Recommendation for first indoor studio light for portrait

Seajay

Seajay

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Cathy
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Hi all just looking for info on what would be a good first studio light /Brolly etc to buy to use in the house for some family portraits
Not ever done this before so it is a new venture just for fun. I am hoping to learn with one light and then add as I go.
I have a canon 550d. I did look at eBay sets but think it would be better to buy one good light
I will also buy a background and stand plus a reflector and stand to hold it.
Any advice welcome
Cathy
 
Had a little time to browse previous posts and found this, now prices may have changed but this looks like good advice.Also do i need a trigger and what would i be looking for to use with my 550d

SmartFlash £109
Std Refector £10
the pneumatic stand £35
three brollies (white/silver & shoot through) £15 each
 
Thank you Chris this could be possible and would be in my budget although I am going to need a backdrop and stand too.
 
Another thing to remember is by 'reflectors' we are talking about the dish reflector that mounts onto the light not a 5 in 1 type reflector which you would probably also want. I don't know how much reading/watching of videos you have done on portrait lighting but I would suggest you do a bit of research before 'jumping in with both feet' as it where. Make sure that you are spending money on gear that will benefit what you want to do :) You can try a simple one light setup with a speedlight and a brolly for less money if you aren't sure that this is the road you want to take. The point I'm trying to make is that if all you want to do is play with some indoor lighting once in a blue moon spending a lot on studio gear might not be the best idea for you at this time - only you can answer this question.
 
Chris this is very true and I understand what you mean.
Maybe I should try a few shots with a speed light and brolly first to make sure I am on the right track.
I will go and google this to see exactly what you mean and take it from there.

I do like the Lencarta set but it will still be there when I finally decide.
It would only be for family friends and grandkids. I take loads of photos of them and constantly get asked to take more, however light inside or out is not always suitable so a little studio set up would help.All be it my guess is it would only be used now and again.
 
I have a smartflash and a couple of other lencarta heads and they are great for the price. You can achieve a lot with just one light. It's the modifiers the make the most difference though. A brolly will keep you busy for a while but sooner or later you are going to want to add a soft box and other bits.
Background wise, if you haven't got the funds just improvise. An uncluttered wall is ideal to start with or just hang a sheet up from a curtain rail.
 
The advantages of hotshoe flashes is that they are small and portable and run from batteries.
But they are a very poor substitute for studio flash, largely because they are very limited in terms of the all important modifiers, as Tunbridge has pointed out, partly because there is no modelling lamp, partly because the power output is pretty low (which will only become a real problem when we have long evenings with daylight coming into the room) and partly because they they recycle really slowly compared to studio flash heads - the significance of this only becomes obvious when you actually use them, and miss shot after shot because the flash isn't ready when the right expression is...

Hotshoe flashes are often advocated for studio work by people who are only concerned with having ENOUGH light to actually get a reasonably-well exposed shot. Lighting though, is about the quality of the light, not the quantity.
 
Thank you everyone! :)

These videos were just what I needed and what amazing shots with just a normal flash head.
I have decided to go with the lancarta set as a few of my Grandkids are young and will move around a lot so I need a quick reaction for them and also for the pouting hair tossing teenager lol!

I now need to decide on a suitable backdrop eg do I use paper fabric or pop up? Also must go and get a decent reflector and something to hold it.
 
Paper takes up a lot of space and is a bit fragile, but is the best bet.
Thick cotton is more economical and folds up small, but needs to be stretched to avoid creases.
A reflector holder arm fits onto a light stand and is the ideal way of supporting the reflector
 
Paper / & cotton will require supporting ie tripods & cross bar.

Popups fold down small, are lightweight, & can be leant against a wall or wedged into position with a chair either side.

You use a tripod holding a boom arm to hold a popup reflector (any make / model / size) - the 5-1 types give you some good options - don't need to spend a lot of money on these - you may (almost definately) want more than 1 type / size.
 
Great information for me Pete and Gary :)
Can I ask where is the best place to buy thick cotton and what size would I be looking at to go behind and along the floor say for family shots.
I already have a very strong clothes rail on wheels that I acquired and I may use that with some claps to begin with.
Cathy
 
Seajay said:
Thank you everyone! :)

These videos were just what I needed and what amazing shots with just a normal flash head.
I have decided to go with the lancarta set as a few of my Grandkids are young and will move around a lot so I need a quick reaction for them and also for the pouting hair tossing teenager lol!

I now need to decide on a suitable backdrop eg do I use paper fabric or pop up? Also must go and get a decent reflector and something to hold it.
Click to expand...

I agree that a studio head is the best way to go, but be aware that most entry-level heads have quite tardy flash durations. Ignore the published t.5 times and think something around 1/300-1/500sec in terms of shutter speed equivalents.

