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Advice on Strobe lights I'm purchasing
So I'm deciding to purchase some strobe lights for my home studio. I'm thinking about getting this kit http://www.cowboystudio.com/product_p/2 … umbkit.htm My question is, will two 160 watt strobes be enough to get some decent lighting for my photos? Mar 25 13 10:07 pm Link if you like to shoot at f16 that might not be enough. but for me shooting at say f5.6 (or even more wide open than that) it's usually plenty. i have some 320WS lights and often have to add diffusion material to get them to a lower power. i love my alien bees. Mar 25 13 10:12 pm Link You should take a decision based at the distance from your light source from the subject: The Inverse-Square Law + loss of stop each time you use a diffuser (1 or 2) + your need of Dof Mar 26 13 12:47 am Link I use two 180ws strobes (usually in 43" umbrella soft boxes), and they work fine for me shooting portraits and boudoir. Mar 26 13 12:55 am Link My two cheap china 110ws strobes with shoot thru umbrellas placed 2 meters from the model, at 45 degree angles will give me good exposure at F8 at 100 ISO. Mar 26 13 01:53 am Link If you are serious about lighting you will quickly outgrow the cowboy kit, and it has essentially zero resale value. Still, for $160 its not a bad way to learn about lighting. If you do outgtow it, just chalk it up to education costs. It is hard to go wrong with Alienbee for budget lighting. They hold their resale value insanely well. Mar 26 13 02:00 am Link get hot lights and make your own stuff from home depot until you can afford the real deal. There are a lot of instructional sites that show how to make neat lighting rigs for both still and videos Mar 26 13 02:26 am Link Jean Renard Photography wrote: this advice kinda/sorta used to make sense but when the price of 150 w/s strobes dropped to 35$ a pop, it went out the window. also at 35$ a pop the whole resale value issue becomes kinda sorta meaningless. its less than a roll of full size seamless. Mar 26 13 08:39 am Link Just realized the OP is in Toronto. The Neewer kit on eBay makes more sense because they ship from Brampton and theres no customs to deal with. you get your kit via Canada Post in 3-4 days max. possibly the same lights, possibly something made two doors down in a different contract factory. no big deal. the difference between 160W/S and 180W/S wont be perceptible. A beauty dish 2-3 ft away will still be stopped way down from full power. Mar 26 13 08:42 am Link OP. Don't waste you money on those. Save it for some serious equipment. Get some speedlights or some used strobes. I just saw some Dynalite 1,000 w/s, two head kit for $800 on Craigslist. If I were you, I would save for something like those. Mar 26 13 08:55 am Link Yes you will quickly outgrow those lights for more powerful and better controlled ones. You can always use them for fill, hair, kicker type setup after you upgrade lights later on. That is if you do, you may decided flash isn't for you and you go back to natural light. Mar 26 13 09:06 am Link alessandro2009 wrote: Agreed. Depends upon what you shoot most often. I have seen some photographers with high output strobes strugle to reduce power in a confined shooting space. If you place your lights close to your subject, even with a modifier 160-180w/s is a reasonable starting point. Mar 26 13 05:56 pm Link from http://www.cowboystudio.com/product_p/2 … umbkit.htm --CONS -"a recycling time of 5-7 seconds" count it out - the time - you won't like it -cross border shipping brockerage Mar 26 13 07:00 pm Link different model sorry.... Mar 26 13 07:12 pm Link Michael Bots wrote: which is why I recommended the Neewer package instead. I never checked the recycle time. its faster than I shoot. I turned off the beep because it was annoying on all of the units. I have too many of them now (since they didnt break) but the longest shipping was 4 days. Mar 26 13 07:21 pm Link rbtcphoto wrote: more important is the range to stop down. if you have a 600w/s that can go down to 1/64 it will be better at close range than a 160w/s that only goes down to 1/8. I have no clue what the CS lights will do but typically the cheap strobes have a rotary dial that takes them down to 1/8 power. Mar 26 13 07:23 pm Link |
