Portable home studio help!

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lukewoodford

FYI, I am Luke Woodford.....by Luke Woodford
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Luke Woodford
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hey guys, can anyone recommend a portable studio for around £250-£400? I think i need two lights and a plain background. Its for taking round peoples houses. I see lots out the but have no idea which ones are the best. Thanks in advance!
 
Have a good read in the lighting forum Luke, Lots of good advice to be had.

Basically Interfit, Bowens, Elinchrome, Lencarta, all come recommended. Lasolite for the background.
 
If it needs to be mobile, I'd suggest going down the Strobist route.

A couple of Nikon/Canon speedlights if you are using ttl, Cactus V2s triggers if you're not. You should be able to get that lot plus a portable backdrop and a reflector or two for your budget.
 
I'm a big fan of strobist but I'd say it depends on the lighting you want to use. Strobist is great for mobile work but there are more ways to work with studio lights in terms of modifying the light.

Horses for courses.
 
AliB said:
I'm a big fan of strobist but I'd say it depends on the lighting you want to use. Strobist is great for mobile work but there are more ways to work with studio lights in terms of modifying the light.

Horses for courses.
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The man said mobile and you don't get much more mobile than kit that you can carry in your jacket pockets ;)
 
Whats strobist? there website is pretty shocking.
 
It's not actually a website, but rather a blog.If you'd clicked on this link on the page that the link above led to (if you follow) then it would have explained everything to you ;)
 
Blog = rubbish. Had a quick view but the site is too cluttered and not to my likings so i am not going to attempt to read it.
Im such a stubborn ass :)
 
Flash In The Pan said:
Well, it gets over 1.6 million hits per month, so I guess you're in the minority with that view :LOL:
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I like to be different :LOL: if its no simple its not worth looking is my view. Im not a fan of blogs.

Anyone want to explain strobist without me viewing the site?
 
While I totally agree with the portability of strobist, there are technical limitation as to what you can do with them. Personally I have both setups (Or I will when my two good old fashioned flash guns arrive)

I wanted a mobile rig that I can use outdoors and while I love pro-photo gear I'm not going to be paying out 2K for a couple of heads, no matter how good they are. I'm not shooting magazine covers. So that left me with the portable flash route. One ST-E2 trigger for the Canon, one 580ex and two vivitars (Which are actually quite powerful) fired by optical triggers. (Or perhaps radio if I have a problem with the optical ones)

I also have three interfit heads for studio use with softboxes, barn doors, gels, beauty dish, snoots and a ruddy great background.

Which setup would I take on a shoot?

That depends on what I want to produce from that shoot. If it is indoors, static and I want the flexibility of the light modifiers..........then the Interfits are packed in a case anyway so they would be in the back of the car like a shot.

If it's outdoors or likely to move around a lot, or in a more public space where it difficult to site the Interfits. I'd take the vivitars and some hefty clamps.

Like I say, horses for courses, it all depends on what the OP wishes to shoot which route would be advisable.

I agree that the front page of the strobist site is not the easiest to use but have a look in lighting 101 and lighting 102. Some fabulous stuff that really does help get your head round using manual flash.
 
OK so i just watched the introductory video on the strobist site, sounds quite good. However i dont know that the people recommending it here arent just promoting the blog. I take it the difference between going the strobist route and normal lighting is that one type is a flash of light and the other is lights that just stay on. whats the bennefits of the two ways?
 
lukewoodford said:
OK so i just watched the introductory video on the strobist site, sounds quite good. However i dont know that the people recommending it here arent just promoting the blog. I take it the difference between going the strobist route and normal lighting is that one type is a flash of light and the other is lights that just stay on. whats the bennefits of the two ways?
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I certainly don't have any links with Strobist, or any other similar site,I'm merely suggesting it as a good site to learn about off-camera lighting.

The "normal" lighting as you call it comes in two flavours, the regular flash kind and the continuous sort, the one that "stays on".

If you are shooting portraits you might find that the coninuous sort mak things uncomfortable for your subjects after a wee while, as obviously with light comes heat. If you do want to try that kind of lighting then a cheap way to do it is to get a couple of 500w worklights and stands from B&Q or similar, which I think cost about £25 each. Coupled with some sort of diffuser (a white shower curtain, for example) you could have a useable set up for about £60.

