I've heard good things about the new Ranger line of portable lighting from Elinchrom. This is the actual head.
B&H has kits available for about $ 2200 for 2 light systems capable of speeds of 1/6400 ... and yet portable enough to carry in case.
Don't know to what extent this would be practical for nature work, but it still looks impressive for action and still outdoor photography.
This would be interesting to use with perhaps hummingbirds or other situations where the perches are set up and you simply have to wait. The wireless triggering is nice too insofar you can be a safe distance away and not have to worry about wires/cables or signal loss.
Last edited by Michael Pancier; 07-20-2009 at 05:51 PM.
I did think of using studio lighting on location for a while last year. I then went deeper with my remote flash system (I use Nikon SB-800 & 900). I find them hard to beat in term of versatility and portability. From my point of vue today (with the little I know), I feel that a studio strobe would be necessary only if you needed extremely soft light on a big area (big soft box) and fast action. So far, in all other situations I have encountered, my Nikon flashes have done an outstanding job.
I had a Balcar P2/4 AC/DC system for use on location work, as well as Lumedyne 400ws and Noman 200B systems. In fact I still have a Lumedyne 400ws unit with 2 modeling heads and pwr boosters.