portable lighting kit on a budget, sigma vs canon speedlites, pocket wizards etc...

[Sean Setters]

I'd suggest looking for used flashes on ebay...but I wouldn't necessarily recommend buying other items (like light stands/umbrellas/etc) off of ebay. Alot of accessories like that for sale on ebay are very cheaply made and don't hold up as well as the more well-known brands. MPEX's house brand, LumoPro, is a good choice for a budget brand. I probably have a dozen LumoPro items and have been happy with all of them. The LumoPro LP606 is probably the best lightstand you can get for the money. They sent me two of them by mistake (I had ordered the LP604), but I loved them so much I kept them. I ordered a third one a few months ago. They see much more use than my Manfrotto 5001b nano lightstand, which costs substantially more.

[George Slusher]

I'd suggest looking for used flashes on ebay...but I wouldn't necessarily recommend buying other items (like light stands/umbrellas/etc) off of ebay. Alot of accessories like that for sale on ebay are very cheaply made and don't hold up as well as the more well-known brands.
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I agree. I bought one umbrella on eBay, but it was a Westcott collapsible white satin. I bought another like it plus two Photoflex hot silver adjustable frame umbrellas, plus one Giottos stand (I already had a Dynatran stand from Amvona--not as nice, but also heavy duty with a wide footprint) and umbrella brackets from B&amp;H. I got the Photoflex because I read some rather negative reviews of the Westcott soft silver umbrellas. I probably would have gotten Photoflex white umbrellas with removable covers except that I already had that Westcott umbrella. Eventually, I may get the smaller/lighter stands and collapsible silver umbrellas.


I checked MPEX before I bought from B&amp;H. Their prices were about the same--maybe a little bit higher, but their shipping was much higher. Also, I couldn't get the information I needed about their light stands, i.e., footprint. My first major use of the stands will be to take photos of the top winners at our 4-H Fair Horse Show in July. That will be outdoors and the stands will probably be on pavement. (I'm going to go to the Strobist site and ask for advice on where I should place the remote strobes and about using on-camera flash with the remotes.) The wide footprint (plus sandbags!) will help keep the stands stable, though, if we get much wind, I can take the umbrellas off and use turn the flashes around to face the subject. It won't be as good, but should be better than on-camera flash, alone.

[devsalvi]

Thanks George. That confirms my recent buys





Dev

[George Slusher]

Thanks George. That confirms my recent buys

I'm not sure how, as it seems that you bought two 580EX II flashes and the ST-E2 transmitter. [:P] That's rather the antithesis of the "strobist" mode I was describing. However, I also have two ETTL flashes (580EX &amp; Sigma 500 DG Super) and the ST-E2, myself, so I'm no one to talk. [:$] I also recently "upgraded" from the Super-Duper DP-8 radio triggers from jiakgong to Pocket Wizard Plus II transceivers. (Well, I have one transceiver in hand; two more are on the way. I paid $150.50 (unopened box), 135.50 &amp; 130.50, including shipping, versus $159 each at B&amp;H.)


It will be interesting to hear how your setup works out. The 580EX II + ST-E2 system has a lot of advantages (a bit simpler to set up, for example--just turn on the "slave" mode on the flashes, essentially), if it works. The problem I have is that it doesn't work outdoors very well, if at all. Indoors, where the signal can bounce off walls, it purportedly works a lot better. The main problem with the Strobist mode is that the flashes are in manual mode, so, if you move a light stand, you may have to reset the power output of the flash (or use a neutral density filter). When using two lights, that can be challenging. (I have a simple Shepherd/Polaris SPD100 digital light meter that reads flash, as well as incident and reflected light, which can help get the flashes in the right ballpark, at least. That was yet another eBay purchase--$112.50 vs $179.95.)


On the other hand, part of the strobist "credo" is to experiment. Sometimes, "mistakes" turn out to be better than our original intention. Many moons ago (about 1979), I took a photo of a friend riding her Morgan gelding. The riding arena was on top (literally!) of a good-sized hill south of Los Angeles. (Palos Verdes, specifically Portuguese Bend, for those who know the area.) From the "drop-off" side of arena, we could see Catalina Island. (I've also seen waterspouts!) I was on the other side, so she and the horse were against the bright sky. Not thinking, I just matched the needle with my Nikon FM (FM = manual everything!)--can't recall the lens I used, probably 50mm or so. Of course, as she was backlit, the sky appears bright but she and the horse were silhouetted. It looked pretty neat--so neat, in fact, that several other people had me do similar shots of them. (One was a rather gorgeous blond who wanted her hair blowing in the wind. It took a lot of trials, but I got the shot.)