At the cheaper end, the Elinchrom D-Lite Ones are a bit quicker, around 1/1000-ish if 100Ws is enough power (about the same as a higher end speedlite) and a recycle time in the 1-2secs range will suffice. Better choice is the Elinchrom BXR250 that has a slightly faster duration around the 1/1500-1/1000 mark, more power and faster recycle.

Another thing, if your subject is mobile, as in moving position rather than waving arms and hair etc, then you may have exposure difficulties using flash and manual exposure control. All artificial light is very sensitive to distance* and one of the big advantages of speedlites is auto-TTL exposure control that can adjust itself instantly to that. Unfortunately there is no perfect solution. I use both studio heads and speedlites, sometimes together.

*Inverse square law says double the distance means brightness is reduced to one quarter - a two stops drop.
 
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If I was using a Speedlight, I think you might struggle to light a family - although I'm sure people can do it....

Personally, if I only had 1 Studio light, it wouldn't be a 100w....
Be thinking 200+, pref nearer a 300w to start with - Lencarta make something that will do the job fine (I don't own any of their stuff - but I like it).
This will give you enough power to work with.

Your basic popup is 4ft wide by 6ft high,
Your normal paper or cloth is 3metres (ish) x 5m + length - you use the extra as a train if required.

A few little things to be aware of:
If you buy cheap you may end up buying twice.
If you buy very underpowered you may not get the results you want.
The modifiers for the lights control the light - not all modifiers are the same.
Reflectors are your most useful tool - & the least expensive.
 
Judging the right amount of power is tricky. 200Ws will give you somewhere around f/16 in an 80-100cm softbox at 1m iso100. For most home portraiture, I think this is about right, and in practise it'll usually be around 1/4 to 1/2 power, but obviously it varies.

If you have more power than you need, you may not be able to turn it down low enough for some things - most heads have a 4-stops power adjustment (5-stops range). Bear in mind that raising the iso one stop 'effectively' doubles the power output in exposure terms, and another stop doubles it again and so on. Eg, 100Ws at iso100 becomes an effective 400Ws at iso400 - use this trick for maybe larger groups. If you have too much power, a two or three stops ND filter on the lens is the easiest solution.
 
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HoppyUK said:
I agree that a studio head is the best way to go, but be aware that most entry-level heads have quite tardy flash durations. Ignore the published t.5 times and think something around 1/300-1/500sec in terms of shutter speed equivalents.

At the cheaper end, the Elinchrom D-Lite Ones are a bit quicker, around 1/1000-ish if 100Ws is enough power (about the same as a higher end speedlite) and a recycle time in the 1-2secs range will suffice. Better choice is the Elinchrom BXR250 that has a slightly faster duration around the 1/1500-1/1000 mark, more power and faster recycle.

Another thing, if your subject is mobile, as in moving position rather than waving arms and hair etc, then you may have exposure difficulties using flash and manual exposure control. All artificial light is very sensitive to distance* and one of the big advantages of speedlites is auto-TTL exposure control that can adjust itself instantly to that. Unfortunately there is no perfect solution. I use both studio heads and speedlites, sometimes together.

*Inverse square law says double the distance means brightness is reduced to one quarter - a two stops drop.
Click to expand...
I should really keep my mouth shut, because I can't actually publish the figures on the new SmartFlash 200 until next week...
But the flash duration is way shorter than on the previous model, and it also has 5 stops of power adjustment (full to 1/32nd, which some people call 6 stops)
 
I can't recommend D-Lites enough. Have a look at the D-Lite kits two heads and stands etc for the price (ish) of branded speedlite. http://www.theflashcentre.com/kits_5.html
I started with a D-Lite kit and even though I have the bigger lights I still use the D-Lites. Plus plug a D-Lite in to a Godox pack us TTL triggers and you can high speed synce upto 1/2000sec and over power the sun. A great combo.
 
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For home portraits that kit should have plenty of power, Cathy, as well as enough range to get the power right down if you need to.

Think carefully about backgrounds in the home situation- pop ups are great, but limiting on size. Paper rolls have the size, but in most modern homes are difficult to use by the time you have stands and cross poles involved (assuming you are not going to the expense of a fixed system) A good halfway house solution is the illuminated HiLite background which is economic on space and supports itself. However, not the cheapest.
Nothing looks worse in an image than a cheap creased fabric background because you lacked space to use depth of field properly to blur it: you may be better to carefully arrange a domestic setting as the background and invest the saving in better/ more lighting instead- the backgrounds can come later.
 
Cathy,
Before you buy anything speak to Garry & he will be able to recommend a great light for you.
The Smartflash 200 may well do the job very well.
 
Diving Pete said:
Cathy,
Before you buy anything speak to Garry & he will be able to recommend a great light for you.
The Smartflash 200 may well do the job very well.
Click to expand...


I am happy to hear what he thinks. Did look at his profile but no message link to ask.
 
