Strobist Kit Advice

eichert12 · January 19, 2008

I recently have begun to build a setup that will allow me to have a very makeshift home studio. I took the advice of some people in this forum and built a paper stand with PVC pipe and recently purchased a black and white roll of background paper. Now I need to ramp up my lighting setup.

I recently got a 580 ex II, so that's my starting point. I've been trying to decide what I should do next. The first thing I need is to get a light stand and umbrella (or softbox) so that I can use the 580 off camera. I'm wondering what (if any) would be the best Strobist kit to go with given my current gear, namely the 580. Do people think the Starving Student Wireless Kit would be the best option?

The second thing I'm thinking about is whether or not I should get a second Strobist kit with the Vivitar flash since I've heard I'll probably need a second light to get decent results when shooting against the seamless white or black background.

The other option would be to get either the Beginner Bee, or Background Bee kit from AlienBees.

What recommendations do people have? My goal in all this is to begin to learn about using lighting better in my photography. I'm going to be mostly shooting my kids, when they let me, as well as other family and friends.

:clap ...my daugher was looking over my shoulder as I wrote this and wanted me to put that guy in

Thanks,
Steve

swintonphoto · January 19, 2008

Well I would endorse the alien bees anytime (or their siblings the white-lightning - this is what I use).
Here is another option to consider:
http://www.adorama.com/SPDIGKIT.html?emailprice=t

This kit would help you really learn how to light for an extremely affordable price. My brother was getting into studio work and bought a kit much like this which he used for a year or two and upgraded to the alien bees when he was comfortable. Not strobes, but, very bright, affordable, and will give you good results.

pathfinder · January 19, 2008

Since you already have a 580ex II, all you really need is a light stand, a PC cord or a wireless trigger of some type, and an umbrella and/or a nice lightbox diffuser. This will cost less than the Starving Student kit if you use a PC cord or the Cactus V2 wireless triggers. You can find light stands, umbrellas, etc at B&H or Adorama. The 43" Wescott umbrella is small but adequate and easy to carry. Larger umbrellas are inexpensive and offer larger, softer light if you do not plan to carry them about.

An Impact 5in1 reflector with stand is a nice addition also. This is the 42 in size, smaller ones are about $25 cheaper.

The Starving student kit is nice if you do not have anything, but the Vivitar 285HV is not an equal to the 580ex IIs capabilities. Without the Vivitar flash a Starving Student Wireless kit is $124 and offers a lot of value. I did not find I really used their batteries and charger that much as I already had a lot of my own. Their snoot with straws is ok but I prefer the ones from Honl - http://www.honlphoto.com/servlet/StoreFront I have purchased from them and they respond promptly.

An EOS 580ex II offers you the ability to trigger a EOS 430ex off camera with the 580ex on your camera as a fill flash. This works very nicely.

For myself, I prefer to use Canon's wireless IR trigger, the ST-E2, but it does cost more than the non-ETTL wireless trigger that the Starving Student kit uses - the Cactus V2.

Non-ETTL is not an issue in formal shooting where you set up the shot, tell people where to stand and how to pose - Once you have calibrated your flash in complete manual mode, as long as the flash to subject distance does not change, the exposure does not change, so ETTL offers very little.

However, if you are shooting in an uncontrolled situation, such as candids in a family gathering with the usual chaos, then ETTL is really handy, and I use it routinely in that situation.

I found that ultimately, I wanted both, as they both have advantages, and disadvantages. The best non-ETTL radio triggers are the Pocket Wizards, but they are significantly more expensive. In spite of their higher cost, they are the market leader, so they must be pleasing a lot of customers - and they do, because they are dead on reliable. When you must depend on flash firing, time after time, PWs rule.

I have collected a number of links for the EOS flash system and its use, including remote triggers, here in the Technique thread.

Cuong · January 19, 2008

For a couple basic stands and umbrellas, I got this kit from B&H for $100. I use the ST-E2 to trigger the 580EX II and 430EX. E-TTL works great for family gatherings where people move around. This is easy to set up and take down. As I get more into it, I'll get bigger umbrellas or softbox, but for now this works for me.

Cuong

Icebear · January 19, 2008

You'll ultimately buy reflectors anyway, so go ahead and buy them now. You might be able to get by with only the single speedlight for a while by use of the reflectors.

eichert12 · January 19, 2008

Ok, so from the sounds of it I'm better off just buying a stand, umbrella, and PC Cord or remote trigger then going with the Strobist kits. It also sounds like I should go ahead and get some reflectors when I order my stand.

Thanks!

Shane422 · January 19, 2008

You might also look at the used flash section at Adorama.com. They have quite a few of the older Nikon Sb units (24, 25, 26, and 28) that are popular with the strobists. Although Mr. Hobby's influence has driven the price of these things quite a bit higher than they really should be.

Also, I like having a combination of Alienbees and Speedlights. Outdoors the speedlights are nice and I don;t need a power source. Inside I use them as accent lights (hair, rim, or background) and my Alienbee B400 as the main. With that setup, the speedlights can be used at lower power, and the recycle time is fairly quick.

SavedByZero · January 20, 2008

Yes go with 2-3 mono liights and use your on camera flash as the slave trigger. Or 2 mono lights and use your canon 580 flash on a slave as the back ground light set to manual. Get a couple of umbrellas, white, sliver and gold, a snoot for your hair light and start shooting.

Strobist Kit Advice

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