Studio Lighting with a £500 budget...

instigator

instigator

Suspended / Banned
Messages
98
Name
Andrew
Edit My Images
Yes
Hi,

I have been decorating the spare room, thought i could use it as a studio.
I'm a complete newbie to studio lighting and have no clue what to get.
Have a budget of £500 and was looking at these:
http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-elinchrom-d-lite-4-kit/p1017663
I plan on doing mainly portraits of a single person (will practice on the girlfriend).
If anybody has any advice on lighting kits etc.. i would appreciate it.

Thanks in advance.
 
I have these and they are superb.

There are other makes around where you may get a third strobe and some of the folks on here use them.

I am quite sure they will be along very shortly............................... GE where are you........?
 
hi instigator, what size room do you have? (inc height) and what sort of pictures you after?

i have the dlite 4s and stuggle to use them above half power if that. unless the room is really big, then i would at east downgrade to the dlite2s. there was a liited edition set which gave you a 200w and a 400w head recently, im pretty sure places still have them available. the downside to elinchrom lights is the cost of the modifiers. they have there own fitment and are expensive.

i am very happy with my kit and have never had a problem with them.
for a cheaper alternative consier the lencarta. there salesman is a member here, and although he cant get a discount he is a well respected professional tog who is happy with them and how they work(i think he has been involved in there design as well)
 
lol, well i couldnt remember your job title, but you do a good job of sales:lol:

and i thought youd be more offended if i ranked you above your position, like director etc...
 
fletch5 said:
hi instigator, what size room do you have? (inc height) and what sort of pictures you after?
Click to expand...

Room size is roughly 10ft square with a 9ft ceiling.
Just want to experiment with studio lighting and get a feel for it, and get some nice portraits of my girlfriend, and friends and family.

What sort of power heads would i need then?
I want to try and get the best quality photos (ISO 100) from them if possible.
I've always liked the portraits i have seen that have been lit with soft boxes.

Just found these:
http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-interfit-int182-ex150-mark-ii-two-head-kit/p1025920
If i dont need to spend alot then i would prefer not to but i dont want to end up with something that i will quickly want to upgrade once i get the hang of things.

Thanks for all the advice so far guys.
 
I just bought the interfit kit (cheaper in jessops at the mo) and i'm using a small room like you i find them more than adequate for my needs i think for a first set while your learning they're well worth it.
All i need now is a model !
 
fletch5 said:
lol, well i couldnt remember your job title, but you do a good job of sales:lol:

and i thought youd be more offended if i ranked you above your position, like director etc...
Click to expand...

Well, as I'm not employed by Lencarta I'm not sure that I have a job title... But if I do then I suppose it's techie, or customer service wally or something similar;)

Going back to the question about power etc., take a look at this article.

Lencarta offer 2 starter kits, the ElitePro 300 at £445 and the new SmartFlash 200 at £325. And there are also kits in both flavours with softboxes.
 
instigator, i would go for 200w and either dlites or lencarta, id stick to basic kit for starters then add to it as you grow. lighting kits are like your cameras, you buy into a system. Im sure Lencarta are the same, but all elinchrom lights use the same fittings, so althugh you upgrade the lights, the modifiers can still be used:)
 
thanks for the links everyone, I've been checking them all out.
I have another question:
If i buy one of these any of these kits will i have every thing i need to get going?
will i need any kind of triggers? or adapters to plug the lights into my camera?
I notice elinchrom for example sell an I/R Trigger that goes on top of the camera.
 
you will get all cables to make them work, but the elinchrom has a wire to connect camera to lights, but yu might want t consider wireless triggers
 
Radio triggers are the way to go as their far more reliable than IR (infra red), and have a longer range, however with elinchrom and Bowen's i don't think they come as part of the kit, so some more expense depending on which type you buy :)
 
A wire (synch cord) will work, at least with cameras that have a PC socket, or via an adapter if they don't have one, but are very old technology.
Next up is an Infra red trigger, again old technology and unreliable.
Preferred option is a radio trigger, 100% reliable. Some kits include one, some don't. Reliable radio triggers start at aroudn £50
If i buy one of these any of these kits will i have every thing i need to get going?
Click to expand...
Yes, but as your knowledge & skills increase, you will probably want to add more specialised light shaping tools.
 
Another question relating to this, would I using these flash lights need an external light meter or would the cameras light meter work (suspect not). IT's a D700, I've never used it for portraits just weddings and thinking of moving into this area. I was under the impression I would need the external meter.
 
you can get by without, but a lightmeter would make things a bit easier:thumbs:
 
MartinH32 said:
Another question relating to this, would I using these flash lights need an external light meter or would the cameras light meter work (suspect not). IT's a D700, I've never used it for portraits just weddings and thinking of moving into this area. I was under the impression I would need the external meter.
Click to expand...

The meter built into the camera can only measure continuous lighting, so no it won't work at all.

Different people have different views on whether or not they need a flash meter in the studio, but life is certainly easier with one.
 
your not missing much;)
 
i use the d-lite 4s with 100 watt bulbs, no problem at all, i carry bigger bulbs for bigger room sizes as well ! i will say that the softboxes you get with them are crap though !
 
fletch5 said:
your not missing much;)
Click to expand...

If it's the one I saw, where an 'expert' tells you to set the white balance to auto then just be glad it doesn't work:lol:
 
cant remember the white balance, but he rambles a lot and is very basic with everything
 
Not sure if your still looking but I've just put this up in the sale section

-Rob
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top