| designboy |
| (member) |
| 23/07/2008 18:09 |
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Lighting setup on a £400 budget?
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I got about £400 to spend on a lighting kit to do portraits and full body shots with, can anyone point me the direction (ebay most likely) to a kit that suits. I'm almost there, some of the kit I have now is giving me what I need - but a lighting kit would really help deliver the studio look I want. Can I get a kit to link with the d2x camera I have or is that pushing it!?
Cheers and thanks as always.
Chris
| Fen |
| (BAD WOLF) |
| 23/07/2008 18:16 |
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Re: Lighting setup on a £400 budget?
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You might want to list what you already have, so to give people some idea of what can go with it and to stop them suggesting stuff you already have.
| designboy |
| (member) |
| 24/07/2008 00:43 |
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Re: Lighting setup on a £400 budget?
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Good point, I have a flash gun
thats it, I plan to shoot people and close up portrait work. Thats as far as I get. We currently have a massive studio space, so we can allow for any size of set if need be.
| NorthernNikon |
| (Bulls Hitter) |
| 24/07/2008 10:59 |
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Re: Lighting setup on a £400 budget?
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You might want to list what style you want to shoot as your budget may be way too haigh, just right, or way too low. The cheapest lighting set up is to find one of these ...
| Gordon_McGeachie |
| (Joke Historian) |
| 24/07/2008 11:00 |
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Re: Lighting setup on a £400 budget?
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I have a studio kit based on two of these
www.warehouseexpress.com/product/default.aspx?sku=1009923
with two brollies, one silver/white for the main light,and the other being white for using as the fill in one.
I got all these in the kit from
www.hiltonphoto.co.uk
| Matt_Hunt |
| (Pooh-Bah) |
| 24/07/2008 11:23 |
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Re: Lighting setup on a £400 budget?
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I believe MVX do orders by post. I've just picked up a light stand, head and shoot through umbrella for £23 from them for example.
I would go for 2 stands, the umbrellas as described above, and then triggerng and the second flash.
Cables such as PC synch are cheap but somebody is bound to trip over a cable. Wireless transmitters vary in price (from Pocket Wizards - over budget) to ebay tat which is too unreliable. Elinchrom gear is about £150 for 1 transmitter and 2 receivers IIRC. It is reliable and a good 1/2 way point
OR you could buy a second hand flash that either includes an optical slave (i.e. sees the other flash firing and fires itself) or buy slave (£10 or so) for it to sit on.
SB-26s are a nice example but you won't be able to use them on the camera in TTL mode.
When you are buying it might be worth thinking about portability in case you ever shot outside of the studio.
A reflector would be a good idea too.
HTH
Matt
| beejaybee |
| (Marvin) |
| 24/07/2008 13:00 |
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Re: Lighting setup on a £400 budget?
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Quote:
The cheapest lighting set up is to find one of these ...
Yes, just remember to leave the white balance setting at "daylight".
BTW you can get FREE heating from the same source!
| Gordon_McGeachie |
| (Joke Historian) |
| 24/07/2008 15:56 |
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Re: Lighting setup on a £400 budget?
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I forgot to say that I also bought a portaflash flashmeter, (about £35)nothing to high tech but one that does the job
| BigAl999 |
| (newbie) |
| 24/07/2008 21:15 |
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Re: Lighting setup on a £400 budget?
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I have just got a three head studio flash kit with soft box brolly barn doors and snoot stands background support from a company based near Bedford called Elemental £420 all in. It also comes with a remote hotshoe rf trigger so you don't even need a pc socket on the camera or wories over trigger levels (IIRC the trigger level is about 5v this is in the instructions). Elemental have a shop on the well known auction site.
HTH
Alan
| deddard |
| (journeyman) |
| 25/07/2008 11:04 |
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Re: Lighting setup on a £400 budget?
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Quote:
I have just got a three head studio flash kit with soft box brolly barn doors and snoot stands background support from a company based near Bedford called Elemental £420 all in. It also comes with a remote hotshoe rf trigger so you don't even need a pc socket on the camera or wories over trigger levels (IIRC the trigger level is about 5v this is in the instructions). Elemental have a shop on the well known auction site.
HTH
This stuff looks good - what's it like to use?
I'm looking for a studio kit myself, and this is just a few miles from me, and it looks good value too
Alan
| designboy |
| (member) |
| 25/07/2008 12:12 |
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Re: Lighting setup on a £400 budget?
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nice one, I wanted a large soft box - and a 3 point lighting set up - I stumbled on a great site with these boys setting up speedlights to make a studio, very creative and very good work from them. I do want the feature of a softbox but the idea of using flashes for being mobile is fantastic!
I'll get the wireless triggers, a softbox, reflector and then take a look on ebay for the rest.
Thanks, I'll post questions as I go...
| designboy |
| (member) |
| 26/07/2008 00:44 |
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Re: Lighting setup on a £400 budget?
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Looking now at the http://www.studio-flash.com/m-series/m-series-pro-studio-600-brolly-kit-p-362.html - for my budget, I'll also use my flash as an off camera (with snoot) for effects with it.
What are the main things to look for in a kit?
Wattage?
Size of soft box?
| PhilW |
| (Blue Peter Badge Winner) |
| 26/07/2008 01:51 |
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Re: Lighting setup on a £400 budget?
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What are you trying to do? You can get along pretty well with some normal camera flashes, a couple of stands, a repote trigger and some cheap light modifiers
| designboy |
| (member) |
| 29/07/2008 01:00 |
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Re: Lighting setup on a £400 budget?
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I seen the strobist website and was blown away with what they done with such a cheap o budget. I like that very much, the sort of stuff Im after is similar to your portrait work. Very much like the stuff venture do?
http://www.thisisventure.co.uk/
Only on a smaller cheapass version that is more like made in china to that work. I'm learning fast and loving it, my shots are getting better and bundled with the post work that I am confident with, I reckon I can make it sell-able at least lol!
You actually have become a bit of a marker for me, so if you reckon I can do it with a soft box and a few bits then let me know, otherwise Im looking into the infinite white back drops and a large soft box with link up to the camera ability?