Spend my (up to) £900 on a strobist set up!

failingretina

failingretina

Messages
155
Name
Andy
Edit My Images
Yes
Hey guys

I've recently passed on a Sigma flash gun and Interfix EX150 starter kit that i owned.

The flashgun that was constantly not exposing properly, and wasn't something I could adjust with the flash exp compensation due to it some times going over, some times under.

The 'studio lighting kit' was too large and restricting to use in the rooms I wanted to, and build quality of everything was very low.

So now, i'm looking to put together a strobist kit and have very little knowledge as to what products are about and how they work, i would like to get everything for under £900.

I'm looking for 2 Flashguns which can be fired remotely from a Canon 50d using TTL metering but still being able to change the ratios between the 2, ideally running on atleast 3 channels so i can always expand, 2 stands, and a few accessories (softbox, umbrellas, snoots etc.)

Does this sound doable?

Thanks
 
Urgh, there's 1 too many 0s in the title and i dont know how to change it! haha sorry, i meant £900 :)
 
looks to me like you've got the dot in the wrong place?
 
ki_user said:
Wouldn't know where to start spending 9k on lighing :LOL:
Click to expand...

google, then either profoto or breisel :p



900,
do you want ttl?
do you want to beat hotshoe flash power levels?

I'd be tempted to buy an invotronix xplorer and a studio head then a pair of 580 exIIs

pair of calumet super foldy stands and a stronger one gives you a useful really light kit for normal stuff + sun killing power at the cost of weight

manfrotto make really nice umbrella adaptors, though I hear good things about the calumet ones
 
failingretina said:
Urgh, there's 1 too many 0s in the title and i dont know how to change it! haha sorry, i meant £900 :)
Click to expand...

If you edit your post and then choose advanced edit, you can change the title.

£9k sure would buy a lot of cheap strobes, light modifiers and wireless triggers!
 
The trouble is your wanting TTL, a couple of 580 EXII and an ST-E2 would eat up a fair chunk of your budget.....
 
missed the ttl part

st-e2
580exII
430exII

2x super small stands
2x umbrella adapters
decent dual duty brolly (maybe 2)
small ish softbox
speedlight grid
set of RF-602s for backup
(I think FiTP can sort all this out for you)

reflectors
assistant to hold reflector
duck tape
lecky tape
decent charger
lots of eneloop batteries or 7day brand eneloops


if you find some budget make it 2 580ex, consider mkI and 550ex as well where you can find them, a third gun would be nice but not amazingly neccesary ( a yn-460 does a pretty ok job for hairlight set to s2 and low power manual)


OR skip the st-e2 and upgrade to a 7d for numerous advantages inc built in transmitter
 
New?

Skip the ste2, and buy another 580exII. Its long since due for renewal.

So, three 580exII, one in the hotshoe as master/on fill, two slaves.

Unfortunately, you're probably over a £1000 already without stands.

Save £100 per flash with two 430exII and only one 580exII.

Personally, the thought of dropping £1000+ on canon guns fills me with dread, I'd rather go manual and have a far wider option of guns etc, probably inc a studio flash in that £900 budget.
 
Do you really want hot-shoe guns? Bearing in mind that the bulky stuff is the stands and softboxes/brollies. You could do it with decent studio lights within budget (Lencarta SmartFlash, Elinchrom D-Lites) and have fast recycling and modelling lights - both major advantages, plus the power of course.

If it's hot-shoes, basically as David says. You could do it very cheaply and retain E-TTL using a Canon ST-E2 master and a couple of Yongnuo YN-465 guns as slaves. At the other end of the budget, three 580EXII guns - sub-£300 from Kerso I think (check him out in the forum advertisers' section).
 
The Yongnuo flash does not do remote ettl IR slave.

I think the cheapest option would be the Nissin or Sigma, but they arent far off a new 430exII.

ETTL wireless remote dunny come cheaply.
 
Kris said:
The Yongnuo flash does not do remote ettl IR slave.

I think the cheapest option would be the Nissin or Sigma, but they arent far off a new 430exII.

ETTL wireless remote dunny come cheaply.
Click to expand...

YN465 claims to be E-TTL for £54 from FITP. It's the basic 460 that is manual only. I've not used a 465, but that's what it says here http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showpost.php?p=1809826&postcount=9

Perhaps FITP could confirm this.

Edit: as far as I know, just about every gun on the market does E-TTL in slave mode - Jessops, Nissin, Sigma, Metz etc. It's the master units that are more expensive, but then they are also full featured top end guns, similar to the Canon 580EXII.
 
Ok, so say i went with the 465, would that slave TTL wirelessly from a 580 EXII or would i have to buy some of the fancy triggers that do ETTL?
 
failingretina said:
Ok, so say i went with the 465, would that slave TTL wirelessly from a 580 EXII or would i have to buy some of the fancy triggers that do ETTL?
Click to expand...


