Author Topic: Lighting Equipment Purchase (Read 5022 times)

sbonk · « **on:** December 19, 2008, 09:18 »

I am looking to buy some lighting equipment in the next few weeks. Initially this will be mostly for still life work, Isolated images, etc. But whatever I buy, I want it to be good enough for use in the future for people shots too. I do not want to start over again buying new equipment, but rather I will keep adding to what I have. I will also try some people shots with whatever I buy now, but probably not too much yet.

Currently, I have two light stands, Two white umbrellas (can be used both as reflective and shoot through), 1 pair of Pocket Wizards, 1 Canon 430EX Flash, 1 Vivitar 285HV.

I plan on spending up to a max of about $1,200 for new equipment.

So far, I am considering getting:

1) Two Alienbees B1600 flash units
2) One Heavy Duty Light Stand
3) One Softbox

I would appreciate any comments and/or advice that anyone may have.

Some specific questions I have are:

1)Should I purchase Three B1600's instead of Two? I am thinking maybe I will need too so I have a background light for blowing out backgrounds.

2) Alienbees has several size softboxes. 24X36, 32X40, 30X60. Which should I get? Is it best to get the largest one?

3) Is there anything else I should get now that I will have a hard time getting by without?

4) Will I be able to use these flash units in slave mode or am I going to need additional remote triggers? (Pocket Wizards since that is what I have now).

Thanks for any help you can provide.

araminta · « **Reply #1 on:** December 19, 2008, 10:30 »

Unless you expect to shoot groups of people, you may consider going the "strobist way" and use hot shoe flash instead of studio flash.

This is just an option, but I would say that for still and 1-2 people shots it is a very capable setup which is cheaper and more important a lot more lightweight and portable.

For microstock photography, I'm not sure 2 flash units are sufficient for people isolations as you say: you need at least one or better two units for the white background and 2 more for the main and fill light.

You can achieve a complete setup with three 430EX (slaves) and one 580EX (master) and as an option one ST-E2 transmitter (to put the 580EX off camera) for about $900 (as you already have a 430EX). Another advantage of this option is that you keep the ETTL capability.

Just my 2c.

sbonk · « **Reply #2 on:** December 19, 2008, 11:10 »

Thank you Araminta. You have plenty of great isolation shots in your portfolio. Were they done with hot shoe flash units?

What I am worried about is that if I go this route with the 430EX's and 580EX, then in the future if I start trying larger projects such as groups of people, I will have to start from scratch buying equipment.

I am not going to buy anything until I get my payouts for the month of December, so I have a bit of time to decide.

Thank you very much for the input.

stokfoto · « **Reply #3 on:** December 19, 2008, 12:59 »

what about a mid solution? getting two flash heads and two small strobes for background isolation,which is what I do,and works fine for me.

fljac · « **Reply #4 on:** December 19, 2008, 13:32 »

If you're going for a travelling kit of REAL studioflashes, I really think that you should consider the Lastolite Lumen8 F400 KIT.

http://www.1stcameras.com/pd_lastolite_lumen8_400w_bundle_kit.cfm

Please do search for cheapest price yourself... this is just to show you how cheap you can be up and running in no time, at a professional level! I have these lamps - 3 of them, myfelf, and they are GREAT!

Here's a small video demo of the KIT:

http://www.lastolitevideos.com/?playlist=lumen8kits.xml

Below you'll find a link to a compared test between 3 different travel kits... The winner is clearly the Lastolite kit.:

http://www.obt.dk/lumen8_flash_hvad_pressen_mener_om_lastolite_lumen8.htm

Read this and if you have any questions that remains unanswered, please write me and ask ;-)

Best bregards
Flemming

araminta · « **Reply #5 on:** December 19, 2008, 14:16 »

Quote from: sbonk on December 19, 2008, 11:10

Thank you Araminta. You have plenty of great isolation shots in your portfolio. Were they done with hot shoe flash units?

What I am worried about is that if I go this route with the 430EX's and 580EX, then in the future if I start trying larger projects such as groups of people, I will have to start from scratch buying equipment.

I am not going to buy anything until I get my payouts for the month of December, so I have a bit of time to decide.

Thank you very much for the input.

Thanks!

I've just purchased "serious" lighting material... most of my isolations until now have been done with basic continuous halogen lights (or are 3D images)

But I don't miss the 2500W and 35°C and I'm very happy with my 4 hot shoe flashes now!

If you expect to shoot larger groups of people later, you don't have to buy everything from scratch I think: you can add one, then two studio flash units and still use the hot shoe flashes (e.g. as a fill light).

And if you go now with a basic studio kit with low power studio flash, you may still need to purchase more powerful units if you really need to shoot large groups anyway.

What I like a lot with hot shoe flashes is that you won't hesitate to take with you your lighting equipment wherever you are and you do not need any power supply if you have enough spare AA batteries.

sbonk · « **Reply #6 on:** December 19, 2008, 14:27 »

Thanks Everyone.

If I buy studio lights I want them to be powerful enough not to have to upgrade at a later time.

STOKFOTO/ARAMINTA, the combination of hot shoe flash and studio flash is making a lot of sense to me. That seems best and most economical. That way and I can have a studio setup now and always continue to add to it as needed.

PeterChigmaroff · « **Reply #7 on:** December 19, 2008, 19:04 »

I just bought a Chimera Octplus 57. I've only use the 5' version so far but it's a pretty nice softbox. At 7' I imagine even nicer. For single people I attached a Elinchrom 400BX it was set at about half power for f/8 for full length single people.

Peter

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Author Topic: Lighting Equipment Purchase (Read 5022 times)

sbonk

araminta

sbonk

stokfoto

fljac

araminta

sbonk

PeterChigmaroff

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