Metpin777 Loc: Fort Wayne, IN

Canon 80D, portraits, 1-4 subjects, studio and outdoors, just want to know what wattage strobes I would need please

300w. Or 500w, and do they have adjustable power outputs? Finding speedlights not enough power
Thank you

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

777, welcome to the Hog!
I have 500 watt lights and can't recall I've ever had them past 1/3 power, indoors or out.
For most shooting situations, the 300 watt lights will be MORE than adequate.
They are probably MUCH cheaper as well.
I would not hesitate to get 300 watt lights. You can get more of them. If you need more light, just put two of them together.
Probly all are adjustable.
If you are using huge modifiers that are very diffused and set pretty far away, you might need all that power, maybe! Good luck!
SS

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

There is very little correlation between strobe power output in Watt-Seconds and the actual illumination you get at a given distance. You have to include the effects of the reflector or other light modifier.

Go to sites such as

https://www.google.com/search?source=hp&q=fj+westcott&oq=fjwe&gs_l=psy-ab.3.0.0i10k1l10.711.1960.0.3629.5.4.0.0.0.0.150.473.0j4.4.0....0...1.1.64.psy-ab..1.4.470.0..0j35i39k1j0i131k1j0i20i264k1.0.0nLIDBLqZQA

or https://www.paulcbuff.com

or https://www.dynalite.com

or http://www.promarkbrands.com

...and look for information about their gear.

Yes, many options are available, including adjustable mono-lights, power packs with wired heads, battery power packs for outdoor use, etc. If you read far enough, you can learn quite a bit on those sites! I would probably look for videos or white papers they offer on their gear. Look for discussions on the merits of various light modifiers — polished bowl reflectors, soft boxes, white/silver/gold/shoot-through umbrellas, brolly boxes, lady slippers, halos, scrims, gobos, white/silver/gold reflectors, and more...

As a direct answer to your question, 400 W-S is generally enough for portraits outdoors up to 15 feet. More is useful. In the studio, I rarely used more than 200 Main, 200 Fill, 50 Background, 50 Hair & Separation, 100 kicker... I had 800 W-S power packs that supported four heads each. Rarely did I need more than 600 W-S total.