Thank you to everyone !
I hope you all know how amazing it is for new people trying out something different to get all this help.
I really appreciate it a lot. :)
Cathy
 
Seajay said:
I am happy to hear what he thinks. Did look at his profile but no message link to ask.
Click to expand...
Just ring me, for obvious reasons I don't want to post the number on here (I don't want to reclaim PPI or have any of the other 'interesting' phone calls that would result) but the number is on the Lencarta website, and you can also message me by clicking on my name
 
Garry Edwards said:
Just ring me, for obvious reasons I don't want to post the number on here (I don't want to reclaim PPI or have any of the other 'interesting' phone calls that would result) but the number is on the Lencarta website, and you can also message me by clicking on my name
Click to expand...



Thank you for your time Gary. :) will be in touch later, well my hubby will lol!
 
Seajay said:
Lights now ordered and hope to have them tomorrow
Click to expand...
You won't have them tomorrow I'm afraid, as I said on the phone we are waiting for them to arrive from the airport, which will happen as soon as they have cleared Customs
 
Garry Edwards said:
You won't have them tomorrow I'm afraid, as I said on the phone we are waiting for them to arrive from the airport, which will happen as soon as they have cleared Customs
Click to expand...

No problem Gary hubby ordered them and told me they were arriving today but there is no hurry :)
 
Garry Edwards said:
You won't have them tomorrow I'm afraid, as I said on the phone we are waiting for them to arrive from the airport, which will happen as soon as they have cleared Customs
Click to expand...
An update, I've now been told that they will arrive at the warehouse tomorrow.

If they arrive early enough, we will get most if not all of the backorders away tomorrow. If not, all orders will go out on Monday.
That's the SmartFlash 2, ElitePro 2, Atom 360 and various other items.
 
Tunbridge said:
Nice choice, I'm liking the look of the new Smart Flash heads.

Make sure get practicing and post the results up. Enjoy.
Click to expand...

Simon I will!
May not be for a while as we are between houses right now.
Sold ours and renting until we find another suitable home. So it will only be setup when I move in to our new home.
I hope it is soon but at least I have the time right now to gather up what I need.
 
Garry Edwards said:
An update, I've now been told that they will arrive at the warehouse tomorrow.

If they arrive early enough, we will get most if not all of the backorders away tomorrow. If not, all orders will go out on Monday.
That's the SmartFlash 2, ElitePro 2, Atom 360 and various other items.
Click to expand...

Thanks Gary this is helpful as my order is going to my daughters and I need to be there to let the delivery in.
 
My next question is to quickly ask
What size of reflector is a good all rounder to begin with?
Cathy
 
Seajay said:
My next question is to quickly ask
What size of reflector is a good all rounder to begin with?
Click to expand...

It's worth getting a few reflectors, they're cheap and almost as good as having extra lights. I'd guess 80cm would be pretty versatile but anything up to 110cm seems to have about the same cost so perhaps you should think about how you want to light the subject with those tools.

The 5 in 1 s can also be useful for blocking/diffusing light, especially useful for a beginner or someone without a lot of existing kit (or less than ideal working space).
 
simonbarker said:
It's worth getting a few reflectors, they're cheap and almost as good as having extra lights. I'd guess 80cm would be pretty versatile but anything up to 110cm seems to have about the same cost so perhaps you should think about how you want to light the subject with those tools.

The 5 in 1 s can also be useful for blocking/diffusing light, especially useful for a beginner or someone without a lot of existing kit (or less than ideal working space).
Click to expand...
It's that thing that's been touched on before, an amateur will want to fill the studio with shiny expensive things.

A pro's studio is as likely to be full of bits of ripped up cardboard and spring clamps used to flag things, large sheets of material used for all sorts of random tasks and reflectors in all shapes and sizes.

It's the downside to mobile studios too. When running a mobile studio, photographers are not likely to carry all those useful bits of 'crap' around.

If I had a £ for every time I've used my reflectors during bridal prep I could literally buy a pint. Yet I always carry them in, put them down and forget them.
 
Simon and Phil thank you!

I hate clutter of any kind but would hate not to have one when I get playing with the lights for example if I wanted to try and bounce some light back into a shadow area of a face etc
( can you tell I have watching you tube videos )

Of course this will be a long way off for me I still have so much to learn other than just switching them on lol!
I need to learn from scratch. I will buy one or a set of 5 and see what I can do.
Cathy
 
TAT2 said:
There you go Cathy this should keep you busy for a while :)



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6TkLfBzJNU
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I really enjoyed the second of these films - thanks for posting. Wondering about a pocket wizard and box myself… wonder which pocket wizard? I am Canon with a bunch of lenses and no indoor kit at all, which would have been very handy I realise after being asked to do some indoor portraits at Christmas in a very small space - couldn't get rid of the shadows even with bouncing my speed light… very helpful. Thanks (y)
 
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