I just got Canon 10D (in addition to my S60) and I want to set up a small studio in the basement. I need an advise on a lighting equipment for small studio. Something that cheap and works great. I read lighting lessons on Adorama and B&H Photo, but in every lesson they use like 5 grand worth of lighting. I can't bloody afford to follow their advises. I'm not doing it for money, and my budget is very small. So I need an advise on good and cheap key light, background light, lighting box etc. How many do I need to shot people? If you can just poing to Adorama or B&H Photo links for particular equipment.

Also if somebody knows other good places to buy. Used stuff at reasonable prices would be great.

Also if you can point me to a good photo forums

Thanks

 

Not a pro photog but seems like EBAY or some clearance deals at places like Ritz Camera might be a good source....GL2U....Dave

 

Two photo forums that I visit:
http://www.dpreview.com
If you use Nikon http://www.nikonians.org/
http://www.fredmiranda.com
And here is a thread on studios http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/144181/0
What kind of camera do you have?

 

Go to Home Depot and buy those lights with clips on them. Get some that will give you hard shadows and some that will give you soft shadows.Buy some gels from an art store. And get some white and gray drop cloth. Also the reflective shades for cars work really well and you can buy them in almost any color. Depending on what you are trying to achieve I don't think you need to spend more than 100 dollars.

 

Modular track lighting works very well BTW. I run a figurative workshop and those are much more convenient than any peppers or spot light.

 

Thanks, that was really helpfull link to studio's thread!

 

track lighting or home depot lighting... will give you problems if you don't know how to white balance. If you shoot with those lights you may want to adjust white balance to tungsten or do a custom white balance.

The correct lights would have to be daylight balanced.

My friend just purchased a killer speedotron kit used for $2000 (valued at $4000 or so)

Just make sure the lights are white balanced.

http://www.alienbees.com/

this company makes semi-affordable lighting kits.

 

You can also look into monolights, they are lights with powerpacks all in one. Here's one...

http://www.calumetphoto.com/ctl?PAGE...&type=PRDINDEX

Bowens BW8016
Esprit 2 1000w/s Monolight (110V)
$959

Yo can probably find this or something similar used for less.

As for how many you'd need, you'd be surprised at how well *one* with a large diffusion box works. I was a photographer for many years, and one or two for a small studio just starting will do it. I think I bought my first set (power pack and 3 lights) used for $400.

 

http://www.calumetphoto.com/ctl?PAGE...&type=PRDINDEX

Calumet Travelite 750 $399

I remember actually having a couple of these, though it wasn'tthis model exactly as it was 10 years ago. Calumet has some lighting packages which might be up your alley as well...

http://www.calumetphoto.com/ctl?PAGE...CatTree&page=4
http://www.calumetphoto.com/ctl?PAGE...CatTree&page=6

Under $1,000 for a nice, simple brand-new kit.

 

I went with Alien Bees. A lot of people compliment those affordable lights (if you can call $200 to $400 for one unit affordable ) I got one AB400 and two AB800, softbox and couple umbrelas... They actully arrived today!

Now, everybody says if I got a good lights, I need a light meter now. And good ones are $300 to $500. My wife is going to kill me

On a side note... It's amazing what you can find on ebay! I saw people bidding 260 on AlienBee 400 flash. Which can be bought for $224 on manufacturers website. With warranty and support...

 

I would hold off on a light meter for a while, since you have a lcd back that would kinda work as a polaroid back and you will be able to tell if exposure is within range. If you use the zebra stripe function ( I don't know what it is called on the 10d) it shows you what areas are blown out and beyond exposure latitude.

Also you can shoot tethered ( directly to a computer) in a studio situation which would give you an even better idea of your exposures.

If you do decide to get a light meter I would look at the minolta IV f. (less than $200) It will do everything you need. You won't be needing a color meter or spot meter for most lit situations

 

I got my Alienbees lights. Assembly and material quality is amazingly good and solid. Work great too. It's difficult to imagine what more expensive lights should be made of and look like to justify the price

I took about 100 pictures trying different setups. And right from the beginning quality of pics is light years from that without lights. Why was I waiting so many years to get ones?

A question... is it normal that I can't go faster than 1/250? Black vertical bar fills part of the image at 1/350 and faster... (shutter) So I have to use f13 and up, even with light not at full power. I'd really like to go to f4... what am I missing? Logically, if at 1/250 I had light long enough, then at faster speed, light will be good enogh too?

 

your logic on shutter speed is correct, however the I believe the 10d will only sync up to 250th of a second. The black bar that you see is the shutter blade because it is too fast to sync up.

Yes those lights are far more powerfull than the on camera flash. A few solutions so you can shoot with a wider fstop are;

dial the power on the heads down.

move the lights farther away from the subject. ( light does not fall off linearly, but more like a steep curve.) So moving the lights a few feet can make a big difference.

Use a neutral density filter on the lens to cut down a few stops.

If you've noticed adding a softbox puts out much less light than the bare head. So reflectors, barn doors, snoots and such will also cut down light.

Its funny usually photographers can't get enough light... and now you have too much.

Out of curiousity what do you plan to shoot.

Also about the 10d look into shooting raw and using plugin's such as focal blade or noise ninja.

I teach photoshop and am a photographer, so feel free to shoot me any questions you may have.


oh also you can set your asa/iso down to 100

 

Thanks!

I will try to lover power further down. Density filter is an option too, but I'm not sure if I'm going to keep my lens. I currently have Canon 17-40 f4 L. My working studio is quite small 9x15, and I'm not sure yet if that's what I need or should I get something else, like 28-70 or even 70-200 as some people recommend for good portraits. I just started... got a lot of experiments to do. So far 17-40 set in the middle produced great results. No visible disproportion. But background is sure sharp... especially at f16 .

I'm planning to shoot people for fun. I actually have been doing it (and enjoying it) for long time now, but because of luck of right equipment, good quality shots were rare and totally random. So one day I decided what the heck, got muself a 10D, L lens, studio in the basement, and a lot of light. Now I don't have any excuses to explain bad shots

 

well congrats on the new gear... I'm sure you'll be very happy with it all. Only problem is photogear can cost as much as that new turbo kit when all is said and done.

fyi an 80-135 is what i use to shoot most portraits, however with digital you have to multiply by 1.4 or 1.6..... so in digital thats about 50-100