A little advice for a newbie please!

[jonathanhubbard]

Hi all,

Wondered if you could give me a little advice...

I've got a Sony nex5 camera and can take good shots outside - landscapes, macro etc. however I can't seem to get a good shot inside - particularly of my newborn baby and her elder sister.

The flash on the camera is either too bright, or image blurred because shutter is open for too long, or I'm not doing something right!!

I was thinking about getting a cheap backdrop and lighting package like the link below - if the link gets blocked - not sure of forum rules, the eBay uk auction number is 170873743135. Idea being that I should be able to get some acceptable shots against a white background and an even light from the 2 included light fittings.

Wondered if you'd mind taking a quick look and tell me if it looks like a good deal - remember I'm a complete novice don't expect professional quality shots - just better than I can get at the moment - or whether should steer clear because its a load of tat

Thanks in advance
Jon

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/170873743135

 

[jonathanhubbard]

Ok so I've just read the post before mine - didn't see it before as I'm on the smartphone app rather than the website for the first time - so apologies for virtually duplicating the last post!

So basically the kit I saw is rubbish! The suggestions on the other post is for additional flashes etc but I don't think I can use these on a nex5?

Would anyone have other suggestions to improve light indoors? Because of the position of my house it never gets much light so can't reflect natural light etc as such...

Would the lights in the auction 'do' just to improve the light at least?

Apologies again for the duplication - a pet hate of mine on other forums I post on more regularly

 

[Yv]

Hi Jonathan and welcome to the forum.

The first thing to ask, as I don't know much about the capabilities of the nex5, is have you tried upping the ISO setting to allow a faster shutter speed in low light? This would be the first option to get settings that work.

As for additional lights, well you have read the other thread.... now I am not sure entirely how the flash on your system works, other than looking at a few pictures, but in order to use external flash, you need some way of connecting it, either via some kind of trigger, or a synch cable. I may be wrong, but it doesn't look like the nex has such connectivity? I am sure someone better technically than I can advise though, as you may be able to trigger using light sensitive [optical] triggers that detect the cameras flash...

The problem with continuous lights is that they can vary wildly on colour balance and tend to throw out a lot of heat. You might as well save your money and invest in a couple of good angle poise desk lamps if the aim is only to add light into any given scene.

Finally, you could also have a trawl on ebay and see if anyone has developed a diffuser for the nex5's inbuilt flash, or create your own, which will as the name suggests, help soft and diffuse the light a bit more and reduce a little that glare often related with oncamera flash.


Just a few ideas for you to mull over and look into, I am pretty sure there is more help to be had from both nex users and techies here

 

[HoppyUK]

The main problem with continuous fluorsecent lights designed for photography is not heat or colour, but brightness. They seem very bright when lit up indoors, but they're not. Even with the best ones you need to push the ISO, use a low f/number, and hope the subject doesn't move much.

You need flash, preferably studio flash (starts around £200 for Lencarta Smartflash single head kit) and some way of triggering it. Here's one way - a radio trigger designed for Sony http://www.lightingrumours.com/allacax-next-a-wireless-flash-trigger-for-sony-nex-cameras-3008 and here's another using an optical slave, though that needs a Sony flash gun too http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9Nm57AI8gI

Or go for the brightest (affordable) continuous lights that I know of, Lencarta Quad that has 4x 105w in an 80cm softbox.