Is this a decent budget home studio set-up?

For me, it's a good (cheap) beginner kit. I bought it to see if it's the way to go for me, easy to setup and good results out of the box. The down sides are add ons..... trying to find other modifiers is a dead end.

Works for me and results are worthy of the price, others will be along shortly to say you get what you pay for and they will be right - A cheap light setup with upgrade problems.

Samples:

BPX_3506_pp by Ballpix Photography, on Flickr

Liam by Ballpix Photography, on Flickr

Get a lightmeter if you can, they can give a lot of power out and cause flare if your not used to setting them up properly.

Phil.
 
Phil, those photos are absolutely delightful. If you can do that with this kit then that's what I'm getting. For the price it seems a bargain.

Speaking of upgrades, what would be the problem exactly? The kit comes with soft boxes and umbrellas, what other add-ons did you feel you needed?

Would you have gone for a higher rated package, ie 900w?
 
Rooster said:
Phil, those photos are absolutely delightful. If you can do that with this kit then that's what I'm getting. For the price it seems a bargain.

Speaking of upgrades, what would be the problem exactly? The kit comes with soft boxes and umbrellas, what other add-ons did you feel you needed?

Would you have gone for a higher rated package, ie 900w?
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The problems with this type of 'Ebay special' are well documented, just do a search on the forum. Problems of abrupt endings to a short working life, different colour and different output with every shot, no customer support and so on - but they may still be a good buy for you if you just want to dip a cautious toe into studio photography.
Speaking of upgrades, what would be the problem exactly? The kit comes with soft boxes and umbrellas, what other add-ons did you feel you needed?
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That's the biggest single problem. These lights have fixed reflectors, which means that you can't remove the reflectors and fit tools other than those supplied - honeycombs, beauty dishes, softboxes of other shapes, softboxes that diffuse and direct the light properly, fresnel spot attachments etc - lighting is about controlling the light, not just about having enough of it.
Would you have gone for a higher rated package, ie 900w?
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You've fallen into the same trap as the sellers, who also know nothing about studio lighting. It isn't watts, its watt-seconds or Ws. If it was watts then you would need a lot of watts, a flash head produces as much energy (power) during its very brief flash as a continuous light would produce in a 1 second exposure. Given a minimum reasonable shutter speed of say 1/100th second, you could say that a flash head of 200Ws gives out as much light in practical terms as a continuous light of 20,000 watts.

Don't get hung up on flash power, you need very little.
 
Rooster said:
Phil, those photos are absolutely delightful. If you can do that with this kit then that's what I'm getting. For the price it seems a bargain.

Speaking of upgrades, what would be the problem exactly? The kit comes with soft boxes and umbrellas, what other add-ons did you feel you needed?

Would you have gone for a higher rated package, ie 900w?
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Thanks, as gary says it's not the amount of light it's how you use it - great to dip in your toe with but limited upgrade options. :thumbs:

Garry Edwards said:
The problems with this type of 'Ebay special' are well documented, just do a search on the forum. Problems of abrupt endings to a short working life, different colour and different output with every shot, no customer support and so on - but they may still be a good buy for you if you just want to dip a cautious toe into studio photography. That's the biggest single problem. These lights have fixed reflectors, which means that you can't remove the reflectors and fit tools other than those supplied - honeycombs, beauty dishes, softboxes of other shapes, softboxes that diffuse and direct the light properly, fresnel spot attachments etc - lighting is about controlling the light, not just about having enough of it. You've fallen into the same trap as the sellers, who also know nothing about studio lighting. It isn't watts, its watt-seconds or Ws. If it was watts then you would need a lot of watts, a flash head produces as much energy (power) during its very brief flash as a continuous light would produce in a 1 second exposure. Given a minimum reasonable shutter speed of say 1/100th second, you could say that a flash head of 200Ws gives out as much light in practical terms as a continuous light of 20,000 watts.

Don't get hung up on flash power, you need very little.
Click to expand...

A fair point but still a good starter kit on a budget, to buy this kit from lencarta or bowens would be double or treble the price.

Phil.
 
phil8139 said:
A fair point but still a good starter kit on a budget, to buy this kit from lencarta or bowens would be double or treble the price.
Phil.
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Well, £490 will buy you a three head Smartflash kit, with two real softboxes that diffuse properly and allow you to feather the light. The stands are extremely sturdy and the brolley is very well made.
The heads are 200ws each, but better featured, and are also fan cooled. These heads are often used by event photographers on a budget, as they will go all day and not miss a beat.

