Buying house!! Might convert garage into photo study! Help me deck it out!

ProfJohn

Lifer
Jul 28, 2006
18,251
8
0
I am going to buy a house.

We are looking at the cost of adding a 3rd car to the garage and then converting the 2 car part of it into a 20x20 photo study!!! Awesome :)

I already have a Nikon D-90 and a decent lens collection.

What I need is lighting.

What should I get?

I'd like to do this in pieces. IE start with one or two lights and stands and then add a back drop etc etc till I get a nice studio that would allow me to do pro quality work.

So with that in mind:

What should I start with for lighting??

Is something like this from Bh a good idea for a starter?
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...ight_Kit_.html
Or should I start with something with my power.

BTW having something that I can take with me would be awesome!!!!
Thanks :)
 

twistedlogic

Senior member
Feb 4, 2008
606
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Well if you want portability, speedlights are the way to go. But if you need more power, big light modifiers, and fast recycle time, then look into monolights.

I have heard nothing but great things about Paul C Buff's Alienbees, your not going to get much better quality of lighting until you get into the real expensive gear. And if you decide to go with monolights, Paul offers a portable battery pack that allows you to take the ABs outdoors (The Vagabond II).

Not sure about the quality of the ones you linked, there isn't too many reviews on them. The thing that turned me off from the Impact brand was the cost of the $54 replacement flash tubes compared to $35 from AB.
 

slashbinslashbash

Golden Member
Feb 29, 2004
1,945
8
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That does look like a decent beginner kit to get some technique down before you upgrade to bigger stuff.

The problem is upgradability and compatibility. That kit comes with 2 24"x24" softboxes and 2 standard reflectors. Those softboxes are definitely a little small, though, for full-length portraits. The possibility of getting larger softboxes that will work with these strobes is hit-or-miss. There are also other modifiers (beauty dishes, etc.) that will probably not be available to fit these strobes. On the other hand, there are plenty of umbrella-style modifiers that should work just fine.

The point is that yes, this will get you a good start in studio lighting without spending much money. But it will also be hard to grow this system. You will end up buying AlienBees, Elinchrom, etc. strobes before too long. Of course, the cost of a single strobe (no modifiers or stands) from any of those other brands is more than the cost of this whole kit with 2 strobes, 2 stands (the stands should work with any other brand of lights, although they might be too lightweight for use with larger modifiers) and 2 softboxes. That's a pretty darn good deal, and if Impact makes speedrings for these lights (which let you attach any 3rd-party softbox to the strobes) then you might be okay.

You ask about the power. 100W/s is good for f/8 at ISO 100. Through the softbox, you usually lose another stop so you will be looking at f/5.6 at ISO 100. This is not terribly powerful. Most studios use monolights in the 250W/s to 500W/s range. I have a few AlienBees B800's (320W/s) which easily get me f/13 bare, or f/10-f/11 through my softboxes. This is generally the f-stop range that studio photographers shoot for (no pun intended). Of course, you can set your camera body to ISO 200 or ISO 400 and achieve the same lens f-stops with lower powered lights. I'm not really sure why everybody shoots at ISO 100, but most studio lights are so powerful that you almost have to. If you have multiple lights in a small area with a light colored background then you might even have to step down to ISO 50 to avoid shooting at f/22 or something.

I don't know.... if I were outfitting a whole room for dedicated studio use, I wouldn't skimp on the lights. I would at least go for AlienBees or Elinchrom (I own 2 AlienBees myself) if not for something even spendier like Profoto. 400sf is a lot of space (i.e., money) to dedicate to photography.

As far as "taking it with you", most monolights are fairly reasonably sized. AlienBees are about the most power per size you can get, but these don't look much bigger. The problem is powering it once you get there. You will need a power source... of course a wall socket is idea, but AlienBees also sells a $300 system called the Vagabond which is basically a big battery with a high-dollar inverter (cheap car inverters don't output the right kind of current for powering most lights... they need pure sine wave current, while most inverters create square wave current). However, no matter what system you end up with, your biggest pain will be the stands, softboxes and other modifiers. Unfortunately there is no way to make these terribly compact. The kit that you linked has a nice carrying system... 8' light stands can usually collapse pretty tiny. I've got an 8' Impact light stand myself. It collapses very small, but it bends visibly when I raise it up with a big softbox (32"x40") on it and I have to worry about it tipping over (the footprint doesn't get big enough to really support larger modifiers). However, I still like it for its compactness.

One starter kit that is somewhat more expensive but seems a little better supported from the manufacturer is Calumet Genesis. I would look into those as well. I would also take a look at this series of videos from ProPhotoLife. They are extremely helpful and I still use them for reference and inspiration when I try something new in the studio.

http://www.youtube.com/user/prophotolife#p/u/32/EQBVSGBBiNk

You will see in these videos how much you can do with even just cheap desk lamp type lighting and some acetate panels (or white ripstop nylon from the fabric store as a substitute). If you are just doing product shots then this is really all you need, as long as you have a good tripod for relatively long exposures.
 

ProfJohn

Lifer
Jul 28, 2006
18,251
8
0
Ok, I went all out and bought the an Alien Bee set up, in yellow :)

2 B800 lights
2 10 foot stands
1 48" silver/white umbrella
1 42" parabolic umbrella
with bags to carry it all.

Should be a good starter kit for sure :)
 

twistedlogic

Senior member
Feb 4, 2008
606
0
0
2 B800 lights
2 10 foot stands
1 48" silver/white umbrella
1 42" parabolic umbrella
with bags to carry it all.

Should be a good starter kit for sure :)

Very nice. But yellow, :p.

Now you should look into getting a nice light meter. I'm saving pennies for one myself.

I have a few AlienBees B800's (320W/s) which easily get me f/13 bare, or f/10-f/11 through my softboxes. This is generally the f-stop range that studio photographers shoot for (no pun intended). Of course, you can set your camera body to ISO 200 or ISO 400 and achieve the same lens f-stops with lower powered lights. I'm not really sure why everybody shoots at ISO 100, but most studio lights are so powerful that you almost have to. If you have multiple lights in a small area with a light colored background then you might even have to step down to ISO 50 to avoid shooting at f/22 or something.

That is where I foresee a problem. His D90 has a native ISO of 200, two AB-800s might be too powerful. And even when you run these studio strobes at there lowest power settings, say 1/32 for the AB-800, you experience color shifts. But the great thing about Paul is that he will let you exchange them with no hassle.
 

virtuamike

Diamond Member
Oct 13, 2000
7,845
13
81
I used AB's years ago. Between my buddy and I, we had 2 WL X1600's and 3 AB800's. I never had a problem with them being too strong, and back then our space was tiny.
 

jpeyton

Moderator in SFF, Notebooks, Pre-Built/Barebones
Moderator
Aug 23, 2003
25,375
142
116
Yo dawg, I heard you liked photography...
 

rudder

Lifer
Nov 9, 2000
19,441
85
91
Ok, I went all out and bought the an Alien Bee set up, in yellow :)

2 B800 lights
2 10 foot stands
1 48" silver/white umbrella
1 42" parabolic umbrella
with bags to carry it all.

Should be a good starter kit for sure :)

Nice setup. The HQ is close to where I work.

I took a photography class at the local community college and had the chance to use these. Got some real nice portraits done.