Studio setup

cowasaki

cowasaki

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I want to buy the equipment to setup a home studio. This will be for portrait shots. I have £200 to spend now with a little more later. There are lots of kits on ebay for £70-100 but I have no idea if they will be any good at all. I will buy backdrops later so this is really just the lighting for now. I have a D200 with an SB800 and an SB600 also.

What do I actually need? How does the camera activate the studio light? I have read that flash lights rather than continuous are better. Do I need 2 brollys, 2 soft boxes, one of each or all four? What power output minimum?

Is a room 7ft x 10ft big enough? I will be re-painting, what is best matt black or matt white.

If anyone has any links to decent setups I would appreciate it.

LASTLY - If I do not have enough money with the £200 I will save it until I do OR if I should buy one good light now then another later I will.
 
I was in the same boat. I have found this kit fantastic value and all I need.

Stable Imaging JY180A 3 x 180w studio kit

Plenty to play and learn with. Also has the benefit of being portable which to me means packing away in the bag and putting in the cupboard.

For triggering it comes with a sync cable which, if your camera has one, plugs into the pc (sync) socket. Alternatively you can get wireless triggers, infra red triggers or hotshoe adapters with a pc socket. You connect to one light which fires the rest via infra red sensors.

Mel
 
The pc socket is on the D200 and called the x-Sync terminal so you can connect using the sync cable.
 
Given your budget I would do one of two things...

Save up and spend more

Or get ONE decent quality light, a set of popup reflectors (a tenner or so) and two umbrellas, a shoot through and a reflective one.

Studio lighting involves a VERY steep learning curve - it's a bit like clay pigeon shooting (my main hobby) which looks easy but requires a lot of knowlege and skill to get past first base, and it's much easier to learn with just one light than to use several, which makes things unnecessarily complicated. Many of the top portrait photographers, William Coupon for example, only ever use one light, so don't make the mistake that you need to buy a set of lights - that's just what the retailers want you to think.

As for triggering, get a radio trigger.
 
Forgot to mention, 7' x 10' is pretty limiting. It will affect the type of shots you can take but not their quality. Small spaces just require more care and more skill.

The ideal room decoration is matt black walls and ceiling but it's a pretty depressing space to work in. White is the worst choice because you'll lose all lighting control, the light will simply bounce around everywhere.

In a space that size you won't need a lot of power. 200Joules is probably about right.Take a look at my basic lighting guides
 
mortm said:
I was in the same boat. I have found this kit fantastic value and all I need.

Stable Imaging JY180A 3 x 180w studio kit

Plenty to play and learn with. Also has the benefit of being portable which to me means packing away in the bag and putting in the cupboard.

For triggering it comes with a sync cable which, if your camera has one, plugs into the pc (sync) socket. Alternatively you can get wireless triggers, infra red triggers or hotshoe adapters with a pc socket. You connect to one light which fires the rest via infra red sensors.

Mel
Click to expand...


Still can't get over how cheap this setup is. Mortm, just out of curisosity if you had to be super critical of this setup (i.e not the specs, but from actual usage), what faults would you pickout? Might help Cowasaki decide as well.
 
Negatives:

50w Modelling light - Ok for positioning the lights in a dim lit room but would have preffered 180w modelling lights with variable output. Variable on anything under 100w is a waste of time.

No sound indicator when lamps are charged - this has only been an issue when testing the lights with a light meter. Can't say I would want three beeps going of after every shot under normal operation.

Slow recharge rate at full power - 4 seconds, half power 2 seconds etc. Suits my style but some may want faster.

No automatic power discharge when you lower the power - if you go from full charged lamps to half power say you need to fire the lamps to get rid of the full power. I don't know if this is normal for most lamps and maybe with time the capacitors would go down on their own but this is what I do.
 
Have you considered just going the strobist route for lighting?

Here's a shot of my small home studio (15.5ft x 10ft) so you can see how dark it can look.

DSC0397_toned.jpg


If you can work with that dark look then it is best as you get full control over the lighting.

My studio is big enough for me to do head shots to three quarter shots comfortably.
 
I also, hate to say it, disagree with Garry :razz:. With limited space it isn't so easy to control light using reflectors and umbrellas and I would say you can produce far more with a cheap three light setup that works than one expensive light and reflectors. From your room dimensions you aren't going to be able to move things around much so being able to reduce power will make things easier. I started using an off camera flash and reflector in a room slightly bigger than the one you intend on using, I wish I had gone for the set up I have now earlier.

If at a later date you want to move up with the big bucks boys you can always sell them on ebay, so you may lose £50 but you have got a year or so use out of it for that £50 and plenty of learning.

Mel :love:
 
I have to agree with Mark.A here.....I would go the strobist route, you already have two flashes, seems silly not to make full use of them!

