Small Home Studio

[Nemesis]

Hi all I need some advice on setting up a small home studio, I have a Canon 5DMKII 580EXII flash, and other small bits, I want to get a small lighting set up for a small home studio, I have seen various lighting sets etc in magazines but wonder if anyone can steer me in the right direction.
Im looking at Portraits and Modelling shoots and want to spend up to about £500
Any ideas? Any help/advice appreciated..

[andy153]

Hi there, apart from lights which are a matter of personal choice, others may advise you there, do not forget the backdrops, and seating. Cloth thrown over a home made stand is fine and I'm sure your local market can supply black, white and possibly ivory cloth that is suitable. Other colours may follow depending upon you and clients. You could also choose rolls of coloured paper.

[Nemesis]

Cheers matey, got the backdrops covered just need advice on lighting now ... Im confused dot com

[postcardcv]

What to you will depend on what room you have and what look you're trying to acheive, the Elinchrom D-Lites seem like a decent, cheapish way into studio flash. This kit from WHE would be a decent starting point, and it's just in budget - http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-...a-kit/p1029456

[Don Hoey]

Originally Posted by postcardcv

... the Elinchrom D-Lites seem like a decent, cheapish way into studio flash. This kit from WHE would be a decent starting point, and it's just in budget - http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-...a-kit/p1029456

I'll second that.

Don

[yelvertoft]

The setup that I'd be tempted with is this one:
http://www.photodeals.co.uk/product....7&cat=5&page=1
or this one:
http://www.photodeals.co.uk/product....6&cat=5&page=1

Made by Bowens, but without the Bowens badge or price tag.

The Elinchrome looks a good cost compromise with one 400W head and a second head at 200W for filling in, but I'd say go for one brolly and one softbox to give you some flexibility on the lighting effects.

Having recently used a cheap Interfit setup I'd definitely say "avoid". Very unreliable triggering on radio, IR or even on a PC socket synch cable. Was very disappointed by how poor it was. As we were shooting medium format film on the day, it would have been very expensive if we didn't have access to D&P facilities on the same day.

Duncan

[postcardcv]

Originally Posted by yelvertoft

The setup that I'd be tempted with is this one:
http://www.photodeals.co.uk/product....7&cat=5&page=1
or this one:
http://www.photodeals.co.uk/product....6&cat=5&page=1

Made by Bowens, but without the Bowens badge or price tag.

I'd be put off the first set by the slow recycle time (2-3 seconds), the D-Lites recycle in ~1 sec and sometimes that's not fast enough. If you have to wait 3 seconds between shots I think you'll miss a lot of opportunities. If you are paying a bit more it's worth looking at the D-Lite 4 kit - 2x 400W heads both with soft boxes.

[yelvertoft]

Hadn't spotted the slow recycle time of the larger power kit, good point Pete.
The auto dump facility of the Elinchromes is a very useful feature too.

[yelvertoft]

Just out of interest, having a look at the reviews on WHE of the D-Lite 4 kit, I notice the comment in one review:
"My main issue with them is that they are very powerful and i'd liked to have had the option of reducing the output down another few stops - if your space is small the 200 / 400 combo might be worth a look."

Hadn't thought of that. Having 2x 400W might be too much in a small space, given that there's a minimum power level they can be set to.

[postcardcv]

Originally Posted by yelvertoft

Just out of interest, having a look at the reviews on WHE of the D-Lite 4 kit, I notice the comment in one review:
"My main issue with them is that they are very powerful and i'd liked to have had the option of reducing the output down another few stops - if your space is small the 200 / 400 combo might be worth a look."

Hadn't thought of that. Having 2x 400W might be too much in a small space, given that there's a minimum power level they can be set to.

I've got a set of D-Lite 4s and can't see this being much of an issue, I find that at ~3/5ths power I can shot at ISO100, f11, 1/160th which seems fine to me. Surely if they were over powering you can just adjust camera settings to get the exposure right. A flash meter does make setting them up very easy so it would be worth getting one if your budget allows (though they can be set up without one).