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HOME Studio SETUP !
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Hi Everyone,
I wanted some advice about setting up a home studio..
I have my camera and backdrops sorted but am at a loss as to what type of studio flash system to go for !
I have a fair bit of experience with photography but not with studio lights…
So I am after a kit with at least 2 or 3 lights and softbox etc, the usual stuff I THINK ;)
I want to use them generally as in for portraits and still life stuff..
My usual port of call is ebay for my stuff and to this end I offer this link.. But I am at a loss as to what to get?
http://search.ebay.co.uk/studio-lighting-kit_W0QQfromZR10QQssPageNameZWLRS
My budget is about 500 euros, but for that I want it all.. We all do, I hear you cry… But around 500 but less would be better..Thanks for your time reading this and anything that comes to mind will be appreciated !!!!!!!!!! :roll:
Sharon, have a look at this 2 light setup. Saw it at Focus in Birminghan last Feb and made the post under lighting.
Click the link below and have a peek.https://www.photographyireland.net/viewtopic.php?t=5265
Link to their site:
http://www.interfitphotographic.com/Lighitng/Product%20Pages/Home%20Studio%20EX150%20flash.php
Sharon,
Also, try getting in touch with Paddy Barker (Barker Photographic) on the site here. He should be able to advise you
on what you get for your budget etc…Here’s a link to his profile for PM’ing/emailing
Mark
Thank you Gerry and Mark your time and advice is appreciated……
I will try and contact Paddy….I took a look at the link supplied above, Now I have additional questions..
I have never even considered continious lighting…
http://www.karlu.com/index.php?cPath=41_64
So I suppose if Paddy has the time or anyone they can help me with my decisions…..
Do I even need flash ??
;)
Help….Be careful with some of the cheaper setups, as you will find you have to send back to the manufacturer to have the flash tube changed.
the D-lite2 & 4 setup is very nice, i belive the D-lite 2 setup is 650 euro, and the other person who can help you is sheldon, at sheldon photographic who also deals with these lights, he is in malahide and is a sponsor here too
one thing i have experimented with is those outside halogen security lights, 150w ones
they are about 7 euro each, and with some tracing paper in front of them as a difusser they can look ok
Cheers steve, We have something in common, we both have tried those lights :)
But now that my eyes have returned to normal, I know in my heart its time to take the leap !
what threw me off with the links above was the two camps, as in flash and continous lighting…
I need to get my head around the two and choose one.. my gut feeling is my origional feeling of flash heads :roll:Hi Sharon, Yes, ?500 is possible, but be aware, that this will be far from a “Professional” outfit.
The first matter to deal with is Flash or Continous? Continous sounds great – ie: What you see is what you get, which is essentially true, (and is also the ONLY choice if you want to shoot video) but there are a few drawbacks:
To get enough light you need a lot of power, and with power comes heat and as you have hinted at – blinding your subject!
Colour balance is also an issue. Unless you have a huge amount of power the light from your Continous lights will compete with Available light from within a room and also the Daylight from any windows. If you cannot control these other sources you will begin to see colour casts on the sides lit by these other sources. This is much improved with the new Continous Daylight balanced heads from the likes of Interfit http://www.interfitphotographic.com/Lighitng/Lighting%20index.htm . You can have one of these two head kits for ?435 Inc Vat.Studio Flash (Heads have a “Modelling Light” which allows you to check lighting effects), but the main exposure is made by Flash, they have the advantage of having all the power you need (There are lots of power options available), control and no worires about mixed lighting as the light is Daylight balanced and is usually quite strong compared to any other available light. For ?309 (Inc Vat) we can offer an Interfit 150Ex two head flash outfit.
As mentioned earlier ?649 will get you a far nicer Enlinchrom D-Lite2 Kit with two softboxes, ?849 will get you their big brother D-Lite 4 kit which will have all the power you are likely to need for most assignments, and if you are considering “Going Pro” you could should be considering the Elinchrom BX or RX ranges of heads which start at ?1,245 for a two head kit. The real differnece here is the level of control you have and the build quality / durability. One major advantage of starting our with Elinchrom is the fact that there is just one single fitting for all the accessoreis they have made for over twenty years, so you can grow with confidence with the system.
We can also supply various background options, Props and fittings, but to be honest on ?500 don’t expect a lot!
