Basic Studio Lighting requirements?

[oldwolf]

Originally Posted by Grumby

Thanks guys - that's all good stuff.

I think I can probably rule out buying additional Nikon speedlites... My thinking after a little research and your advice above is...

• my daughter's SB-800 with an umbrella plus one strobe with soft box - both triggered optically by the pop-up flash
• two strobes (I won't have access to my daughter's flash much longer) with umbrella and soft box - again triggered optically
• either of the above, combined with Pocket Wizards or similar radio trigger - not sure if I'd need two receivers, or just one and then slave the other unit optically to the first - I guess having 2 receivers gets around the LoS issue

I know that the answer to the next question is that 'you get what you pay for...' but lookin on ebay, I can see lighting 'kits' from China (sounding alarm bells already) that have a couple of strobes, stands, soft boxes and umbrellas - all for around the same price as a single Alien Bee strobe unit with no accessories. So I expect that build quality will be 'shonky' - and light output less powerful? There was one kit with 180WS strobes and another with 250WS, whereas the AlienBee is 400... Do you think that those kind of units are even worth considering for an amateur's experimentation? Apart from the risk of burning my house down that is - do you think those cheapo units would be a viable starter purchase, or a waste of money?

Cheers
G

If you don't want to worry about LoS then you'll need a receiver for all the lights you have and a transmitter for your camera. If you're not worried about LoS too much then the Alienbees have an optical trigger on the back of them. You wouldn't need a receiver if the Alienbee can see the flash. Be careful with pre-flashes that they use for red eye reduction and stuff. Those will some times be picked up by the optical trigger.

I personally wouldn't go with the kits that are offering 180WS or 250WS. I think you'll end up wanting more and realized you wasted money on those especially with the shoddy build.

[zona5101]

In OldWolfs first post he recommended a single light and a soft box. That is a really smart way to start. A good monolight, decent stand and a med or large softbox and you will be set for a while. Buying a decent monobock means you never have to say your sorry . A brand name unit will be easy to sell if you decide its too much. Starting out by buying a good unit will also be the foundation of a larger set up should the bug grab you and not let go.
Alienbees, Photoflex, Calumet all offer single light kits. You will need a way to sync the flashes: optical, wired or radio.

[Grumby]

Thanks all for all the advice. I'm signing up for a one day studio course, to get an idea of what can be done with one light and a reflector, or one and a flash, or two lights, etc. I'll make my decision (and purchases) after that.

Thanks again,
G