What do i need?

Clare

Clare

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Clare
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Hi all :wave:

Have no idea if this is in the correct place.

I'm currently looking for a studio lighting kit for portrait's and i have a Sony a200, was just wondering if anyone knows what else i need to buy as i know my camera has no pc sync.

Also the kit im looking at is Elinchrom Professional Studio Lighting 250W what are peoples views on this?

I will appreciate any help and advice as im not hot on the tech side of things i know what i have needed to know sao far and im still learning!

Thanks
 
Hi Clare and welcome to TP. I'm no expert on lighting unfortunately (I've just started a similar thread to yours myself) but at the moment I have a softbox and 2 reflective umbrellas and stands for them. I attach my flash to the stand inside the softbox and fire it using Nikon's TTL system, seems to work ok. I'm sure someone who knows much more than me will be along shortly to answer your questions.

Ta Ra

Andy
 
This article on another site may help you to decide what you need.
And these articles/tutorials on the Lencarta website may help too.
You don't need a synch socket, very few people use synch leads now because radio triggers are so much better and easier, and decent lighting kits include radio triggers in their contents. Unfortunately your particular camera (AFAIK) has a non-standard hotshoe, so you'll need a simple adapter to convert it to a standard hotshoe - available from Ebay sellers very cheaply.
 
theres a few things i need to say before you do buy anything.

what are you going to be shooting? if your going out and about shooting portraits then using flashguns maybe better, if its a studio environment then you can get a studio lighting kit.

the basic kit will get you started and if you go for flashguns then get a couple of sony hvl f42am's because they can also be triggered by the infrared system on sony camera's (like the nikon version)

if it was me i would get 1/2 sony flashguns, 2 lighting stands and two cheapy ball heads for the flashgun to mount on the light stand.

the flashguns would be £360 along with two cheap konig stands £20, and two cheap ball head from jessops £25, so just above £400 would get you started.
 
mastertrinity said:
so just above £400 would get you started.
Click to expand...

I agree that hotshoe flashes may be more convenient if you're taking photos out and about, but you could get a decent 3 head studio kit for less than that...
 
Thanks for your replys.

I want to photograph babies/children, familys and the odd group of adults max of prob 5, so i will be going out and about as well as doing it at home.

I have been looking about for a long time now and haven't brought as i dont really know what set up to go for, i went into the Warehouse express and they told me to go fo the Interfit venus 300 but i have read a few reviews on it and people have said its flimsy.

This is something i have been interrestd in for alot of years now and i also have done a year long course, it didnt cover any studio work
if i'd of know this i wouldn't have done it.

Im just in a rut that i need to move out of but dont want to get the wrong set up..
 
Welcome to TP :)

It's hard to be specific from what you've said. You could shoot simple portraits with a single hot-shoe gun and brolly plus reflector, for £100. And do it very well. Then if you want to do big groups it would be quite easy to spend £2k or £3k with some of that Bowens and Elinchchrom kit you will have seen on display in Warehouse Express.

Reading between the lines, I don't think you could go wrong with one of the two light kits as a starting point, from Bowens, Elinchrom or Lencarta - £300-£600. They are all good. Unfortunately you can't actually get to see any Lencarta gear, unless you go to Garry's studio in Bradford, which is something of a flaw in their marketing strategy. They only sell direct, but are a bit cheaper as a result.

Interfit is a bit more basic and yes more lightly built but they appear to be quite popular and a lot of people of here use them very successfully. Maybe not so rugged, but that depends on how you use them and treat them.

My advice would be to decide what it is that you mainly want to do. It's not sensible to gear up massively for big groups if you only do it now and then, and you can always hire stuff very easily. Then set your budget and we'll see what suitable options there are. Apart from lights, do you need a background system and flash meter?
 
I'm looking to spend around £400 on a kit this is without backdrops or backdrop support as thats all sorted.

What sort of Watts do i need to go for and how many lights and is there anything else i will need? As iv'e said this is mainly for Babies/children the groups will be occasional i.e for family!

Thanks again and sorry if i'm a pain :D
 
Have a look here http://www.warehouseexpress.com/category/basecategory.aspx?cat03=3116

I like Elinchrom D-Lites. Others will say Lencarta or Bowens. The basic specs are pretty similar. 200ws to 400ws will be plenty. The basic kits tend to include basic reflectors, like brollies or smallish softboxes, some of which can be a bit fiddly if you need to put them up and down a lot. I think it's worth paying extra to get one bigger good quality softbox/octobox at least. See how you get on. Take it from there.
 
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