MicrostockGroup

I want to by some lighting equipment. I have decided on going with Alien Bees. This will be for my home basement. To start, I will mostly be learning to do still life, isolation, food, etc. shots. But I want to be able to also use whatever I purchase for eventually learning to shoot people.

I currently have two light stands and two umbrellas at home. Below is what I am thinking of getting. Is there anything missing that I should also get right from the start.

1) Either Three B1600's or Three of the new Einstein's
2) One 13 foot Air Cushioned Stand
3) One Giant Softbox
4) One Cyber Commander
5) Three Cybersync Receivers

Is there anything I am missing that I should get now? Should I get a second softbox (and stand)?

I would appreciate any suggestions or comments so I get the right equipment from the start.

Thanks.

That's a pretty good start.

I have 2 AB800s with a jumbo octobox and am fairly happy with them.  Not sure about the Einsteins but they look nice.

I'd say stay with what you have listed. After you get started you'll have a better idea of what else you need such as more softboxes.

And stick with the 1600s. I'd rather have too much power and be able to turn them down than have not enough. 

Sounds like a great setup to me

FWIW, the ABs and most other studio strobes have optical slave triggers, so you really only need one commander and one receiver for one light.  The others will be triggered when the light with the receiver goes off.

Also, I photograph almost exclusively people and the 800s are more than powerful enough.  It is the size of the modifier (umbrella or softbox) that determines the size of the area they cover. 

Thanks Lisa and Phil.

Lisa, I already have here at home one pair of PocketWizards. So I could just use those and skip the AB Cybercommander and receivers I guess. Does that sound like the right thing to do?

Controlling all the lights independently from the Cybercommander sounded nice, but maybe not worth the extra expense since I do already have 2 pocket wizards.

Steve

most common business mistake is to go for big toys that you don't need. 2 100w lights will be more than sufficient .. even if you later move into larger subjects like people. Air cushioned stands are a very wise choice .. doesn't provide functional benefits but it's a great insurance policy to prevent damages. For 99% still life a couple 2'x3' boxes will work in most cases .. full body people will require a larger box at least 4' .. 6' is better .. especially for outfits were skin tone in both legs & upper body needs to equalize. Trigger systems need to be either expensive battery or cheap in-line powered. Cheap battery units tend to miss-fire and create additional expense for batteries. In-Line powered receivers tend to never missfire, never be an inconvenience and never create additional expense.
Look at the price of replacement tubes before buying if you are going to be giving them heavy use. Trendy name brands can often cost you $150 just to replace the tube once it burns out .. Cheaper lights that don't spend their money marketing themselves to have a cool name will cost you maybe $15-25 to replace the tube.

Thanks everyone. I will wait for a few days and see if the Einstein lights get off of backorder. I also hear that the AB lights will be coming down in price and the Einsteins going up. As soon as that happens I will place my order (have to see what happens to the prices but I will get either the 1600's or the Einsteins).

Since I dropped the Cybercommander and receivers off my list (and I will use my Pocket Wizards), it also is enabling me to get the Canon 400mm f5.6 L lens that I have also been wanting to get. I actually just placed that order.

Sorry to disagree with Randy on this one, but I have used white lighting strobes on the beach on several occasions. Just bring a couple of Vagabond II battery packs, some high output beauty dishes and a reflector/diffusion screen & you are good to go. Oh, and it helps to bring an assistant along as well

I was talking about portability and efficiency not just if it could be done or not. A power source and any studio lighting would be fine for something like a beach session because the portability demands are pretty close to just being in the studio anyway. When you start shooting complex locations that offer the diversity of 30-60 unique backgrounds for a single client .. then the standard studio setups do nothing but slow you down which means less final images, less sales, less money, a lot of hassle and an assistant who is just ready to pack it up and go back home. LOL