Speedlights or monolights?

What did you start with?

I'm new to off camera flash, and looking to start accumulating some gear. I've read through a lot of threads asking which light, and everyone of course says buy high- don't start cheap, you are wasting money. I don't make any money off my photography- this is purely my hobby. However, my wife is due in May, and I was able to squeeze some money out of the budget by showing her all those cute newborn pictures, and advising that I would need to invest in some lights to make those shots happen.

Here is my question- do I start with speedlight/stand/trigg​ers, or monolight/stand/trigge​rs?

If you were starting all over, what would you start with? Budget of around $500. Thanks!

I Have been researching a similar question for about 5 weeks. I have watched almost every YouTube tutorial, read every blog and spoken to lots of people and I can be quite confident in saying to you that there is no clear winner in this debate. You do what you think suits you best and it will most probably work just fine.

There is not a lot to chose based on cost and for a budget of $500 you will be able to set yourself up.

FWIW on balance, if you are a confirmed hobbyist and likely to take most of your pics in the home then I would concentrate my thoughts on getting speed lights to be used of camera with umbrellas/softboxes. I am sure that you have read about the range of speed lights that are available and deciding which ones to chose opens yet another can of worms.

I wish you well as a father

Good luck!

First of all, I'd like to say that I've seen amazing work with both type of lights. I use both types myself.

What I started with:

I started with a speedlight (580 II), but only because I used it with my wildlife gear for taking bird photos. I was not into doing any studio, portraiture work, but have gotten into it over the years and have invested in the Einstein 640.

What I'd do now:

If I were just starting with off camera flash now for indoor studio, portraiture type work only and had the same budget of $500, I would look into the AlienBees lights. Those Canon speedlights are expensive and you could get two AlienBee lights and some Yongnou flash triggers for almost less than one of the newer Canon speedlights or you can get one light, triggers, modifiers, reflectors etc.

Now with that said, Yongnou have speedlightsout there that would fit well within your budget, but I am not familiar with them at all. I'm sure someone will be here that can give more detail on those units. These were not available when I started, but I'd definitely consider them now if I had to replace my 580s. They have gotten high reviews on Amazon.

Here are my thoughts simplified. If I'm only going to shoot in doors, I would mostly consider something along the lines of AlienBees if the budget is tight. If I am going to be shooting indoors and outdoors, then I'd consider speedlights if the budget is tight, because you will need more equipment with the monolights, such as battery pack if using monolights outdoors, which would wipe your budget. You can do a lot with a speedlight, triggers and an umbrella. Plus with speedlights, you can use it on camera, too.

Good luck in your search and don't rush things, sit down and really think about this, so that you get exactly what you need. The Strobist link (lighting 101) below provides lots of good information for beginners on a tight budget. Keep the thread alive and let us know the final disposition.

Al

Here's a couple links that may help you.

Strobist

Strobist beginner's lighting kit suggestion

Yongnou speedlight review

Syl Arena

Video with Speedlights

Video with 1 speedlight and off camera flash cord

Warning: I have controversial opinions. Proceed at your own risk.

Speedlites put out disgusting quality of light. If you look at one, you will notice a the flash head is a reflector with a fresnel lens on the front, housing a tiny linear flash tube. Speedlites put out such low power that they must be designed in this fashion to focus 100% of the output in one direction.

Think about when scientists first discovered pulsars. They thought the pulsars violated the laws of physics because they assumed the pulsars were emitting their energy in all directions. Later they realized the energy was actually being "focused" in certain directions. Think of speedlites as pulsars, and strobes as super novas. Super novas, because they use circular or coiled flash tubes and diffusion domes so that their power is thrown out in all directions. That and they are cosmically more powerful than pulsars. Super novas I mean, not strobes (thankfully).

Anyway, I digress.

Since all the light from a speedlite is being focused in one direction, right off the bat if you want flattering light from a speedlite, you're going to have to bounce it or use a modifier. Bouncing is the best option, because no matter what modifier you use with a speedlight, the fact that they emit such a focused beam of light means it's next to impossible to get modifiers to function properly. You will get a hot spot in the case of softboxes / umbrellas, or nerf the beauty of beauty dishes. You will have to buy all kinds of jury-rigged hardware to get your speedlite attached to modifiers, and once you do, you will melt your flash or drain your batteries because once you modify a speedlite to the point of beautiful light, it's putting out jack $#(! for power. So then you buy a battery pack for your speedlight, and realize you've just spent your whole budget on a grocery store quality flashlight that you can't even use outside for anything more than harsh direct fill.

