Skip to main content

Digital upgrade, LEDs make AlienBee flash units more efficient

It’s been a half-dozen years since one of the biggest names in lighting, Paul C. Buff, released its last off-camera flash units — known as AlienBees. The latest gear from the company, released Wednesday, represents more than a marginal upgrade — the DigiBee DB800 and DB400 are greatly enhanced versions of the original AlienBee flashes.

The lights have lost more than a few inches since Paul C Buff’s last Einstein flashes in 2010, with the DigiBees measuring about half the size of AlienBees. Despite the smaller size, the flashes haven’t lost any power, thanks to a switch to LED lights. The DB400 offers power from 2.5 to 160 watts, while the DB800 has a 5 to 320 watt range, with slower recycle times. Along with that big change, the DigiBees also have a wider range by one stop, allowing for a much lower minimum power setting.

Recommended Videos

The switch to LEDs also make the lights more efficient. While the DigiBees don’t have their own battery, the DB400 is rated for 2,000 flashes and the DB800 is rated for 1,000 from a Vagabond battery — or about an hour and a half of continuous light.

Recycle times stay relatively put compared to the earlier lights. The DB400 offers a pretty solid, though not best-in-class half-second spec, with just half that time needed when using the light at half power. The more powerful DB800 needs a full second to recover and fire off another burst of light.

And in case the “Digi” in DigiBee doesn’t clue you in, the backs of the light are now digital, with an LED screen displaying the light’s power level.

While the DigiBees don’t have their own battery or offer high-speed sync, they do come in at a price point that’s rather affordable considering they’re coming from a high-end brand. The faster but less powerful DB400 is priced at $309.95, while the more powerful (but slower) DB800 is $349.95. They’re not designed to replace the more powerful, more expensive Einstein flashes, but they expand the company’s range of options at a lower price point.

Hillary K. Grigonis
Hillary never planned on becoming a photographer—and then she was handed a camera at her first writing job and she's been…
Phone cameras are so good, they’ve finally replaced my camera for work
Close up of the camera on the iPhone 16 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro.

For almost two decades, I’ve carried more than twenty pounds of electronics in my backpack for the slightest chance of needing to capture content for my professional life. My backpack usually contained my MacBook, a full-frame camera with a big lens, a tripod, and an assortment of video and audio gear that I always deemed essential.

As it turns out, over the past two years, many of these items were rendered obsolete, as many companies launched new products that were quickly able to replace technology that I previously considered irreplaceable.

Read more
This is what happens ‘when you get two uber-geeks in space at the same time’
NASA's Don Pettit on the space station.



During NASA’s first-ever Twitch livestream from the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday, current station inhabitant Don Pettit and recent returnee Matthew Dominick talked about what it’s like to live and work in a satellite 250 miles up.

Read more
The GoPro Hero 13 Creator Edition is $100 off, but not for long
A person holding the GoPro HERO13 Creator Edition in front of the ocean.

Outdoor enthusiasts who want to buy a new action camera should go for the brand that popularized the product and look for GoPro deals. Best Buy has an offer that's going to be hard to refuse, as it features the GoPro Hero 13 Creator Edition. From its original price of $600, it's down to just $500 as part of the retailer's Presidents' Day Sale. There are still a few days remaining before the $100 discount ends on February 17, but we highly recommend completing your purchase as soon as possible because stocks may run out before then.

Why you should buy the GoPro Hero 13 Creator Edition
The star of the GoPro Hero 13 Creator Edition is the GoPro Hero 13 Black, which is the latest version of the brand's popular line of action cameras. It's capable of recording video at up to 5.3K resolution, and you can grab photos of up to 24.7MP from your footage using the GoPro Quick app. The GoPro Hero 13 Black can also take videos that are slowed down by 13 times the normal speed, and it can last more than 5 hours on a single charge. The front and rear LCD screens will let you frame your shots perfectly, and the built-in buttons enable easy controls for lengthy sessions.

Read more