Starting out: Flash suggestions for a small home studio

[misshotnspicy]

Hey guys,

I would like to start getting into portrait shots outdoors as well indoors studio. I'm completely a newbie and would love some advice and guidances. I have a small den 10 x 10 that I converted into a studio. Currently, I have some basic photography lighting equipment that I purchased recently (2 light stands with 30W & 80W perfect day light bulbs, 32" shoot through umbrellas, a soft box, white & black backdrop) and a Canon 430ex ii. Was wondering if I should sell the 430ex ii and purchased canon 580ex ii instead? Is there is a big difference between the 580ex and 580ex ii?

I would like to buy a wireless hot shoe flash trigger & receiver set. Are there one manufacturer that is better than the others? Is there anything else you guys recommend for my small studio set? Budget is limited to $500+-. I have a person who is interested in purchasing my 430ex ii this afternoon and was wondering if I should go head and sell it. I have a 40D camera.

Thanks in advance,
Laura

[tunin]

I have the pocketwizards FLEX and MINI and two 580s (one is a ex and the other is the exII, not a big difference... the recycle time is shorter -20%...) This review rounds it up pretty good: http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Canon-580EX-II-Speedlite-Flash-Review.aspx When it comes to the the flex and the mini - over the past few weeks I have fallen to love the two working bees.

What I would do if I was in your shoes, I would sell the 430 and then buy a 580ex or the exII and the bees and that will add up to aprox. what you wanna spend. :-)

[sdipirro]

Ah ha! And here you are in the lighting forum, and so we meet again. While tunin's suggestions are good ones, they may seem rather cryptic to a newbie. The 430EX II is an excellent flash, but if you're planning to use this as your off-camera light source, you'll get more range and power out of the 580EX, especially with larger modifiers. Another difference between the older 580EX and the 580EX II is a PC port on the later to use with flash triggers. The older 580EX didn't have one. I modified mine to add one. I don't think your daylight bulbs are really going to work well for studio lighting. You'll find most folks prefer flash/strobe lighting to any form of continuous lighting. Tunin's reference to "bees" one of the popular strobe lighting alternatives at the lower end. You'll find the "strobists" uses speedlights for off-camera lighting. While versatile for studio and on-location lighting, including outdoors, they have their limitations in the studio. Studio strobes or monolights give you the controls you need in the studio while perhaps not the easiest to take on location or use outdoors.

There are several flash trigger/receiver sets that are popular like the cybersyncs. I happen to use Pocket Wizards and love them. They're expensive though...but reliable with great range. Starting with what you have now, what I think I would do is plan to experiment with your 430EX II off camera with it mounted on a hotshoe adapter on one lightstand. These hotshoe adapters have an umbrella slot and shoe mount for your flash. Now you just need a way to trigger it. You can start with a synch cord, but if you want to go wireless from the start, the cybersyncs might be a good choice. I'll let others chime in with opinions on that. This will allow you, with a minimal initial investment, to get a flash light source off camera to experiment with. Your daylight bulbs can serve as modeling lights, I suppose, but they won't contribute to the lighting in your shot with the flash. With the single light source and umbrella, you'll quickly discover limitations. You might want to add a reflector for fill. Maybe you want more light control on your key light than you can get with the umbrella. If you can adapt the softbox to use with the flash, that's a start..Add a grid to the softbox, and you control the key light even more. Next you want accent lighting or background lighting, and it goes on and on. There are some relatively inexpensive studio strobes that people here seem to use quite a bit, like the Alien Bees and Elinchrom Dlite-2's and Dlite-4's. There are a number of advantages in the studio to using studio lighting, but you'll always want at least one good speedlight (like the 430 or 580).

[misshotnspicy]

tunin - thanks for the advice.

sdipirro - I'm slowly migrating in this section. It's overwhelming for my pea brain. Honestly, it's been very frustrating for me shooting indoor studio as I don't completely understand.

I took the advice and sold my 430ex ii and just recently bought the 580ex ii along with the Youngnuo RF-602 transmitter & receiver (not the greatest, but has a lot of great reviews and it will be a good starter for me until I understand). I never used the 430ex ii to mount on a hotshoe adapter before, but will have to experiment with that once I get the 580ex ii and the trigger. Thank you again.

[oscaristheone]

HI - I can't run to a 530ex11 at the moment - is it a waste to buy the 430X11- should I wait?

[PLLphotography]

I'm in the same boat misshotnspicy...although I didn't catch this thread until after I made a couple purchases :-(

I also have a 430 EX II. I went and bought a wireless flash trigger, along with a 33" silver umbrella/stand and a reflector to try some portraits. they are en-route, so i haven't actually had a chance to try them out...although I hope the 430 EX II has enough power for the time being until I can afford a 580 EX II (or they drop in price :lol:).

by the way, your photos look great on your flickr account :-)