I have a set of Elinchrom 500s and find them way too powerful for some jobs.

Simon
 
SAuchterlonie said:
I have to agree with Mark.A here.....I would go the strobist route, you already have two flashes, seems silly not to make full use of them!

I have a set of Elinchrom 500s and find them way too powerful for some jobs.

Simon
Click to expand...
There's nothing wrong with the Stobist approach but it's fiddly. It was designed for journalists, travelling light and needing to have some form of supplementary lighting. For studio use it's much easier to use the real thing than make do with something less than ideal.

The Elinchrom 500's are good flash heads but very dated now, with only 3 stops of adjustment and 500 J of power. Most modern flashes now have 5 or even 6 stops of adjustment.

Mortm, I won't argue with you on that one. Each to there own. And anyway, I'm busy at the moment doing a very complex shot with one flashhead, 5 mirrors and 3 reflectors:lol:
 
mortm said:
Yes but I bet you have more space than 7ft x 10ft more like 70ft x 100ft :D
Click to expand...
Maybe - but working in tight spaces is even more reason to use the minimum of lighing
 
I chose to go the strobist route because the studio is not going to be the only or even main place where I plan to be using the lights. I'm looking at doing in home portraiture for kids, etc. plus portraits on location so a more portable studio lighting setup is ideal for me.
 
I agree with you Garry about the Elinchroms being old and only having 3settings but they are nice lights.:D But what I was trying to point out was that he already has two good lights to have a play around with and he would only need a couple of stands, umbrella clamps and umbrellas. If he really likes it then he'd be able to save up a good amount of money and buy a nice kit......then he has the option to take the strobs or use the full studio kit.

Simon
 
wise choice :thumbs:

Gold is good to warm things up a little.

Mel
 
Seeing as you will already have the softboxes I'd just use them. IMO, you don't need the umbrellas.
 
True, most of the time softbox is enough for me. I have a gold and silver and have used the gold on occasion. But I imagine you can always warm things up in photoshop.

If buying from http://www.stableimaging.co.uk rather than through their ebay store the postage stays the same so extra bits don't add to the postage, also 99p cheaper than on ebay :woot:

I will pm over my meter readings... if I can find the bit of paper I wrote them on. Handy to have a guide that lets you know what distance gives what exposure with the various fittings.
 
mortm said:
True, most of the time softbox is enough for me. I have a gold and silver and have used the gold on occasion. But I imagine you can always warm things up in photoshop.

If buying from http://www.stableimaging.co.uk rather than through their ebay store the postage stays the same so extra bits don't add to the postage, also 99p cheaper than on ebay :woot:

I will pm over my meter readings... if I can find the bit of paper I wrote them on. Handy to have a guide that lets you know what distance gives what exposure with the various fittings.
Click to expand...

I got a 20% off voucher from eBay yesterday so will save that way :)
 
mortm said:
True, most of the time softbox is enough for me. I have a gold and silver and have used the gold on occasion. But I imagine you can always warm things up in photoshop.

If buying from http://www.stableimaging.co.uk rather than through their ebay store the postage stays the same so extra bits don't add to the postage, also 99p cheaper than on ebay :woot:

I will pm over my meter readings... if I can find the bit of paper I wrote them on. Handy to have a guide that lets you know what distance gives what exposure with the various fittings.
Click to expand...

Mortm; I'd be interested in those readings as well if you wouldn't mind including me when you PM. Many thanks.:thumbs:
 
mortm said:
True, most of the time softbox is enough for me. I have a gold and silver and have used the gold on occasion. But I imagine you can always warm things up in photoshop.

If buying from http://www.stableimaging.co.uk rather than through their ebay store the postage stays the same so extra bits don't add to the postage, also 99p cheaper than on ebay :woot:

I will pm over my meter readings... if I can find the bit of paper I wrote them on. Handy to have a guide that lets you know what distance gives what exposure with the various fittings.
Click to expand...

Thanks that would be really helpful. Oh and I have just emailed them, they keep the postage the same via ebay too. I should save at least £40 so thats a bonus :)
 
Well i've done it. Ordered the studio kit and what the hell ordered the gold umbrella too :) With my 20% off voucher from ebay I saved £42! so that paid for the brolly anyway... Just looking for a reflector now as I don't have one of those either (unless you count the bottom of a biscuit tin!)

I ordered the kit on its own via ebay because the 20% voucher only worked if you order ONE item. I then rang up Stable Imaging and they were really helpful. I purchased the brolly with postage and he is refunding the postage as its all going in the same courier shipment.

Right i've got all the kit I need.... Decent camera, nice selection of lenses, decent light. No excuses now :thinking: :lol:
 
My studio light setup arrived, I will post a review thread including how easy it was to set up for someone who has never used studio lights later. I got a 5 in 1 reflector from ebay £10 ! plus the studio lights and a gold brolly from Stable Imaging.

