Setup Reccomendations

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jonnybloo

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Hi, I was wondering if you would be able to offer me any opinions etc. Unfortunately this is going to be another “i want some a starter kit” posts. I have spent a good while googling various brands, setups etc and this forum seems to be one of the better ones in terms of discussion on studio lighting. Apologies if I ask all the questions asked before but I’m hoping my requirements and questions warrant another post on the subject!

So I’m looking at basically a small setup that I can use within my home and at friends houses, and potentially (when I have the hang of the lighting) maybe expanding from hobby to making some £ back.

The main prompt for this is that I have a 3 month old baby and despite getting into photography for a while, she has now exposed me to portrait photography. I also have a lot of friends and family that are starting families too who have asked if I could take anything.

So I’m looking at a basic setup that allows me to expand, mainly to be used for baby/child portrait shots, potentially small groups.

I have looked at a lot of reviews and so far I’m leaning towards either of the following which meet my budget (£550 max, lower would be better!):

1.2x Elemental Trinity 400w Softbox kit
2.2x Elinchrom D-Lite-it 4 Softbox kit

I can’t really pick between the 2, they both have minor things that give each pro’s and con’s compared to the other. I welcome anyone’s opinions on these? Does anyone have anything to compare performace etc between the two ?

I have all but ruled out Bowens and Lencarta purely because they would push my budget further. Lencartas elitepro range and Bowens Gemini’s look great but the ones I have mentioned seem to include all the “bits” that I would need without going over budget.

Ideally I would like to be able to produce high key / blown out white photo’s. Now I appreciate that I’m only looking at 2 lights so this isn’t going to be easy, does anyone else take these shots with just 2 lights ? Does anyone have any samples they can show me? I wondered whether I can get away with 2 lights, reflector and a background ?

My alternative would be to go for 200/250w ranges and maybe add a third head. What do you reckon ? I have always assumed more power is preferable, hence the 400’s, or would versatility be better with 3 lights ?

Lastly, for basic baby/child portrait work, other than the kit what would people recommend I need? Carry cases and softboxes etc come with the kit. I have looked at the various backdrops and would prompt for something cheap initially, either a B&W Muslin cloth and stand (Cheap Ebay job) or even a flip out backdrop. The only thing that worries me with the flip out ones are whether they are big enough, the ones I have seen for around £70 (Lastolite I think, with a trail) are 1.5m x 2m (I think) though I like the look of how convenient they are to fold up and go. Does any have any preferences ?

Sorry for all the questions, I hope I have given you enough information to form a recommendation on any part of this, if not just let me know.

Thanks

Jonny
 
Hi Jonny, welcome to the forum.

Im not going to preach what's right or wrong, or what is best in terms of money spent/invested. The only thing I can help you with is a post I made a short while ago when I plumped for a lighting kit. Got it all off fleabay - and so far it's good enough for my needs at a small outlay.

The thread is here and feel free to comment on my good looks and outstanding beauty ;) I have a child shoot on my website but it's password protected, send me a pm if you like and I'll send you the password so you can see my attempts (y)

Good luck with your choices.
Phil.
 
Just to bump my own thread. I’m still looking into options for initial lighting setup and I’m giving myself headache trying to decide between the various options!! I seem to have sticking points with each of them and everytime I sway towards one I change my mind!

I’ve listed the main sticking points below, can anyone offer any advice, clarification or experience for any of my queries ?

I have been looking into studio lighting for the last few weeks as I knew absolutely zero, so everything is a steep learning curve at the moment. With that in mind don’t shoot me down too quick if any of my comments are naive and hopefully I won’t cause any offence either. Im here to learn so feel free to educate me !!