You might want to have a look at www.lighting-essentials.com they used to sell a dvd which covered the very situation you are enquiring about which demonstrated the various different options, including the worklight one. I think it was about £20 - if you have a delve through the site there is probably an advert for it on there
 
normal studio equipment are strobes as well, the strobist website i think is more dedicated to flashguns i think, been a while since i looked. i dont think anyone on here is proomoting the blog, it is very good and has a lot of information(especially lighting 101). i have seen it reccomended by a lot of people on here and i dont think any member is the blogger. to promote a website of your own on here like the strobist one i think you need trader status which is indicated below the name of the person to the right(y)

what do you mean by portable? to take to peoples houses where there is permanent electrical supply or battery powered for outdoors?
background or just lights and accesories?
 
fletch5 said:
normal studio equipment are strobes as well, the strobist website i think is more dedicated to flashguns i think, been a while since i looked. i dont think anyone on here is proomoting the blog, it is very good and has a lot of information(especially lighting 101). i have seen it reccomended by a lot of people on here and i dont think any member is the blogger. to promote a website of your own on here like the strobist one i think you need trader status which is indicated below the name of the person to the right(y)

what do you mean by portable? to take to peoples houses where there is permanent electrical supply or battery powered for outdoors?
background or just lights and accesories?
Click to expand...

I don't think David Hobby really needs to go around shilling his Strobist blog, from what I gather he makes a very nice living from it already, without having to do anything in the way of promotion...
 
Flash In The Pan said:
I certainly don't have any links with Strobist, or any other similar site,I'm merely suggesting it as a good site to learn about off-camera lighting.

The "normal" lighting as you call it comes in two flavours, the regular flash kind and the continuous sort, the one that "stays on".

If you are shooting portraits you might find that the coninuous sort mak things uncomfortable for your subjects after a wee while, as obviously with light comes heat. If you do want to try that kind of lighting then a cheap way to do it is to get a couple of 500w worklights and stands from B&Q or similar, which I think cost about £25 each. Coupled with some sort of diffuser (a white shower curtain, for example) you could have a useable set up for about £60.

You might want to have a look at www.lighting-essentials.com they used to sell a dvd which covered the very situation you are enquiring about which demonstrated the various different options, including the worklight one. I think it was about £20 - if you have a delve through the site there is probably an advert for it on there
Click to expand...


Thanks for the info ill check it out, I wasnt sure about people promoting the blog because i have been on alot of music websites and they are always promoting their blog because they try to make money through google adsense. Thanks again.
 
fletch5 said:
normal studio equipment are strobes as well, the strobist website i think is more dedicated to flashguns i think, been a while since i looked. i dont think anyone on here is proomoting the blog, it is very good and has a lot of information(especially lighting 101). i have seen it reccomended by a lot of people on here and i dont think any member is the blogger. to promote a website of your own on here like the strobist one i think you need trader status which is indicated below the name of the person to the right(y)

what do you mean by portable? to take to peoples houses where there is permanent electrical supply or battery powered for outdoors?
background or just lights and accesories?
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I will be going round peoples houses. I want to use a background and a couple of lights/flash. one for background and one for the subjects. Lastolite looks like a good place for the background. Im waiting for my SB-800 to comme through the post so if i do go strobist i guess ill need one more. I am new to this but i am not working at the moment so its just learn learn learn, im going back to college in stepember to study photography aswell. Whats the bennifits/difference between using flashguns and strobes?
 
the studio strobes are more powerful, normally larger and bigger range of accesories.and mains powered(unless you spend a couple of grand on battery packs)

there is a member here called gary edwards, a pro who has been testing the lencarta range out in his studio, he seems very impressed and they seem good value for money. you should be able to find them on ebay i think, no dedicated site yet that i am aware of
 
IMO the Strobist site is good - very good.

The only real problem I personally have with it is their statement that portable flashguns are all that's needed and that they replace studio flashes, which IMO is nonsense. There are a lot of people who believe that Stobist is basically a product placement site, recommending products and getting a commission on sales - if that's true then that's fine by me, but I believe that people should be honest in that situation and make it clear that their advice isn't unbiased.

Stobist offers very good lighting solutions for people like journalists, who need to produce some kind of shot under any circumstances - but if you're shooting in a studio then you need studio lighting solutions.

