Considering a studio kit

I'm looking to go further into studio photography but I ain't so sure what equipment to get.

There are some really simply, cheap but good kits on the market and they look surely look good enough as a begining.
I also have a AF540 flashgun, I've being playing with the though to get another one (or AF360) instead of real studio flashes.
Those or more versitaile and strong enough for portraits but in the end you've less power for more money compared to studio flash.

What are your thoughts about it for an ameteur.
Would you advice me together a flash gun or studio kit?
And please state the good and bad side of both if you could, that would be really helpfull.

Also what attributes would come in handy?
A soft box looks like a must to have and maybe a umbrella, a snooze and a reflector.

Thank you for rading.

I’m also getting into studio photography, been doing some portraits and having some fun learning how to use lights ECT.

Best way I’ve found is to hire a studio with assistance from the owner. You get the results you’re looking for and at the same time help with setting up the shot. There are some very good starter kits. For my use I’d add a barn door to your list plus some more light modifiers. Done a shot last week that I had to use a barn door to get the strong light needed to create the shadows I wanted.

Have a look at the Pro Line Apollo range starts at £299 up to £499 should cover everything you need.
www.prolinestudio.co.uk
Anyone have experience with pro line kit?
Paul

Hello Paul,
Thank you for your comment.
I've done a simple studio course and now planning to do a portrait course so I know a little bit about lighting, still not enough though. I'm not planning to hire anything since it's purely a hobby and nothing more.

A barn door would be a good idea but what's a light modifier?
I don't know pro-line but a lot of other sutdio flash manufacturers have such a kit and it are those I'm looking at now.

When getting a flash Kit I also need a wireless triggers right, any recommendations on that?

Also I've an option to get very cheap some powerfull lamps that they use on construction sites, are those of any use?
I've worked with continues light with the studio course but you need quite some light and it gets pretty hot in the room

I have been thinking about theselink Stefan as a mobile portrait photography setup.

I picked up a pair of Elinchrom D-Lite 4's. They work great, although I've had some personal experiences with Elinchrom that would take a lot to make me buy form them again.

Mainly the Elinchrom Skyport remotes do not meet up to advertised specs. I argued with Elinchrom for months and when they finally responded with information from one of the actual technical people. The response included the exact information I had supplied and has asked for clarification in my first letter to them. Up to that point they handed me a pile of bull that just didn't make sense.

They are rude, pompus and have no interest in helping the customer.

The equipment works for about 80% of what I do, but if you ever need support from the company, I would recommend you stay away from them.

The Skyports work just as god as the eBay remotes from China. (the Cactus line). A bit more range, but not enough to be worth ten times the cost!
The Skyports do not keep up to 1/180s sync speed. Both the Catcus and the Skyports work equally well up to 1/125s.

I would recommend the cactus to start. Then save up for PowerWizards. You pay a lot, but I have yet to hear anyone complain about them!

FYI, the new I bought last year DLites blew out in under 50 shots. Bad capacitor that Elinchrom knew about but didn't think it worth the effort to pull the line. Instead they let customers buy it, then blame the issue on bad parts from one of their vendors. The repair was under warranty. Fine. Still, I had to wait four weeks for the repair to be done!!



If you were in the US or Canada, I would recommend looking at strobes by Alien Bees. Maybe see if they ship overseas yet.

You can get cheap triggers from ebay. I picked up a set for £14 compete with connectors for most lights.
Light modifiers are honeycomb grids, colour gels and snoots but I'd not recomend them with construction site lights they'll melt.If you use these then no need for triggers but it will get hot. looks like the ones Tel has linked to are very simular 500w Tungsten lamps so the same things apply.
it all depends on what you need/want to do. It all comes down to cost.


Paul

Thank you all for your comments and advice.
I surely have something to think about tonight so I'm sure I've more questions tomorrow.

I don't really think that a continues light is the best solution but it might be suited for background though... need to think about that a bit more.

To go back to one of my first questions.
What do you think of using two flashguns instead of a two studio flash?

I am a mobile portrait photographer and have a great kit. I'll come back to this subject again later today.
Another member has asked me to provide some details of my kit and where to get it from.

I have been a professional in this field for 4 years now and have been into photography for about 20years.

I will touch on something quickly though, I wouldn't recommend using 2 flashguns for portrait work. For one, you will need a modelling light to make sure there are no shadows. Studio flashes give a much more even and controllable light.

I will, if you want, give more advice later today and also I'll try to answer any questions.

Paul

Yes I think I know who that member is

Yes please do Paul, we will greatly appreciate it.

From my limited experience in this I think I also need two softboxes and and couple of these also, provided they are not very expensive of course. At the moment I have been using cardboard boxes and stuff like that with tapes and stuff but they are not exactly perfect as the flashes keep wobbling and dont sit properly etc

Right after a good sleep and a decent lay in I’m more prepared to answer the studio flash questions. Like I said above, I have 2 businesses in photography, one on my own where I mainly do portraits and the second I am partnered with my wife’s cousin who also has a business of her own as a portrait photographer. The second business is larger and we cover large weddings, and events such as: dinners, corporate dinners etc and it’s these events as well as our own portrait businesses that we use the mobile studios.

