Welcome to the forum!
As an adjunct to the Tangents blog, the intention with this forum is to answer any questions, and allow a diverse discussion of topics related photography. With that, see it as an open invitation to just climb in and start threads and to respond to any threads.
Beginner's strobe lighting kit
-
This week I plan on purchasing external lights so I can better my photography. I currently own a canon speedlight 580ex which I am still learning and practicing how to bounce effectively ,and thanks to reading Neil's book I am getting better at it :) .My body is a Canon t2i.
I did some research online and I think the system that would best suit me would be a pair of monolights with softboxes.
My purposes will be to do individual portraiture head & shoulders and full length, and sometimes groups such as a family portrait.I will usually work indoors but would like the option to work outdoors when needed, even if i have to run long electrical extension chords to power the lights.
Now the confusing part is to figure out how much power I need and the triggering method. I am not sure if I should buy a system that uses optical slaves to trigger, or if I should get one that uses a radio signal or if I need to buy a pocket wizard system. I would prefer the option of keeping my 580ex in the hot shoe so I can use it as a 3rd light source if needed and trigger the external lights with a pc sync chord.I am also afraid that if I buy something cheap and underpowered I will just become frustrated and it will adversely affect my passion for learning photography.
Can anyone suggest a good beginners kit. I have read mixed reviews on B&H photo's Impact kit. Some say it gets the job done and others say it is cheaply made and "if you buy cheap then you buy twice"
I am also considering the alien bees b-800.
If anyone can post links with some suggested kits it would be greatly appreciated. My budget is around $750.00
Thank you !
-
b800s r the way to go, impact monolights r big, heavy, have slow recycle times, and they make really load beeping noises, alien bees r small, fast (1 sec recycle time at full power) and they only way like 2.5pounds,and i find i never have to use my b800s at full power,
as far as triggering alienbees has 2 a trigger systems with the more expensive one the transmitter doubles as a lightmeter and u can control the power of the light from the transmitter! i must admit that although i own the more advanced system i dont opt for changing the power with the transmitter as i havent taken the time to figure it all out,
one more plus that alien bees have is when there is no receiver plugged into the strobe it will fire optically via its built in optical slave -
thank you Naftoli. I am pretty sure I am going to go with the alien bees. From what I have read, people are very happy with them and their customer service is supposed to be very good. I think The b-800 is around $300, a very fair price for it can do. I appreciate your feedback.
-
Naftoli can alien bees be connected to a power pack that can hold 3 lights? or both?
-
one more thing about alien bees is that the interface on the back is the fastest, most intuitive and easy to use controls i have seen on any strobe, to change power up and down u just drag a slider, most other strobes u have to press a button repeatedly, so if u want to change from full power to half power all u have to do is drag the slider till the half power marking,with strobes made by impact u would have to press the down button about 10 times
-
Alien Bees are AC powered but there is a battery pack available that handles 2 lights very well.
http://www.paulcbuff.com/vm120.php
Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
In this Discussion
- bobh665 February 2
- Mo4753 February 2
- Naftoli February 5
- Truemoments February 2