Guest Blogger: Photographer Jeff Clemons reviews AlienBees vs. Calumet's "Genesis" Lights

Today, I'm happy to introduce my readers to guest blogger Jeff Clemons. Jeff, 28, owns Caught My Eye Photography in Hesperia, CA, and has been shooting for 15 years, and professionally for the past four. He shoots with a variety of gear but tries to stick to his roots with Canon. Jeff is a photography colleague as well as a 4-wheeling buddy of mine on the Colorado4x4.org forums. Clemons initially posted this product review on the Shutterbug forum. But he has given me permission to reprint his review here. Thank you Jeff for taking the time to do this and your willingness to share what you've learned!

I bought some AlienBees studio lights a while back and found myself wanting more. I was going to just buy more Bees, but after doing some shopping, I found Calumet's Genesis 200 2-Light Kit and after hearing good reviews on them, I bought a couple.

We'll start this review off with the AlienBees.

This is the "Beginner Bee" kit that you can get through Alienbees.com.
It includes the B800 flash unit, reflector, shoot through or bounce umbrella, light stand, sync and power cords and a carrying case for the flash unit.

Back of the unit...

This flash is pretty nice. Build quality is nice and the fit and finish on everything is top notch. The power is controlled via the slider in 1 stop increments. The modeling light can be turned on, off or can track (dimmer switch like) to match the power output. It has a standard 1/8" sync port and can also be fired via the optical slave which can be seen next to the sync port. The optical slave works OK on this unit. I'll get more into that when I get to the Genesis. The Beginner Bee kit sells for $359.

This is the Calumet Genesis 200 kit.
It includes the Genesis 200 Flash unit, reflector, shoot through or bounce umbrella, light stand, sync and power cords but no carrying case.

Back of the unit...
Again, a well built, nice unit. First thing you will notice on this unit is, no slider.It's digitally controlled, which I've come to REALLY enjoy. It has the same stop range as the Bee, however, it is adjustable to 1/10th of a stop which is really nice for precision light work. This light also has an audible beep when it's charged and ready to fire. It also has an optical photo slave as well as a 1/8" sync port. Price for this kit is $199 for the 1 light kit or $369 for the 2 light kit(I bought the 2 light kit).

Biggest thing you will see between these two lights is a pretty substantial price difference. Where as with the AB kit, you get one light and all the gear for $359, you get twice the amount of gear with the Calumet for 10 bucks more. There is a power difference between these two lights to be fair...the AB800 is a 320 watt second light were as the Genesis are 200 watt seconds, but honestly, in a small to medium sized studio, they will both give more power than you'll ever use. Both are built well but IMO, the Genesis feels like a much higher quality light, especially the accessories it comes with.

The umbrella on the Genesis is about 8" bigger in diameter and obviously constructed of higher quality materials than the AB. The slave sensor on the Genesis is of much higher quality and it picks up the tiniest of flashes. In comparison, the AB slave takes a good amount of light to trigger. That's a moot point if your using cable or wireless sync, but it's a nice feature regardless. The light stand with the Genesis are lightyears ahead of the AB in terms of fit, finish and build quality. Take a look at the size difference. The Genesis is bigger in diameter and feels much more solidly built than the AB.

AB stand...


Genesis stand...

Flash performance between the two is pretty much indistinguishable, other than the AB offers a little more power. Again, not a big deal unless you really need it, and alot won't. The Genesis does seem to give a more consistent flash output and white balance at low power compared to the AB.

Don't get me wrong, the ABs are great lights, but dollar for dollar, they don't hold a candle to the Calumet Genesis kits. For the same amount of money, you're getting twice the lights and equipment. For budget studio lights, these are the ones to get hands down! I've had mine for a week now and have used the crap out of them so far, and they haven't missed a beat. Keep an eye out...the AB's might be going up for sale here soon!

Get the Goods: Domke PhoTOGS Vest

Thanks to my nice income tax refund, I was able to purchase some long coveted items from my ever-growing Photography Wish List. The first one was the Domke PhoTOGS vest.

Sure, I suffered some buyer's remorse at the checkout counter when I purchased a vest for just under $100 at the Denver Pro Photo store about two months ago. But that jacket has got to be one of the best investments I've made in my journey to become a professional photographer. I knew it was something I had to get because one of my favorite photogs at The Denver Post loved his for its convenience and flexibility. Instead of carrying a bag, this photojournalist used the 18 pockets in his vest to hold is equipment, including numerous lens, batteries, and CF cards. I have come to love my vest as well! If you get one, I would suggest assigning pockets where the same items go into the same space EVERY TIME the vest is worn (the same way some do in their camera bags to make sure nothing is missing). I spent a devil of a time fumbling around trying to remember where I put things during my first photo event where I wore it.

