Need equipment advice

zero

zero

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I'm not too knowlegable with off camera lighting however I have been looking at buying a kit and learning. I mostly want to shoot cars on locations where power may not be easy to find. I was looking at buying 3 Alien Bees and a power pack however they aren't really that cheap unless you live in the US. What would you guys reccomend instead? I would need everything since i dont have triggers or anything. Probably quite a noob question so i appologise in advance. Thanks.
 
Have you considered going down the Strobist route? Light and portable and can be a lot cheaper than what you have suggested. If you try this and it doesn't suit your style, the you can always go back to plan A.

Ian
 
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well I have enough space to actually set up a little studio so I would be able to use the lights for more than i stated.
 
If you want to photograph cars well you'll need a lot more power than hotshoe flashes can provide - unless you buy an enormous number of them, which will be incredibly expensive and you'll still struggle because you won't have the means to modify and control the light.

So that really comes down to portable power, as you've already considered. IMO Alien Bees have pretty well priced themselves out of the UK market - they aren't particularly cheap in the US for what they are and certainly not cheap here - which leaves you with a choice of Profoto, Hensel, the Elinchrom Ranger or the Lencarta Safari or the new Lencarta Discovery. Both the Lencarta Safari and Discovery are out of stock until the end of the month, but when they are available they will be a much more cost effective option than any of the others, all of which will do the job very well, albeit at a much higher cost.

Micheal Sewell and Simon Fielder, both members on here, may be able to help as they both photograph cars.
 
Need to see an example of the kind of thing you want to do. Link?
 
does anyone know when lencarta will have products back on the site?
 
zero said:
does anyone know when lencarta will have products back on the site?
Click to expand...
There are techy problems with the site, caused by the failure of the webmaster to do his job. The site is now in the process of moving to a new server, and once that process is complete it will be back on line, and then a new site will be produced which will be much more user friendly and efficient.

I was told yesterday that the process of moving it should only take a few hours but it's a big site with a lot of data, and progress has been slower than expected. I'm now hoping that it will be working again later today, but can't promise that.
 
zero said:
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5172/5462886890_a2dec55014_b.jpg
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5098/5472929685_86570c695d_b.jpg

Justt an example off someones flickr
Click to expand...

As Garry said then.

Those are three studio strobes, generator powered (the red thing) and using small reflectors to concentrate the light and maximise intensity.

Looking at the sky and background surroundings, they are pretty damn powerful too (400ws plus?) in order deliver that kind of exposure level.

Studio car photography is difficult and very highly paid. You need a massive studio, think hanger-like industrial unit, where the ceiling and walls are custom built to create massive light sources. Edit: a bit of photoshop to clear up reflections and smooth things out too. It's much easier outside, especially when the ambient light is lower, but you still need a lot of poke - and a good location!

Garry, good luck with the website. Short term grief will no doubt be rewarded. The Lencarta site promises to be a great resource, not just for promoting and selling stuff, but for inspiration and learning :)
 
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Just to clarify I will be mostly shooting outdoors. I do have access to a warehouse. It isnt that big though.
 
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