Interfit EX150 Studio Kit question

im really thinking about purchasing this soon and hoping someone can give me some tips on how to use them.
this will be my first time using any studio equipment hence the reason why i think this it will do me for now. what you get is :

Two 150 watt/sec flash heads
Two lighting stands
A 60x60cm Softbox
A white translucent umbrella
Power cables and sync cord.


now i will mostly just be taking shoulder and head shots of famaily/friends at first.(maybe some full body baby shots. possible?) could i use one of the lights as the main light and the other as a background light, is this possible?
a have a 350D so i will most likely have to buy a hot shoe adapter as the 350D does not have a pc connector. does it matter which one of these i purchase?
im hoping someone on here may have this setup and can give me some tips on how to use it as im new at this studio type shooting.
some of you may know that ive been posting in this section everyday and believe me, i feel as if i just keep repeating the same things but £220 is a lot of money for me to spend and i really want to make sure i can get the type of shots i want out of this. thanks again

This type of setup should be fine for headshots and baby shots. If you use a combination of the light and reflectors you should be able to use on for main and the other for background.

As far as the hotshoe adapter goes you should be able to pick one up off ebay for fairly cheap. I picked one up from ebay and it works great for my needs. I have the Interfit 300 kit and have had no issues with it.

As far as use goes, it's pretty much standard lighting. Experimentation will be your friend when it comes to lighting. Also check out studiolighting.net there is some really good information on there and in the flickr group for them.

thanks man. thanks also for the links. im sure they will come in handy.
one more thing, how long are the sync cords. are they long enough to move about slighlty with your camera, also, im guessing once the main light fire's, that triggers the 2nd light to fire. may sound like a dumb question but i really have no experience (yet) about this

I think the sync cord was around 8-10 feet if I remember correctly. I've been using a wireless hotshoe trigger since I pretty much got the lights so it's hard to remember.

As far as the light trigger goes, that would be correct. The first light will trigger the second.

yeah i thought that. thanks.
so what remote trigger did you buy, no doubt i will purchase one down the road. do you have the same lightening kit?

I have been using a twin Interfit 300 w/s kit for a whole two weeks now, with my 350d.

My Interfit lights are solidly built and easy to use.

Still learning how to use my light lit, my boy is now getting bored sitting for me. 150 W/s should be fine for home use, my lights are always turned way down.

I got a hot shoe adapter for £10 from a shop, they are cheaper online. But I would recomend a remote trigger - the cable is a real drag. Interfit do their own infrared trigger.

I would recommend getting a flash meter. I started by trial and error using the camera view screen - but that is not the way to learn. Flash meters are not cheap but the first time I used mine the exposure was 500% better than my fumbling in the dark.

thats what's really scaring me lol. as much as ive read alot of online info on how to use a light meter i have no idea on how to use one. i know it will be easier once i actually get my lights but im baffled as to how you actually use these things. are they really that complicated to use?

I have recently bought this lighting set up, and for the price I dont think it can be beaten. You will be able to produce some excellent work with this kit. If you dont have a meter, go by your histograms, you can also fire some test shot with individual lights to balance them up, then dont forget the final test shot with both lights of which you should then be reducing exposure slightly (depending on your set up)

Dont forget to post some pics with these lights, here is one of mine

(third photo down)

Congrats on your new purchase

Edit: the infra red remote trigger is useful too, but a little slow to recharge - but sure saves all those wires

thanks man. expect a few pm's over the coming days
( if thats ok? )

I have the 300ws kit from interfit. We Interfit guys are in the major minority around here so feel free to ask questions of those of us who have them. Really though, light is light no matter which brand produces it.

I'll see if I can dig up the link to the remote I used. Wireless is definately the way to go.

appreciate the help im getting here guys. i will probably be purchasing these next week or so. i will let you's know how i get on. no doubt i will have loads of questions needed answered.

These transmitters are very similar to the one I have and it works great. Never had any issues with it in the time I've had it(almost a year now). http://www.gadgetinfin​ity.com …ctid=16695&cat=​274&page=1

There is also a thread on them over on FM that is probably worth checking out. http://www.fredmiranda​.com/forum/topic/48064​0

jjmucker wrote in post #2358368
thats what's really scaring me lol. as much as ive read alot of online info on how to use a light meter i have no idea on how to use one. i know it will be easier once i actually get my lights but im baffled as to how you actually use these things. are they really that complicated to use?

Don't worry about using a light meter, it is as easy or complicated as you want to make it.

On the easy side (this is where I am right now), set your camera speed on the meter, and press the button with the meter facing your camera in the subject position (incident light). That's it.

Just read of the aperture from the meter and put the speed and aperture settings into your camera. You can shoot in raw to get further latitude in exposure or you can bracket the aperture in your camera.

what about interfit's own remote trigger? Interfit Infra Red Trigger

http://www.thedigitalc​amerashop.co.uk …h.php?st=brand%​7CInterfit

i would think this would work with the EX-150 kit?

also, how would i go about using my speedlight as maybe a background light.
i have the 430EX speedlight

I would assume the Interfit remote would be just fine. I haven't done any research on it so I can't offer any opinion.

For the 430EX, I would assume you'd need a flash hot shoe trigger type device to so that it would be triggered when the other lights are triggered.