Would you re-jig your gear to purchase lighting equipment?

scottduffy

scottduffy

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I have a canon 5d mk2 and 70-200 2.8 is 2 lens right now and as much as I love the lens I'm really wanting to purchase lights now as I'm becoming obsessed with portraits right now. I don't have the money to buy them now without selling something.

Do you think it would be worthwhile me selling the long zoom and buying say the older 24-70 and a set of lights with the remainder. I have not used this lens before but it was the best mid range zoom till the newer one came out. I could also buy a couple of primes instead.
 
I've sold kit to buy other kit before now, it really depends on how much use your getting out of it, having said that when I shot mainly landscapes I had a 70-200 2.8 which I only used a handful of times so I sold it, a big regret now that I shoot portraits, I do plan to get another one next year though :)
 
Better lighting will always give you better results, far better results than a sharper lens in poorer lighting.
So if selling is the only way to get the better lighting, I'd say go for it.
Have you tried experimenting with other lighting methods, and using cheaper video lights with home made reflectors and soft boxes?
 
I haven't tried anything at home yet as I'm using studio lights exclusively in college.

I always wanted the 70-200 and have almost bought and traded my way to it and I genuinely love it. I have spent enough though recently and having left full time employment to attend college it would seem selfish to spend more of our savings when I could purchase the lights by selling my lens. I'm sure the other options will do me fine. I originally bought the long zoom because I wanted candids of my son. With the sigma prime he always seemed to notice me getting close and stopped acting naturally.
 
Would I?

Possibly

Should you?

Probably not.

The problem is Scott, that you've stretched a fairly small amount of money to get gear you really wanted. You're stretched almost to breaking point, and I think there are already holes in your kit without getting rid of some.

What gear would you leave yourself with and what lighting would you invest in?
 
I am thinking that the older 24-70 would cover me for most of the portrait stuff I do now. I could probably get that for under £600 pounds which would leave me enough to buy a second hand double light kit. I sold my lencarta smartflash two kit for £200 so that kind of price would leave me money for some modifiers. I have a speedlight with stand, triggers and umbrella but in my room the light goes everywhere. It's pretty difficult whether I am shooting through or shooting into the reflective side to duplicate the kind of lighting I'm getting in college with the bowens and softboxes.
 
I could always get another sigma 50 mm art as I loved that and either the 85 or 100 canon instead of the 24-70.
 
Mastering off-camera flash will transform your portraits and there are any number of decent lenses you could use instead of the 70-200 (which is a great lens, of course).

The 70-200 is a saleable lens and the cash it can raise gives you lots of choices in a replacement lens and a basic speedlite based system, complete with triggers, stands and umbrellas/softboxes. If you csn master flash then the lens becomes much less important - you'll find very acceptable quality obtainable from the cheaper 50/85/90/100mm primes and any number of standard zooms.

The question to ask yourself is whether owning a particular piece of kit is more important than the quality of the pics you're trying to produce. Having a Canon 70-200 is nice - hell, I've had a few of them in my time - but it's not the thing that can turn you into a good photographer. Same goes for camera bodies - if you can't get good pics from your 5D2 then an upgrade to a newer body will invariably be a waste of time, too.
 
scottduffy said:
. I have a speedlight with stand, triggers and umbrella but in my room the light goes everywhere. It's pretty difficult whether I am shooting through or shooting into the reflective side to duplicate the kind of lighting I'm getting in college with the bowens and softboxes.
Click to expand...
The godox softbox and Bowens bracket we constantly recommend round here will sort that for less than £30 (but see if you can get a gridded 80cm one for a little more).

You also need to be aware that the size and shape of the space makes a massive difference, using a small domestic room is much more difficult than a high and large studio space.

Either way, if you're selling the 70-200; for portraits on FF you ought to have something longer and faster than 70mm 2.8. Maybe a 100 or 135mm f2.0?
 
I thought about the 135L straight away but was worried that I'll pay around 500 for that then I still need something else. Thought about the 24-105 with it but that'll only leave me around 200 for lighting.

I could definitely add another speedlight set up for that though. I'll check out the Godox now. Thanks mate.
 
Sideshow Alvie said:
Mastering off-camera flash will transform your portraits and there are any number of decent lenses you could use instead of the 70-200 (which is a great lens, of course).

The 70-200 is a saleable lens and the cash it can raise gives you lots of choices in a replacement lens and a basic speedlite based system, complete with triggers, stands and umbrellas/softboxes. If you csn master flash then the lens becomes much less important - you'll find very acceptable quality obtainable from the cheaper 50/85/90/100mm primes and any number of standard zooms.

The question to ask yourself is whether owning a particular piece of kit is more important than the quality of the pics you're trying to produce. Having a Canon 70-200 is nice - hell, I've had a few of them in my time - but it's not the thing that can turn you into a good photographer. Same goes for camera bodies - if you can't get good pics from your 5D2 then an upgrade to a newer body will invariably be a waste of time, too.
Click to expand...

Sorry Alan missed your post first time round. Yep I'm thinking that the money that lens could sell for could be useful. In the studio in college I can barely see the difference between my mates 50d and 50mm prime and my kit under the same lighting. Outdoors I can though without artificial light.
 
Thanks, Scott.
The thing is that you get the best out of any lens, even a very modestly priced one, under studio lighting. There will always good lenses available in the future - used or otherwise - if the funds become available again.
 
If you're into portraits I reckon you'd regret selling the 70-200 f2.8. Ok, so f2.8 isn't much use under studio flash but it's a really useful range for natural light portraits from closeups to long distance environmental shots.

scottduffy said:
I am thinking that the older 24-70 would cover me for most of the portrait stuff I do now. I could probably get that for under £600 pounds which would leave me enough to buy a second hand double light kit. I sold my lencarta smartflash two kit for £200 so that kind of price would leave me money for some modifiers. I have a speedlight with stand, triggers and umbrella but in my room the light goes everywhere. It's pretty difficult whether I am shooting through or shooting into the reflective side to duplicate the kind of lighting I'm getting in college with the bowens and softboxes.
Click to expand...

Maybe buy a cheapo popup softbox, grid & bracket for your speedlite?
 
I could certainly add speedlight soft box with the fat man due next month. I'll read the thread above before I decide.
 
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