I realise on a budget there will always be compromise I just want to make sure I compromise in the right areas and not miss anything I really can’t do without

Elinchrom D-Lite 4:
1. Slow Flash Duration (1/800) I have read several people have issues with blur if there is moving content in the shot. I realise most entry level lighting isn’t massively different so should this be an issue? Are the D-Lite 4’s comparable to Trinity’s, Gemini’s etc.
2. Stand Quality, I’m possibly a sucker for the marketing of the elemental stands but any kit I buy will be taken up/down frequently. Due to my clumsy nature I think I would prefer air sprung/dampened stands, though even buying these separate on top of the D-Lite kit would stretch my budget.
3. Non standard fitting (EL) so any accessories or modifiers will cost more and are less available, whereas most others come with S-Bayonet (I think)

Elemental Trinity 400:
1. Smaller company/brand so more risk that the spare parts and support etc could cease to exist.
2. I cannot find many examples of these in use. I can find reviews etc online/magazines but not many end user reviews or examples of their working i.e. on flickr, so I can’t get a good picture of peoples findings.

Bowens Gemini 400 (inc beauty dish on warehouseexpress)
1. These fans aren’t fan cooled, does that make much of a difference ? I assumed this was a must have and was surprised these didn’t come with fans. How long are they likely to run for without needing a rest?
2. See point 2 on the D-Lites. I don’t think these are air dampened ?
3. The price. These will cost the same as the others but minus softboxes and wireless receivers in some cases.

Lencarta ElitePro 300:
1. Looking at the output (300w) and guide number, am I naive in thinking these are less powerful than the others?
2. Again price. 2 softboxes come in at the top end of the budget but I could possibly compromise on 1 softbox and 1 umbrella to make this affordable.


Thanks for your help

Jon
 
That's a lot of questions Jon ;)

I think you are worrying unnecessarily, and reading too much marketing waffle. I would just say, you don't need much power for what you're trying to do and 200ws would be plenty. If you get a good reliable brand you'll be fine. Bowens, Elinchrom, Lencarta - though there are others.

Most folks around here on a budget go straight for the Lencarta Smartflash. Nothing wrong with that, but personally I prefer the idea of a variable modelling light so either the higher spec Lencartas or something else.

If it helps, I use 200ws Elinchrom D-Lites and they're great - they're even the older ones without a fan. At the end of the day, light is light and it's much more about the shaping tools (softboxes etc) and how you use them.

Good luck :)
 
Bowens, Elinchrom and Lencarta all make good products that will last you for years, the Companies have been around for years and are likely to be around, to give you good customer service, for years too.

No can cooling on the cheaper Bowens - IMO fan cooling is a must with any kind of restrictive light shaper, e.g. snoots, honeycombs, spotlights and the like. The Bowens heads that don't have fans have heatsinks instead, personally I prefer fans but they do seem to work without fans.

Flash duration - I think that Lencarta flash durations are the shortest of your possibles, but with studio flash, short flash duration isn't usually an issue for most people. 1 flash head may he half the duration of another but if you really need to freeze movement the only real answer is often to use hotshoe flashes, at low power settings, instead.

One of the things that really do matter are consistent colour temperature and consistent flash energy, and the honours go to Elinchrom and Lencarta, with Bowens not all that far behind, no no clear winner there either.

Accessory fitting - personally I feel that the Lencarta/Bowens fitting is vastly superior to the Elinchrom (I have both) but some people are very happy with the Elinchrom fit. Certainly Lencarta accessories are better value IMO than both Bowens & Elinchrom, although Elinchrom prices have come down a fair bit recently they are still relatively high. But the lines are beginning to get blurred now, you can get Elinchrom fit speedrings (and a lot of other makes too) to allow Lencarta softboxes and the Lencarta fresnel spot to be used on Elinchrom, and they will be available to fit other Lencarta products too in the future.

Air damped stands are pretty good, they are available from a range of different manufacturers and as pretty well all flash heads have the same standard 16mm stand spigot you can use any make of stand with any make of flash head.
 
Hoppy/Garry

Thankyou very much for the responses i think youve put me a bit more at ease and clarified quite a bit

You are definitely right about there being a lot of questions! I must learn to summarise!!