Turning to studio lighting solutions, portable power such as battery powered generator flashes are a professional solution but a very expensive one. My own view (and I make my living almost entirely from studio photography) is that it's far better to have normal studio flash (I have Elinchrom and Lencarta in my own studio) and to 'make do' with the Strobist approach in other situtations. The exception of course is event photographers, who really do need battery powered studio flashes.
 
fletch5 said:
the studio strobes are more powerful, normally larger and bigger range of accesories.and mains powered(unless you spend a couple of grand on battery packs)

there is a member here called gary edwards, a pro who has been testing the lencarta range out in his studio, he seems very impressed and they seem good value for money. you should be able to find them on ebay i think, no dedicated site yet that i am aware of
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I started typing my reply, had to do some work and when I finally posted it I found this reply before mine...

I do recommend the Lencarta for home studio use but have really stopped saying so because I keep being accused of promoting their products:crying:

Lencarta Ebay shop
 
scary, mention his name and he appears out of mist, delivers a good reply then disapears again:)spooky
 
Garry Edwards said:
I started typing my reply, had to do some work and when I finally posted it I found this reply before mine...

I do recommend the Lencarta for home studio use but have really stopped saying so because I keep being accused of promoting their products:crying:

Lencarta Ebay shop
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i could see where people are coming from, but i thinkcherryrig is more in danger of doing the same for skyports. to be fair, if the kit is good, it needs recomending. so many people ask what lighting kit is on here and most will reply with what they got. i will keep recomending the elinchrom as i think they are great, but never tried anything else, and probably never will:)
 
I see you have you name on there ebay listing garry.
Might get another too heads for background lighting. I currently have two 150 interfit lights. Which of the lencarta should i go for?
Want to get a muslin backdrop and stand but the stands are so expensive, £75 plus £13 p+p.
 
Garry Edwards said:
I do recommend the Lencarta for home studio use but have really stopped saying so because I keep being accused of promoting their products:crying:

Lencarta Ebay shop
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I did a fair bit of research on studio kits not so long ago and the conclusion was that Lencarta were of quality build but at realistic and affordable prices. The pro stuff was too expensive and the budget stuff was apparently not very good quality at all.

:)
 
Garry Edwards said:
IMO the Strobist site is good - very good.

My own view (and I make my living almost entirely from studio photography) is that it's far better to have normal studio flash (I have Elinchrom and Lencarta in my own studio) and to 'make do' with the Strobist approach in other situations. The exception of course is event photographers, who really do need battery powered studio flashes.
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Perfect reply Garry and exactly what I'm getting at. There are situations where I can't use my studio lights (Mine are Interfit 300w's and I've had no problems with them) so I do want a set of guns so I can do some "strobist" type of shots outdoors, the 2K for the battery packs scared me off! The other types of shoots I had in mind were fashion type events where the studio lights would get in the way and the power sources were not available, that kind of thing.
 
Thanks for all the imput guys this is really appreciated, and thanks Gary for your post it made alot of sense. So basically im best going down the studio flash route. The Elinchrom site looks good. quite expensive though i think. www.theflashcentre.com stocks their kits. If theres any other advice people want to give its very welcome! Thanks again to everyone
 
mattchewone said:
I see you have you name on there ebay listing garry.
Might get another too heads for background lighting. I currently have two 150 interfit lights. Which of the lencarta should i go for?
Want to get a muslin backdrop and stand but the stands are so expensive, £75 plus £13 p+p.
Click to expand...
My name is on there because they paid me to test their lights and to produce portraits with them, show them on video and so on - they are not to first manufacturer to do so but (so far) the only one I've been happy to put my name to.

IMO the best buy is their 3 head kit, which includes all the accessories you need, and the air cushioned stands supplied with them are much better than the ordinary stands supplied with the 2 head kit.

To be honest, although the background stand is fair value for money, you can manage without it as long as you don't mind fiddling around a bit - for example you could run a dowel through the seamed pocket at the top and use a couple of lengths of timber to wedge the whole thing against the wall if necessary.

Other people have mentioned Elinchrom - I have no problem recommending Elinchrom either, although I feel that the prices are a bit more than they should be.
 
AliB said:
Perfect reply Garry and exactly what I'm getting at. There are situations where I can't use my studio lights (Mine are Interfit 300w's and I've had no problems with them) so I do want a set of guns so I can do some "strobist" type of shots outdoors, the 2K for the battery packs scared me off! The other types of shoots I had in mind were fashion type events where the studio lights would get in the way and the power sources were not available, that kind of thing.
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When you say "studio lights" do you mean continuous or flash?
 
