Strobe Lighting for D30

[Reesestric]

I want to shoot some studio photography with my D30. Seniors, Weddings, Family etc.... Does anyone have any recommendations for Strobes to buy ... not to buy etc....

New to Photography

[soumya63]

With unlimited budget try

Canon 550EX .... 1 Qty
Canon 420EX .... 2 Qty
Canon ST-E2 .... 1 Qty


With somehow Limited budget

Canon 550 EX .... 1
Canon 420 EX .... 1


With almost shoe-string budget

Canon 420 EX ... 1
or
Sigma EF500 Super (for Canon) ... 1

:D

[dpickering]

I use White Lightning standalone flashes from Paul C. Buff-much cheaper than the "pro" flashes, but quite effective...they are at:

http://www.white-lightning.com/mainframe.html

[Gomez Photography]

Please make sure you use a wireless radio slave. Wizard , or even White Lightning has a wierless slave system. You can fry you sync if you don't.

[dpickering]

Michael,

I sent you a private email, too, but can you clarify why you might fry your sync with external flashes?

thx
Dave

[bushey]

I am intererested in why you (soumya63) have proposed what you did. Can you provide some insight and setup

[Peter Gregg]

This is what I just got:

http://www.alienbees.com

3 B800 monolights
2 extreme duty stands
1 background light stand
1 set of honeycombs
2 48" umbrellas
1 remote (5.8 volts trigger voltage)


Just under $1000 with shipping. Same as White Lightening stuff, same owner. He wanted 2 companies that does the same thing.

Impression: I expected much cheaper stuff than I got. The quality is so much better than I thought. There is a fan in each unit for cooling. You can set the light to dim when it flashes to confirm firing. You can also have the modeling light raise and lower with the power reduction. The power reduction is a slider.

I am very very pleased with the whole setup.

Pete

[John Boyes]

The D30 only wants to see 6v at the PC terminal whereas most studio strobes use a sync voltage well in excess of this. Over time, repeated exposure (sic) to high volts can cuase problems with the flash sync circuitry.

As well as radio slaves, a cheaper alternative might be to use a Wein Safe Sync which attaches to the hotshoe on the D30 and drops the sync voltage from strobes down to a safe 6V.

There's a huge thread on this over on the D30 forum at Robgalbraith.com - do a search for "sync voltage".

Still puzzles me why Canon didn't put this info in the user manual as most people would naturally use the PC socket to trigger the strobes!

[soumya63]

bushey wrote:
I am intererested in why you (soumya63) have proposed what you did. Can you provide some insight and setup

Studio strobes are powerful and offer continuous modeling light, but at the same time not very portable and affordable. Moreover, they require direct power so cables snake around the floor. More flexibility (with less light power output) can be achieved with Canon Speedlight 550EX and 420EX which have inbuilt wireless flash support. All of them come with adapter through which you can mount them on tripod. They also offer variable light power output, and sync at high shutter speed, 1st or 2nd curtain also. The bigger brother 550EX also provides a second long modeling light feature.

Most of the studio lighting requires three light sources, one for the main light or modeling light, the second one is the fill in light and the third one can be used for illuminating background or the back/top portion of the model. I prefer to use one 550 and two 420 with ST-E2 as the remote controller.

550 EX can be fitted on a tripod and used as the modeling light. 420 ex fitted with a diffuser or bounced from a surface/umbrella is used as a fill in light. The third one is used to evenly illuminate the background to eliminate any shadow of the subjects on the background. The flashes are triggered by ST-E2 mounted on D30.

This setup is so flexible; you can carry it for outdoor shooting. Can be used for illuminating a large group and adequate for me even in indoor. The total cost is within 1000$.

[DanteM]

soumya63 wrote:
bushey wrote:
I am intererested in why you (soumya63) have proposed what you did. Can you provide some insight and setup

Studio strobes are powerful and offer continuous modeling light, but at the same time not very portable and affordable. Moreover, they require direct power so cables snake around the floor. More flexibility (with less light power output) can be achieved with Canon Speedlight 550EX and 420EX which have inbuilt wireless flash support. All of them come with adapter through which you can mount them on tripod. They also offer variable light power output, and sync at high shutter speed, 1st or 2nd curtain also. The bigger brother 550EX also provides a second long modeling light feature.

