Studio flash Vs speed lights

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Dominic
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I've been thinking about buying some studio flash, I like the look of the lencarta smart flash 4 set (two heads, soft boxes, stands and trigger). I really only want them for still life photography, maybe a pet portrait or two.
At the moment I use a couple of speed lights off camera and as much as they are fine for most things, I really find it a bother making sure the batteries are charged or having to think how much longer have I got left before the batteries run out. Also if I use a grid, then the flash is around ¼-½ power, using even more battery.
Now even though the lencarta set looks to be a good deal, for me it's quite a big investment (I don't have a large amount of spare money every month). But i like the idea of just getting them out and using them and then put them away again and not having to think about batteries.
Are there any other benefits to studio flash Vs speed lights?
I'm not looking to buy anything for 2-3 months or so.
 
For your purpose, studio flash is the ideal and is the way to go. Advocates of speed lights often claim that they can do everything, this is partly true but they can't do still life shots anywhere near as well as studio flash can.

Main benefits:
1. Modifiers work as intended with studio flashes, some modifiers (such as umbrellas) are also OK with speed lights but others, such as softboxes and beauty dishes, are at best a compromise with them. The reason for this is that nearly all speed lights have a built in, fixed reflector that pushes all of the light forward. This prevents the light from spreading out properly and fully lighting the deflector on a beauty dish and from lighting the walls of a softbox. This severely limits the evenness of the lighting. Speed lights aren't too bad with very small softboxes but are pretty hopeless with both large ones and with strip softboxes, both of which are used extensively for still life photography. Also, although there are a small number of honeycombs available for speed lights they're pretty poor. Honeycombs are far more plentiful for studio flashes, and work much better with them.
2. Modelling lamp - studio flashes have them, speed lights don't and they are essential for studio photography because they show where the shadows fall, which saves an immense amount of time.
3. Recycling time - not relevant to still life photography but important for your pet portraits.
4. No batteries - not a major concern, but still a benefit.
 
Thanks for that Garry. I used to be 'scared' of lighting glass or very reflective surfaces, so would avoid them like the plague. After watching/reading one of your tutorials I'm more confident on using glass in my still life. What I took from the tutorial was to use as big a light source as possible and as close as possible. This is what made me think about using studio flash, instead of speed lights.
 
I've been thinking about buying some studio flash, I like the look of the lencarta smart flash 4 set (two heads, soft boxes, stands and trigger). I really only want them for still life photography, maybe a pet portrait or two.
At the moment I use a couple of speed lights off camera and as much as they are fine for most things, I really find it a bother making sure the batteries are charged or having to think how much longer have I got left before the batteries run out. Also if I use a grid, then the flash is around ¼-½ power, using even more battery.
Now even though the lencarta set looks to be a good deal, for me it's quite a big investment (I don't have a large amount of spare money every month). But i like the idea of just getting them out and using them and then put them away again and not having to think about batteries.
Are there any other benefits to studio flash Vs speed lights?
I'm not looking to buy anything for 2-3 months or so.

I'm a HUGE speedlight fan - but not for what you're wanting, so just go with whatever Garry recommends around your budget :)

Dave
 
Unless commercialmas really did pile on the pounds... :p
 
I will admit to "bulking up for winter". Problem is slimming back down for summer...
 
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