All this being said, bounce flash can be quite handy.

IMAGE LINK: http://imgur.com/zzxqy

I have both setups, alien bees and a gang of speedlites. I use both depending on what my goals are. If I can, I use the monolights because there is no substitute for large modifiers in terms of soft flattering light. With a portable power pack they are more versatile than you might think. The speedlites get used in two circumstances, when I want to match low ambient light they have the ability to be turned down low so I can balance flash with golden hour sunlight. Also if you have enough speedlites that are HSS compatible you can use a multiple bracket and make a portable fill flash unit using 3 (or more) speedlites.

As a hobbyist, wanting primarily to photograph your new family, I'd get a good manual speedlite for off camera use. In my opinion, at the moment, that is the Godox V850. Its available from multiple sources, one of which is Cheetah Stand in Dallas. It offers reasonable power, fast recycle times, and remote power control. With an umbrella or an umbrella framed soft box it will provide you sufficient light for what you want to accomplish. Two of them, with a trigger and a couple of simple modifiers and stands will stay around your budget.

I have monolights, bare bulb flashes and speedlites, all have benefits. Each has its own strengths. For what you want now, the V850 is a good choice and it is part of a system that can grow with your hobby.

Thanks everyone for the replies. I know my budget is small for this sort of thing, but we all have to start somewhere! I've looked at the godox/neewer/cheetah 850 flash units- the real downside for me is the FT-16 triggers will only work with the 850 and the 180/360 bare bulb flashes. If I go with the Yongnuo 560 III and RF-603 triggers, that would give me more flexibility for adding different lights in the future, as the 603 triggers seem to play with just about everything.

If I start with 2 yongnuo 560 III, a set or two of RF603 triggers, and stands/brackets/umbrel​las/reflectors, I can stay within my budget and have a few light sources to play with.

Qlayer2 wrote in post #16596274
Thanks everyone for the replies. I know my budget is small for this sort of thing, but we all have to start somewhere! I've looked at the godox/neewer/cheetah 850 flash units- the real downside for me is the FT-16 triggers will only work with the 850 and the 180/360 bare bulb flashes. If I go with the Yongnuo 560 III and RF-603 triggers, that would give me more flexibility for adding different lights in the future, as the 603 triggers seem to play with just about everything.

If I start with 2 yongnuo 560 III, a set or two of RF603 triggers, and stands/brackets/umbrel​las/reflectors, I can stay within my budget and have a few light sources to play with.

You can currently get Cells II transceivers as receiver units for other flashes in the Godox system if needed. But Godox are only just getting started, they will have more options.

The V850 cost just a little more, but they are many times better value.
.

Qlayer2 wrote in post #16596274
Thanks everyone for the replies. I know my budget is small for this sort of thing, but we all have to start somewhere! I've looked at the godox/neewer/cheetah 850 flash units- the real downside for me is the FT-16 triggers will only work with the 850 and the 180/360 bare bulb flashes. If I go with the Yongnuo 560 III and RF-603 triggers, that would give me more flexibility for adding different lights in the future, as the 603 triggers seem to play with just about everything.

If I start with 2 yongnuo 560 III, a set or two of RF603 triggers, and stands/brackets/umbrel​las/reflectors, I can stay within my budget and have a few light sources to play with.

Sounds like a winner to me. How about a set of Yongnuo YN622c triggers for just a few bucks more. Not sure about the 603s, but if they are like the 602s, you can't lock down your flash onto the receivers (the 603s could have changed it's designs though) but the 622c have full ettl functionality as well as full manual functionality, which includes HSS. One nice thing about the 622c is they have flash assist beam on them, which can come in handy.

Check out this Video

I've got both the YN622Cs and the RF603Cs. The later I use for triggering my Elinchrom packs. If in your shoes, I'd go with the YN622Cs because they are capable of allowing for remote power adjustment VIA the camera menuing on a lot of the Canon bodies.

I have no problem with locking my 580EXII onto either.

One major benefit of dedicated flash/trigger systems is ability to adjust power remotely.
That capability is probably the most useful even when using ETTL speedlites and triggers off camera.

Its so much easier to just beep the power up or down on the main or fill without having to stop the session and go over to the light. Especially with kids, and other impatient subjects.

You can put a V850 onto an RF-602 or even a YN-622c to fire it. But the remote power adjustment is lost unless the FT-16s receiver is attached.

windpig wrote in post #16598045
...I have no problem with locking my 580EXII onto either.