Regards, Paddy Barker , http://www.barkerphotographic.ieApart from my head spinning with all the talk of power ratings triggers slaves soft boxes etc, LOL
I have decided that flash is the way forward and I like the idea of the elinchrom dlite..
Now I have one question if you could help me out and its to do with the kits, the 2 and the 4..
Are the accessories the same for both kits? they look the same on the list..
http://www.barkerphotographic.ie/flash-heads-and-kits.htm
the reason I ask is that if they are the same and there is 200 in the difference betweent the dlite2 and dlite4 kits, and the heads are
239 and 299 respectively.. then the kit prices should be only 120 in the difference..
* Puts hands out to be slapped as I am clearly missing something :) please dont hit me hard…. :? I am just asking a straight question and in no way trying to be awkward ..I would like to thank you and the other people for giving up your time so far and for helping me understand what the whole studio setup is going to take to set up..
I have now upgraded my budget to at least 700… :idea: God help me !!!!Sharon.
Hi Sharon, I’d love to give you a logical answer -but I can’t! At present that’s the way Elinchrom have decided to price them, making the D-Lite 2 kit more attractive to open up the Elinchrom system to people who would otherwise not be able to afford to get into the Elinchrom system.
To answer your earlier question, the only difference between the D-Lite2 Kit and the D-Lite4 is the power of the heads – the fours have one stop more power per head.
-Paddy BarkerI happened to be doing a spot of shopping in Tesco today – came across a special offer that if you bought 2x 2L bottles of a certain mineral you got them for ?2.00 (if I recall correctly). So I grabbed a 2x2L pack (instead of 2 single 2L bottles). Ended up paying ?3.89! Why? I have no idea – it’s just the way they were priced. Two separate SKU’s with 2 separate pricing policies. As consumers, pricing policies often don’t make sense to us. Looks like they sometimes don’t make sense to the dealers either :( I suppose it’s one of life’s unknown mysteries, but I can see why it would make the choice a little more difficult (if you were basing your decision on simple logic).
You mention earlier about wanting 2 or 3 lights with accessories. As you’ve noticed by now, the kit’s are two head kits. I believe there are three head kits available but to be honest, I really do think you’re very much better off with a “less is more” approach here. There’s an awful lot you can do with just two lights (and a reflector or two). If you’re doing this at home, you probably won’t have these set up on a permanent basis (or will you) so you’ve also got to think of storage issues and setup time. You can get stunning images using just one light, it’s all I will use in most cases. Having a second light for when you need it increases your options significantly but a third light doesn’t really add to your options by the same order of magnitude that a second light does, so my advice would be to dispense with the third head for the time being until you really find yourself limited by virtue of the fact that you don’t have it.
Cheers Paddy for your frank reply.. I suppose you wont mind me asking dumb questions, thats why I posted in the beginners section ;)
Do you think the extra stop will make much difference?Thornston, keep taking the soda ;) I get what you are saying while i dont agree with this type of pricing structure..
general update.
These lights will be in my Garage, so they will be set up and not moved ! unless I back my car in and forget about them, in which case I will be selling them as a COMPACT kit :)Random thought…. not connected to my decision making..
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=001&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&viewitem=&item=110110782665&rd=1&rd=1
3 lights? power? any opinions would be appreciated, not in regard to purchasing them but more in regard to what to look out for ?Hi again Sharon,
All things being equall (having enough money!), I like to have the extra power available, even though you may not need it often – it’s kind of a comfort thing. Our D-lights have a FIVE f-stop range in 1/10th stop settings, so in a typical setup you can shoot from f2.8 to f16 without moving the lights.
As Thorsten said above you can really do a lot with two heads, but you may struggle to get even soft light across a standard backdrop for High Key effect (Mostly white, even, low contrast) and light you subject with two heads. On the other hand, high key is just one of many lighting styles, so my advice would be -unless you have to produce perfect High key pics straight away – use you budget to buy quality that you can build on without having to upgrade later.
We also offer the option of a kit with one D-Lite2 and one D-Lite4 head so you have that extra power if required.
Regards, Paddy Barker.Was really hoping to see “two well-muscled mates on stepladders with security torches and white umbrellas” here…
Very informative thread on the subject of a beginner’s home studio though. It’s definitely confusing, knowing how to take lighting a step further. Must bookmark this page and get saving!
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