It's quite a big investment for me so i just want to ensure im not missing the obvious and i make as an informed a decision as possible.

Thanks again

Jon
 
Jon,

Why not give me a ring on Monday? We can go into as much detail as you want.
Phone number is here
 
Thanks Garry i will do

Out of interest, say i prompted for the Elinchroms but wanted to change the stands for air damped. I will be looking at a background support system too so could i just buy 2x air damped stands for the lights (as you say most have the standard fitting), and then use the original stands for the background ?

If that sounds feasible, what adapters would be required to mount a backdrop on the stands, i presume some kind of horizontal bar ?
 
I can give you a personal recommendation. I bought a set of elinchrom D-Lites about a year ago and have not had any issue with me and have run sessions lasting up to 5 hours and over a 1000 photos without missing a beat.

I have never had an issue with the stand, however in terms of what you are asking about swapping them for backdrop stands the only issue you may run into is that I think the light stands do not extend as far as typical backdrop stand.

The other thing that you may not have factored is that the elincroms have a built in radio trigger that works well as well as optical slaves, and synch. They have a very fast recycle time.

Personally I would stay away from cheap ebay lights that don't have fans because I have known people to melt them after only one session.

The final thing I will say about the elinchroms is that the light temperature they create is consistent across the whole range and also across a full shooting session. Therefore if at a later stage you want to add some more elinchroms such as the portable quandras you would not have any issues matching the color balance of the lights.
 
I have never had an issue with the stand, however in terms of what you are asking about swapping them for backdrop stands the only issue you may run into is that I think the light stands do not extend as far as typical backdrop stand.
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Elinchrom used to supply a rather poor and flimsy cliplock stand with their kits, don't know whether they still do or not.
Personally I wouldn't trust one of those stands with anything heavier than a hotshoe flashgun and I certainly wouldn't trust them as a background support system - but that's probably academic anyway, I very much doubt whether a background crossbar would actually fit onto them.

But as I said before, stands are universal fitting and universally available, so buying decisions should be based on much more than the stands supplied in the kits.
 
Ok so I thought I would provide an update on where I am up to with this post. No more questions, I just thought it may help anyone else who is looking for a basic setup as there appears to be quite a few similar posts to mine. So for what it’s worth here is my 2p, and is purely my opinion so hopefully I won’t cause any offence if I show any ignorance!

In short I wanted a basic home setup to broaden my experience in photography and with a 3 month daughter to use as a guinea pig what better time!

The main restrictions I have are setup space, budget, and zero knowledge of lighting! Many hours spent trawling boards, articles and reviews led me here with my multitude of questions. On the way I have changed my mind several times on what I want, mainly because each manufacturer has its own offerings. For anyone in the same boat is me, this board tends to stand out as the most informative, whether that’s the people on here or the amount of previous posts you can search through as you go along i.e. each brand, type of equipment etc. I also found that there aren’t many shops that you can go and look at and test kit. The shops that don’t shrug their shoulders when you mention lighting tend to have a preferred manufacturer so you can’t really assess all options.

I got to the point where I just didn’t want to commit, for me I wanted to buy a kit now that will let me expand rather than replace but it scared me to see the costs involved even for basic kit. Strobes were ideal for my use, at the moment I have no intention of using flash outdoors so battery packs and flashguns weren’t a consideration.

I dismissed Bowens (High price & less features than others), Elemental (Could never find any user reviews or examples and preferred an established company), Lastolite (Features & Reviews), and kept swinging between Lencarta & Elinchrom.

Lencarta - I spoke to Garry on the phone and he was extremely informative, put everything in layman’s terms and didn’t just give a sales pitch and I thank Garry for his advice. I was edging towards the Elitepro 300’s, with the standard softboxes removed and replaced with 1x umbrella and 1x larger folding softbox for convenience as this kit will need taking down each time. The EP’s seemed well recommended on here too.

