Studio Equipment

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Bowsa

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Hi all,

I have recently done a few courses at college, and tried my hand at a bit of studio photography, i really want to get in to this myself to do some shoots for friends family etc.......

when I did the shoot it was a basic setup ......or looked it.

i simply had a screen two flashlights and a soft box.....something I am looking to recreate. although I am not sure how to decide which equipment to buy.....what makes it good where to buy it from or what I am looking for etc.


any help I can get would be great

thaks
 
Budget?
 
probably looking on upto £500 maximum.......but if possible if you could tell me what i'm looking for and why its good etc that would be a great help.

thanks
 
Bowsa said:
probably looking on upto £500 maximum.......but if possible if you could tell me what i'm looking for and why its good etc that would be a great help.

thanks
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You can do it for that.

First choice is do you want studio units or hot-shoe guns? Studio lights are much better, but you can't take them outside very easily, if at all.

Quality brands are Bowens, Lencarta and Elinchrom. TBH I don't think there's much to choose between them. You certainly won't go wrong whichever you choose :)
 
HoppyUK said:
You can do it for that.

First choice is do you want studio units or hot-shoe guns? Studio lights are much better, but you can't take them outside very easily, if at all.

Quality brands are Bowens, Lencarta and Elinchrom. TBH I don't think there's much to choose between them. You certainly won't go wrong whichever you choose :)
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this is it i have been reading through the guide above (thanks for that BTW)

what is the difference between hot-shoe guns and studio units also i used a soft box and light meter but just not sure about all the techicalities lol.

when you buy flashes and soft boxes do they come with the wires also, what wire would i need to link them to my camera (nikon d300)
 
Its power vs portability.

Hot shoe flashes are a lot more versatile, lightweight, use AA batteries and can be hot shoe mounted, floor mounted, stand mounted etc.,

A studio flash head is more cumbersome but is probably more suitable for the studio environment. Less portable.

Triggering can be done by wires, or by remote transmitter, radio or infra red. Wires are easy to trip over.
 
The difference between a hotshoe flash and a studio flash is that the hotshoe flash is battery powered and goes onto the hotshoe of the camera (although it can also be used off camera with an extension wire or with radio or other triggering) and the studio flashes are (mainly) mains powered, take interchangeable light shaping tools, have much more power, have modelling lamps and recycle much more quickly.

If you get a Lencarta kit (same applies to some other makes too) then it will come with a radio trigger set, you just plug the transmitter into your camera hotshoe, you don't need wires to fire the flash
 
As Garry said :thumbs:

I think they main difference in practise with hot-shoe guns - apart from the obvious portability thing - is slow recycling and lack of modelling lights.

You can improve recycling a lot with a supplementary battery pack but they're still slower and overheat if you cane them. You can workaround the other things, usually, but not the modelling light.

I use both, and sometimes together, but I think there is a basic choice and that is if you're near a plug, then studio lights are just so much easier. I use hot-shoes outdoors and for 'mobile' shooting (kids in garden etc) where the E-TTL is great for consistent exposures when the subject distance is changing all the time.

In a nutshell, there is no one size fits all solution, regardless of price. Pick the one that suits your main application. You can add on stuff later and usually get everything to work together if needs be.
 
I am thinking i will probably be looking for studio lighting plug in so if anyone can advise on that it would be great.....also what about soft boxes and screens? cheers guys and girls
 
Bowsa said:
I am thinking i will probably be looking for studio lighting plug in so if anyone can advise on that it would be great.....also what about soft boxes and screens? cheers guys and girls
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anyone:thinking:
 
Bowsa said:
anyone:thinking:
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Get one of the two-head lighting kits from one of the manufacturers mentioned earlier. That's all you need to get started.
 
HoppyUK said:
Get one of the two-head lighting kits from one of the manufacturers mentioned earlier. That's all you need to get started.
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cheers mate......i reallly would think I would need the screen to get the same "studio" results i got at college?
 
can anyone suggest a store where i can talk to someone face to face about this??? thanks ???
 
I seen a beginners studio set-up today at jessops, think it was priced around £250.00
 
I can recommend the Lencarta range, I have the smartflash twin lights with soft boxes, they work well and don't cost the earth :)
 
Big thanks to garry, should be getting the equipment and that through on wednesday
 
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