portrait lighting advice

AdamNZ

AdamNZ

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Hi, looking to get my first lighting kit for home studio portrait shooting. Whats a good starting kit to go for? I'm thinking one or two lights - softbox and umbrella I guess. Strobes or speed lights, I'm not sure? Is it worth starting with a cheap ebay kit or is it worth getting something a little better? Any advice would be great. Another thing is that I'd like the kit to be portable enough that I could cart it round to other peoples houses and maybe use it outside. I'm a complete noob to flash etc but really keen to get into it. Any advice would be much appreciated.
 
You can run any kits from the battery packs that include a pure sine wave inverter. Generally though, you either can't use the modelling lamps with them or, if you can, the batteries will soon go flat.

There are always some people who think that the cheap ebay options are OK, but I'm not one of them:)
 
You can see these at NEC show in march. This paticular version wont run of batteries but they have them on sale too. Battery kits are usually quite expensive so think twice before deciding that you really need them. Cheap ones on ebay are made are made cheap, these ones are very nice build. I got BOwens but used these aswell and they are very good for the price.
 
Garry Edwards said:
You can run any kits from the battery packs that include a pure sine wave inverter. Generally though, you either can't use the modelling lamps with them or, if you can, the batteries will soon go flat.

There are always some people who think that the cheap ebay options are OK, but I'm not one of them:)
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Cheers mate, what about the speedlight option, or is it not really an option? Been reading and watching lots of different things and generally not sure.
 
^Demon said:
You can see these at NEC show in march. This paticular version wont run of batteries but they have them on sale too. Battery kits are usually quite expensive so think twice before deciding that you really need them. Cheap ones on ebay are made are made cheap, these ones are very nice build. I got BOwens but used these aswell and they are very good for the price.
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NEC show?
 
I would be inclined to go with a set of Godox AD360's (or any of the clones) for a portable setup... cheap on ebay; basically they are small battery powered studio lights that look like speedlights... The negative is that they are battery powered and don't have modeling lights. And they are a bit small for overpowering the sun...

If I were focusing on studio, I would prefer proper AC powered heads w/ modeling lights.

I would be hesitant to buy any "kit" offering... usually the kit pairs lower grade stands and smaller modifiers to make an attractive price. I understand Lencarta will allow you to "upgrade" a basic kit and have good customer service to talk you thru the choices.
 
sk66 said:
I would be inclined to go with a set of Godox AD360's (or any of the clones) for a portable setup... cheap on ebay; basically they are small battery powered studio lights that look like speedlights... The negative is that they are battery powered and don't have modeling lights. And they are a bit small for overpowering the sun...

If I were focusing on studio, I would prefer proper AC powered heads w/ modeling lights.

I would be hesitant to buy any "kit" offering... usually the kit pairs lower grade stands and smaller modifiers to make an attractive price. I understand Lencarta will allow you to "upgrade" a basic kit and have good customer service to talk you thru the choices.
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Sorry I just had a quick look, can you link me to an example of a "clone" when you have a spare minute.
 
Adam Wortman said:
Cheers mate, what about the speedlight option, or is it not really an option? Been reading and watching lots of different things and generally not sure.
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Of course it's an option, you can use anything for lighting but speedlights generally aren't the first suggestion because a studio flash has more obvious advantages for studio portraits such as higher power (not hugely important for a standard portrait), faster recycling, modelling lights and a vast array of modifiers.

With speedlights they're very compact (easy to transport, easy to put in odd places), battery powered and relatively cheap as a wireless option but are those advantages important to you?
 
If we are talking about staring with the studio light and not knowing what you want since there is so many light modifiers I`m quite supriced that you not recommneding getting kit. Since most lights are get sold as kits even profoto ones.

I`m not saying that Lencarta is the best but its very good for the price and the fact that they have S mount helps with buying additional light modifiers even from 3rd parties.
 
There are Wistro (AD 360), Cheetah (CL 360), Calumet (GF 400), Flashpoint (Bolt), and Lencarta (Atom) versions of the thing... some call it a 400WS instead of a 360WS but it's the same thing (and I think somewhat overrated at 360WS).

Don't get me wrong, it's a compromise solution... I also forgot to mention that they don't take direct mount modifiers.
 
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^Demon said:
If we are talking about staring with the studio light and not knowing what you want since there is so many light modifiers I`m quite supriced that you not recommneding getting kit. Since most lights are get sold as kits even profoto ones.
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Yes, and you can buy a camera with a kit lens as well... A light kit will (almost) always include shorter light duty stands and small modifiers; it would be like buying a camera body with a rather bad "kit lens."
 
But we not talking about cameras we talking about studio lights arent we?
 
This feels familiar. :)

Yes a kit doesn't provide the best bits but they do represent good value for someone who hasn't got those bits and certain brands provide good pieces (Bowens for example includes very good stands, brollies and softboxes with their kits, Lencarta lets you choose your own, Elinchrom has nice stands but pants softboxes etc).
 
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