another lights thread...

Sparkles33

Sparkles33

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yep, it's me again, still not got those lights I keep banging on about...

At the end of the month I'm gonna have £200. Not a huge amount I know.

What are my "must haves" i suppose?

I've been using floor lamps and desk lamps as well as off camera flash. I'm wanting continuous lightling for portraits mostly.

I'm a lighting noob though and had some issues with college so not doing the course I signed up for (not my choice BTW)
 
MagicMynx said:
thanks

what do you mean about triggering them? If it's continous light it won't need to be triggered would it? (told you I'm a lighting noob! lol)
Click to expand...

You're right, they are strobes. But it begs the question, why do you need continuous light? You'll get more light with flash.

If it's budget, how about just one 2/300ws flash head, a big brolly off FITP, and a DIY card/cooking foil reflector? You can do a heck of a lot with that - lasted me for years - then add a second head when funds allow, or press a hot shoe gun into service - very easy to sync up.
 
Yes the interfit kit is a flash unit but this would be better for indoor portraits.

If you look at the kit it has 2xflash heads, 2xstands, Softbox and umbrella for diffusing the light and a sync cable etc.
The kit also has a DVD instruction film to assist you.

Each head has 2 lights built in, one is called a modelling light which stays on permanent and allows you to move the head around to see the correct position and then the main flash bulb which is more powerful 100w in this kit.

A few people i know have bought this kit as it is a good starter kit if you take photos in the house, but you will find soon you will want to upgrade.

You cant complain at that amount of kit for £199 in Jessops.
 
Thanks Mark

Hoppy, is continuous light not easier to work with? *blushes at ignorance*

See, what I have been doing is using flash off camera through a shoot through brolly, with two floor lamps 1 either side of subject & 1 or 2 desk lights lighting backdrop with reflector sorta almost on the floor facing up (remember I'm low down cause of the w/chair), or 1 desk lamp facing upwards and the ceiling light (sorta like a spot light) facing down. Haven't been using daylight bulbs though (too hot for lamps). Obviously using various combinations. Not great but it's been ok as a make-shift I suppose.
 
I think you are serious about your photography, so I would start from scratch and do it properly. You can do a heck of a lot with £200 these days :)

Flash is better because you get plenty of power to drive nice big softboxes and brollies, at high f/numbers and low ISO if necessary, plus the very short duration of the flash pretty much eliminates camera shake and any subject movement. And there's no heat. And you can turn the power up and down. Big, soft light is the key to good modern portraiture IMHO.

Studio flash has built in modelling lights so you can see exactly what's happening. You can also view everything instantly on the LCD of course, and with digital you can even use the LCD plus the histogram to set the exposure, without a flash meter, though I have to admit if you have two or three lights it is much quicker to balance them all up and set ratios with a flash meter. But hey, you're on a budget here and you'll learn a lot doing it the hard way ;) Actually I don't use a flash meter for simple set ups as I know pretty much what it will be and for final setting the histogram is more accurate than a flash meter anyway.

I'm not best placed to advice you on a £200 studio flash outfit, but there's plenty of good advice on here. As I said above, if getting decent power from two 200-300ws heads in a kit blows your budget, you can do an awful lot with just one and a reflector, plus I think you have a hot shoe gun you can add for a second effect light or background light - you should be able to sync that up with an optical slave for £5 off ebay.

Then get a second head when funds allow. If it helps at all, I have a spare Bowens 200ws head that I am going to offer free to a good home in the For Sale section when I get around to it. It's over 10 years old, only does full/half power, and has no built in slave (separate socket) but it works fine and has illuminated my kids growing up pretty well. I'm keeping the stand though ;)

Garry Edwards knows his stuff and although he's attached to Lencarta in some way, he'll give good advice. Also check out the thread from Flash In The Pan in the For Sale section - he is supplying and selling a lot of good stuff, mainly accessories, brollies and things.
 
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