Elinchrom – Everything I read was positive and I could find a lot more examples of shots etc than the others presumably due to how established they are. They seem to have everything I would require all packaged nicely into a “Studio 2 go” box (200w & 400w sets). The main drawback appears to be the price of Elinchrom accessories but unless I’m wrong it appears I can still get the Lencarta folding Softboxes with the addition of a speedring rather than having to pay the extra £.

In the end I prompted for Elinchrom, but there wasn’t a lot in it. Possibly my own naive securities about buying a “bigger brand” and the fact that for the price they just edged the Lencarta’s once I added the bits I think I need. Additionally WarehouseExpress have this with £50 off for damaged packing. Something I have taken a chance on. I may be naive but the packaging being damaged I can live with as long as the goods are in full working order (or they are going back) so I’m happy to take the chance. They are sat at home at the moment having been delivered today so fingers crossed they are what I want and I can get stuck into using them!

A few people have asked about backdrops too. My own personal experience and this is based on no actual usage as yet! I wanted a black and white backdrop but one that took minimal space and also covered me for full length shots. I was going to just get a cheapo ebay kit just to get me started but again WarehouseExpress have a WexPro Collapsible Reversible Background 2mx2.4m with Train for £80, again with discount for packaging damage. With what I have saved on the lights I thought I would stump up the extra for this, seems to cover anything I want but I will soon find out.

I’m realistic enough to know this will take me a good while to learn and master but I’m happy it will be a good learning curve anyway, whether that’s technique, hardware etc. Ironically I feel like I know so much more now just from trying to pick a kit out and learning what each feature is, and I know I have only scratched the surface.

Apologies for the long post, I hope some of it is of some use to someone who is looking at getting started as if you have zero knowledge like me then its a bit of a minefield and daunting to part with the £££ in case your making the wrong choice

Im off now to inspect and hope packaging damage is exactly that and nothing more !!
 
Well, obviously I'm disappointed that you chose Elinchrom instead of Lencarta, but I'm confident that you'll be happy with them and if Lencarta has to be second choice, personally I'm glad that you didn't choose one of the other brands instead.

Yes, you can fit any of the current range of Lencarta folding softboxes to your Elinchrom lights (and to any other lights come to that, just by getting the right speedring. Sales of Lencarta softboxes have rocketed since the speedrings became available. And although you may not be thinking in terms of a fresnel spot yet, the same speedrings fit the fresnel spot to other makes too. And in the future, more Lencarta light shaping tools will follow too.
this board tends to stand out as the most informative, whether that’s the people on here or the amount of previous posts you can search through as you go along i.e. each brand, type of equipment etc.
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You're right about that, personally I haven't found any other forums with as many knowledgable and helpful people as this one.
I also found that there aren’t many shops that you can go and look at and test kit. The shops that don’t shrug their shoulders when you mention lighting tend to have a preferred manufacturer so you can’t really assess all options.
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You're right about that too, unfortunately most retailers seem to know absolutely nothing about lighting, and most only stock one make, if they stock any at all, so can hardly be expected to give either useful or impartial advice.

Studio lighting is a bit of an adventure, or at least it can be. It's very easy to get mediocre results but it can be a challenge to combine both technical excellence and creativity. The trick is to learn how light works and how it can work for you, and to constantly experiment and push your own limits. Feel free to ask questions on this forum, I can pretty well guarantee that you'll always get helpful answers. Or you can always ring me - even though you didn't buy Lencarta:)

A few people have asked about backdrops too. My own personal experience and this is based on no actual usage as yet! I wanted a black and white backdrop but one that took minimal space and also covered me for full length shots. I was going to just get a cheapo ebay kit just to get me started but again WarehouseExpress have a WexPro Collapsible Reversible Background 2mx2.4m with Train for £80, again with discount for packaging damage. With what I have saved on the lights I thought I would stump up the extra for this, seems to cover anything I want but I will soon find out.
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Hmm... might be a bit small
 
Gary said: You're right about that too, unfortunately most retailers seem to know absolutely nothing about lighting, and most only stock one make, if they stock any at all, so can hardly be expected to give either useful or impartial advice.

