External Flash vs. Studio Lights

Hello all,

As a relative newcomer to the world of "supplying light", I was wondering if anyone has taken portraits that show the relative merits/differences of using External flash (Speedlites, etc.) vs Studio lights.

With cost a real issue for me, I would like to explore the pros and cons before making an investment.

I did search the forum, but did not find previous posts. I hope these are not silly questions, but being a visual person, would really like to "see" rather than read the differences.

Thanks in advance for help.

George
Dunbarton, NH

George,

You, my friend, are a candidate for The Strobist!

Prepare to enter a world you cannot imagine. Also, good thing you posted this on a Sunday, 'cause you are going to spend the rest of the day reading this website.

Good luck, and if we don't hear from you for a couple of months, we'll all know why.

Regards.

geoawelch wrote in post #2890719
Hello all,

As a relative newcomer to the world of "supplying light", I was wondering if anyone has taken portraits that show the relative merits/differences of using External flash (Speedlites, etc.) vs Studio lights.

With cost a real issue for me, I would like to explore the pros and cons before making an investment.

I did search the forum, but did not find previous posts. I hope these are not silly questions, but being a visual person, would really like to "see" rather than read the differences.

Thanks in advance for help.

George
Dunbarton, NH

I use the Canon Wireless System flashes for some shoots and studio monolight strobes for others. Neither are the holy grail.

The Canon wireless advantages are:

- Portability.

I carry a 550 and two 420's with me in my camera bag at all times. I do need a light stand for the 420's but I keep a couple of those in my car. A 420 on a light stand is easy to move and position.

I don't routinely take monolights with me when I'm on the road. When I do have them with me they are more intrusive to set up.

- Power Supply

Since the canon flashes have internal batteries I don't have to worry about finding power source plug ins for them.

With monolights if there's no plug ins, no shoot. You can get battery powered monolights but they are expensive for what you get.

- Control

I can adjust the power output of a 420 that's ten meters away from me by making adjustments at the camera position. That's extremely important when messing with a flash on a stand is going to distract an audience or the subject.

The only way to adjust a monolight is to physically change the power seting. No big deal in a portrait situation but something I wouldn't mess with in front of a room full of people.

- Economy

The Canon flashes aren't cheap and a 550/580 plus a 420/430 would buy you a decent two flash stobe system. You'll need light stands for each as well, but that's an equal trade off. With the monolight system you will have to factor in the cost of a flash meter, and that tilts the economics a bit towards the Canon. The other thing is that almost everyone is going to have a Canon EX flash of some kind, just for routine, camera postioned flash shots. If that is true then adding a second EX flash isn't going to be a crazy extra expense.

The advantages of the monolights are:

- Consistency

Once you set up a monolight its power output will be very similar from shot to shot to shot. If I'm doing a series of H&S portraits I don't want any variation between shots or I'll have to spend a lot of extra time in Photoshop.

The Canon flashes will evaluate every exposure you make, and that means inconsistency. If it's a feature shot for a magazine it doesn't matter since there's going to be variation anyway. But for the H&S shots Canon is not the answer.

- Ruggedness

Once you find a plug in, most monolights will go all day. You don't have to worry about swapping batteries and such.

- Raw power

Strobes are usually more (and sometimes MUCH more!) powerful than the Canon flashes. Power tends to be over-rated when it comes to flashes, either hotshoe of monolight, since I doubt if I use 100% of my Canon flashes power very often. But when you need power, you need power, and a couple of monolights is going to be much more likely to give me f11 for my hundred person group shot than a Canon flash would be.

At the end of the day each system has it's advantages, disadvantages, and specific uses. Neither replace the other for all jobs, and like anything else the right tool for the job is paramount.

Great thread DaveG

geoawelch wrote in post #2890719
Hello all,

As a relative newcomer to the world of "supplying light", I was wondering if anyone has taken portraits that show the relative merits/differences of using External flash (Speedlites, etc.) vs Studio lights.

With cost a real issue for me, I would like to explore the pros and cons before making an investment.

I did search the forum, but did not find previous posts. I hope these are not silly questions, but being a visual person, would really like to "see" rather than read the differences.

Thanks in advance for help.

George
Dunbarton, NH

Read thru these two threads and see if you think you can cheap by with flashes.

https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=251549
https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=273380

You are asking for taking portraits.

There are times the Stroblist way of doing things is a good way other times it's not.

Bob

A Speedlite system isn't the way to go if you're on a budget. They can cost as much as a decent Alien Bee setup, if not more!

If you want inexpensive, get a set of Sunpak 383 Supers or Vivitar 283s.

I agree with cdi. It is expensive to have the speedlite, even if they are very useful. I have 3 flashes with the transmitter and that runs about $1000 with stands and umbrellas. Alienbees are cheaper, even. If you want inexpensive flashes, there are other choices for the budget minded.