My equipment comprises of:
2 studio flash head units
2 stands
2 umbrellas
1 soft box
light meter
And flash sync cables

I also have a background support system and 4 backgrounds of different sizes and colours.

When I go to a shoot, which may be a large room for 200+ guests or a small dining room for a small family, I take along 3 bags for the studio equipment, my camera bag and various lenses (although I usually only use the one, others are taken just in case) and my laptop.

So now I have told you what my kit is and the bags I lug around, I’ll go on to the equipment used, the stores I go to and a rough idea on price….it’s not as much as you think!

If I start from the flashes and work down:

The flash units I bought from an online company, which was recommended to me by a fellow pro, aren’t your top of the range manufacturer. I looked into makes such as Elinchrome and Bowens, but when you are first setting up in a business the last thing you want to do is spend a fortune. So I went to a company that are only found on the internet, I was amazed at the prices, here’s the address: http://www.photodeals.co.uk/home.php
So if you have a look on the site you will see how cheap they are…now please don’t get put off by that as these head units are actually made by Bowens themselves and all the accesseries are compatable with Bowens kit, their whole range, the casing of the heads are metal and not plastic. There are 3 kits available and I would personally recommend the 150W or 300W kits as they are way powerful enough. I have used the 150W and it produced an even light for me to photograph 12 people around a background.
Both kits come with a brolly and a softbox, don’t be put off by the fact that there aren’t 2 soft boxes though, to tell you the truth, sometimes there just isn’t enough room for 1 soft box let alone 2. I tend to use 2 large brollies, one for reflection (these are silver lined and the open end of the brolly is facing the subject, this allows the flash to bounce from the brolly and onto the subject with a good even light (the bigger the brolly the better as it giver a higher spread of light)), the other for diffusion and is opaque, this gives a softer light. The soft box will diffuse the light more, but will take up a lot of room and if space is a problem then I recommend using 2 umbrellas.
If you go to Warehouse express: http://www.warehouseexpress.com/product/default.aspx?sku=1029931 you will see that it’s a lot more expensive but it’s the same kit but without the branding. Just like a Tesco Jaffa Cake compared to a Mcvities Jaffa cake, both made by the same company but no difference, except Tesco’s have more chocolate and jelly and for the difference in money…I’ll leave it at that.
If you have anymore questions about the flash heads then please ask me and I’ll try to answer them, but let me say that I have had this make for 4 years now and they have never let me down. The modelling bulbs are cheap and they last about 6 months - or depending how much use you give them, sometimes maybe a year.

The stands are well made as well and are air cushioned with spring dampers in the legs, a must for this type of work.
I have a Sekonic flash meter that I used to use all the time, I say used to but I got out of the habit of getting it out. When I was at college and using film, I always got the light meter out and took ages measuring the it using either tungsten or flash. Now though, using digital, it’s so, so much easier. I can now take into account the overhead lighting (if there is any) judge what the f/stop will be. Although, for beginners, I would strongly recommend getting one as you will definetly need one. Here’s the one that I have, you may get it cheaper but I got it from here: http://www.warehouseexpress.com/product/default.aspx?sku=1006844
It’s entirely up to you whether you get yourself a radio trigger kit. I have always used one because of the risk of people, young and old, tripping over them. Basically if they trip over a trailing cable not only will your precious lights go over…God forbid, but also the trippee could sue you for every penny. I have all the insurances and Liability policies, but for yourselves…It’s probably best if you get one! I use Bowens Pulsar http://www.warehouseexpress.com/product/default.aspx?sku=1005164 but there are cheaper out there such as http://www.photodeals.co.uk/home.php?cat=14 but you pay for what you get. I started with the one above but it does tend to suffer from interference from other radio waves, interference causes misfire and you end up losing that perfect shot…that’s from experience!

If you want me to go into backgrounds then I’ll do that another time.

There is a much cheaper alternative to flash and that’s Tungsten. This gives you a constant even light. One of the downsides is that Tungsten gets very hot after a period of time, think how the model feels being stuck under a hot light throughout the session. Personally I much prefer flash as there is much more control also if you are going to spend money setting up a studio then flash, in my opinion, is the best option.

What I have done here, as you can see, is to advise you on where to buy a decent studio flash system. I hope it saves you time in hunting for the right website. There are other makes, such as Interfit, Eagle Eyes, etc. I found these weren’t built as well as the ones that I chose.

If you want information on how to use the equipment or anything else, then please either continue on this thread or PM me


Paul

Thanks for that Paul
bb2

Paul
fabulous piece of information .

This really was worth the wait .
I will drop you a line soon I digest all this as I am sure I will need some more help from you.

Speak soon

Thank you Paul for all the information, time to save some money.

I'm not planning to ship oversea so need to find all of that here, I hope I can find some, probable not though.

I can see if they can ship stuff to you, I have to contact them this week as I need a new brolly. I could ask how much it would cost.

Paul

I don't thinking shipping is cheap paul with such big package