So would Lencarta be interested in loaning my studio some gear that could be used by the pros and amateurs that hire it? :)

http://www.loudandflashy.com
 
photo si said:
So would Lencarta be interested in loaning my studio some gear that could be used by the pros and amateurs that hire it? :)
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I would suspect you would have to do the same as I did for my studio complex.

Which was to buy it. (y)
 
I don't like buying stuff lol :D

The local high school and college use our studio for photography lessons and the teacher also runs evening and weekend classes for amateur photographers.

Thought maybe Lencarta might like the brand awareness (y)

However, if they prefer all those potential buyers to only experience their rivals....... :p
 
photo si said:
Everyone likes a tryer! Maybe even Garry? :D
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Yep, no harm in trying and if you don't ask you don't get...

But whether or not I would agree that it would help Lencarta to give you equipment for your studio is a bit academic, I don't have the authority :crying:
 
They didn't! :(
But if Lencarta want to be getting used by the next generation of photographers that get taught im my studio they could give me a sweetner :)

A bit like Fiat supplying the driving schools to promote brand loyalty!
 
I doubt Fiat give their cars to independent instructors, and only supply the big national schools. Schools that are well known and have national "influence" on potential clients.

I know for a fact the AA school of motoring, along with several other national instructors such as BSM, all lease their vehicles.
 
photo si said:
They didn't! :(
But if Lencarta want to be getting used by the next generation of photographers that get taught im my studio they could give me a sweetner :)

A bit like Fiat supplying the driving schools to promote brand loyalty!
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Hmm...

I've been thinking about what, if anything to say. Common sense (which isn't very common especially with me);) says: Say nothing because whatever you say, and however you say it, you'll upset someone.

Certainly there are some big Companies that either give their products away to educational establishments or supply them a loss-making prices - Microsoft are an obvious example and yes, it does happen with studio lighting too.

But Lencarta is a small Company that
a. Can't afford to do that
b. Doesn't need to - sales are growing fine without it.

Even without free/discounted/loan equipment, Lencarta equipment is already in a lot of colleges, a few universities and quite a few schools & govn departments etc, and they've bought it at full price.

Larger firms that sell a very large percentage of their products through retailers can afford to heavily discount their goods when they sell direct to schools etc, without really giving anything away, just by selling at their normal trade price, if that's what they want to do - and obviously what they do is entirely their business and none of mine. Lencarta on the other hand sells a large percentage direct to the public (hence the low prices) and so doesn't have that extra margin.

So - Sorry Simon, much as I would like your future students to learn on Lencarta, unless you contact the boss and can persuade him that Lencarta should have a policy of promoting Lencarta goods in this way, it ain't gonna happen:)
 
Thanks Jonny for this post and especially the update.

I am one of those people who is in exactly the same postition as you. Sat with some money in the bank designated to buying some some studio kit in order to expand my photography abilities into this area. Trying to get best value for money and making sure I get what I need to get started. Am still trying to decide which brands to go for am down to Lencarta & Elinchrom too. However a trip into Jessops today (I was recently given a gift voucher for there) has left me even more confused, but I think their advice is not exactily independent so may put the voucher towards something else.

Thanks again,
 
Noodles said:
Thanks Jonny for this post and especially the update.

I am one of those people who is in exactly the same postition as you. Sat with some money in the bank designated to buying some some studio kit in order to expand my photography abilities into this area. Trying to get best value for money and making sure I get what I need to get started. Am still trying to decide which brands to go for am down to Lencarta & Elinchrom too. However a trip into Jessops today (I was recently given a gift voucher for there) has left me even more confused, but I think their advice is not exactily independent so may put the voucher towards something else.