Thanks for all of the quick replies. Mark, I have spent some time on the Strobist web site. I bought a 420ex from a forum member which is due to me this coming Wed. I read the "External flash need not be expensive thread" and do find the Sunpak 383's interesting. Of course that got me wondering whether or not the Quantaray flashes made by Sunpak were worth a try. I can see where this is indeed a deep subject.

Bottom line is, in doing portraits, I don't want to limit myself to available light.

Any photos you guys can post from both types of setups?

Thanks again.

George

I can't share any of mine since I don't have a model release, but sometimes I use a simple Sunpak 383 as fill and an Alien Bee B1600 as main. Works fine for what I need. I'm putting an order to B&H for another Sunpak 383 and will add my 580EX to the mix for a 4 light setup here shortly. I have 2 580EXs but unfortunately I can't include the second in an optically triggered configuration. Too many issues with that.

MUCH less expensive than all studio strobes or all Speedlites....more portable as well (with the exception of that one Bee).

I use my 550, 580 and 430 on light stands with a clamp that attaches an umbrella as well. I am in the market for 1 light box sometime, but no hurry, I mainly shoot events, few portraits these days.

If I were doing on-location portrait work, such as employees in offices or factories, where I needed to shoot, break down, move and set-up repeatedly, then the portability of speedlights would be most important. But for studio portraiture, controlling the quality of light is paramount. Studio lights give you this control by choice of reflectors, grids, barndoors, umbrellas or softboxes, snoots, etc.

chtgrubbs wrote in post #2900773
If I were doing on-location portrait work, such as employees in offices or factories, where I needed to shoot, break down, move and set-up repeatedly, then the portability of speedlights would be most important. But for studio portraiture, controlling the quality of light is paramount. Studio lights give you this control by choice of reflectors, grids, barndoors, umbrellas or softboxes, snoots, etc.

That's the specific kind of shoot that I don't think that Canon Wireless - at least with E-TTL control - is good for.

Unless you have a second Slaved flash that can be used on Manual (and the 420 can't) then using the Canon Wireless for this type of shoot is not a good idea. The variation between shots while using E-TTL is going to cause a lot of post production work in Photoshop just to get all of the shots to look the same. The E-TTL will decide on the "correct" exposure for every shot, and things like the colour of the subject's jacket will impact on that exposure result. When that happens the density - and even the colour - of the background will shift. Some shots will have a light grey background, some will be darker, and you'll be delivering a hodgepodge of backgounds to the client.

If I did think that I was going to do a lot of this I think that simply using cheap flashes like Vivitar 285's and radio slaves (geeze, optical slaves if there's not going to be any other shooters around) would be as good a choice as dumbing down the much more expensive Canon flashes.

I pretty much agree with what has been said so far. However, this is misleading. If you run the Canon speedlights (or Nikon for that matter), in wireless mode, this is true. However, the speedlights can also run manual just like a studio strobe setup, fully adjustable, and in that mode are just as consistent as a studio strobe setup. So you get evaluative wireless metering if wanted, or fully manual just like a studio strobe setup. The best of both operating modes.

Off the shelf softboxes are available for speedlights, and grids, snoots, and barn doors are very easily made as well. The Strobist has some good examples of easy to make modifiers that work very well on speedlights.

I use both studio strobe and speedlights on a daily basis, and even mix the two lighting products together when warranted. The studio strobes are cheaper and have more power. The speedlights are more expensive, less power, but very portable and versatile. In the end, the only disadvantage I find to using speedlights is they cost more for a similar setup, and they aren't as powerful.

If you think you are limited by using speedlights for portraits, head and shoulder shots, etc, check out www.StephenKennedy.com, the flicker group for the strobist http://www.flickr.com/​groups/strobist/pool/, or the stuff Joe McNally or Dave Black shoot (don't have their websites handy).

One last comment. Monolights can also be run on location with a fairly inexpensive pure sine-wave inverter and a car battery. The inverter will run about $175. The setup works well, and you can run a few mono-lights off the inverter just fine. But if you are too far away from a car, you would need a more expensive battery setup (about $600) for portable operation.

sfaust wrote in post #2901044
I pretty much agree with what has been said so far. However, this is misleading. If you run the Canon speedlights (or Nikon for that matter), in wireless mode, this is true. However, the speedlights can also run manual just like a studio strobe setup, fully adjustable, and in that mode are just as consistent as a studio strobe setup. So you get evaluative wireless metering if wanted, or fully manual just like a studio strobe setup. The best of both operating modes.

Then tell me how I get my 420EX on to a Manual setting?

There is no manual setting on a 420EX.