Hi all first of all I know nothing about photography but my girlfriend has been learning with a canon 1100D. She is getting good with it and I want to buy her some equipment as in a lighting kit for Christmas. I have been looking at sets for sale in the 150-£300 range but I have no idea what is good n what is not. These kits include Flash lamps, barn doors, umbrellas, triggers, soft boxes ect. If photography is anything like my Hobby then you will get what you pay for ? As this is my girlfriends hobby I can't ask her what to get or it won't be a surprise. Can you photographers suggest some kits or names of brands or even places to look for such kits? Any advice is much appreciated. Thanks
Lighting help needed please
- Thread starter Bangers
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Well I was planing on turning the spare room into a studio so she can take pics of people with a different back grounds. She is also going to do some pics of a newborn child soon but like I say I know nothing about photography and she has mentioned soft boxes and reflective umbrellas before. The kits I seen were on eBay. She has also mentioned the lights that attach the the camera around the lens. My aim is to get her a kit with lots of stuff so she has lots to play with. I also agree that one light means more learning and build up from there but from what I can see kits seem much cheaper than buying each bit individually.
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Very well intentioned but I'm guessing she'd struggle to buy you what you wanted for your hobby? By that I mean, she could buy you things for your hobby but if they were the wrong brand, style, price etc you might find the things pretty useless. What lenses has she got? If it was me personally I would prefer an amazon voucher (very boring to open I know) to spend on lighting gear than have my Mrs try and buy me a kit as she hasn't got a clue about or knows what I want/need.
The choice is endless with lighting. Softboxes, umbrellas, studio lights (which need power), speedlites (that don't need power so could be portable) etc, it's a hard one recommend as it may turn out that most of it stays in the box. Buy cheap/incorrect buy twice.
Yip when you put it like that I would prefer the vouchers to hahaha I would say you hit the nail on the head there. She only has a 18-55mm lens I think and a macro so yeh you have convinced me to go for vouchers. Would you recommend anywhere to get vouchers for other than Amazon ?
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I'd love to recommend somewhere else but they'd probably be camera shops without the varied and weird and wonderful / cheap and cheerful stuff you can get on Amazon. If you want to get her a camera present aswell as the voucher buy her one of these lenses - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Canon-EF-...=UK_Lenses_Filters_Lenses&hash=item2a4458b643 £ for £ the best value Canon lens you can get and quality wise blows socks of her kit lens. If for some bizarre reason she doesn't like it they sell for around £45 second hand, but I'd put money on her loving it and the christmas bokeh she'll get with it. That's a purchase that you can't get wrong. I'd be very happy to get one and vouchers if I only had 1 lens.
I will get the lens to.
Garry Edwards
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For general purpose use, get a studio kit with 1 umbrella and 1 softbox from a reputable manufacturer, this one is suitable but of course there are other makes available too.
You don't need things like barn doors, the trick is to get the minimum and then she can practice and learn and, if she wishes, she can add to it later.
I strongly advise against any of the 'bargain' kits sold on Ebay.
You don't need things like barn doors, the trick is to get the minimum and then she can practice and learn and, if she wishes, she can add to it later.
I strongly advise against any of the 'bargain' kits sold on Ebay.