Going to purchase this strobist kit, opinions?

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Jake Lewis
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I'm looking to buy this kit from Jessops

http://www.jessops.com/online.store/products/76416/show.html?cm_vc=PPZ1

AINTESL995151460_001.jpg


for just over £100..

Good deal? Or reckon just getting it all of ebay would be better?
 
Check out some of the exhibitors who are at Focus2012..... many will run their show deals on their websites too so you may see discounts. I think one of the big retailers at the show (could have been Jacobs) had the Strobies set for about £85 last year at the show and online.

Is it specifically the portrait kit you need?
 
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specialman said:
Check out some of the exhibitors who are at Focus2012..... many will run their show deals on their websites too so you may see discounts. I think one of the big retailers at the show (could have been Jacobs) had the Strobies set for about £85 last year at the show and online.

Is it specifically the portrait kit you need?
Click to expand...

Yeah, but i'm kind of my specifically looking for off camera, so I was thinking maybe i'll need a bigger softbox or something?
 
Viewfinder photography were showing lots of modifiers at focus.
 
I look at those strobes kits too, but thought i could find a better use for the money.

Things like snoots are easy enough to make yourself from tubes and velcro and that beauty dish will probably be too small to really give you a proper beauty dish look. The honeycombs are probably of use.

If you're looking for a soft box there are loads out there; the lastolite ones (and the subsequent copies on flea bay) are good... I had a 40x40cm one that was my main location light for working close to the subject. I had one with single diffusion so not masses of power lost and it helped give some really soft light without really doing anything other than placing it close. Mine was one of the copies that cost about £25. It lasted 18 months of being folded and unfolded every day and thrown in the boots of cars and in the bottom of boats.

I also bought a Westcott Apollo 28" instead of the strobes kit, and it's a really fantastic softbox; very versatile because you can still get a soft spread for groups off it when placed several metres away, or if in really tight, you get some really lush drop-off. They're about £90 but worth it IMO. Phottix does a copy for about £50 and there are loads of copies on flea bay.


Byker28i said:
Viewfinder photography were showing lots of modifiers at focus.
Click to expand...

If I remember rightly, at last year's show they were selling modifiers similar to the ones in the Strobies set as individual items so you could buy what you needed. Plus, Viewfinder are dead cheap and the gear is half-decent.
 
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specialman said:
I look at those strobes kits too, but thought i could find a better use for the money.

Things like snoots are easy enough to make yourself from tubes and velcro and that beauty dish will probably be too small to really give you a proper beauty dish look. The honeycombs are probably of use.

If you're looking for a soft box there are loads out there; the lastolite ones (and the subsequent copies on flea bay) are good... I had a 40x40cm one that was my main location light for working close to the subject. I had one with single diffusion so not masses of power lost and it helped give some really soft light without really doing anything other than placing it close. Mine was one of the copies that cost about £25. It lasted 18 months of being folded and unfolded every day and thrown in the boots of cars and in the bottom of boats.

I also bought a Westcott Apollo 28" instead of the strobes kit, and it's a really fantastic softbox; very versatile because you can still get a soft spread for groups off it when placed several metres away, or if in really tight, you get some really lush drop-off. They're about £90 but worth it IMO. Phottix does a copy for about £50 and there are loads of copies on flea bay.




If I remember rightly, at last year's show they were selling modifiers similar to the ones in the Strobies set as individual items so you could buy what you needed. Plus, Viewfinder are dead cheap and the gear is half-decent.
Click to expand...

Yeah i'm looking to have a good spread because i've only got the one flashgun and some reflectors... But £90 is a bit steep at the moment :( Do you reckon if I was to grab another 28" softbox it'll give me the same results?
 
I've got the west tot Apollo umbrella soft box as well after it was recommended on here and I have to say its a great bit of ki.
 
I bought the Strobies kit at Focus 2011. I took it back next day for a refund. Most of the kit doesn't work particularly well:

The beauty dish gives horrible light unless you are really close up, but then the subject's nose gets very big. Ok, you can use off camera, but again need to be very close and gets in the way of the shoot. And note that a proper beauty dish is 24 inches or larger.

The softbox is the most awkward though. Try as I might I could not fit the blasted thing on the flash. Even the demonstrator at the Focus show had problems with it (and he's demonstrating them all the time).

The only thing that I liked was the 'Bare Bulb' thingy. This gave really cool soft lighting in a small room.

Paying this price for only a couple of things that I would find useful was not cost affective. I recently asked some friends who I knew had bought this kit (and the Viewfinder version) if they found it useful. They all admitted they hadn't used it since buying.

If you must buy one of these kits, then there are identical kits to the Stobies and Viewfinder versions on ebay for a lot less.
 
Personally I wouldn't buy it. A grid, snoot and eBay strobist softbox will cost you less and give you much more creative options for your money.
 
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