What's a TRUE $$/££ investment reqd to setup a Pro-Studio?

I am amazed at how much has been invested into this activity thus far over the past 18 months. I 'guestimate' that since December 2007, I have probably spent in excess of £12,000 / $18,000.

I NOW think that when the term 'enthusiast' is applied to photographers - it simply means: '..... the willingness to spend an "indefinable" budget .....'

Equipment already acquired:
Tripods
Memory Cards, card readers
Cable-Releases, Adapters, accessories
Light-Tent kits, reflectors and mini-lights
Cameras
Lenses
Batteries, re-chargers
Flashguns, modifiers
Radio-Triggers

The crazy thing is... this is just the beginning as my 'hit-list' for the next 3 months is for my main Studio gear:

Equipment to acquire:
Bowens Lighting - 3 x 1000w kit (modifier kits, B/grounds) with 3 x PW cards
Radio Triggers - 3 x PW TT5's
580exII - x3
Sekonic L-758DR
Either a 7D/5D mkII
Backgrounds and support systems
(approx. a further £7,000 / $10,500)

To be honest, I have really thought about my kit so far, and there is nothing that I regret purchasing nor is there anything that I would consider selling-on or Part-Exchanging.

Is it fair to say that a a total budget of £20,000 / $30,000 is required to seriously break into Pro-Studio work ?

As always: it depends. Studio photography is a pretty broad concept these days. You wouldn't even come close to $30.000 if you go all Strobist/McGuyver which seems to allow several photographers to run a profitable and sustainable business.

I would not even consider Speedlites when setting up a "professional" studio (except for portable on-camera use).

I would also say that an absolute minimum of five lights would be required for "professional" studio portraiture. Consider background lighting and "hair" lighting for starters. 1000ws lights are probably overkill for some (or even all) of the applications, depending on what you intend to do with the studio.

There are radio slave solutions available which are much less expensive than Pocket Wizards and would still be just as reliable. One to consider is the Elinchrom Skyport family.

You have not even mentioned light modifiers such as umbrellas or softboxes. You should also consider a variety of reflector and diffusion panels along with the lighting sources.

The list goes on...

What costs me the most in a studio are these multiple wasted money to pay for recurrent costs: insurance, business tax, rent, utility, etc...
Equipment on the other hand is an investment, when I'm spending 3k on a camera, I have it in my hand..

SkipD wrote in post #10371373
I would not even consider Speedlites when setting up a "professional" studio (except for portable on-camera use).

A professional is someone who makes a living out of something. A studio is a space where you can control the light. Within those confines, you have a lot of leeway in compiling your kit. And like I said, many photographers make good money without resorting to mono blocks. Some have even consciously scaled down to compact flashes.

SkipD wrote in post #10371373
I would also say that an absolute minimum of five lights would be required for "professional" studio portraiture. Consider background lighting and "hair" lighting for starters.

Considering that you can use one strobe as your main light, a reflector for fill and a second strobe as a kicker or hair/rim/background light, I don't see 5 lights as an absolute necessity.

SkipD wrote in post #10371373
You have not even mentioned light modifiers such as umbrellas or softboxes. You should also consider a variety of reflector and diffusion panels along with the lighting sources.

Which is why I put forth the McGuyver reference. Do you shop at B&H or Home Depot?

The question is: do you write up your shopping list based on a full blown traditional studio outfit, or based on what you actually need to implement your creative vision? Thinking out of the box can seriously cut back on your expenses. If money is no object though, then by all means, go full swing right from the get go.

rvdw98 wrote in post #10372057
A professional is someone who makes a living out of something. A studio is a space where you can control the light. Within those confines, you have a lot of leeway in compiling your kit. And like I said, many photographers make good money without resorting to mono blocks. Some have even consciously scaled down to compact flashes.

Considering that you can use one strobe as your main light, a reflector for fill and a second strobe as a kicker or hair/rim/background light, I don't see 5 lights as an absolute necessity.

Which is why I put forth the McGuyver reference. Do you shop at B&H or Home Depot?

The question is: do you write up your shopping list based on a full blown traditional studio outfit, or based on what you actually need to implement your creative vision? Thinking out of the box can seriously cut back on your expenses. If money is no object though, then by all means, go full swing right from the get go.

I envision my good friend Mike's studio when I think of what a "professional" studio should be like. Mike's studio was actually a very old photo studio (over 100 years as a studio) with a lot of historically interesting background.

Folks came to Mike's studio and paid a lot of money for his truly fantastic work. I do believe that the appearance of his studio was important to his clients, much like the appearance of many different kinds of workplaces is to the clients.

Mike's camera, support, lighting and background equipment was all commercially made equipment that worked well together. Though much of his equipment was definitely not brand new, it all looked like it belonged in a "professional" studio. Had he worked with something looked like a cobbled-together collection of Speedlites and home-made reflectors (the "McGyver" look) or if he had used cheap equipment that looked like it was intended for beginner hobbyists, I doubt he would have made the impression that allowed him to grow the kind of client base he had.