That said, £490 is still £490, and if you are budgeting on a smaller scale, then the set you have already discussed from ebay will at least allow the OP to try his hand and get him started. If he's serious about taking it further, at least the kit will allow him to earn something from initial portrait sessions and go towards upgrading his kit. Not a bad route to take, as for one thing, he will be able to identify the shortfalls of the ebay kit, and will therefore have very definite ideas as to what he wants from his next kit when he reaches that point. It will also provide an insight as to what he wants from his modifiers and where he wants to go with his studio lighting techniques.
 
Michael Sewell said:
Well, £490 will buy you a three head Smartflash kit, with two real softboxes that diffuse properly and allow you to feather the light. The stands are extremely sturdy and the brolley is very well made.
The heads are 200ws each, but better featured, and are also fan cooled. These heads are often used by event photographers on a budget, as they will go all day and not miss a beat.

That said, £490 is still £490, and if you are budgeting on a smaller scale, then the set you have already discussed from ebay will at least allow the OP to try his hand and get him started. If he's serious about taking it further, at least the kit will allow him to earn something from initial portrait sessions and go towards upgrading his kit. Not a bad route to take, as for one thing, he will be able to identify the shortfalls of the ebay kit, and will therefore have very definite ideas as to what he wants from his next kit when he reaches that point. It will also provide an insight as to what he wants from his modifiers and where he wants to go with his studio lighting techniques.
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Couldn't agree more, it was a smallish investment for me and gave me all the insights you describe. A perfect dip-your-toe in the water kit. As long as your pp skills are reasonable it will serve a purpose ;)

Phil.
 
Rooster said:
Cheers, Jonesy!

Thanks for your opinions, everyone. I think I may go ahead and order this as a starter kit and I can always upgrade if I get really into it.
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Just remember upgrading could involve changing the whole kit.

If you think you are going to get into it, it could work out cheaper to buy a kit you can build up on, but if you havent the budget for anything else then enjoy!
 
phil8139 said:
For me, it's a good (cheap) beginner kit. I bought it to see if it's the way to go for me, easy to setup and good results out of the box. The down sides are add ons..... trying to find other modifiers is a dead end.

Works for me and results are worthy of the price, others will be along shortly to say you get what you pay for and they will be right - A cheap light setup with upgrade problems.

Samples:

BPX_3506_pp by Ballpix Photography, on Flickr

Liam by Ballpix Photography, on Flickr

Get a lightmeter if you can, they can give a lot of power out and cause flare if your not used to setting them up properly.

Phil.
Click to expand...

Smashing pics Phil:thumbs: the first one is as good as you should ever want a photo, not over processed and natural,very nice. Not a bad ad for that kit as far as most beginners would be concearned.
 
Thanks Steve, first is a nice one and it was my first shoot with the kit and a model. Second is my son, I overdid the PP to get that result, I like it but my mrs hates it, my son is 17 so can't form an opinion yet - still in the shrug the shoulders stage. He used it for FB though so it must be half decent ;)

Phil.
 
I used similar set up myself :)
But i must say is not very strong... plastic is very cheap, soft boxes are not very strong etc... but as you guys said its was great to dip my toe in to studio photography...
after a 1year of using it I started to love studio photography and decided to upgrade.
Now i have 2x 300 elite and 2c smart flash from lencarta and i love them! Stands are decent and don't look like a thin stick, brolly are very decent quality and lights... they can go for houuuuuuurs :D

I would recomend lencarta even if this would mean to use your credit card :)
 
I've got the Neewer 3x250W lights which tend to be those cheap ebay ones. There does seem to be a 'small' fluctuation in power between shots. I did find the receiver to be pretty bad but used another cheapo option that plugs into the jack. I've had one light that refused to power off and had to pull the plug (it was alright after a while). Sometimes the modelling lights are fine and sometimes they switch off after a minute (even from cold) and take an age to reset themselves. The stands are quite flimsy. Having said the negatives, for the price I think they are amazing value. If you're a beginner then these are a good start, then upgrade to a brand name when you get better.
I've got some shots on my Flickr with this kit. I'm staying with these for a while before I upgrade! http://www.flickr.com/photos/dreaminblue101/sets/72157629318195542/
 
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