Studio flash kit

[Mad Dave]

Hi All,

I've been asked to shoot a semi-nude home shoot of a pregnant subject and this has given me a kick up the backside to get on and buy a small studio kit. I currently have an SB800 Speedlight with brolley adaptor but this won't be enough i'm sure. Also, i've just been accepted by IStockphoto as a contributor so i'll need lighting for some still life type shots.

Anyway, I don't want to spend the earth - I had hoped to pick up a small starter kit for about £200, with 2 heads and a softbox (as mentioned, I already have a brolley) but it's looking like my budget may have to double. To that end, i've spotted this kit:

www.warehouseexpress.com/index.cfm?photo/studio_lighting/elinchrom.html?cd=20061814

It's the first one on the page - the DLite2. It's a touch under £400 but looks good. Will this be a good choice for home studio stuff and small tabletop still lifes too?

Any advice and/or alternatives would be VERY much appreciated!

Thanks chaps

Dave

[UKBob]

Everyone I spoke to had different advice. My best guess is:

2x 125w "might" suffice for close up portraiture and light tent work, but you would realise the limitations quickly and likely regret the purchase.
2x 250w would be ideal, no more is needed for still life, portraiture and perhaps maybe close up full body shots too.
2x 500w would NOT be too powerful for product photography, you can power down to 1/3rd easily enough... warehouse expressed wrongly advised me that 500w lights would be FAR too powerful for still life. 500w would let you shoot larger subjects... I doubt your budget will stretch though.

ed/poah probably have better advice. I doubt youd be over the moon with the 100w d-lite you mentioned.

[poah]

to be quite honest a speedlite with a brolley is probably going to be suprisingly good for most basic shots and you could even do a silluette with one. so long as the lights are adjustable then they will be acceptable for a small set in the house.

[_dobbo_]

This might sound silly to some but the first thing I'm going to buy is two £10 300w Halogen uplighters from argos. They can be made to point in other directions than up, and give off a very even bright light. They are also controllable albeit not directly from the camera.



Anyway my point is, it's £20 which is a factor of 20 less than most bottom of the pile studio lights, so well worth a punt. Along with my speedlight I think I'll be ok. I've decided that this is the point when I stop spending money for the sake of it!

[megy]

I have a set of Elinchrom, having replaced a CHEAP set of the basic jessops lights, now totally pleased with them, IMO buying cheap means just that, i used to get inconsistant results, now with the Elinchroms i dont.

The one thing i would say though is to get a good range of modifyers, softbox, brollie and reflectors is what i have at the mo, i need a bigger reflector, snoot and looking at a dish too.



Anyway Dave, did you get my mail about the bike studio shoot?

Edited by megy on Friday 15th September 08:13

[Mad Dave]

Hi Guys,

The ones in that thread that I was considering, were the Elinchrom DLite2's - they're apparently 12-200w - will that be enough do you think? They also take all the other accessories in the Elinchrom range, which many of the cheaper kits dont.

If anyone has any links to other kits, i'd love to see them.

Thanks

Dave

[megy]

Mad Dave said:

Hi Guys,

The ones in that thread that I was considering, were the Elinchrom DLite2's - they're apparently 12-200w - will that be enough do you think? They also take all the other accessories in the Elinchrom range, which many of the cheaper kits dont.

If anyone has any links to other kits, i'd love to see them.

Thanks

Dave

You have mail

[UKBob]

megy said:

I have a set of Elinchrom, having replaced a CHEAP set of the basic jessops lights, now totally pleased with them, IMO buying cheap means just that, i used to get inconsistant results, now with the Elinchroms i dont.

The one thing i would say though is to get a good range of modifyers, softbox, brollie and reflectors is what i have at the mo, i need a bigger reflector, snoot and looking at a dish too.



Anyway Dave, did you get my mail about the bike studio shoot?

Edited by megy on Friday 15th September 08:13

Based on my experience with my bowens lights I think you'll have trouble blowing out white backgrounds with 200w lights when shooting in the smaller end of the aperture range. Id recommend a minimum of 250w lights for product photography work, I think Im actually using (estimating again, based on the dials positions) over 200w PLUS for all my shots.

[Mad Dave]

Really? Shit, hadn't realised that. That could be a problem, although I doubt ill be shooting at f11+ and I can always remove the background in Photoshop afterwards I guess.

Thanks for all the advice guys.

Dave

[megy]

Mad Dave said:

I can always remove the background in Photoshop afterwards I guess.

An ever increasingly popular phrase in photography, but i would suggest getting a shot as near right at the taking stage rather than relying on PS. PS is ok for minor adjustments, but it gets a bit tiring after a while to remove backgrounds etc. Just my 2p's worth

If you can wait till the 28th you can have a look at my Elinchrom set, they will be in my car.

[Mad Dave]

Oh I agree completely - it's just an option if I can't afford to spend more.

re 28th - i've looked at the map and it's not all that far, and is on main roads that I know well (A303, M3) so i'll be able to tank it up there at v-max hopefully! That's assuming the weather hasn't taken a dangerous turn for the worse by then!