In short, no, the YN465 won't do TTL wirelessly from anything, it needs to either be on a ttl cord or a set of PW TTL triggers.

To get TTL wirelessly you either need to go down the 2-3 Canon flashgun route or go for something like the Pocket Wizard Flex things.

With those you'll need a master on the camera and trigger for each flash, if you have, say two TTL flashguns then that'll be £6-700 or so for just a set of triggers.
 
Flash In The Pan said:
In short, no, the YN465 won't do TTL wirelessly from anything, it needs to either be on a ttl cord or a set of PW TTL triggers.

To get TTL wirelessly you either need to go down the 2-3 Canon flashgun route or go for something like the Pocket Wizard Flex things.

With those you'll need a master on the camera and trigger for each flash, if you have, say two TTL flashguns then that'll be £6-700 or so for just a set of triggers.
Click to expand...

I meant 3 canon guns :p
 
HoppyUK said:
YN465 claims to be E-TTL for £54 from FITP. It's the basic 460 that is manual only. I've not used a 465, but that's what it says here http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showpost.php?p=1809826&postcount=9

Perhaps FITP could confirm this.

Edit: as far as I know, just about every gun on the market does E-TTL in slave mode - Jessops, Nissin, Sigma, Metz etc. It's the master units that are more expensive, but then they are also full featured top end guns, similar to the Canon 580EXII.
Click to expand...

I stand corrected - see FITP's post #18 above.

The YN465 does auto-TTL on-camera or hard wired with a cord, but not as a wireless slave as I thought. What lurks under the little red window is an AF assist light, not a slave sensor.

Apologies.
 
£900 eh? ;)

3x 430EXII
3x Lightstands (FiTP's Manfrotto clones looks good)
3x RF-602 recievers and one trigger
2x FiTP 95cm 'Softbrolly'
1x FiTP 60cm Softbox
Buy some black card and some black material for flags, gobos and backgrounds and you're sorted! :)

A couple of Stofens, some gels and a decent lightmeter... then you can do away with the E-TTL arrangement and work it out for yourself.

Strobist stuff works far better if you do everything on manual. Learn to use a good lightmeter and everything will fall into place from there. If you really want to use E-TTL, ditch one of the 430EXII's and replace it with a 580EXII instead.

Si
 
I know he's mentioned TTL and lots of advise above but with a £900 budget if you did decide to go non TTL and do a bit of learning.
Lencarta Safari 600Ws Battery Generator + Safari 600 Powerpack Head would be perfect and you can add another head later on, grab one and a stand massive octabox and your set :) then buy the Onelite DVDs and go from there.
Battery + Head = £737.90
+ 95cm Octa Folding Pro Softbox = £846.90
+ Stand = £876.85
£23 to get some flash triggers :).
 
Canon Speedlite 430 EXII Flashgun - £200 x 2 = £400
Interfit Strobies Twin Umbrella Kit STR120 (2 umbrellas and stands) - £110
Lastolite EzyBox Hotshoe 60cm x 60cm (softbox) - £97
PT-04 Trigger and receiver umbrella fitment version - £19
PT-04 receiver, umbrella fitment version - £12
Joe McNally Hot Shoe Diaries - £15

How does this sound? this'll allow me to have 2 umbrellas, or 1 softbox and one 1 umbrella both fired off camera with decent air damped stands, decent flashes, decent triggers etc. all for under £650

Am i on the right tracks? Any suggestions for better alternatives etc?

Thanks
 
This doesn't give you remote TTL.

If you are happy with manual, save a bunch and buy older flashguns like the Viv 285, Canon 540ez or Nikon SB28. Perhaps just buy one Canon 430exII for when you need TTL on camera.

You could do it a lot cheaper.

Swap the Lastolite for an Ebay copy, they are the same (if not better).

Swap the PT04 for rf602 - more reliable and longer distances.

£110 for 2 stands and brollies sounds very expensive - get the £10 Konig branded ones and 2 £4 brollies off ebay. Calumet branded stands are very good if you want AC and more stability.
 
There's been a few threads lately about the rf602 not working with the 430exii is that right?
 
failingretina said:
There's been a few threads lately about the rf602 not working with the 430exii is that right?
Click to expand...

Hi Andy,

The only conflict with the RF-602 that I'm aware of only occurs if you're trying to use Canon's E-TTL system via either their ST-E2 transmitter or the inbuilt one on the 7D. If I didn't think the RF-602 was trustworthy and reliable, I wouldn't use 'em at weddings. :)

As mentioned before, most of the stuff you've listed can be bought on here from Flash In The Pan (Graham)... Give him a shout and let him know what you need. :)

Hope that helps a bit,
Si
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top