Lighting start up recomendations

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; color: black; font-size: 9pt;"]Hello,<o:p></o:p>


<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; color: black; font-size: 9pt;"]I am at a point where I want to dig deeper intosetting up a home "studio" for portraits and such. I am thinking I would go with constant lighting but I have no idea where to begin. I have seen kits starting at 150 and up form there. WhatI want to avoid is buying a starter package that I will want to upgrade in 3 months but keep the cost within reason. I like the idea of a 3 light system but maybe i dont need that if a use a Speedlight as the third.


<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; color: black; font-size: 9pt;"]Any suggestions - setups, brands, etc...<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"] Anything I should avoid?<o:p></o:p>


<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; color: black; font-size: 9pt;"]I have a 7D and already have a 430EX II and 580EX II.<o:p></o:p>





Thanks in advance for your advice!





MattG

You do not want a constant light source. You will want to trade it out after three weeks.


I recommend that you start with your camera mounted 580exII and stand mount with umbrella your 480EXII, this will allow IR trigger, with manual or automatic settings and TTL.


This is a great place to start. You could add a second 480 and a second umbrella if you want.


Later your might consider an Elinchrom monolight set, check their web site.


Much later you might want to consider a battery pack for the monolights..


For now save your money and use your speedlights, with a light stand and umbrella.

Check out Alienbees.com. I was in your position about a year ago....and now have a pretty functional home studio with one of the Alienbees packages. The price for the biggest package may seem a bit steep....but you will not want for much sans a few accessories. Check it out and then post any questions you may have concerning the packages.


Happy browsing.


Jeff

Hi Matt,


only recently I had to tackle a similar situation, only that I had to start with absolutely nothing

I started out with shoe-mount flashes (580EX, Vivitar 285 &amp; 285HVs, etc) and recently got into monolights (White Lightning). Even though I like using the monolights better, I still use the shoe-mount flashes quite regularly (in fact, I plan on using about 4 or 5 this evening for an xmas portrait). Both have their advantages and disadvantages.





Advantages of Shoe-Mount flashes:


Smaller, easier to pack and travel with


Easier to place flashes in odd places, weight doesn't strain stands or clamps


AA batteries cheap and easy to find; easy to buy rechargeable batteries


Disadvantages:


Lack of power compared to monolights





Limited selection of light modifying tools (although things have gotten much better); else DIY fittings to attach to monolight modifiers





Advantages of Monolights:


Abundance of power
Wide range of modifier tools and speed rings


AC powered (a "pro" when an outlet is available)


Relatively quick recycle times
<div></div>


Disadvantages:
<div></div>


Big, bulky, and heavy - difficult to transport, time-cosuming setup, and needs sturdy support
<div></div>


AC powered (a "con" when outlets are unavailable) -- SLA batteries fairly expensive





You already have 2 shoe-mount flashes, so gettng a third (even if it was a manual control Lumopro 160) would be a cheap way to start experimenting with 3 lights.
<div></div>

Thanks for all your replys!! I will do some reasearch on your recomendations this weekend for sure!


thanks Again!