Thanks again,
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Well, I think that you’re right to limit your choice to either Elinchrom or Lencarta, although Bowens are fine too, they seem to me to be expensive for what they are.
Choosing studio lighting is a bit of a minefield simply because it is very much a speciality market, which means that people don’t get much opportunity to actually try out different makes and make sense of the technical info provided by the sellers. You’re not likely to get much help from camera shops, not only do most camera shops not sell any lights at all, those who do often only have one make (the make that gives them the biggest profit) so even if they actually know anything about studio lighting you’re not likely to get impartial info from them.
Generally, it’s pretty easy to choose most other types of products. If you’re interested in a particular car you can always get a test drive. Is a test drive not enough to be sure? Then hire the same model for a couple of days. And the thing is, most of us have driven so many different cars over the years that we’re able to see whether a particular model is right for us or not when we test drive it, that unfortunately doesn’t apply to studio lighting because there are very few people who have experience of various makes, let alone all of them. And hiring isn’t a complete answer, because not all makes are available for hire.
The OP made a good point about user reviews. Pretty well all manufacturers and sellers get their products reviewed by magazines but frankly some of those reviews are pretty useless. Often, the reviewers seem to know less about lighting than the people they’re writing for. One of the reviews was so bad, and seemed to me to be so biased, that I made a video about it and stuck it on Youtube :)
My personal hobby is clay pigeon shooting and I spend a fortune on shotguns. Again, it’s a bit of a specialist area but I belong to various clubs and it’s a surefire bet that if I’m interested in wasting money on yet another gun, one of the members at one of the clubs will have that particular model and will let me try it out to see whether it’s as good as the advertising says and whether it actually fits me. Again, you don’t get that with photography because, as a group, we don’t socialise all that much.
Another major difference is that, today at least, there are no really bad cars out there and no bad shotguns – only ones that don’t suit our particular needs. That doesn’t apply to studio lighting :crying:
With studio lighting, there are shedloads of small manufacturers in the far east who know and care nothing about lighting but who make studio lights that are basically just copies of copies. They cheapen the manufacturing process to the point where the products just about work – for a while at least – and they sell them in bulk to re-sellers who stick their own transfers on them and sell them as their own product. But a transfer doesn’t turn junk into a quality product, and most of the people selling these re-badged products know sod all about lighting either, so they aren’t able to provide good customer service even if they want to – and certainly not once the warranty has run out. Generally speaking, these products are pretty easy to identify once you know what you’re looking for, but the advertising is often deceptive and the tech info is often both incomplete and untrue, which makes things a bit difficult. There are clues though...

If the recycling time is slow (and anything more than 1 second is slow) then it’s been made cheaply. Slow recycling in itself is a big problem if you’re photographing people, because you need to shoot quickly, and if the flash head recycles in say half a second then the product is much more fit for purpose than if it takes say 3 seconds to recycle.

If the modelling lamp is less than say 150 watts then you can be pretty sure that the flash head doesn’t have a cooling fan, and IMO it really should have one. Dim modelling lamps are pretty useless, their job is to give an indication of the shadows that will be created by the flash, and if they are less than about 150 watts they simply won’t do that.

Colour temperature is another important factor. In my experience, the worse the junk the better the (stated) figures are likely to be, the figures are usually simply a lie – and a safe one because I doubt whether one in a thousand photographers has a colour temperature meter so the sellers can get away with lying. Colour temperature is extremely important because unless the flash gives off light of very similar colour every single flash, the results will be extremely unpredictable and a lot of otherwise good shots will be ruined – and no, you can’t really correct bad colour temperature in PS.
All Lencarta flash heads are tested at every power setting, the colour temperature is extremely stable and the results are published on the Lencarta website. Elinchrom colour temperature figures are also extremely stable, although AFAIK they don’t publish their figures. Generally, the junk makes say something like “Color temperature 5600” and indicate that the figures are accurate to 100K, which is a lie – those that I have personally tested are often out to up to 1000K! It’s actually almost impossible for even the best makes to get consistency of just 100K.

