Studio Strobes.

[kangareigns]

Hi all, Im in the process of building a small studio/Gym approx 6Lx5Wx2.5H. I wish to buy some studio lights mainly to take shots of the Family/Kids etc in attempt to learn about lighting and then who knows from there..
I would be interested in moving locations so would like a powerpack if price permits but not essential..I have approx $2500 budget.
I also prefer to buy something that would last and still be a reasonable unit as my knowledge and experience builds. I was looking at the Elinchrom Quadra lighting kit..

I therefore appreciate your opinions and appologise in advance if this has been asked a thousand times before.

[ricktas]

All Elinchrom kits are going to give you high quality gear. But as a beginner (as per your profile) are you sure that you are going to be making this Art of photography into a lifelong hobby? There are some great high quality kits available at cheaper rates than the big name lighting brands.

Check out hypop fotogenic and protog for a few ideas, cause you could save yourself a heap of $

and your last thread on this had some good answers, nothing much has changed since then : http://www.ausphotography.net.au/forum/showthread.php?117662-Studio-lighting including not seeing any more of your photos so we can see if your basic skills have progressed such that a lighting kit is going to be the next step in improvement. It is really hard for us to tell you what kit will be good when we have no idea of your skill level now.

[jjphoto]

Portable high power strobes are a bit of a minefield in that you can spend a huge amount of money, a pittance, or anything in between. I suppose you get what you pay for, you just need to decide what that is first (there are many factors, not just power output). Consider the Alien Bees, specifically the Einsteins which run off mains, and you can buy battery packs for location work of you decide you want to go that way.

The Aussie distributor for Einstein:
http://www.paulcbuff.com.au/shop/einstein-flash-units/02

You can do a lot with hot shoe mounted flashes and maybe this is a good (cheap) place to start. If you like what you are doing you can get more powerful (expensive) gear. I've made a comparison of some commonly available portable strobes in the link below (intended for car photography) so maybe that will be of some help in comparing power/light output.

http://photocornucopia.com/1033.html

[JM Tran]

You wont be touching any power pack and heads brand new for $2500, but 2nd hand you can - albeit old stuff though. Most ppl start out with monolights and then progress to power packs and heads, like I did moving to Broncolor when my workload and needs increased.

A set of 2 brand new Bowens or Elinchrom heads at a decent output of 500ws or more can be had within your price range, and with plenty left over for diff sizes of softboxes, octabox, beauty dishes, all the essentials a studio needs for a wide range of subjects and clients.

If its the Elinchrom Quadra set with 400ws lights, they are quite terrible to use - being a battery pack for location use, recycle time when shooting at max power takes nearly 5 seconds between shots, thats pathetic and really disrupts the flow and rhythm of a shoot having to wait and irritates the model as well. I would suggest the Elinchrom Ranger RX battery pack and heads, much more powerful and faster recycling.

Anyway, make sure you know the difference between a battery pack and a power pack - the former is for location uses and the latter are mainly for studio use which can connect 2-3 heads and packs more punch than monolights due to the capacitors residing in the pack and not in the head itself. Massive price difference too.

[outstar79]

I opted for the cheap fleabay option with a set of three strobes, including 2x softboxes, barn door, gels, white and black and silver umbrellas, trigger mechanisms for $400. Seeing as I'm just starting out in more portraiture and they certainly seem a great starting point until you increase clientele etc. Had them a week and love em! :D I really can't complain about the price, good sturdy-ish stands for the strobes too!
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3769/9074472965_6058600136_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/outstarwild/9074472965/)
The Rugrats (http://www.flickr.com/photos/outstarwild/9074472965/) by Adam Brice (http://www.flickr.com/people/outstarwild/), on Flickr

[kangareigns]

Thanks Adam for the pick..I just not sure if I should look at studio lights or speed lights. Either way I don't want to waste money on gear that will be useless to me once my experience grows.

[CandidTown]

I had a similar dilemma a while back. And this is what I did.
Bought 2 stands with portable soft boxes on them.
2 old 430EZ canon flash guns.
Yungno flash triggers and a large 3mx6m backdrop.
Thought, once i need to use something bigger/better/brighter, I upgrade.
Thing is.. i dont need anything brighter, my canon flashes would not die, and teh setup works perfectly well till today.
Its very portable, i can set it up at someone's home in about 15 min.
I have rechargable AA batteries as my "power packs". :)
I would not recommend this if you were to shoot a prime minister who gives you 2 minutes of his/her time adn everythign must work perfectly.
You will shoot family and friends, who cares if the $40 flash gun misfires once in a while, not that the 430ez ever did.

if you ever outgrow this setup, and I doubt that you will, just sell your 430EZ for the same price you got them
re-use your stands, soft-boxes and backdrop with the new 2500$ strobes and power packs.
You are really risking nothing and may well save yourself $2000.

Google "strobist" to learn the off camera flash techniques and you'll be shooting studio photographs in no time and for about 300$.

[kangareigns]

Thankyou candidtown..you given me confidence just to go do it..

[RamblinR]

Flashes are a good way to learn lighting and are also portable and light.
Check out the strobist site on flickr for great information for this and you can also see many images taken with flashes.