Basic Lighting Setup - Cheap Strobes vs Mixed Strobe/Speedlight

[Flying Penguin]

Hi all,

Please bear with me, I'm sure I'll drop a few clangers or cover some old ground, but I wanted to get a second (third, fourth fifth...) opinion on a couple of options for a basic studio lighting setup.

I'm looking to spend not more than around £200 on lighting initially to allow me to learn and experiment, with a view to potentially adding it later on, once I've won the wife over some more

Existing Equipment

• Nikon D5100 + assorted lenses
• Nikon SB800 Speedlight with hotshoe cable

Equipmment I need either way

• Background - Something like this
• Reflector

In terms of personal priorities, I'm quite keen to have a three light setup in order to be able to (as a bare minimum) light backgrounds. As I see it, I have two routes I can go for the lighting:

Option 1 - 3 Strobe eBay Sets

• I'm looking at these and similar. (I'm sure many seasoned pros are sucking their teeth right now, but bear with me! )

Option 2 - Combined Strobe/Speedlight Setup

• My other option is to take a single branded strobe (possibly a 200Ws Lencarta SmartFlash, £110 + stand/softbox/umbrella etc), combine this with my SB800 and an additional cheapie speedlight (e.g. YN-460, ~£25-30) with wireless triggers for all items.

My current thoughts are that option 1 gives me a full 3 light setup without having to resort to speedlights and I'm sure the quality would be quite acceptable for my light use, but long term I might outgrow the possibilities they offer and then be forced to replace them wholesale, whereas option two gets me a better main flash which will probably allow more scope for growth and require near no repurchase (the YN-460 is so cheap as to be almost disposable), but I'm concerned whether the SmartFlash alone will be powerful enough and whether the pair of speedlights would be enough to make up for being two strobes down.

So, I'd appreciate any thoughts on the above two options, and also any recommendations as to (cheap!) solutions for establishing wireless control of a mixed lighting system.

Cheers,

Jamie

 

[Pmc2011]

I would take the lencarta plus one flash gun for fill and a nice big reflecter over one of those sets from eBay personally

 

[EOS_JD]

First off don't rush to do white background stuff. It really is over used and you can take great images with grey (unlit white background) or black!

White is tricky to light, and is probably the one single thing most people want to start with and is the hardest to light!

Go with the Option 2.

Get it with a brolly to start with and add a softbox later (just cause a box is more expensive)

Ebay kits are not really great and you'll struggle to sell them for much when you outgrow it.

 

[Flying Penguin]

Ok, so if I go with option 2, what would be the best sort of trigger solution to cover both SmartFlash and speedlights? I see there is a Lencarta system but it doesn't seem to have an option for triggering hotshoe flashes which makes it a non starter for a mixed setup.

Potentially stupid question time - It's not clear from the Lencarta materials whether I need any sort of adaptor to fix the head to the stand (or it's assumed to be obvious and I'm just a tool ), do I need anything other than the head and a screw topped stand (which the Lencarta ones appear to be)?

Thanks,

Jamie

 

[EOS_JD]

think most manual triggers will trigger both

 

[Garry Edwards]

Any radio trigger can be used on the SmartFlash, including any battery powered trigger that also fits your hotshoe flash guns.

The SmartFlash, like all flash heads, will fit onto a lighting stand without an adapter. It's only hotshoe flashguns that need an adapter.

 

[Flying Penguin]

Thanks for the info and putting up with my stupid questions . I've just placed an order with Lencarta, although I went with a refurbished ElitePro 300 as for 20 quid difference it seemed a false economy long term to go for the SmartFlash given the expected life... I'll keep hunting for the other cheap bits and bobs.

Thanks again,

Jamie