One question: I have a D200, I have attached the sync lead to the camera and plugged this into the studio light. With the built in flash down it does not fire the studio flash so I pop the studio flash up. Then I get the built in flash firing too.

I can invision times when I wouldn't want the built in flash to fire JUST the studio lights BUT I can't find a way of doing this! Does anyone know how to get the D200 to fire the studio flash via the sync lead without the built in flash going off ??
 
Hello Cowasaki

You shouldn't need the camera flash, just the sync cable. I don't know about Nikons but with my alpha I plug the sync cable into the pc socket (via adapter as my camera doesn't have one) and the other end to one of the strobes, set the camera to manual, shutter speed to the manual(book) given flash sync speed, set my aperture and I'm good to go.

So if your doing this and it doesn't fire:

1. Some weird setting on your camera needs setting first.
2. Faulty Sync Cable - Ask Neil at Stable Imaging for a replacement.
 
thanks. The problem is that the internal flash fires too. It only sends the signal down the sync cable when the built in flash is up. Therefore I end up with an unwanted extra flash. This isn't a problem for most shots but is for some.

Think I need a nikon sg-31r flash blocker or a hotshoe to sync adapter
 
Sorry, that can't be right. Are you sure it isn't the flash triggering the lights not the sync cable? The light from the flash will trigger the lights even without the sync cable. Is there a setting on your camera to turn of flash or some such. Where are all the D200 users when you need them :suspect:

What if the flash is closed on the camera body?

Do you have any kind of circuit testing method to check the sync cable... wires, battery and torch bulb maybe
 
it doesn't do anything if the flash is closed so yes it could be that the sync cable is faulty and the flash might be triggering it but I'll know tomorrow when I have time to set everything up plus they are sending another cable. It would seem daft it you have to have the built in flash working because I did want to have a mess with some arty lighting and stray light from the front would ruin some of what I want to create. I can get a hotshoe to sync adapter for £5 so that would do it as it would send the sync signal without flashing and it would also be easier than getting the sync socket cover off :)

I can test both the cable and the camera tomorrow.
 
I very briefly used my D200 at a camera club a month or two ago with studio flash and you had to change the mode to get it to use the synch cable without the onboard flash, cant ecall to what now without the camera in front of me, maybe commander mode, rally not sure, but it certainly can be done.
 
Sorted out the problem which was due to a faulty sync cable and so it was only flashing in response to the built in flash going off!

Well I have it all set up now and having a play but I am not really sure I know what I am doing :bonk:

I am currently taking a picture of "Big Cow" which is a 18" tall puppet cow with a green bobble hat and scarf and sat on my sofa. I have two lights both with soft boxes and the AF 50mm f1.8 on the D200. I have the camera in full manual mode and have one of the light boxes on 1/8 power shining straight at big cow whilst another softbox is pointing at an angle and set at minimum. The ISO is at 100, the aperture is set to f4.5 and the shutter speed to 1/250sec. The distance between the light boxes and the subject is about 2m and the distance between the subject and the camera is about 2.5m

All figures have been found by experimentation and the subject is lit fine.

Do I need to buy a light meter and if I did buy one how does the information it supplies relate to the settings for the lights, aperture and speed?
 
bigcow1_st.jpg



The picture is udder rubbish but it was the first attempt using the lights and with no idea what i'm doing :)


UPDATE: I have re-positioned the main light softbox down to the same level as the subject and lost the shadow beneath her legs... Think I need some help :)

bigcow2_st.jpg
 
As Garry says, get a radio trigger (or an infrared one if your lights support that) instead of faffing around with a cable
 
All attempts at using the brolly have resulted in blown out images even with the flash turned down to absolute minimum !
 
Flash In The Pan said:
move it further away from the subject.........
Click to expand...

For that I will need a larger lounge :)

The softboxes are good though and as I got a 20% off your next order using paypal with ebay I saved enough money on the order to pay for the brolly, the postage and a 5 in 1 reflector so i'm not too bothered.
 
cowasaki said:
For that I will need a larger lounge :)

The softboxes are good though and as I got a 20% off your next order using paypal with ebay I saved enough money on the order to pay for the brolly, the postage and a 5 in 1 reflector so i'm not too bothered.
Click to expand...



So, you need a new house......it's an expensive hobby theis photography lark :lol:

Sure it was 20% off? I got the voucher too and it was 5%......
 
Flash In The Pan said:
So, you need a new house......it's an expensive hobby theis photography lark :lol:

Sure it was 20% off? I got the voucher too and it was 5%......
Click to expand...

Absolutely :) I saved £42 odd. My missus was well miffed as when they give out these vouchers they usually give her more than me :) You could only save upto £100 though.
 
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