Most of the studio lighting requires three light sources, one for the main light or modeling light, the second one is the fill in light and the third one can be used for illuminating background or the back/top portion of the model. I prefer to use one 550 and two 420 with ST-E2 as the remote controller.

550 EX can be fitted on a tripod and used as the modeling light. 420 ex fitted with a diffuser or bounced from a surface/umbrella is used as a fill in light. The third one is used to evenly illuminate the background to eliminate any shadow of the subjects on the background. The flashes are triggered by ST-E2 mounted on D30.

This setup is so flexible; you can carry it for outdoor shooting. Can be used for illuminating a large group and adequate for me even in indoor. The total cost is within 1000$.



I am currently trying to decide which lighting setup to use for in home portraits & Weddings. I'v been looking for someone who is using the 550ex setup as you are becouse I can't seem to find a way to compare the light output of a 550ex to studio strobes, the ratings on strobes are in WS and on the 550 they are ISO. Have you used studio strobes in the past? and if so how much differtent is the light output. I guess I'm really looking for the answer to how effective is the 550ex setup concerning (amount of light output)

[mushedroom]

hey i have a canon eos 3 rig with the wireless and the 550 flash...i love them both...i just ordered the 1600 alienbees light kit today!!! the only issue i have with canon products is that the 550 flash is so expensive....350-500.00 per...yikes....

where as the studio strobe was under 1000.00 with shipping and a boom arm....
for two 640WS strobes...stands, umbrellas, wired remote, etc.

oh and by the way guys...the alienbees are pocketwizard friendly so all you'd really need to do is buy a pocketwizard sender...mount it to your camera and voila....
pure wireless strobe freedom

dantem wrote:
soumya63 wrote:
bushey wrote:
I am intererested in why you (soumya63) have proposed what you did. Can you provide some insight and setup

Studio strobes are powerful and offer continuous modeling light, but at the same time not very portable and affordable. Moreover, they require direct power so cables snake around the floor. More flexibility (with less light power output) can be achieved with Canon Speedlight 550EX and 420EX which have inbuilt wireless flash support. All of them come with adapter through which you can mount them on tripod. They also offer variable light power output, and sync at high shutter speed, 1st or 2nd curtain also. The bigger brother 550EX also provides a second long modeling light feature.

Most of the studio lighting requires three light sources, one for the main light or modeling light, the second one is the fill in light and the third one can be used for illuminating background or the back/top portion of the model. I prefer to use one 550 and two 420 with ST-E2 as the remote controller.

550 EX can be fitted on a tripod and used as the modeling light. 420 ex fitted with a diffuser or bounced from a surface/umbrella is used as a fill in light. The third one is used to evenly illuminate the background to eliminate any shadow of the subjects on the background. The flashes are triggered by ST-E2 mounted on D30.

This setup is so flexible; you can carry it for outdoor shooting. Can be used for illuminating a large group and adequate for me even in indoor. The total cost is within 1000$.



I am currently trying to decide which lighting setup to use for in home portraits & Weddings. I'v been looking for someone who is using the 550ex setup as you are becouse I can't seem to find a way to compare the light output of a 550ex to studio strobes, the ratings on strobes are in WS and on the 550 they are ISO. Have you used studio strobes in the past? and if so how much differtent is the light output. I guess I'm really looking for the answer to how effective is the 550ex setup concerning (amount of light output)

[dpickering]

Doing some further research on White lightnings, I asked their tech guys about the flash sync, this is what they said:

"Hi Dave
The 10,000 is 24 volts, You need to purchase a wein safe sync model SSH, this is a small voltage regulator that plugs in-between your pc and sync cord. then you will be safe...You can get one local or Abbeycamera.com or B&H, Abbey is cheaper at 28.00"