Small Studio- how do you feel?

http://www.skaeser.com​/servlet/Detail?no=279

It's only 180w/s but it's cheap and has adjustable flash.

I have had several offers from friends to pay me to take pics of them. Mostly in studio portrait stuff, but I don't have a studio. So i'm trying to get it started.

I know there are a million threads about this and i have looked and viewed all of the stickies. Would this be worth it?

If not show me a set up for under $1500 that includes everything I need to get started!

Come on now it's a challenge. If there is one thing I have learned about this forum it's that people here like a challenge

BTW i LOVE used stuff but have had less than ideal luck finding what I'm looking for so if you have lights grip or whatever pm me!

Thanks a bunch evreyone!

it seems like a decent amout of gear for the price, i would only be worried about quality and opportunity to get service/repairs if these end up being used for a couple years.

If you are truly a beginner in this area, you should consider starting with 1-2 lights and a reflector. This is a common suggestion to newer portrait folks. This will help you to get the hang of lighting, posing, ratios, etc...

this kit seems to be decent, and it wouldnt be totally worthless as you "level up" but i would be really cautious about buying the "lowest price" package. Garbage is still garbage, no matter the price. ( im not saying that this is necessarily garbage, BTW)

Check out alienbees, and Amvona.com they have some good budget gear there. honestly, you can get a pair of bees, and a cheap amvona strobe to work as a hair light if you really need it.

you can easily get a fairly decent studio set for that price, so dont worry. you will be doing pictures in no time.

Hi

I don't have these, but I have similar flashes. You can see my review of them here. I bought them from ebay (link to seller in review thread).

I've had a pretty good experience with them. The power is more than you get out of a portable strobist-style flash, and a lot of people are going around with only those. I wouldn't recommend buying 4 of them at once - if you want to light your background, 3 is plenty. With your budget, however, I would go for a few Alienbee 400's or 800's - unfortunately not available in the UK.

So yeah. If you want ultra cheap, they probably will work, however if I'd had twice the budget when I bought my stuff, I would of tried to get slightly more expensive ones with a good warranty etc.

Leo

If it were me I would use that money to buy a couple of used photogenic flashes off of ebay. See the reviews here on how they matched up against the rest for consistency.
https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=469075
I have had similar lights like the ones posted and I got rid of them all. I was like you looking for something cheap to get started with and bought a setup similar. Although I got good results with them I was never quite happy and after buying the StudioMaxII 320w/s I got rid of them quickly. I did a side by side test with them and I would venture to say the ones I had were not even close to the rated output if my Studiomax is correct in its rating. I have a post on here about them.
https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=466223
You can probably get a couple of the Studiomax's on ebay for around 300 if you are frugal and piece the rest together from there. I was much happier with my two Photogencis then I ever was with the whole kit that I got. If you want to buy new the price of Photogenics vs. Alienbees is very similar.

MikeMcL wrote in post #5252171
If you are truly a beginner in this area, you should consider starting with 1-2 lights and a reflector. This is a common suggestion to newer portrait folks. This will help you to get the hang of lighting, posing, ratios, etc...

As a true beginner when it comes to studio lighting, I started out with just one light, 580EX, with DIY diffusion panels and DIY reflectors, and I'm very happy with this decision. While I'm gaining experience with lighting, I'm also gaining enough knowledge about various and often confusing number of competing equipments out there that I'll know exactly what to get and for what purposes. One light source, by the way, can produce very decent jobs...