Once upon a time… there was a photographer who carried a bunch of 800WS monolights wherever he'd go, and if there was no electricity available on site, would also drag expensive and heavy power generators, some of which are excellent and long lasting while other smelled like gasoline… That photographer was me…
When it comes to on-location photography, overshooting means carrying tons of equipment and wasting more time and money to get the same results. That is where my quest for portable lights began.
I've decided to simplify things. My goal was to arrange a portable lighting setup for event photography and "simple" studio assignments like food or product photography. Don't get me wrong, shooting food is not a simple task at all, but generally speaking many of the food photography sessions require the use of light and portable flashes, while their intensity is negligible.A portable studio flash configuration is made of two elements:
- A lightweight flash, preferably not an expensive one.
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Independent portable power supply as an alternative to the power grid.
Low power flash = an advantage.
I've already dwelled on low power flashes in the Impact Monolight Review so there's no need for an in depth explanation. Let me just emphasize two major outlines of the monolight I've chosen for the setup:
- Even the weakest available monolights are typically intense enough for event photography that is characterized in using high ISO levels and wider apertures. The weaker flashes draw less power to operate then the mighty ones. The meaning of that is that when searching for a substitute to the AC power grid, one can use a lower capacity battery, saving money and weight.
- When building a multi-lights setup, a low price item means you can afford more flashes for lower expenditure. Event photography involves a relatively high amortization and I take that into account. In the price of having one of my expensive professional monolights fixed I can buy a new Impact cheap monolight. It will most likely serve me for long enough to return the very small investment many times.
Wall outlet operation – OK for the studio, Nuisance for event photographers.
The biggest drawback of using large studio flashes is the wiring issue. Anyone that has experienced using flashes in event venues knows what I'm talking about. You get to the venue, choose your preferred spots to place your lights and then start to run around the place to find the nearest outlet. It's always too far. Murphy`s laws… Then you start to stretch long electric cords, and extenders, and then you rush to secure them to the floor with gaffer tape so that no one accidentally trips over them. Sometimes you need to argue with the venue manager, other times you experience electric interferences caused by the dance floor lighting… No fun…
And we haven't yet spoken about time and portability. Heck, we're photographers, not infrastructure workers, all this thing with the electric cords is annoying and time consuming. Not to mention the fact that on many occasions, the mingling takes place in hall A, the ceremony in hall B and the dinner and dances in hall C. Now lets see you remove those gaffers, release and gather your cords and re-mount them in the next hall within minutes… there goes flexibility and creativity…
OK… I have slandered the use of power grid enough… the libel suit from the electric company is probably on the way now… lets move on 
The alternative to the power grid: Battery Pack
While there are many dedicated battery power packs available to buy, most are typically very expensive. Let's take Quantum for instance. They make the best battery packs I know, but the average price for a single unit is much more expensive then the Impact monolight I wanted to power. That made no sense because what I was trying to do in the first place was come up with a cheap portable setup that I can afford to duplicate several times at a reasonable cost. I knew there had to be a solution that is much cheaper. The basic principle was clear; to create a portable, battery operated, 220VAC power supply (110V if you live in the USA), strong enough to operate my flashes, yet inexpensive and portable. I came up with a simple integration of two widely available inexpensive items that you can read about in part 2.