Now that I think about it, the flash could somewhat lock onto the 602. The problem was the 602s would not lock down on the camera's hot shoe. I damaged one of my 580s (fell off the camera and smashed hard onto the floor) and had to have Canon fix it, so I did not trust the 602s after that, at least on the camera that is.

For your budget, since you aren't shooting for a living day in and day out, you can do this:
2 of these: http://www.adorama.com​/FP320MS1.html
One of these http://www.adorama.com​/FPBKB.html
And one of these: http://www.amazon.com …eywords=yongnuo​+canon+ttl

That's just under $500 and would give you a dedicated TTL speedlight, Two monolights with stands and soft boxes, a smaller monolight with barn doors, and should leave you a little cash to buy a small backlight stand, or light stand with a boom on it. All of the monolights have adjustable power with modeling lights.

This equipment is good for average use. It isn't fragile, but not what I would choose for running a studio where you are carelessly throwing things in and out of a vehicle, knocking things over, dropping them, etc. It's not fragile stuff, but not meant to be beat up either. The lights are occasionally inconsistent by about a half stop or about 500 degrees off on occasion on the color temp. Both are tolerable for hobby work but can be a little irritating if you are shooting professionally where you can't afford to reshoot a shot.

I also have a couple of Alien Bees and I love them. However, I now realize that I can do basically the same things with lighter equipment using speedlights.

Inexpensive studio setups are great, I got the Alien Bees primarily to shoot black belt photos for my martial arts school. But setting them up is a PITA, and unless you always work near outlets, you have to buy or DIY battery packs for them to work outdoors. I will pull the AB units out only rarely because my family doesn't want to pose for me and you're not going to drag the ABs to parties and family gatherings.

Having gone through the strobist.com Lighting 101 and then going through all David Hobby's onsite descriptions here ...

http://strobist.blogsp​ot.com/2006/03/on-assignment.html

I would strongly suggest you start with speedlights. I say that given your budget, and the fact that you will want more photos of your new baby than the typical naked-on-a-bear-skin-rug shots. In a home studio setting, you can do absolutely everything with speedlights you can with monolights, but I think you'll find yourself wanting to capture nice shots of the baby at the playground, with other kids at other homes, chasing bugs in the yard. Your desires will go way beyond posing the kid in your 'home studio'. Trust me. And anywhere other than your home studio, the speedlights are muuuuuch better to have than the monolights.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not making a "this is better" suggestion, you'll eventually want both. Studio lights are much fun, I would not trade my ABs for anything. But I will not get more. I have two of them, now I am trying to put together a 3-speedlight setup that can be used anywhere (2 lights to start and I could be busy and challenged for years), and if I need a hair light or background light in the home studio, I'll use the speedlights along with my two bees.

But having been married for 25 years, I can tell you that if you get the studio lights, then when the kid is running around all over the place and you tell the wife now you want a set of speedlights, you will run into, um, shall we say, resistance?

I suggest the way to go, for what you are describing, is a set of two speedlights with stands and modifiers now. Use them both out-and-about and in your home studio. As your skills improve if you want them, get some monolights later. It's not an either/or, but a first/second decision in my mind. You will get much more versatility out of a speedlight setup than a monolight setup. I'm not knocking monolights, they are great. But that really is not an opinion, it's a fact. I mean the versatility comment is a fact.

There are some things monolights will do better, but there are things you will do with a speedlight setup you'll just never do with monolights (not that you cannot, but you will not). It's a fact that you will spend a ton more money getting power packs and find moving them around a ton more hassle. I think you are much more likely to use a speedlight setup a heck of a lot more and end up with many more memorable shots of your tyke as he/she grows up with the speedlights as opposed to the monolights.

Eventually, I think you'll want both. But get the speedlight setup first, you won't regret it. I strongly suggest you run through this from start to finish, it will take about an hour. It will amaze you.

http://strobist.blogsp​ot.com/2006/03/lightin​g-101.html

Good luck regardless of what you decide!

I'm thinking the same thing. I can buy cheap monolights now- but I think I will be disappointed in them shortly. They don't hold their value due to high shipping costs- if I buy a $150 flashpoint I think I'll just want better down the line and lose money. If I start with the speedlights I will always be able to find a use for them, either on or off camera.

I've gone through the strobist blog a lot in the last few weeks- it's one of the resources that started me on this path. Thanks everyone!