basic studio setup

[evilenglishman]

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[Dans_D60]

There are many startup kits available that will include everything you discussed. In the U.S., I found B&H the best in price and service for these types of purchases. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/ Lighting kits range from the inexpensive, just a few hundred $ (£) to the very expensive. As in my previous posts – you basically get what you pay for. I started with a small two-strobe studio light setup a few years back and have augmented with more equipment as I found the need. You can connect the studio lights to your D60 using the PC Sync connection, but make sure the voltage of the external trigger is 6 volts or less. There are hotshoe attachments for external lighting and some even limit the trigger voltage. Most modern lighting equipment complies with this voltage specification; however some older equipment may damage your camera. I currently use a wireless trigger attached to the hotshoe (PocketWizard) that allows me the freedom to move about without wires. You can’t simply shoot away since most external studio lighting gear is not automatic with the D60’s metering and the sync speeds. For the most part your D60 will be in manual exposure mode, set the shutter speed to 1/60 and adjust the aperture for correct exposure with your lights. I suggest a light meter to more accurately accomplish this task. Good luck! ….Dan

http://www.pettusphoto.com

BELOW IS MY CURRENT HOME (GARAGE) LIGHTING SETUP
http://www.pettusphoto.com/studio-light.jpg

[Mark Kemp]

Wow Dan,

I expect some pros would be envious of your garage setup!

evilenglishman,

a two light setup, brollys maybe a softbox and a reflector or two should be fine for most pictures. I do pretty well with one light most of the time!

The Jessop portaflash stuff is good for the money - not the ultimate in power but as long as you only want to light one or two people no problem. You can just move the light a bit nearer usually. Of course if you have the money then Bowens, Courtenay etc are better.

Two bits of advice, set the camera to the fastest speed that will sync (x sync - see the manual) use a flashmeter to get the aperture and you should be close to the right exposure. Then look on the LCD on the camera and check the histogram for final adjustments (aren't digitals handy sometimes)

[evilenglishman]

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[Dans_D60]

evilenglishman wrote:
thaks a lot for the info guys the kit i was looking at was this:
http://www.jessops.com/search/viewproduct.cfm?PRODUCT=INFHALK&BRAND=&CONTINUE=false&FEATS=&FIRSTPRICE=&KEYWORD=&LEVEL=&MODELNUMBER=&NEWQUERY=True&NODE=316&ORD=ASC&ORDERBY=&QUANTITY=10&RECENT=0&REFINE=&SEARCH_FOR=&SEARCHNODE=0&SEARCHURL=dointellisearch.cfm&SECONDPRICE=&SHOWCASEID=&STARTROW=1&SUBS=&WORD_SEARCH=N&

are there any advantages/disadvantages to buying tungsten/halogen/etc ?

What you are looking at is continuous lighting and not strobe lights. The advantage is you see what you get. So for shadows and other lighting parameters these lights will work fine. Disadvantage is they are not as intense as strobe units (in general) and they can get very hot and most models don’t like sitting under these lights for very long. Also the color temperature is 3200K which is closer to tungsten than daylight whereas strobe lighting is typically around 5000K and can be mixed with daylight easily.
Dan
http://www.pettusphoto.com

[evilenglishman]

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[Dans_D60]

The suggestion that one is “better” depends on the style of your studio shots. Continuous lighting is certainly fine for product shots especially using digital cameras since you can adjust white balance on-the-fly. However, if you plan to do a lot of people shots like portraits or glamour, I highly suggest the flash units as they run cool and deliver more punch and more options. Just my thoughts … others may have a different opinion.

Dan
http://www.pettusphoto.com

[msvirick]

Hi Dan
I was also impressed with the backdrop. It looks like cloth material. May I know were you got this material.
I bought 3 second hand lights and a box, I believe this is a transformer of some kind, and a meter. I will learn in time to set this up and know how they function.
Thank you

[Dans_D60]

msvirick wrote:
Hi Dan
I was also impressed with the backdrop. It looks like cloth material. May I know were you got this material.
I bought 3 second hand lights and a box, I believe this is a transformer of some kind, and a meter. I will learn in time to set this up and know how they function.
Thank you

That image shows a muslin cloth background that can be purchased from many sources. I have purchased several from http://www.dennymfg.com/ The quality is excellent.

Dan
http://www.pettusphoto.com