Garry Edwards said:
My name is on there because they paid me to test their lights and to produce portraits with them, show them on video and so on - they are not to first manufacturer to do so but (so far) the only one I've been happy to put my name to.

IMO the best buy is their 3 head kit, which includes all the accessories you need, and the air cushioned stands supplied with them are much better than the ordinary stands supplied with the 2 head kit.

To be honest, although the background stand is fair value for money, you can manage without it as long as you don't mind fiddling around a bit - for example you could run a dowel through the seamed pocket at the top and use a couple of lengths of timber to wedge the whole thing against the wall if necessary.

Other people have mentioned Elinchrom - I have no problem recommending Elinchrom either, although I feel that the prices are a bit more than they should be.
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Thats great that you recommend them i was glad to see your name there and was able to give a postive and non bias recommendation (i hope).

Is there a great difference between the spring cushioned and air cushioned light stands. As i was only really after another two more lights and there is quite a big difference price wise. Also where can i get extra attachments for them and interfit lights?
If i bought bigger softboxes and different umbrellas would they be compatable? Not quite sure how it works.

Also im not too sure what you mean with making my own background stand i was a little confused. Could i not buy two tall light stands and an extension pole separetly and clamp them together some how or would this not work out any cheaper?

Matt
 
My studio lights are flash Luke.

Matt, Interfit take the range of Bowens attachments as well as their own. Not sure about the Lencarta's Garry would know that one.
 
Softbox fitting

The lencarta are not bowens S Type fittings so you would need to get the universal adapter (bolt on) type. There are many about.

For background stand take a look at this.. not that I want to keep harping on about the same supplier but..

Stable Imaging Background Support Stand

Only £58 and very robust, If I remember correctly postage was £10.99.

Would be hard to buy 2 light stands for that and the pole is telescopic making it great for home setups.

Meil :love:
 
mattchewone said:
Thats great that you recommend them i was glad to see your name there and was able to give a postive and non bias recommendation (i hope).

Is there a great difference between the spring cushioned and air cushioned light stands. As i was only really after another two more lights and there is quite a big difference price wise. Also where can i get extra attachments for them and interfit lights?
If i bought bigger softboxes and different umbrellas would they be compatable? Not quite sure how it works.

Also im not too sure what you mean with making my own background stand i was a little confused. Could i not buy two tall light stands and an extension pole separetly and clamp them together some how or would this not work out any cheaper?

Matt
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Bigger softboxes and bigger umbrellas, no problem. The umbrellas are standard fitting and the softbox fitting is 'Universal Speedring' which is basically a bolt-on, available from several manufacturers including Lencarta.

In terms of stability there's nothing between the spring stands and the air cushioned, but the air cushioned come into their own if you 'drop' the light by forgetting to support the weight when you adjust the height - instead of crashing down, the light comes to a gentle halt with a satisfying hiss of air:LOL:

If you're going to buy a couple of stands and get a pole I think it would be cheaper to get the assembly.

As for accessories, no they don't take the same range as say Interfit, Bowens, Elinchrom and I see this as a weakness if you're planning to use them say for product photography. The reason I suggested the 3 head kit, apart from the better stands, is that a snoot, barn doors, gels, 2 honeycombs, an umbrella and various reflectors (I think) are all included and are all you need for portrait/glamour type use.

Hope this helps
 
Garry Edwards said:
Bigger softboxes and bigger umbrellas, no problem. The umbrellas are standard fitting and the softbox fitting is 'Universal Speedring' which is basically a bolt-on, available from several manufacturers including Lencarta.

In terms of stability there's nothing between the spring stands and the air cushioned, but the air cushioned come into their own if you 'drop' the light by forgetting to support the weight when you adjust the height - instead of crashing down, the light comes to a gentle halt with a satisfying hiss of air:LOL:

If you're going to buy a couple of stands and get a pole I think it would be cheaper to get the assembly.

As for accessories, no they don't take the same range as say Interfit, Bowens, Elinchrom and I see this as a weakness if you're planning to use them say for product photography. The reason I suggested the 3 head kit, apart from the better stands, is that a snoot, barn doors, gels, 2 honeycombs, an umbrella and various reflectors (I think) are all included and are all you need for portrait/glamour type use.

Hope this helps
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Thanks Garry! I think ill save up for the 3head kit once i have got a new lens . Thanks for all the help.

Matt
 
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