Stupid question Alert!

[allie5]

Portrait photography is something Ive always been interested in (having 3 kids and HATE having to pay for the rubbish thats churned out from school / nursery photos!) but have not braved properly in a studio set up yet.

Last year I bought a cheap light kit from the classifieds on here - I think its the set that Jessops sell, so pretty rubbish, but I only wanted it for home use, not professional. Im ashamed to say its not been out of the bag yet!

OK, here is the stupid question - I have an EOS 30D but no external flashgun, just the built in. The light set comes with a sync cord which I assume fires the lights when the flash fires - does this work with the built in flash, and will the built in flash be sufficient with the extra lighting from the two lights (I also have a softbox and brolly)?

All I want to do is take some nice, crisp pics of the kids -I have a few prime lenses that should be sharp enough, plus tripod and remote shutter etc etc.

Do I need to splash out for an external flash, bearing in mind the light units are pretty low end or will I get away with the built in?

 

[V8burble]

The sync cord plugs straight into the camera, no need for any flash, external or pop-up.

Two lights are fine for many lighting setups, three gives you more options but can be added later. The sync cord fires the first lamp, the others (however many you like) can then be triggered off the first or can be corded also, or you can introduce radio triggers.

 

[Green Li]

Hi,

If you'll ever want to shoot reportage-like photos (not studio-like) then you might want to consider buying an external flash and a flash diffuser. This will give you more flexibility. You can run after your kids and take pictures wherever they are and not where you set the lights up

Hope this helps.
Cheer!