lighting gear on a tight budget

seventythree

seventythree

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Allan
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Hi, i'm looking at getting some equipment for messing around at home. i have no intention of taking pics proffesionally, i just want to get some gear that will allow me to play around at home on a tight budget.

i allready have a d90 and an sb600 gun.

i've looked at flash in the pans gear and i think i'll go for the cheaper wireless trigger and reciever and a small shoot through umbrella, but what do i to mount the umbrella and flash etc.

i'm thinking along the lines of using my tripod to mount the flash and umbrella and hand holding the camera. is this a stupid idea?? or are there better ways for very little money??

thanks, Al
 
Search on Amazon for Konig light stands £11
Look on FITP thread for 360 deg ball adaptor £11

That should do it...

From the floor.. Stand, ball adaptor, trigger, flash, umbrella through adaptor...

:thumbs:
 
markw08 said:
Search on Amazon for Konig light stands £11
Look on FITP thread for 360 deg ball adaptor £11

That should do it...

From the floor.. Stand, ball adaptor, trigger, flash, umbrella through adaptor...

:thumbs:
Click to expand...

^^^ :thumbs:
 
If your d90 will not trigger your flash(sb600) remotely, I would buy from E bay a clip on to your flash type trigger( I got one for £3). Then put flash and trigger on your tripod. get a white cloth( I use a white paper dust sheet £3.50) for the back cloth. Get a plastic toy hoola hoop and cover with kitchen foil this should only cost £2-£4 and makes a great reflector. holding the camera will be fine and then your studio only needs a wall to tape the back cloth, and the whole lot only cost around a £10.
 
mr bizzare said:
If your d90 will not trigger your flash(sb600) remotely, I would buy from E bay a clip on to your flash type trigger( I got one for £3). Then put flash and trigger on your tripod. get a white cloth( I use a white paper dust sheet £3.50) for the back cloth. Get a plastic toy hoola hoop and cover with kitchen foil this should only cost £2-£4 and makes a great reflector. holding the camera will be fine and then your studio only needs a wall to tape the back cloth, and the whole lot only cost around a £10.
Click to expand...

cheers, yes my d90 triggers the flash fine, but i wanted to play with lighting without the inbuilt flash interfering with things. AFAIK the d90 has to use the inbuilt flash to trigger the sb600 while off camera.
white cloth is sussed, as is the wall. the tip with the foil and hula hoop is superb thanks :thumbs:

i pushed the boat out and included the ball head with my order to FITP. So thats just short of £50 for the trigger, reciever, ball head, umbrella etc.

got a broom handle, paint pot, cement earmarked for the job, but i might get the above light standto finish off the job. I didn't realise i could get so much for £50 or so.

thanks for all the top tips folks. absolutely superb :thumbs:
 
seventythree said:
cheers, yes my d90 triggers the flash fine, but i wanted to play with lighting without the inbuilt flash interfering with things. AFAIK the d90 has to use the inbuilt flash to trigger the sb600 while off camera.
Click to expand...

I think the D90 is the same or at least similar to a D300. If so>>

go into the bracketing/flash menu.
Select the options for inbuilt flash
Select inbuilt flash to act as Commander
Select the inbuilt flash to -- , which is off
Select the off cam channels/ group(s) as required, TTL, M

The inbuilt flash will fire a burst to trigger the off cam flashes, but it is low powered so shouldn't interfere with fhe shot unless your close in to the subject
 
singlespeed said:
I think the D90 is the same or at least similar to a D300. If so>>

go into the bracketing/flash menu.
Select the options for inbuilt flash
Select inbuilt flash to act as Commander
Select the inbuilt flash to -- , which is off
Select the off cam channels/ group(s) as required, TTL, M

The inbuilt flash will fire a burst to trigger the off cam flashes, but it is low powered so shouldn't interfere with fhe shot unless your close in to the subject
Click to expand...

Ah cheers, i'll give that a try, i allready have the triggers though as i didn't think i could dull down the IB flash enough so that it was totally out of the equation.
So is the sb600 definately fired via flash and not via IR ?
Will this be superior to the triggers as it applied TTL compensation rather than the manual of the wireless triggers?
 
CLS lets you control the onboard and CLS compatable off-camera flashes from the camera menu. Handy if you position the light(s) and then want to alter the power settings.

I don't know the full ins and outs, but its fairly easy once you get the SB600 set to slave. Just make sure the SB600 IR receiver is facing the camera ( or a reflection from the cls trigger flash). Twisting the head of the flash as required, so the head faces the subject and the IR receiver faces the camera.
 
seventythree said:
Ah cheers, i'll give that a try, i allready have the triggers though as i didn't think i could dull down the IB flash enough so that it was totally out of the equation.
So is the sb600 definately fired via flash and not via IR ?
Will this be superior to the triggers as it applied TTL compensation rather than the manual of the wireless triggers?
Click to expand...

Apologies, I missed the D90 bit.

Of course the obvious solution is to use the on-board i-TTL flash facility, to control and trigger the flash remotely. You can disable the main flash on the camera and just use its pre-flash which controls the remote flash without effecting the picture. It uses visible light, not IR.

The RF-602 is a great little unit though, will be useful if you want to shoot outside when bright sun can wash out the flash control signals, or if you need more range. It also doubles as a remote camera trigger. You will need to slow down the x-sync when using the RF-602, as it introduces a slight delay. 1/160sec should be fine (or slower).
 
i got the pt04 trigger, and yes i had a play around last night and can get the onboard flash still triggering the sb600 but it does not affect the photograph at all.

i didn't really need the pt04 set up, but as hoppy says it might come in usefull. To be honest it will be once in a blue moon, probably sell these and put the money towards something else.

cheers for the heads up on the light stand was about £10.50 and free postage too :thumbs:

kids are proving to be a nightmare for testing the gear out, i have been reduced to using teddy bears as models :lol:
 
seventythree said:
i got the pt04 trigger, and yes i had a play around last night and can get the onboard flash still triggering the sb600 but it does not affect the photograph at all.

kids are proving to be a nightmare for testing the gear out, i have been reduced to using teddy bears as models :lol:
Click to expand...


Tripod, manual focus, self timer and yourself... sorted, one willing victim :eek:
 
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