£650 budget...what to get??

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antsaliva

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Barry Craske
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Hi people, this is my 1st post, so hello! and Im hoping that someone can help!

I need some advise, I have around £650 give or take, to spend on lighting, I need to be able to use it on location, as well as in a studio environment.

A friend uses 3 speedlights with elinchrom wireless sync, this is an option, but he's made a lot of DIY battery packs etc so it just seams like a lot of technical work that Im not overly confident with.

The photograher I assist uses an elinchrom ranger with 2 heads, idealy this is what I'd like, but clearly my budget doesn't allow for that.

Does anybody know of somthing inbetween the 2, easy to use, in my budget?

I've tried reseaching but I'm just getting lost!

Thanks very much!

Barry
 
What's the extent of you plans? How many subjects/objects?

2 lights is good, 3 even better [if flexibility/technicality is important to you?]

Will you want to modify the light broadly? If so your costs will increase significantly.

Perhaps a basic 2/3(200-300w) light set up is required...dlites perhaps if you have an elinchrom infinity, or maybe lencarta.


Of course, I'd naturally direct you to a nice used set of Dlites in the classifieds!;)
 
antsaliva, the speedlights would be the cheapest way of doing it, Flash in the Pan has some softboxes and umbrellas etc in the for sale forum that seem quite good. you would need a trigger systemt hough. if you shoot nikon they have the CLS built in which may help.

as for actual guns, i dont think it really matters, since off camera you could use any make. just try to find some with a decent level of adjustment
 
my main subject area is fashion and portraiture, shooting up to 3 models a time. yea ive used the speedlights in the past, borrowed from a friend, and ive got on pretty well, but im at a loss as to which guns,triggers and all the stuff i need, to get? my friend has nikon which seam good, but to be totally honest, even though im more than competent with studio lighting, im not so in the know with flash guns/location lighting.
could someone give some advise on actual products at all?
thanks for all your help
barry
 
have you tried www.strobist.com ?

failing that i know tomas whitehouse uses em and gets some amazing results, i think flash in the pan is pretty good with what kit for flashguns.

for portable studio kit, i know lencarta do something, but not sure how much it is
www.lencarta.com
edit:just looked, perhaps with a little stretch of budget you could get a lencarta safari head and a battery pack.
 
This isn't an easy question to answer, in fact there isn't really any one right answer.

My advice would be to go for the Lencarta Safari, but your cheapest option would be £900 - and unfortunately the flash heads are sold out, there won't be any more for a few weeks.

well, say i was to get 2/3 of these
http://www.camerabox.co.uk/product1....Fd4B4wodJ05TAQ
with a set of these
http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-...r-set/p1017667
Click to expand...
Problem is, you'd need 10 of those to match the power of the Safari, and even then you'd be very limited in terms of light shaping tools - and the right light shaping tools are esential for fashion photography.

Whether or not hotshoe flashes are a real solution is a pereniel question that people always disagree on, but my own view is that they aren't ideal for your purpose - but if you really can't increase your budget then it might be worth going in the opposite direction, simply getting some dirt cheap hotshoe flashes from car boot sales, wiring them together and making do until you're in a position to get the tools you really need.
 
i have heard of people running studio strobes off a car battery sort of thing, perhaps something worth considering or looking into?(there was a thread recently on it)
 
Not sure if your still looking but I've just put this up in the sale section

-Rob
 
The biggest problem is the 'on location' bit, which means hand guns at anything like the budget. Studio is no problem with quite a lot of good choice.

With Canon, I would say a 580EX and 430EX, plus light modifiers from FlashInThePan, reflectors etc. You could do quite a lot with that, using the 580EX as Master and the 430EX as Slave, linked by the built-in IR.

You don't need radio triggers if you keep the distances sensible, and for battery packs get a bunch of cheap Duracells from Tescos.

That would also be a good basis to build on for a great strobist setup. If you go outside the manufacturers dedicated stuff, you have to switch to full manual and separate triggers, more faffing about. My guess is that you would want to upgrade the whole lot quite soon, but you could get a lot more guns going that way. I think that less is usually more with lights, and if you can get away with one light and a reflector, rather than two lights, then life is not only easier but the result looks better.
 
Does your version of on location mean in a field or in a clients building...?

Are you after just portable or portable and usable in the desert...?
 
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