I asked for some advice about continuous v strobe in small to medium product photography a couple of months ago & have since moved to strobe & though I would pass on some of my (admittedly novice) observations;
I decided on a pair of strobes with softboxes up front & a third with a larger rectangular softbox for background / overhead lighting from either Lencarta or Elinchrom. I initially decided on Lencarta as they seemed reasonable value for money & have metal bodies, but while Lencarta was more attractively priced on kits, adding a third light, softbox & what not made them no more attractive price wise than the Elinchroms. Added to that Lencarta continually seemed to be out of stock of at least one item from my list I plumped for Elinchrom - D-Lite RX 2/2 set, D-Lite RX 2 single, Rotalux rectangular softbox, tripod & an additional hardshell case (for 3rd strobe & cabling).
A boom arm was originally on the shopping list, but the cheap ones seemed exceptionally poor, the good ones exceptionally expensive & all appeared to take up an fair amount of (limited) space, so I utilised the two stands from my continuous kit & used 15mm chromed copper pipe & compression fittings to make an overhead stand (works fine & virtually free).
The equipment was purchased from The Flash Centre - good price, prompt dispatch, no drama. Everything is of good to very good quality & all connects / fit's together well & while expecting the plastic bodies of the RX 2's to be slightly disappointing, they are in no way so. The Portalite softboxes are a bit on the fiddly side to put together 1st time around, but after it's been done once, it's a walk in the park & only takes a minute or so per softbox, needless to say, the Rotaxlux rectangular box goes up in a snap although I don't know If they justify the price premium over the standard Portalite versions. The diffusers for both types of softbox have black edges, but these wrap around the side of the box leaving only white "showing".
So with the lights set-up, hit the test button on the Skyport Speed transmitted & bang (well a "pop" of sorts) it works out of the box, put the transmitter on the 70D & again it all works immediately without any issue - I'm impressed as I know little about photography & haven't touched a strobe in my life before.
Within 5 shots & a few minor adjustments I've got images that I'm delighted with, tack sharp, good DOF & most importantly a pristine white background with zero PP required to correct - in a few minutes I had achieved what I had tried for countless hours to do with continuous . I've still got a bit of fine tuning to get exposure spot on & need to play around with some foamboard to get the light exactly where I need it & also control some stray reflections.
That's pretty much all I can say - I hummed & hawed over the move to strobe for a long time & was convinced that it wouldn't be an easy transition, but it was exceptionally easy, gave instant results & to be honest I wish that I hadn't messed with continuous in the first place.
Thanks to all who contributed to my earlier thread & the many similar threads that I've read.
