Setting up a studio

[swatcop169]

As you know I'm in the process of setting up a studio. I've applied for a SBL (Small Business loan) in the amount of $15,000. I've made 3 lists which would get me into the equipment I would need. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Package 1;

$15,000 - Loan
$7,400 – Camera, Canon 1DsMKII
$1,800 – Lights, Alien Bee Intergalatic package with a few changes to it.
$2,255 – Laptop, Dell Inspiron 9300
$260 – Flash Meter, Sekonic L-358
$640 – Pocket Wizard, 1 Multi-Plus, with 2 plus receiver's
$324 – Ram, 3 gig's
$2,331 – Left


Package 2;

$15,000 - Loan
$4,031 – Camera, Canon 1DMKII N
$1,800 – Lights, Alien Bee Intergalatic package with a few changes to it.
$2,255 – Laptop, Dell Inspiron 9300
$260 - Flash Meter, Sekonic L-358
$640 – Pocket Wizard, 1 Multi-Plus, with 2 plus receiver's
$324 – Ram, 3 gig's
$5,690 – Left


Package 3;

$15,000 – Loan
$3,326 – Camera, Canon 5D
$1,800 – Lights, Alien Bee Intergalatic package with a few changes to it.
$2,255 – Laptop, Dell Inspiron 9300
$260 – Flash meter, Sekonic L-358
$640 – Pocket Wizard, 1 Multi-Plus, with 2 plus receiver's
$324 – Ram, 3 gig's
$6,395 - Left

[CappuccinoDavid]

What type of photography are you getting into? The Laptop is a good ideal, they can be very handy.

[swatcop169]

What type of photography are you getting into? The Laptop is a good ideal, they can be very handy.

Main focus is going to be on model/fasion/portriats. However I'm planning to do weddings, product, sports, etc.

[CappuccinoDavid]

You need a good business plan and to realy specialize in one field. Its nice to do all of it but they SBL like to know that you know what your want. And not be a jack of all trades. Because they will ask why you need all the equipment for wedding and sport/events. So if you have more of a nick you will sell them on your ideal

[Mocking-DX]

i think if you're doing sports as often as portraits, i'd go with #2
if you do more portraits, package 3 and get a couple of L primes like 85mm 1.2L and/or 35L
Just my opinion...
This is something i wanna do in the future, but my experience and knowledge in photog is
still holding me back----even if the wife keeps encouraging me to do so already

Good luck

[Mike Panic]

some random input... $2400 is way to much for a laptop... that is enough to buy both a home system and a laptop. i've seen HP's w/ amd 3200+ 64bit processors, 1gig ram, 100gig hdd, 15" lcd, bla bla bla for $999-1299. the monitors are good but not great on any laptop... id still be connecting it to a crt. you can also pick up a similar model home computer for under $600 w/ no monitor. there is no need for 3gigs of ram. no product out there for the consumer market can utilize it, nor can windows manage it successfully. don't go above 2gigs.

if sports is not your main focus, consider picking up a 5d w/ grip for $3300 or so, or a used in like new shape 1ds, they go for around $3000 as of late.

if your studio space is no bigger then 1000 square feet, i wouldn't bother dumping the extra money for the AB1600's, the 800's will work fine.

don't spend the money on the AB light stands. find a local dealer who sells promaster, get their 8.5' (they are called 9 but trust me, they are 8.5') air cusioned light stands, they are $50 and better then the $150 bogen spring cusioned

pocket wizards or similar are a must. quantum radio slave 4i works great and are a tad cheaper, pocket wizards are built better and have a farther reach

light meter is kind of overkill if you'll be in the studio all the time... you can buy a $85 digital target (white / grey / black) and use your histogram - although light meters do have lots of other uses where they are invaluable.

lens wise, id be looking at:

24-70L
85 f/1.2L
135 f/2L
70-200 f/2.8L IS

[swatcop169]

some random input... $2400 is way to much for a laptop... that is enough to buy both a home system and a laptop. i've seen HP's w/ amd 3200+ 64bit processors, 1gig ram, 100gig hdd, 15" lcd, bla bla bla for $999-1299. the monitors are good but not great on any laptop... id still be connecting it to a crt. you can also pick up a similar model home computer for under $600 w/ no monitor. there is no need for 3gigs of ram. no product out there for the consumer market can utilize it, nor can windows manage it successfully. don't go above 2gigs.
My home system was custom built by me for $3500 two years ago, only have 512 megs of ram right now. The mobo will support 3 gigs, PSCS can use 2 gigs of ram by itself.

if sports is not your main focus, consider picking up a 5d w/ grip for $3300 or so, or a used in like new shape 1ds, they go for around $3000 as of late.
I haven't researched the 5D closely yet, but I plan to.

if your studio space is no bigger then 1000 square feet, i wouldn't bother dumping the extra money for the AB1600's, the 800's will work fine.
All the AB's except the background light will be AB800's

don't spend the money on the AB light stands. find a local dealer who sells promaster, get their 8.5' (they are called 9 but trust me, they are 8.5') air cusioned light stands, they are $50 and better then the $150 bogen spring cusioned
I belive B&H carry them, I remember the 8.5' 9 deal

pocket wizards or similar are a must. quantum radio slave 4i works great and are a tad cheaper, pocket wizards are built better and have a farther reach
On 4 lights how many should I have? I shouldn't need one for all 4

lens wise, id be looking at:

24-70L
85 f/1.2L
135 f/2L
70-200 f/2.8L IS

Already own the 135L, was looking at the 85 1.8 (cheaper then the 1.2L), the 24-70L and 100 2.8 macro

[Mike Panic]

b&h does not carry promaster brand - find a local store, you don't want to pay shipping on stands or risk them getting dammaged

again - your computer choice is yours but if you paid $3500 for a computer 2 years ago w/ 512megs of ram, someone went lol all the way to the bank. $3500 is more then i paid for my current system setup AND my car (89 civic si h/b)

my desktop is an amd 3200+ 64bit w/ 1.5gigs of ram, seagate 160 7200 rpm drive, too many usb ports, firewire, 16x dvd burner, built in card reader, legit copy of windows, etc... that only set me back around $650

for pocket wizards and AB lights, you only need one sender and one receiver. AB's have built in slave units, so your sender (on camera's hotshoe) will trigger the receiver that is connected to one of your strobes via pc synch cord - when the strobe pops, it will trigger anything else around it

[Mthorpe_Davies]

If you are planning on shooting weddings a second body is a must, preferably identical to your other one. I would also add a 580ex or two to the mix. I'm not a fan of laptops but they do have their uses, a really good desktop would be my pick with a backup laptop for out in the field.

For portraits the 85 F1.2L must almost be a given.

Just my two cents.