Studio strobes - advice needed

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irelanst

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Steve
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I’m purely in the research phase at the moment, waiting for my tax rebate to come through!

I’m trying to do a bit more portraiture and realise that I need want to expand my lighting. At the moment I have 2 speedlights (a Canon 430EX II and a YN460) I trigger them using Cactus triggers when off camera. I have a couple of stands, some brolleys and a very small soft box.

I’ve been thinking about getting some studio lights, but it’s only occasional hobby use so don’t want to go mad money wise (less than €400, ideally closer to €300 so roughly the same in pounds at the moment!!!!). Ideally I would like to be able to shoot 2 or 3 people full length, I aren’t too worried about getting a pure white background and the whole lot will have to be packed away after use. The budget is for lights and accessories only not background / supports.

Would I be better off getting a single powerful head (400-500ws) and a large soft box then using the speedlights for hair lights etc. or going for one of the lower spec kits (200-250ws) and getting 2 lights? Are there any major downfalls in mixing speedlights and strobes in one setup (apart from re-cycle time)?

Makes wise, I’ve been looking at Lencarta, Elinchrom and Elemental. Is it worth looking at others? I’m close to Foto Konijnenberg so have considered Jinbei but they seem to get very mixed reviews – although most of the negatives seem to be by people who have never used them.

Any opinions gratefully received - Steve
 
A single head will be fine but two would be better. 400-500ws is probably overkill though, and too much power can cause problems when you can't turn the power down far enough. Personally, I feel that 300ws is plenty for most people, most of the time, and 200ws is often enough.

Mixing studio flash and hotshoe flash is fine, most of the time, apart from the lack of modelling lamps, the slow recycling and the limited power of the hotshoe flashes. Hotshoe flashes in the studio will generally be used at full power or something near, it's when the power is turned down that colour temperature inconsistencies tend to cause problems.

If you're going to get a softbox and need to pack everything away after use, get a folding one.

As for the make, you won't go far wrong with any of the manufacturers - Bowens, Elinchrom or Lencarta in alphabetical order.
 
As Garry says really. I use two 200ws studio lights, plus hot-shoe guns as and when. They're great for backgrounds and effect lights, hair lights with a DIY snoot etc when you can get away without a modelling light and don't need much power. I often prefer them for small size and cable-free convenience - hide them behind the subject etc. Makes a sweet and versatile system :thumbs:

For regular portraits, I have never used my Elinchrom D-Lites at full power so I wouldn't worry about needing 400-500Ws unless you use f/11-16 a lot. Nice to have, but remember one stop of ISO or f/number is an effective doubling of Ws power.

The brands that Garry recommends. Lencarta is made by Jinbei, and that's no bad thing - the quality that is coming out of China these days is a match for anything.

More important is probably to get some nice light shapers. A big softbox for sure - will be your workhorse for full length couples, smaller honeycombed reflector, maybe a beauty dish?
 
Steve - you have 2 flashes, and the standard portrait setup already. Enough to shoot a group of 2-3, once you learn how to maximise them. Bring 1 flash close to camera axis them, reasonably far, but close enough to illuminate them. That should light all of them evenly. Then, place the second light as keylight, which will determine the direction, details and depth of the photo. Easy.


If you want additional lights, maybe add another 1 or 2 flashes? Yongnuo, or old Nikons like SB24, SB26, SB28 etc. Or Vivitar 285, or magnitude of other choice available on the market. For EUR300, you can easily create an arsenal of lilghts and you only need light weight stand for cheap, and you'll have more lights than you can shake a stick at.

Studio lights are great for when you need accurate control, thanks to modelling lamp, or shoot fast, or not worry about batteries running out. But if you only mean to do this as occasional hobby, the space it takes is a pain, and you are constrained to be where the power sockets are. If you have 1 spare set per flash, that's nothing, really. And I don't even bother with modelling lamp half the time I shoot with studio lights, as you can eyeball where the light will fall by going to the axis of light. What your eyes can see, so can the light.

I don't want to deter you from getting studio lights, because where they are useful, they are invaluable. But for very occasional user on a tight budget? I'm not so sure. Have a good think about it. Go read Strobist.com a bit more, and if you really want studio light, then for your budget, you have Lencarta and Elemental as obvious choice, as they both take S fit accessories, cheaper than Elinchrom and Bowens, and very well made, indeed.

Hope that helps.
 
Thanks for all the replies.

I had mainly been looking at the lower power end of the range to be honest – my only concern is that modifiers can easily cost more than the heads – hence the question about 1 head and I wondered if I would need more power in that case.

My initial thought was to add a few more hotshoe guns, what veered me towards studio lights was mainly the modeling light option. I do a little bit of product photography (for my two sideline businesses) and would like to improve that as well. I use continuous light and hotshoe guns at the moment but it takes a lot of shots and chimping about to check highlights and reflections.

I have a bit of time to practice with my current kit, and I’ll see where I’m at once the cash is there!

Thanks again for the advice, I'm sure I'll have more questions soon!
 
irelanst said:
Thanks for all the replies.

I had mainly been looking at the lower power end of the range to be honest – my only concern is that modifiers can easily cost more than the heads – hence the question about 1 head and I wondered if I would need more power in that case.

My initial thought was to add a few more hotshoe guns, what veered me towards studio lights was mainly the modeling light option. I do a little bit of product photography (for my two sideline businesses) and would like to improve that as well. I use continuous light and hotshoe guns at the moment but it takes a lot of shots and chimping about to check highlights and reflections.

I have a bit of time to practice with my current kit, and I’ll see where I’m at once the cash is there!

Thanks again for the advice, I'm sure I'll have more questions soon!
Click to expand...

In that case, get just one 200ws head and spend a bit more on a couple of nice modifiers :thumbs: From what you've said, you'll make very good use of that and can add your hot shoe guns in support nicely.
 
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