I speak of Mike in the past tense, by the way, because he passed away earlier this year.

Many valid points raised here by you all - thank you....
The studio is more or less near completion - a brick/concrete square of 8m x 8m, with a height of 4m.
It will be just one large expansive space, a very symmetrical design of front and rear doors opposite one-another, 2 x windows of 1m high x 2m wide on each side. Both with have black-out blinds.
The interior will be painted in White only. The floor will be tiled in white ceramic tiles.

Cham_001 wrote in post #10373328
The interior will be painted in White only. The floor will be tiled in white ceramic tiles.

If you are going to paint the interior white, it would be a very good idea to have black curtains that you could pull to hide the white. That way you can gain control of your light and not have to put up with stray light bouncing all over the place.

Personally, if I were to build a new studio, the walls would be at least a medium gray or darker, and I would have brighter curtains that could be pulled out of the way if needed.

SkipD wrote in post #10373528
If you are going to paint the interior white, it would be a very good idea to have black curtains that you could pull to hide the white. That way you can gain control of your light and not have to put up with stray light bouncing all over the place.

Personally, if I were to build a new studio, the walls would be at least a medium gray or darker, and I would have brighter curtains that could be pulled out of the way if needed.

Thanks Skip

I never thought about the light-spill. So a darker interior is recommended by you, with a variety of light-coloured backgrounds and curtains then?
Interesting!!! - anything else you recommend that I consider?

(At this stage, I will NOT be looking at the Bowens Lighting-Rail System. My ceiling will remain uniformly level - perhaps in the future - say 2-3 years from now I might consider it!)

rvdw98 wrote in post #10371131
As always: it depends. Studio photography is a pretty broad concept these days. You wouldn't even come close to $30.000 if you go all Strobist/McGuyver which seems to allow several photographers to run a profitable and sustainable business.

Yep - Agreed, there is so much to consider as well as balancing the precise nature of all the kit that is desirable versus kit that would be nice-to-have.
Reading through many earlier Posts, the variety of modifiers, spill-kills, reflectors, umbrellas, stands, accessories, cables and adapters all have a plac too - I will commit to the Bowens Lighting modifier bundled kits when purchasing the actual lights.

My perceived style of shooting will be both 'hi-key' - glam/fashion and 'low-key' for more closer dramatic portraits. In addition, the size of the studio will allow for small to mid-size group and family portraits too.

I want to shoot at about 3m from the background against these colours of White/Black/Grey/Burgu​ndy/Blue/Cream/Green.

$18k isn't very much. We've spent close to 4x that and still find ourselves needing certain things from time to time. That's just the reality of a working studio.

I think starting off with DIY stuff can be handy and then replacing it with solid gear. I hate to use it, but the anology of a geo metro vs. a mercedes comes in handy here. Sure the mercedes costs 6x more, but if it'll last you a career or close to it, isn't it worth it instead of replacing parts and pieces constantly?

That's my take a least.

.02

Cham_001 wrote in post #10373756
...anything else you recommend that I consider?

Don't forget that you'll need both a dressing room and at least a half-bath (toilet & sink) for the clients to use.

SkipD wrote in post #10375946
Don't forget that you'll need both a dressing room and at least a half-bath (toilet & sink) for the clients to use.

I have this one covered, the main house has all the required facilities for 'prepping'. There will be a covered walk-way leading to this studio.

mumbles wrote in post #10375805
$18k isn't very much. We've spent close to 4x that and still find ourselves needing certain things from time to time. That's just the reality of a working studio.

WoW - I suppose this makes total sense, once your established clients want something new and extra, they are there to 'fund' this.

mumbles wrote in post #10375805
I think starting off with DIY stuff can be handy and then replacing it with solid gear. I hate to use it, but the anology of a geo metro vs. a mercedes comes in handy here. Sure the mercedes costs 6x more, but if it'll last you a career or close to it, isn't it worth it instead of replacing parts and pieces constantly?

That's my take a least.

-> I see your point!
(At the moment I am not making or using DIY kit)

I was just hoping to get a rough idea of what is considered to be a 'ball-park' figure to invest into a 'start-up Professional Photographic Studio.

(i.e. for Portraits, glam/fashion, 3-8 people group portraits and Product Photography upto say a 2m cube size)

Yeah it's hard to say really. You can go the cheapie route or the expensive route. Just a good set of bodies and L lenses will run you 20K.

Add lighting, Elinchrom everything with modifiers That's another 12-15K, stands booms, grips, supports, backdrops, portable backdrops, reflectors, diffusers, cases another 12-15k.

Computers to process everything, with decent monitors 5k, harddrive backup system, cf cards, offsite backups, another 2K.

Things add up fast.