Another important thing is the flash energy consistency (the amount of power produced from one flash to the next) Again, shots will be ruined if there is too much variation and again, you can rely on both Lencarta and Elinchrom to be consistent within 10%, which is fine. Some of the cheaply made ones I’ve tested are up to 120% out! It’s easy enough for anyone who has a flash meter to test the output consistency, but of course you can only do that once you actually have the flash head in front of you...

An obvious and easy factor is the accessory mount. Some of the cheapest flash heads only have a ‘universal fitting’ which means that the reflectors are fixed in position and accessories have to be fitted by means of a clamp. Very few accessories are available for these flash heads, and softboxes clamped onto them work badly because the built in reflector stops the light from spreading out properly. By far the most popular accessory fitting is Bowens S-fit (as used by Bowens, Lencarta and many others) and it’s popular because it’s very positive and simple, and because there is a vast range of different light shaping tools and modifiers available in that fitting. The Elinchrom fitting is different, it’s unique to Elinchrom and personally I’m not too keen on it, although I’m sure a lot of people are happy with it.

So if the lights sold on Ebay, Amazon and on many of the re-seller websites are so poor, why are there people who think that they’re great? Probably it goes back to the point I made earlier about lack of experience of other makes, and of how good studio lighting CAN be. The people who buy the junk simply don’t know how much better and easier their studio photography could be...
So, you’ve decided to avoid the junk and go for one of the better makes – which one should you buy?
It really comes down to the various features. Build quality isn’t a massive issue if you handle and transport the equipment carefully. In my view, Bowens has the best build quality, Lencarta is 2nd and Elinchrom is 3rd.
Then there’s size and weight, which may or may not be important to you. Elinchrom (and especially their D-Lite) is the smallest and lightest, Lencarta comes 2nd and Bowens 3rd.
Recycling time, colour temperature consistency and flash energy consistency – all roughly equal
Built in remote control – Lencarta doesn’t have it because we try to avoid the cost and keep things simple, and in my experience, for most people, remote control is more of a feature than a real benefit – but if you’re say a product photographer and you’ve got an overhead softbox suspended out of reach, then it can be useful.
You’re now left with maybe just 3 influencing factors...
1. Accessory fitting, which I’ve already mentioned
2. The quality of the customer service – will you get real support from a real photographer or will you end up speaking to a salesman? Will you get proper support once the product is out of warranty and/or discontinue or will you be told that you need to buy the latest model?
3. Value for money.

Hope this helps a bit.
 
photo si said:
If only there was a studio in each region with the space to hold some stock and the enthusiasm to demonstrate and support it....... :)
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I believe there quite a few studios about that are happy to demonstrate equipment. A lot of amateur photographers will hire a studio for an hour or two to find out for themselves.
 
Michael Sewell said:
I believe there quite a few studios about that are happy to demonstrate equipment. A lot of amateur photographers will hire a studio for an hour or two to find out for themselves.
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Maybe, but they aren't likely to have a full range from any manufacturer, let alone from all of them...
 
This is my point! I already have plenty of space, and a lot of retail & B2B experience for a major brown goods manufacturer in a previous life.

Would be easy for me to run and cost the manufacturer nothing except for a few demo pieces. Wouldn't even want commission, just happy to get the manufacturer sending people my way!

There must be other studios in other parts of the country that would do the same?
:)
 
Garry Edwards said:
Well, I think that you’re right to limit your choice to either Elinchrom or Lencarta, although Bowens are fine too, they seem to me to be expensive for what they are.

<snip>
<snip snip>
<snip some more>

Hope this helps a bit.
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Good post from Garry (y)
 
Originally Posted by Garry Edwards View Post
Well, I think that you’re right to limit your choice to either Elinchrom or Lencarta, although Bowens are fine too, they seem to me to be expensive for what they are.
(.......................................................................................................................................................


......................) Hope this helps a bit.
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Many thanks Gary that really helps clear things in my mind.

Just gotta do my final pricing up and see what I can afford at this time.

Really great post. (y)
 
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