Alien Bee / Paul Buff 11" Long Throw Reflector

Inspired by Zack Arias and his wide angle work and use of grids with the alienbee 7" reflector, I've taken a leap of faith with the 11"ltr.

As a photographer I believe that you develop your own style by watching, learning and then imitating.  I've watched Zack love his work done with grid spots and now want to try it, but with my own twist.  That twist being the paul buff 11" long throw reflector.  This is where creative license comes in.  If you read the specs on the 11" ltr-long.throw.reflector this thing just screams indoor/arena sports use, but thats where the photograher starts to make his own way.  I don't shoot sports and besides competitive eating, Im not very good at sports. This reflector will be used almost exclusively for portraits. I have also purchased both of the available grids that come with the reflector to use for the moody wide angle/ enviromental portraits.  I may wind up developing my own style or as Mark Wallace says "Failing with purpose.".  Either way I learn something either that its not going to work the way my minds eye see's it, or I can create some really good shots with a reflector designed for a completly different photographic purpose.

Almost forgot, on to the review:

Please remember as allways this is a review and a test buy an average joe living in an apt in nyc just trying to impart some info that I have with others.  In no way is this a controlled or scientific test. 

Portability:  The 11 inch long throw reflecfor is not heavy by any means, and is easily portable.  However, it would have been cool to have a nice paul buff travel bag designed for it. The reflector is actually big enough to fit on your head, yes I tried it and saw a pic of it on flickr.  It will not fit in your standard paul buff  bag, but a medium size shopping bag or small carrying bag should suffice.

Durability:   Mines arrived with a few scratches on the exterior but nothing to cry about or send back. It seems like its fairly well built, but I'm not sure how many falls it would really stand up to. The only part that really worries me some is the outer lip which holds the reflector seems like it could be a weak point in terms of bending, but for the current price of  $29.95USD  you can't lose.  The sight says it has a smooth silver finish, but I find it a more smooth matte finish.  But all sweet goodness. 

Efficieny:
This reflector is  about as bright as a burning star. The first reading I took was out of the reach of my lens. Well I think out of the reach of all my current lens.  The only lens, wait no I've never had a lens go to f/36. For the sake of transparnceny, and full disclosuer this was taken in a hallway about 32ft long with white walls, more than likely adding to the efficiency, but I did say this was not a scientific test but more real world of sorts.  This was tested against a standard 7"inch paul buff reflector.  In all I tested a total of 27 feet.  At every foot the  11inch long throw reflector proved to be the winner  belting out at least 2/3rd's to a stop more effeciency.  For this test I used an alienbee 400 flash unit.  My iso was set to 200 and the power level was set to a modest, but real world 1/4 power setting.

11"L.T.R       &      7"reflector

  3ft-f/36                    f/22
  4ft-f/25                    f/16
  5ft-f/22                    f/13
  6ft-f/18                    f/11
  7ft-f/16                    f/10
  8ft-f/14                    f/9
  9ft-f/13                    f/8
10ft-f/13                    f/8
11ft-f/11                    f/7.1
12ft-f11                     f/7.1
13ft-f10                     f/6.3
14ft-f/9                      f/6.3
15ft-f/9                      f/5.6
16ft-f/8                      f/ 5.6
17ft-f/8                      f/5
18ft-f/8                      f/4.5
19ft-f7.1                    f/4.5
20ft-f7.1                    f/4.5
21ft-f/6.3                  f/4.5
22ft-f/6.3                  f/4
23ft-/6.3                   f/3.6
24ft-5.6                    f/3.6
25ft-5.6                    f/3.6
26ft-f/5                    f/3.2
27ft-f/5                    f/3.2

Here are some shots that I have included along with the numbers above

Best advice I can give is to keep shooting learning and growing. Its the only way to grow your photography, and its the only way to experience life.  Live on the wild side for just a minute and try something different. When I finally put this reflector to the test, my pics may look like @** , but I'll take that and learn something from it.Take care and keep shooting.