Studio lights - no idea what I need!

[V8S]

I'm hoping in the new year to buy some studio lights and background.

I want to shoot people and still-life, but also be able to take the lights outside at some point to try some car photography.

I am quite perplexed by the various models, power sources, wattage, permanent light or flash, and the various options out there. I really just need someone in the know to say: get this, it's great, it'll do what you want.

I don't want to spend more than £500 - ideally £250 if that's possible.

There's a bit about studio lighting in a current photography magazine, but I'm still no nearer to knowing what I need.

Any ideas?

[Snapper7]

Your budget is very low for outside studio lighting. My set cost me between £2-3000 with all the bits and bobs.

I think at best you could get a couple of stands, and extra flashgun (if you have one already) and some pocket wizards. You might also need a light meter if you dont have one alredy

[andy-xr]

Go flash, and if going outside has the option of a really long extension lead and a couple of mates to hold onto the lights to stop them blowing away, do that.

If you start looking at battery packs for heads, you're looking easily at treble your budget. Your other option is to invest in speedlights. Biggest problem you'll have with that is no modelling lights and getting a good trigger system. Whether you want TTL compatability with your camera is another topic altogether.

Studio flash options

http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-elinchrom-d-li...

http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-bowens-gemini-...

http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-interfit-int42...

[jon-]

Research Research Research.

Trying to over power the sun with a £250 studio head and battery pack will be like trying to overpower the Niagara falls after a bottle of beer.

As you seem to be well behind the curve, start by googling strobist. A lot can be done with a speedlite.

[V8S]

Ok, to clarify I don't want to compete with the sun. I just want a system that's 'intermediate'; good enough to shoot a good range of subjects that won't become limiting a month later.

At the moment I have a 430 EX II which I am learning to use.

[ian in lancs]

If you want portability at that price range then a couple of flashguns is the way to go. I have found that 2 Nikon SB-600's on 1/4 and 1/16 power through brollies easily light a home studio at f5.6 - f8. I have also tried using some ancient Olympus T32 guns with cheap ebay slave triggers (£3 ea IIRC) as fill in or hair lights. So its easily possible to buy used guns and slave trigger them off the built in flash.

The SB-600's have a guide number of 32 ish so you don't want to get any less especially if you want to use brollies or a soft box (a stand brolly set can be got quite cheaply on ebay)

So a couple of guns, slave triggers, brollies and stands would set you up at your budget. Calumet will be running speedlight / flashgun courses in 2010 they are very good and very good value for money.

As for sudio lights get one with an 'S' type attachment fitting for the widest range of accessories and they are rated on power output. I was told 250W for people and 500W for groups is the 'minimum'. Again, the power gets reduced with softboxes and unbrellas etc. Interfit seem to do cheap studio lights, Bowens are more expensive but good middle ground and Elinchrom is top end. These people seem to have a good reputation http://www.studio-flash.com/index.php

I went the speedlight route and at the moment I am very satisfied with the results.

[sipow]

I know it's been said above, but getting studio strobes outside doesn't come cheap.

If you are going head to head with the sun, then yes you, need some serious power but there a few things you can do with hotshoe flashes.

Firstly, you can use your cameras FP/High Speed Sync flash mode. Long story short, it's a clever mode that allows you to sync much faster than the usual 1/250th of a second that is normally your max sync speed. You'll lose a lot of power as the flash has to pop several times rather than just once, but you can really kill the ambient light at 1/2000th.

Your other option is to simply use your flash as your fill or rim light and use the sun as your main light.

Or buy a 1200WS Elinchrom Ranger RX or a Profoto battery pack, a couple of heads and be lord and master of nature and physics!

[daver777]

http://www.studio-flash.com/

seem cheap enough?

[sipow]

daver777 said:

http://www.studio-flash.com/

seem cheap enough?

I have a torch that cost more than that... it's probably brighter too

[jon-]

You can get all that stuff off ebay as Interfit. A good speedlite will give you more power and more consistent exposure / colour.

[stigmundfreud]

why not come up to my gaff some time and have a look at the kit I use, where and how its used and have a play around. Only up the road though its a long trip back on an AA truck.

PM me if you want to pop up and I'll try and arrange a model for you too

[stigmundfreud]

jon- said:

You can get all that stuff off ebay as Interfit. A good speedlite will give you more power and more consistent exposure / colour.

a speedlight gives more power and consistency than a dedicated interfit head? You sure about that?

[andy-xr]

There is something in that Stiggers. On spec, my SB900 does seem to have more oomph than my little Stellar X 150's, same adapters/modifiers and full power on each will see F8 @ 1/125 on the Interfit vs F10'ish (nearly F11) @ 1/125 on the SB900 zoom around 50mm. Tested with a Sekonic 308s @ ISO200 and a set of PW's (*ETA - at same distances using same light stand position etc)

Edited by andy-xr on Thursday 10th December 23:30

[stigmundfreud]

150s, might as well use a candle!

Edited by stigmundfreud on Thursday 10th December 23:21

[andy-xr]

I keep meaning to trade up, but everyone I know already has Bowens and the studio I use has them too, so I spent the cash on speedlights and pocket wizards instead

[stigmundfreud]

I'm going elichroms next as bowens are just too silly on price though saying that interfits new range looks very very tidy indeed with much better control and recycle times but 4 years on my 300s still do the job. Battery packs next for me I think. I struggle getting my head around the full speedlight system and lack of modelling lights really is a pisser but on the flip side, i do like high speed sync on the speedlights...

[Ed_P]

I have a mobile "studio" set-up with 4 Canon Speedlights (1 x 580, 3 x 430s) operated by an ST-E2 infra-red controller. Use 2 x 430s to illuminate a Lastolite HiLite background, a 430 (with umbrella) as a fill-light and the 580 (with softbox) as the key-light. Enough oomph to produce good hi-key images with all units running at less than full power; (camera on Manual, ISO 200, 1/150 second, F8 - or thereabouts).

As mentioned, the lack of modelling lights is the main drawback, but for event/family shoots etc, it all works just fine. I don't have a permanent studio; so this arrangement suits me. All very portable too (manage to get all my gear into the S2000 - unless there's a passenger!). I'm planning to upgrade to "radio" triggers next year, but the ST-E2 has performed extremely well.

[stigmundfreud]

I do like the speedlights but have found that even set on manual and the st-e2 set to manual something somewhere is still trying to be a little automatic. For a portable studio setup the speedlights work great. In fact due to their size and their power I am now looking at using the speedlights for background lighting in the studio and using just the one fixed head for the foreground. Fortunately the ST-E2 is able to trigger the speedlights but also cause the interfit sensors to trigger which is nice.

What is very frustrating with the new EOS software is that you have to now do all your settings in the flash whereas before you could use camera settings to override flash, I guess its to simplify management of the units

[andy-xr]

stigmundfreud said:

I do like the speedlights but have found that even set on manual and the st-e2 set to manual something somewhere is still trying to be a little automatic.

Mate of a mate of a mate kinda thing....He say it's to do with the TTL pins on the trigger trying to start a conversation

[jon-]

andy-xr said:

stigmundfreud said:

I do like the speedlights but have found that even set on manual and the st-e2 set to manual something somewhere is still trying to be a little automatic.

Mate of a mate of a mate kinda thing....He say it's to do with the TTL pins on the trigger trying to start a conversation

Ebay triggers are great at killing any extra chat