What to buy next? Temptation on the Lencarta website!

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Tunbridge

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So I need to treat myself to some new studio equipment for Christmas. This is mainly pitched at Garry however I know there are plenty of other very knowledgeable people in this section of Talk Photography.

So far I have:
2 x Lencarta Elite Pro 300W
1 x Lencarta Smartflash 200W
1 x Softbox (30 x 140cm)
1 x Octobox (120cm)
3 x 7” standard reflectors
1 x background reflector
2 x 7” honeycombs (20deg & 40deg)
2 x White shoot through umbrella
Wex Background Support System
2 x 2.72m wide paper backgrounds (one white, one black)
A selection of gels

The budget is about £100 give or take a bit.

I mainly shoot pictures of the kids and practice on the wife when she is feeling patient!

The biggest problem I face is control of the light as I have a room 5m x 5m but its painted white and the ceiling is low (normal modern house rubbish and the wife isn’t keen on the idea of a black ceiling :shrug:).

The shoot through umbrellas are not much use to me as they just scatter light everywhere and I have no control at all so they rarely get used.

So I was thinking I might benefit from:
1.) Grids for Softboxes (although the one for the strip box has been out of stock forever!)
2.) Reflective Umbrella, either white or silver, not sure which? And not sure which size? Am I better of with the 100cm or the 180cm?
I remember Garry using the giant Para Umbrella at the lighting master class in the summer and although I have neither the money or the space for this I was thinking the 180cm umbrella might make a nice on axis fill with it behind me?

Or is there something else I can buy to play with?
 
A honeycomb for one of your softboxes will give you a lot more control. The honeycombs for the 120 octa softbox are in stock now. As you say, the ones for the 130 x 30 strip softbox have been out of stock for ages, but I was told on Friday that they have now been sent and will arrive very soon. but a driver has just turned up with them:) Outstanding orders will be dealt with today, once that's done they will be available on the website.

Reflective umbrellas produce much more lighting control than shoot through ones, but the light from them is still pretty broad. The amount of spread has more to do with the design than the size (a deep design produces something closer to a parabolic effect than a slimline design) and a smaller one spreads the light less than a large rone. Silver produces a harder, more specular light than a white one, but all things being equal, over roughly the same area,
 
Thanks Garry, I'll be ordering a couple of Grids.

I was just planning on using the umbrella on my fill light and the white will probably be my best bet. I also suspect I'm better off sticking with the smaller size to start with. The only reason I thought the larger one might be better is that I could have potentially had it behind me and it would be big enough that I wouldn't block too much of its output? Although I guess I could just shoot over or under the smaller one.
 
I typically use the (smaller) 100cm umbrella behind me as a fill light. My body obviously blocks part of the light, but the amount blocked is consistent as I move around, so it doesn't matter.
 
Controlling the light in a white room, you may be better off with a couple of gobo's, (large boards) can be anything, polystyrene 4'x8'x2" ? about £12 each

Some bike stand wheels things from maplins to stand them in and move around

H
 
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Garry Edwards said:
I typically use the (smaller) 100cm umbrella behind me as a fill light. My body obviously blocks part of the light, but the amount blocked is consistent as I move around, so it doesn't matter.
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Cheers Garry, I'll stick with the smaller one!
 
Hell on earth said:
Controlling the light in a white room, you may be better off with a couple of gobo's, (large boards) can be anything, polystyrene 4'x8'x2" ? about £12 each

Some bike stand wheels things from maplins to stand them in and move around

H
Click to expand...
Thanks, I think I do need to go down that route as light bouncing round everywhere is a problem for me and I've read many of your threads where you have suffered the same issue!
My life would be much easier if the wife didn't want pictures of the kids against a white background.
I know part of my problem is that I have a white 2.72m wide background which is often bigger than I need. Blocking the out of shot parts of this would almost certainly help. I just didn't think it was a good idea to ask Santa to bring me 8' x 4' sheets as it would take up too much space in his sack...
 
Tunbridge said:
Thanks, I think I do need to go down that route as light bouncing round everywhere is a problem for me and I've read many of your threads where you have suffered the same issue!
My life would be much easier if the wife didn't want pictures of the kids against a white background.
I know part of my problem is that I have a white 2.72m wide background which is often bigger than I need. Blocking the out of shot parts of this would almost certainly help. I just didn't think it was a good idea to ask Santa to bring me 8' x 4' sheets as it would take up too much space in his sack...
Click to expand...
LOL
They really are worth getting at some point
Some stretch black cloth and some clips and you have a black background too or whatever colour you want.

H
 
Think that will be a nice little DIY project for the new year. Something to keep me in the warm rather than out in the cold winter weather.
 
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