Mikey: Woweee! That's so amazing! I don't know anything about photo lights - are they hooked to your camera to flash with the shutter, or do they stay on all the time?

 Barron: They flash when you hit the shutter. There are actually two bulbs, the flash bulb, and the modeling bulb. The modeling bulb is just a standard light bulb, and you can have that on all the time. That way you can get WYSIWYG lighting for setup.

 Matt: Who is that chic? She wears naughty clothes and she's hot!

 Mikey: Another silly question - how do they hook to the camera? Is it a hot-shoe thing?

 barron: It connects via cable to the camera's pc connector. If the camera doesn't have this connection, you can usually find adapters that fit into the hot shoe.

 miketa@mchsi.com: Love your site.

I just recieved my Alien Bees beginner kit. I haven't been able to use it yet. Now I've read that I must have a light meter. Do you use a light meter for your shots?
My budget won't allow for a meter after buying the Alien Bees. If I save for a meter I hope I can play with my 'bees' in the mean time.

 Barron: Are you using digital or film? I am using digital, and I do not use a light meter. I usually use my histogram and a few test shots to see if I have the settings right. I have a preset on my camera where I start, then I tweak those depending on the aperture I want.

If you are using film, then I guess you would want/need a meter that can handle strobes.

Thanks for the compliment, btw.

 miketa@mchsi.com: I am using a Konica/Minolta MAXXUM 7D, (which I'v seen a lot of on your site here). I guess I'll try the histogram routine and see how it goes.
What preset are you using?

Thanks for the reply

 Barron: The important thing is to set the camera to M (manual), and use a shutter speed of 1/125 or below. I think I may have used 1/200 once. If you start seeing a dark band in your pictures, you have the shutter speed set too fast. I think the max sync is 1/160 on the 7D. Then, choose the aperture you want, then you can adjust using the flash power, and the ISO. Not the quickest way, but at least you aren't wasting film when you do your test shots.