Portrait lighting options for Sony Alpha 350

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Clickawaymedia

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I recently bought myself a Sony Alpha 350 and have been looking into the different lighting set-ups I could use for portrait, fashion and swimwear photography. To be honest I'm a little confused by it all.

My camera doesnt have pc-sync but I do have a Sony hotshoe adapter from ebay which converts the sony hotshoe to a standard one, and also gives me a pc-sync port. I dont have any flashgun at all yet, as I dont know the best options available.

I am thinking a shoot through umbrella or softbox is the best option, and I have a cheap umbrella bracket and small shoot-through umbrella, which mounts on a tripod or light stand using a hotshoe flash.

I would consider a cheap studio lighting system, but on a small budget, is it worth getting a cheap system, or could I use a flashgun off camera on the system I already have? I'm just a little confused with the sony hotshoe being different to standard hotshoes, and features like ttl not working etc.

I know this is a lot of questions, but I'm looking for somebody who shoots sony, and knows the best options for me, on a tight budget. Thanks
 
The Sony F56AM flash has a sync port. There is no issue with the hot shoe on the Sony camera if you use a Sony flash, no need for adaptors and the like. I use my F56AM on the hotshoe, wireless and also as a trigger for my (cheap - £299) lighting rig.
 
You'd be better of with a secondhand Nikon flashgun (with full manual control) and a set of Ebay wireless triggers than a cheapo studio set-up
 
Flash In The Pan said:
You'd be better of with a secondhand Nikon flashgun (with full manual control) and a set of Ebay wireless triggers than a cheapo studio set-up
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Can you recomend a flashgun model? I have seen the ebay wireless triggers... havent found any with sony hotshoe fitting, so will they fit to this hotshoe adapter?
 
those hotshoe adapters are awful, I have two of the same make, but iso hotshoe version and they've never worked once since I got them, I ended up getting a refund from the seller.
 
Flash In The Pan said:
those hotshoe adapters are awful, I have two of the same make, but iso hotshoe version and they've never worked once since I got them, I ended up getting a refund from the seller.
Click to expand...

How should I connect them then? Cos most of the wireless triggers I seen on ebay have standard hotshoes, rather than sony ones?

This is the problem I've been having so far, with finding bits that will work, but not cost a fortune.
 
There are no clear answers to your questions, everyone has a different take on studio lighting.
Personally I don't like the hotshoe flash approach (except for journalists etc who don't have much choice) because real studio lights are much more versatile as well as being much more powerful and, most importantly, have a very wide range of light shaping tools available for them.

This may not seem to matter much at the moment but, as you progress, you'll want to move away from softboxes and umbrellas.

Even the cheapest studio lights can produce acceptable results for most beginners, but it's a good idea to think about future needs too, so it may be better to spend a bit more, or to spend the same and get better lights but not so many of them.

This quick intro on how to choose studio lights may help. There are also more free downloads on my website
 
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