I'm terrible about making sure I take plenty of business cards with me on assignments. But the removable press pass holder was the perfect spot for me to have those cards out in the open to hand out to potential new clients. With my company name plastered in bold letters on the card and the solid black vest with accessory rings and cotton mesh screaming "professional!" I think the whole set-up was the easiest way to market my business besides word of mouth.

The waist adjustment tabs and the heavy-duty double-pull zipper and adjustable closure gave me more room to adjust the vest to my womanly curves. At first I was worried that the padded shoulders would make me look like a rejected linebacker, but it was extremely comfortable. The well placed pockets (even ones on the back of the vest) were large enough for me to hold a 70-200 mm and a 16-35 mm on my body for quick and easy change-outs without dealing with a bag. Pens, batteries, CF cards and personal essentials such as my driver's license were all easily within reach. I can't wait to put the hand warmer pockets to the test during a Colorado winter day.

Get the Goods: Product Review Kodak AiO ESP 3 Printer

Over the past three weeks, I have been trying out a new ESP 3 Kodak All-in-One (AiO) Inkjet printer that arrived at my desk in the newsroom for review. Many of my photography buddies told me it wouldn't be long before I had two printers in my home office...one for normal printing documents and another reserved for printing photos. So I couldn't wait to add the ESP 3 into my production work flow.

Overall, I think the ESP 3 is a great printer for the novice photographer to produce prints at home. But for me as a professional, I don't think the print quality is good enough for selling those same prints to clients.

The ESP 3 (retail $129) is one of the newest models in the Kodak product lineup that prints, copies and scans, and uses Kodak Perfect Touch Technology to enhance less-than-perfect images. Installation of ink cartridges was very easy, and the included instructions were simple to follow. A USB cable had to be purchased separately for under $10, which I thought was a major inconvenience, but once I connected it and installed the software, I didn't have any other issues printing.

The Facial Retouch editing feature in the Kodak Aio Home Center Software that automatically detect faces and enhances facial features with just one click. I think those features are great for the novice photographer who isn't yet ready to invest in advanced photo programs or expensive professional photo labs. The designated family snap shooter won't be able to beat the one-click that reduces the appearance of skin blemishes, whitens teeth and eyes and smooths skin tone, restores color and reduces red eye. Again, as a professional, that's not a feature I needed, since I do my own post-processing and retouching in Photoshop.

So in order for me to use this printer, the quality of the prints themselves would have to be on the mark. I was disappointed. The photos consistently printed out much darker than what was shown on the computer screen. Even after I tried to adjust the images using the retouching software and resaving the image, the photo was still darker when printed. It may have something to do with the fact that the printer and monitor aren't calibrated. But I wouldn't feel comfortable having clients pay full price for the prints from the ESP when it's clearly obvious that the prints are darker than those images shown on my laptop or desktop. Clients gave in to the impulse buy when I had some ESP 3 prints on hand selling for a reduced price during a presentation. While one client said he thought the photos "were still very good given that they were printed at home," but he said they were definitely darker than what he had seen during his slideshow presentation.

The Kodak photo paper that came with the printer was very glossy and thick (assuming it would be more durable) and dried extremely fast. But the paper was easily scratched. I had to reprint several photos numerous times and keep them covered with paper to prevent scratches and fingerprints (although if you get fingerprints on them, you can use a microfiber cloth to remove them fairly easily, but don't rub too hard or you will rub away the ink from the photo paper). I also noticed that several prints had inexplicable pairs of vertical, dashed lines going through them, requiring more reprinting.

For now, I will stick with having client package photos professionally printed at Wolf until I can afford a higher quality model such as an Epson or Canon dedicated solely for printing photos.

The ESP did have several saving graces though. I think the prints were great as rough drafts to inspect before sending the final image to the professional printer. There are some things you just don't notice on a screen that are more evident once the image has been printed. It's a lot easier to see what needs to be tweaked in post-processing once you have an actual photo in your hand. And I was finally able to print out samples of my work to be displayed on my walls at home. The final display wall is beautiful and eye catching, which went over well with my clients.