5d III + Elinchrom Ranger or 5D II + AlienBees

[joshbennett]

I am having trouble deciding on the next upgrades for my gear. I need a camera body and I want to start using strobes. I shoot wedding photography mostly but I want to start incorporating some strobe shots into the mix. Portability for the strobe is a must. I am wanting to do one of the following combinations as far as my upgrade due to budget. Your opinions is greatly appreciated. 

Option 1
Elinchrom Ranger Quadra Hybrid A Heads - http://www.adorama.com/EL104081.html
Canon 5D II
Est Cost - 3454

Option 2
The AlienBees B1600 Flash Unit +Vagabond Mini
Canon 5D III
Est Cost - 3670


I would really like to get the 5D III because of the double card slot mostly since I already own a lot of SD Cards (and I would like the back-up as well). Also since I shoot weddings a lot of the ceremony locations are dark so the extra ISO is great as well.

I also like the portability of the Elinchrom Ranger Quadra. And I hear that it is more consistent than the Alien Bees strobe.

So obviously I would like 5D II and Ranger but due to budget I can only pick one for now.

Which would you recommend?

[Viggo]

I know a lot of people like the AB's, but I LOVE the Quadra, you must get the Deep Octa box, it's extremely versatile, and I have used mine as a beauty dish lately and the quality of light is amazing. Plus with your question in mind you get the 5d3 over the 5d2 at the same time and that is a superior camera and it will be able to handle loads of situations the 5d2 just won't. (I've owned them both , so I know)

[joshbennett]

One thing I like about the AB's over the Quadra is it has more power to over power the sun. However it seems a little more difficult to move around. Are there any photographers that are using the AB's as a portable strobe often?

I was planning on getting a 24x32 softbox.

[Knut Skywalker]

On his OneLightWorkshop DVD, Zack Arias is using the AlienBees besides various Speedlites. He's a genius when it comes to Speedlite and flash photography in general. The results are great!

[Viggo]

I have seen that sentence sooo many times "Overpowering the sun" Well, how often do you shoot with the sun directly behind your subjec AND with the attention of still keeping the sky dark blue?

What I have found to work great, at least since I mainly use one light, is that I shoot with the sun more to the side and use it as a rim-light, and then the added bonus is that I can use a polartizer since I'm 90 degrees to the sun. If I shoot with the sun directly behind my subject I often go for the flare-type shot and even then I can get some good detail in the background at 400Ws, the issue with power is if you want the sun towards the camera with 2 stop underexposed background and you have both diffusers (of the Deep octa) and the deflector, doesn't happen very often in MY case at least.

I have the Quadra-head mounted to the Octa at all times, it's like just having the Octa, it's soo small and light, about the size of a 50 L, but one third of the weight...

This example is just one of my facebook-uploads so it isn't the highest quality, but hey. (god I miss my mac, it's being serviced) And I wasn't near the limit of 400Ws on this shot. Shot with only outer diffuser. Very hard sun.