Strobes - Have those who bought them found them worthwhile?

[MissionMan]

I'm playing around with the idea of getting myself a single strobe (battery pack 600W version so I have some portability to work with) to experiment with lighting and softboxes. I have a pair of flashes (SB700 and SB600) but have always found the light fairly harsh and I'm looking for something that will allow me to experiment a bit.

Also interested to hear what would be the ideal softbox to go with it? Was thinking of a 90cm Hexagonal as a starting point and maybe adding a beauty disk depending on how it goes.

Have those who bought strobes found them to be worthwhile?

[swifty]

Sorry, not exactly answering your question since I only use SB800's but just wondering what modifiers have you tried with your SB700 and 600's? The harsh light may be more to do with your modifiers and setup.
I've had relatively good success with the Foursquare softbox up to about 3/4 body. The Lastolite Ezybox is a smaller option if you find the Foursquare too unwieldy but I suspect the light won't be as soft.
You can also try brollies and using the light towards the edge of the brolly, you can 'feather' the fall off somewhat. But generally I've found brollies more difficult to control.

But either way, using more powerful strobes just means better recycling times and ability to 'fill' larger light modifiers or use it at greater distances.

[I @ M]

MM, what do you want to photograph primarily with the light?

If you are looking towards fully body length portraits a large ( huge ) reflective umbrella will go a log way towards your aims. If you are more after top half of body portraits I would look at octagonal softboxes and beauty dishes.
A softbox will allow good overall wrapping of light and a beauty dish with an attached honeycomb grid will allow very directional light to promote dramatic light fall off and shadows. Of course both require just the right distance from and angle to the subject to work effectively but as a "one light" set up they would be at the top of my gear choices.

[MissionMan]

It's a bit of a mix. I am planning to do some more outdoor stuff and I have an opportunity to use it a bit at one of the events I do photography for (free photography for a cancer fund raising sports event) so the reason I am looking at strobe over flash is the extra output required for the beach in daylight. I kind of like the portability of the new strobes because it also gives me an opportunity to take the head out into the shallow water for kitesurfing. It's unlikely I'll be using the softbox on the water, but for some of the beach stuff I may use it.

On top of that, I'd like to be able to use it a little at home to try learn more about portraits with my kids. I could probably get some modifiers for my flash but I don't think it will give me the flexibility I need for the outdoor stuff.

[Brian500au]

I have never regretted buying a Elinchrom Quadra portable set up. I know there are more powerful units on the market but this unit is ideal for my style of photography (outdoor and indoor portraits). Before that I had a couple of canon 580 strobes, but I always found I was changing batteries, compromising with modifiers, and the quality of light was not consistent.

I also have a set of cheap Ebay mains powered strobes I use to blow out the back ground when I am doing indoor portrait work.

I still use the canon strobes when I need to - but now more as extras should I really want to be creative.

[antony]

Late to this thread, sorry.

Just to add my two cents, before I got the Elinchrom studio lighting (non-portable version), I used Sony's flashes (F58AM) and Lastolite's Ezybox. Lastolite's Ezybox can be reasonably big in size which gives you the softbox to play with. Of course when using small flash, the power is limited...