Simple studio setup

[Alphatoner]

I'm considering setting up a fairly simple home studio. There seems to be such a huge arrray of different types of lighting I seem to be flip flopping all over the place.

But as a start point does anyone have an opinion of these

any views or alternatives would be appreciated. This is my top end budget so anything cheaper would be a bonus

[sim667]

Doesnt look too bad, I cant really say unless i work with them mind.

Wouldnt be my choice but still looks ok for a little home setup..... maybe worth thinking about second hand, there's a couple of places to look out for stuff except ebay, PM me if you want some pointers.

[springtide]

Not that I know very much, but have had a play with " a studio at home" and have bought a few bits and pieces.

Doesn't seem that bad to me for the price. Good value and 200Ws isn't too bad, but this can be a bit limiting, but not as limiting as say a 100Ws flash!

So this was useful info....
Guide Number (ISO100) - 99
f/11 at 9 feet at ISO100.

Which is probably more like f8 at ISO100 once you have the Softbox attached - Anyone with more studio experience want to comment?

One of the problems that I found is that if you want to increase an F stop then you need double the power and you quickly run out of power.

Myself and a friend have bought a couple of the "Walimex" units from Ebay. The shops are only based in Germany, but they ship to the UK for very little money (you need to tick the box to search "Europe" to see the results)

Take a look at:
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/foto-walser

and

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Mediaresort...rafie-und-mehr

Foto Walser also have a shop...

http://foto-walser.biz/

Take a look at the "K Series", and they come in 260, 420 or 600 Ws (watt/sec) flash units.

They used to sell these off pretty cheaply on Ebay
These look more expensive that what you've found - but would be more flexible (as you can more powerful flashes it required)

The quality of the Walimex units were very good for the price, much better than the Interfit (Stella 150Ws) kit that we own between us.

[GarryF]

I'd been thinking about getting this
http://www.warehouseexpress.com/?/ph...rom.html#dlite

But dunno much about lighting either

[wabbitt]

Not bad for the price I think.

A few downsides;

- Doesn't look like they have cooling. Can cause some problems I think with long term stability.
- 200 W/s isn't really very much to be honest. It will work most of the time, but I think you'll eventually wanting more.
- 4 seconds recharge time.... ouch.
- it's only adjustable to 1/5th of the output which isn't very much really. You will find you might have to add more modifiers to reduce it further (or move it further away with larger softboxes, etc.)
- 12V trigger voltage... that's just too much. 5-6V is what you want

Saying that, it will certainly get you into flash photography much like my very first portaflash studio kit did. Personally, I think you are better off with the DLITE-2 kit (although that doesn't have cooling either) as a starter kit.

[h4rri]

Take a look at PeakOverloads blog [google it] for info on lighting. Very informative

[tomson]

Have you thought about renting something for a week or so and seeing how you get on?

The Flash Centre rent out D-Lite kits by the week for very little:
http://www.theflashcentre.com/d-lite-kits-c132.html

[Alphatoner]

Thanks guys, all your comments are very much appreciated. I guess it's like anything when you start out, there is so much choice.

In this case it's just choice of makes models etc you get the added complication of types of lighting eg tungsten, low energy flouescent etc. and then you throw in flash or constant just to confuse things even more.


But If I am being honest I guess what i really need is a short 1 day practical course in lighting where i can not only learn about different types of lighting but the most important part how to use the damn things.

Once i have that then maybe i would be better placed to not only know what to get but how much i should and would be prepared to pay.

Without that maybe i am just wasting my money to have a bunch of kit sat in the corner doing nothing.

But then again (just another thought) I have a couple of canon flash guns if i get myself an ST-E2 remote trigger a couple of stands and umbrellas that might be enough to get started and have a play. what do you think?

[wabbitt]

The ST-E2 is pretty good if you don't want to do much outdoor shooting and it's in a fairly close proximity. The EX flashes need to be able to see the IR emitter of the ST-E2.

I have one and to be honest, it works pretty well. It allows pretty good control right from the camera.

It will certainly get you into off-camera flash mindset.

(<--- thinking about whether to sell my ST-E2 now as I hardly use it anymore)

[GarryF]

I ordered a ST-E2 as I read it can actually fire these studio lights anyways, at £93 it saves you buying the £50 warehouseexpress IR controler and works 430EX ETTL if you need it.

Anyone able to confirm that the ST-E2 can fire studio flashes etc?

[wabbitt]

Hmmm. never tried that as I have wireless trasnmitters anyway. I'll give it a bash on the weekend.