.

Anyhow, a White Lightning x3200 might be worth looking into if you don't need 2500ws of power out of a light. I have 4 of them and can light just about anything.

Yes, I know to the WS how much power I need. I now am using 5120 WS and need to raise it at least 1 stop (10,200 WS ), but would like to raise it 2 stops ( 20,400 WS ). When I retired and closed my studio I sold $180,000.00 worth of Broncolor, so spending money on Zeus seems like a holiday. I am no longer doing this as a job, but as a hobby so I view my ROI in a different way, thus my interest in Zeus. Thanks for your input.

:shock:
Are you shooting large format view cameras? :o

Only thing unusual I've heard about the Zeus is the flash duration increases as you lower power (for most packs, lower power = shorter duration).
Some people also claim it's not stable enough standing up, but that's probably not a real issue.

Depends on the method used to dial the power down. Some use capacitor switching, which means you get coarse adjustments, and shorter flash duration. Others use voltage control, with is infinitely controllable, but with longer duration. Some use both, voltage control between your capacitor steps.

No view cameras. When I would shoot with 45 & 810 we would use 40,000-60,000 WS for the same shot. I'm using a 200 sq. ft. soft box, so @ 10,240 WS that is 51 WS per sq. ft. or about the same as an AB in a 3x4 ft softbox. Duration or color balance are not a concern as they will always be on full and I will gel to get my color. What I was needing to hear from a user is likes and dislikes. One concern I have is the shut down as I will not be able to get to the packs with ease. Again thanks for the input.

Look into remote controlled power strips if you're hanging these packs way up high. Power strips from APC and Eaton have the capability to be controlled over the network. Connect a Powerline network plug (networking over A/C power) to the same area and plug the network connector into the strip's network connector and you'll have network control of power from any computer on the network.

Photographing cars w/ that massive setup? Your studio has to be drool worthy :D