In need of recommendations for lighting...

[kristenh]

I'm new to the whole field of digital photography- been at it for about 6 months. i have no professional aspirations, but i want to take very good photos of my kids and family. i am at the point where i am often competent outdoors, but winter is approaching, as are a few holidays where i will want to take a lot of indoor pictures. so i'm reading up about lighting- i've tried bumping up ISO, using on camera flash, trying to get my (very young, very active) subjects to be more still and stay closer to the windows. am not satisfied. what lighting options make sense and are not very expensive- say not more than $150? this would be for things like kids sitting beside the christmas tree opening presents, grandpa carving the turkey, that sort of thing. thanks for any ideas!

[OsmosisStudios]

What camera system are you using? Canon, Nikon, Sony, etc? What model? That'll impact recommendations greatly.

Either way, $150 wont get you much of any use, especially for active, mobile kids.

[kristenh]

oh, sorry, forgot. i have a nikon d5000 and the kit lens 18-55 i think it was an a 35 mm prime lens that can open up to 1.8.

OS, how about those diffusers that go over your popup flash?

[OsmosisStudios]

The pop-up flash diffusers arent any good. For what youve described you want at least a proper dedicated flash, and likely the ability to take it off-camera. Not something easy to do with $150.

[RecurrentNerve]

i have a nikon d5000 and the kit lens 18-55 i think it was an a 35 mm prime lens that can open up to 1.8.

This doesn't make sense...do you mean you have the 35mm prime?

[inkista]

Not sure you want to go this route, but if you really don't have more than $150 to spend, then think about going eBay and Hong Kong and grabbing a Yongnuo YN-467. Be prepared, however, to possibly have to return it if you get a bad copy. It's about $90, and has iTTL capability, but no CLS. It has tilt and 270° swivel, so for on-camera bouncing, it's not bad.

You'd probably do better saving up the pennies for a real SB, though.

[kristenh]

Originally Posted by RecurrentNerve

This doesn't make sense...do you mean you have the 35mm prime?

i have the kit lens and a 35 mm prime. i left the d off and. makes more sense now?

[kristenh]

Originally Posted by inkista

Not sure you want to go this route, but if you really don't have more than $150 to spend, then think about going eBay and Hong Kong and grabbing a Yongnuo YN-467. Be prepared, however, to possibly have to return it if you get a bad copy. It's about $90, and has iTTL capability, but no CLS. It has tilt and 270° swivel, so for on-camera bouncing, it's not bad.

You'd probably do better saving up the pennies for a real SB, though.

thank you for this. i'll have to look into it more, looks like.

[jerome.oneil]

You can also check out the Bower SFD926N Nikon i-TTL Power Zoom Flash. I needed a cheaper solution as well and I bought the same Flash except for Olympus and I've been happy with the performance.

Jerome

[kristenh]

okay, i've done some reading and i'd like to ask a followup-

it seems i can either go with one of these external flashes, but i'd have to add to it the stand or clamp, triggering device, umbrella.

or a softbox- looks like one can get one as cheaply as $200- doesn't seem to need much else to go with it.

does this seem accurate? and in the situation where both are about the same price, how would you go- for my purposes- again, shooting kids around the house.

thanks!