Home studio with Speedlights?

[mbower05]

Hi all,

I currently work with a local wedding photographer as second shooter and her business has taken off resulting in a lot of shoots coming up. Great right? Well, I am a Nikon shooter and my SB600 just flat out isn't cutting it for weddings. I am thinking of upgrading to either the sb800 or even the 900 and keeping the sb600 as a backup.

Here is my question....I having been kicking around the idea of putting together a studio lighting kit. Does anyone else use a couple of speedlights for studio lighting rather than dedicated studio strobes? I was thinking of just picking up a couple of stands, umbrellas etc.

Would using an sb900 and sb600 with umbrellas or softboxes give decent results with respect to lighting quality? I just am not sure if ther speedlights are powerful enough?

Any input would be appreciated.

[Samanax]

Strobist

Strobist: Lighting 101

Strobist: Lighting 102

DIYPhotography.net Photography and Studio Lighting

[Benji]

This question comes up about every two weeks or so.

Speedlights were manufactured to use on top of a camera. If you want to put them on a light stand and use an umbrella, you must purchase an adapter to make them fit the stand, then you must be very careful with them because the little thin plastic base was made to fit a hot shoe and is quite fragile if bumped or handled a little roughly. Plan on buying lots and lots of AA batteries if you shoot a lot and you won't have a modeling light so plan on rigging up some sort of a clamp on light with an extension cord running to a standard 110 volt outlet. Otherwise you can shoot without a modeling light which means shoot, check the lighting, adjust the lighting and shoot again, adjust the lighting again and shoot again, and so forth until you get it right, then when the subject moves a little you get to do it all over again. Make sure the adapter is an umbrella adapter because you can buy a simple hotshoe to light stand adapter that has no hole for the umbrella. If you ever think you may want to use a softbox you will need to buy another adapter, and rig up another modeling light. B&H has a SB 900 for $460.00 shipped to your door.

A/C powered "studio" flash units have provisions to attach it to a light stand at the bottom on the light. Then to the light you can attach an umbrella, a softbox, barndoors, gel holder, honeycomb, grid or parabolic reflector. They also have a modeling light to tell you what you will get before the flash fires, so you can look at the subject, adjust the lighting and shoot. You will need some place to plug it into a standard 110 volt A/C outlet like just about everything in the USA plugs into. An AlienBee B400 is about $250.00 delivered to your door. Ebay has used A/C powered flash units from about $50.00 up. I've bought about six of them in the past year off of ebay and they all work perfectly..

Benji

[sk66]

While I agree with pretty much everything Benji has said, I don't think dedicated studio strobes are necessarily the better answer.

With studio strobes you will also need triggers and work manually. You are anchored to a 110v power source. If you want portable studio strobes, up the price significantly and add on expensive battery packs.

I don't think the comments about using softboxes/stands etc to be valid. A studio head does not come with a stand (unless it's a kit), a flash stand comes with a flash holder.... A softbox meant for a flash probably has the required adapter (i.e. alzo), and a softbox for a studio head also requires the correct mount...

So, if you are going to be working only in a studio, studio strobes are probably a better answer. You will have stronger lights for less money and the modeling light feature is very nice (especially when learning).

If you need quick reaction (i.e. TTL) to changing conditions, want maximum portability or portability at a reasonable cost, strobist is the way to go. Nikon's CLS is fantastic! Besides, regardless of which way you go, you will eventually want at least one flash unit. (I personally don't think the SB900 offers enough over the 800 to justify the cost difference). I use an SB800 and 2 SB600's (all bought used)...

There are trade-offs to everything. For me it's strobist, but I do very few "studio shoots".

[Benji]

Originally Posted by sk66

With studio strobes you will also need triggers and work manually. You are anchored to a 110v power source. If you want portable studio strobes, up the price significantly and add on expensive battery packs.

I don't think the comments about using softboxes/stands etc to be valid. A studio head does not come with a stand (unless it's a kit), a flash stand comes with a flash holder.... A softbox meant for a flash probably has the required adapter (i.e. alzo), and a softbox for a studio head also requires the correct mount...

Nearly every studio strobe I have ever seen has a built in photo slave which sees another flash and fires at the same time. I've been using them for 28 years and seldom have a problem with them.

For the occasional shoot where you don't have access to 110 volt power use the speedlight and a reflector.

No a studio head doesn't come with a light stand, but those little plastic flash stands that are free with the speedlight are worthless unless everything you shoot is sitting on a table.

Benji

[sk66]

Originally Posted by Benji

Nearly every studio strobe I have ever seen has a built in photo slave which sees another flash and fires at the same time. I've been using them for 28 years and seldom have a problem with them.

For the occasional shoot where you don't have access to 110 volt power use the speedlight and a reflector.

No a studio head doesn't come with a light stand, but those little plastic flash stands that are free with the speedlight are worthless unless everything you shoot is sitting on a table.

Benji

Yeah, my studio strobe has an optical slave...I don't know about that as a general feature, I'll take your word for it. You still have to use an on camera flash, wireless trigger or cable to fire at least one of them...Most I've seen use a wireless trigger (not that I've seen a ton of studio setups).

With the stand thing.....I meant you need to buy a suitable stand regardless of which way you go.....Those plastic base things are generally so useless they get lost eventually.

[OsmosisStudios]

Friends of mine have a small home studio in their basement that's run on an SB-900 and an SB-800. Ive done similar setups with 600s and an 800 as well. It's all in the details.

[TerryMC]

Originally Posted by mbower05

Here is my question....I having been kicking around the idea of putting together a studio lighting kit. Does anyone else use a couple of speedlights for studio lighting rather than dedicated studio strobes? I was thinking of just picking up a couple of stands, umbrellas etc.

Would using an sb900 and sb600 with umbrellas or softboxes give decent results with respect to lighting quality? I just am not sure if ther speedlights are powerful enough?

Check out Joe McNally's site, book and DVD.

The Hot Shoe Diaries: Big Light from Small Flashes: Amazon.ca: Joe McNally: Books

Amazon.com: Nikon School presents A Hands-on Guide to Creative Lighting: Camera & Photo
Amazon.com: Nikon Speed Of Light Educational DVD - Nikon 5661: Joe McNally, Nikon School: Electronics

[djmoonlight]

If you shoot a lot and you won't have a modeling light so plan on rigging up some sort of a clamp on light with an extension cord running to a standard 110 volt outlet.

[adamcoupe]

You might find that creating a quiet area with a background and a couple of speedlights on stands and brackets that can accept shoot through brollies can really complement your colleagues more mobile image capture. The idea of semi-studio images combined with the more usual reportage wedding images, really appeals to couples - their guests love to have a slightly more formal set of images - which can really capture the fun of the event while capturing outfits and expressions in a controlled way. Whether you invest in speedlights or a starter studio strobe kit is up to you. My advice would be don't go for a cheap, poor build quality, low power studio strobe kit if you can afford something that you'll grow out of fairly quickly.

Good luck

Adam
Commercial Photography - Portfolio - Adam Coupe Photography