Speedlight vs strobes

Hi Everyone,

I have planned to buy the set of Elinchrome dlite 400 but ended up buying two 580Ex II for a small studio setup. Do I need to get two stands and umbrellas or two soft boxes and using the two speedlites 580 EX II? How will the setup be? Any extra accessories?

Thanks,
Tan

tancanon58 wrote in post #11056171
Hi Everyone,

I have planned to buy the set of Elinchrome dlite 400 but ended up buying two 580Ex II for a small studio setup. Do I need to get two stands and umbrellas or two soft boxes and using the two speedlites 580 EX II? How will the setup be? Any extra accessories?

Thanks,
Tan

Hi, make your way to www.strobist.blogspot.​com and look at the tutorials there. Really good source of information and very talented people

Hope this helps
cheers

If you're only ever going to use them in a studio setting the strobes will probably work better. If you ever want a portable setup the Speedlites will be better. The strobes will be much more powerful and have way faster recycling times.

If you're be using the speedlight for only studio work, you may want to consider buying a cheaper flash. Speedlite 580EXII is great, but for studio work, you won't be utilizing the ETTL function. Instead, you'll be setting your flash manually. You could use the additional money saved to get other accessories.

It's a bit difficult to explain in a thread of everything you need. A lot is personal (softbox vs umbrella vs octabank). I've created a consolidated list of lighting DVDs in this thread: https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=937233. Hopefully it is helpful.

and no batteries

I am also thinking you should have bought the strobes instead of the speed lights if it is a studio.

You need to spend another $130 minimum to get the light soft and controlable. you can tape the speed lights on a pole and bare flash it for 10$.


I am in so cal and have Elinchroms if you want to try strobes out too. I think that might help you out.

I would agree with the strobes would be better than speedlights. For the cost of the 2 580ex's, mounts, stands, triggers and umbrellas. You could get a set of alien bees and a battery pack or if you like the small lighter weight there is always the really nice Elinchrom Quadra which is really not much bigger than a 580 and a quantum pack.

Damian75 wrote in post #11058565
I would agree with the strobes would be better than speedlights. For the cost of the 2 580ex's, mounts, stands, triggers and umbrellas. You could get a set of alien bees and a battery pack or if you like the small lighter weight there is always the really nice Elinchrom Quadra which is really not much bigger than a 580 and a quantum pack.

the quadra is sooo nice. One day I will get there.

Here is a good little video explaining the advantges of Speedlites vs strobes..

These are the reasons I've not bought studio strobes..

http://www.youtube.com​/watch?v=BytuP_FWWk0

yogestee wrote in post #11058599
Here is a good little video explaining the advantges of Speedlites vs strobes..

These are the reasons I've not bought studio strobes..

http://www.youtube.com​/watch?v=BytuP_FWWk0

Wow it is really obvious that guy has almost no experience with studio strobes. Saying recycle time is an advantage of speedlights he must have used some really crappy studio strobes. The zoom head on a speedlight is an attempt to compensate for low power by focusing the beam. As for not knowing anyone who uses there strobes on full power I guess he doesn't know anyone who works with large modifiers or outside in bright sun. Honestly the only point I will give him is portability if you are running them on AA batteries other wise if your using battery packs you really don't have much of an advantage over a quadra and you have a lot less power.

Damian75 wrote in post #11059544
Wow it is really obvious that guy has almost no experience with studio strobes.

+1.

theextremist04 wrote in post #11058452
If you're only ever going to use them in a studio setting the strobes will probably work better. If you ever want a portable setup the Speedlites will be better. The strobes will be much more powerful and have way faster recycling times.

Could always add battery packs to the strobes for better recycle times

jaycky wrote in post #11065304
Could always add battery packs to the strobes for better recycle times

Better to do it right to start with.

http://www.lighting-essentials.com/one-speedlight-some-examples/

good article

mickeyjuice wrote in post #11065313
Better to do it right to start with.

True true

i guess it comes down to the thread starter to figure out what he wants to shoot, the duration of shooting best of both worlds for me i cannot live with one or the other

jaycky wrote in post #11065328
http://www.lighting-essentials.com/one-speedlight-some-examples/

good article

Don is a terrific lighter.

jaycky wrote in post #11065331
True true

i guess it comes down to the thread starter to figure out what he wants to shoot, the duration of shooting best of both worlds for me i cannot live with one or the other

Yeah, but the OP said it was for a studio setup, so while speedlights can be worked around, they're far from ideal.