Starter strobist setup

I'm thinking of spending some money on a starter strobist setup mostly for portraits both indoors and outdoors and the following is my basic shopping list, so far. It will be my intention to expand on it later on, of course.

1) 1 x Yongnuo YN-560 flash
2) 2 x Cactus v5 wireless transceivers
3) 1 x Battery charger and a few sets of Hybrio or Eneloop batteries
4) 1 x light stand, possibly this
5) 1 x Umbrella bracket for light stand
6) 1 x White shoot-through umbrella

Not sure what type/brand for the umbrella and bracket.

Being a complete novice at strobist photography It would be helpful to know if more experienced folks think the above is a sensible list and if there is anything I should really add to it, etc.

Also, with regards to the umbrella, how much does 'size matter' and what size would people recommend?

Finally, the only place I can find that sells the Cactus v5s is Gadget Infinity which ships from the US. Does anybody know of a UK source for these?

Thanks.

Hi Mark

Am not an expert Strobist but I would certainly recommend some of the following


Westcott 43 inch. Optical White Satin with Removable Black Cover-Collapsible. Is a very good umbrella collapses down to a very small size and provides some very nice lighting options, I would say a shoot trough is a really versatile piece of kit, great for outdoor use with the right light stand. I have made some small sand bags with velcro fasteners for my light stands which work very well when wind is an issue

Wireless Trigger / Transceiver wise take a look at http://www.aputure.com/en/product/trigmaster_plus_24G.php I now have 5 of these and they are fantastic, you can find them on ebay for about £35 each

Have you looked at the LP160 Quad-sync flash? Very very good.
http://www.lumopro.com/product.php?id=25

Phottix also make some very good kit for strobist work at reasonable prices http://www.phottix.com/

Don't buy cheap kit you just end up having to buy again which ends up costing you more in the long run. Best place for tips guidance is the Strobist Web Site http://strobist.blogspot.com/

Gareth

Mark,

I do a fair bit of Strobist work and I use a Micansu portable softbox (£60) and a silverwhite brolly (£18.00) from Premier Ink.

Flash wise I use a Metz 50 AF-1 and I also have an old Cobra D650 flash that I picked up for 12 quid, it's fully manual and ideal for back lighting.

I use a set of iShoot triggers, £35 for a set from a company called UK Highland Photography, got them delivered next day and never had an issue with them, just make sure you use lithium batteries in them, rechargables seem to cause problems.

A sandbag is invaluable to keep your standbrollysoftbox steady.

I also use a rogue flashbender or a Stofen diffuser sometimes.

That's pretty much all you need to get started and it will certainly get you heading in the right direction.

Check out my Flickr page here for some of the results I achieved.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidbladon/page4/

I've compared the YN-560 and the LP-160 and i would go for the last one.
it more expensive though but far easier to use and the build quality is better so it's worth the price i think.

For the umbrella larger is better, you can always reduce the distance between the flash and the umbrella to make the light source smaller.
But umbrella's are quite unwieldy outdoors, you might want to look at some softboxes.
Westcott make softboxes that fold open like an umbrella and fit in the umbrella stands.

Hi Mark...

List looks good to me although I agree with Claudefrog on the sandbag...
Also agree with Anvh that a softbox would probably be better for outside work (I use a brolly as I don't own a softbox... yet...)
If you don't have a sandbag... Make sure you have a friend (with hands)

@Anvh... I've had no issues with build quallity on the YN560 and its very easy to use...
Although I prefer to use the Vivitar285hv tbh (and its build quality is not as high as the yongnuo unit) as I find it produces (not sure why) nicer light...
That said... I find the YN560 to be a fine flash...

I use Cactus V4's... Viv285hv... YN560... Westcott 43"... Giottos stand... Manfrotto lite-tight... Torches (some have gels gaffa-tapped them), glowsticks, LED-wands

Have you ever used the Lumopro?
For the price the YN560 is a fine flash but i find the controls far from intuitive, i needed instruction on how to use the flash while with the lumopro all it took was one look and i knew how it worked.

If you like the Vivitar285hv cactus are making copy off those you know

Also secondhand flashes from canon or nikon are fine to use, stay clear from minolta/sony though, they use another hotshoe.

Have you considered constant lighting instead of flash?

The post relates to Strobist set-up, why would you want to use a constant light source outdoors when you have the sun?

Film-makers do this all the time to control the amount of light in the shadows. It's the same principle really, but we don't often see photographers using constant light sources outdoors. No reason why not though.

Portable light sources of any kind can be moved to a more appropriate position, the sun can't. When it's cloudy, you have no sun.

Have you seen the OP's location? What sun

Whilst the post relates to a strobist setup, that does not preclude alternative, and possibly better, suggestions.

Constant, or continuous lighting is used more and more nowadays, especially for product shoots and other studio work, due to the coming of age of lighting systems that do not 'cook' the subject.

With continuous lighting you can see where the shadows are much more easily than when using strobes, even those having modelling lights.

as well as the need to switch hit between stills and video, as everything is multimedia these days..

The OP wants a basic strobist set up to get started, good luck with powering those continuous lights and carrying the battery packs around with you, oh and lets not forget the cost.

I'm not disregarding the use of continual lights but the guy is looking to do a bit of strobist work, not make the next Harry Potter blockbuster...

I have a selection of torches in my 'Light-bag'... some are 'source lights' some are 'brushes'...
I think it unwise to discount any possible source of light... Wilkinsons (WILKOS) will flog you a big torch for cheap...
I you can do a 'bit of strobist work' and make it look like the next Harry Potter movie then all the better...

Thanks for all the advice, it's given me a few things to think about. After all that I might have to put off the strobist gear for a while as I have the opportunity to get D FA 100mm F2.8 Macro WR for a nice price (assuming I can come up with the rest of the money by the end of next month, anyway) and I don't really want to pass it up and end up having to pay full price later! It's not a cheap lens, after all (well not to me, anyway).

The strobist gear will be next on my purchase list anyway, and it does bring up another question... Are the 'generic' type flashes mentioned above also useful for macro shots of live insects and such or is that going to really need a p-ttl capable unit like one of the Pentax or Metz flashes?

I don't know enough about flash yet to know if that's a sensible question but if taking macros of live subjects the opportunity to take test shots might be kinda limited, hence the reason I'm asking.

You can use a normal flash but P-TTL would be the best for macro.
When you've the falsh on manual at those distances 1 inch closer or further away will have an impact on the light so it's far easier to let the camera and the flash sort it out.

For a cheap and good flash the Metz48 or the 50 are your best bet, they have all the feature you want and they are quite easy to use.
There are also dictated macro flashes of course, most of them are ring flashes, you could use those for portraits as well but mainly as fill light because of their low power.