lighting equipment. what to buy for strobist

[colormeter]

Hi

After reading strobist blog I am thinking about learning strobist photography and best way to learn is to start doing it.

For starters I think I need 2 flashes, remote triggers+receivers,
umbrella, stands.

Am I on right track?

I was searching on ebay about these products but as I have never purchased anything like that so bit confused.

What are good brands for these products?

which kind of umbrella is better? reflective or white?

there were two kind of attachment/brackets for umbrella stand on ebay. one which holds bulb and other for flash.

what should i look for when buying those?

there are some small diffusers like softbox on flash. are they good?


thanks in advance

[JM Tran]

a shoot through umbrella is always more pleasing with results for ppl/object shots than a usual reflector type umbrella with no diffusion. I'll post up sample photos showing the effects of a shoot-through and a normal reflector type on a single subject later in another thread:)

[nightbringer]

I'm not sure if this is considered a plug or not, but I'll go ahead anyway. One of the site advertisers is protog.com.au, and they offer a fairly reasonable strobist kit in the form of a light stand, umbrella and mounting bracket for your flash. I've been quite happy with the way portraits have been coming out using it with my flashes, and it didn't set me back an arm and a leg as most photography gear does.

Flash-wise, I would suggest maybe getting something with an optical slave, so that you can set it off with your pop-up flash.

[johndom]

Not sure what camera you have, but nikon flashes can trigger remotely via an optical trigger.
There are many options for light control, umbrellas, softboxes, dishes etc but if you dont really know much about lighting, start with one remote light+brolly and master it before moving on.
a basic list of gear might be:
1 stand with flash mounting attachment
1 umbrella
1 flash
remote trigger units- yugono is one brand, correct my spelling if its wrong.
These things are available at site advertisers: protog and i would imagine Digitalrev

[colormeter]

thanks

yeah I visited protog.com.au after reading through other strobist links.

there is one kit for $179 with 2 of umbrella, stand, flash bracket each .

I am considering that but before buying i need bit more knowledge.

any opinions about Yongnuo flashes. i am thinking of buying at least one YN-468 (with ETTL) . they have triggers and receivers as well. are they of good quality. I had never heard of that brand before starting my research about strobist.

[colormeter]

After reading many reviews online I ordered 2 Yongnuo YN-468 flashes, one RF trigger and 2 receivers.

I received them yesterday. Tested them and they are working fine.

While searching for flash brackets i noticed they are of different types. on protog I saw one with ball head which had hotshoe attchment and screw type attachment. which one is better?

Is there any kind of universal standard so that any component of lighting studio setup ( umbrella, flash, lighting stand) from different vendors can be used ?

Thanks

[achee]

While searching for flash brackets i noticed they are of different types. on protog I saw one with ball head which had hotshoe attchment and screw type attachment. which one is better?

Is there any kind of universal standard so that any component of lighting studio setup ( umbrella, flash, lighting stand) from different vendors can be used ?


Maybe if you post up some links or images to the products you're talking about more viewers might understand. :)

I think I've heard of 2 stardard umbrella shaft diameters, although I think most holders will take both. I could be wrong on that... Lignting stands have the standard knob-thingy on the top, and all but a few manufacturers (I think Sony?) have standard hot-shoes.

Have fun with your new gear! :)

[nightbringer]

I think I know the one you're talking about, I got it myself. It's not that good quality. It's usable, but it's fiddly to work with, and you have to have the umbrella aligned right so that even secured, the umbrella doesn't end up falling due to its own weight. It feels loose and cheap too.

It does good work, and I can't really complain given the bargain price I paid for it, but if I was shopping for a mounting bracket like that again in future, I'd be forking out more money, especially if it's going to be holding a $250+ flash

[colormeter]

Hi
I was talking about these flash holders.

I have never used any but from their pictures yongnuo with ballhead looks superior.

http://protog.com.au/ballhead-flash-umbrella-holder-for-light-stand-p-140.html
http://protog.com.au/metal-hotshoe-flash-mount-umbrella-holder-for-light-stand-p-239.html
http://protog.com.au/flash-holder-fh02-p-244.html


any suggestion?

thanks

[nightbringer]

The first one is the one I got from Protog, I would recommend against it if you could. It's serviceable, but kind of low-quality.

[achee]

I don't think you need all the freedom of movement that the ballhead offers - all you need to adjust is the pitch.

[ozwapet]

some good tutorials on the strobbist bolgspot aren't they - inspiring..

[nightbringer]

Yeah, that's what inspired me to get more into lighting, I feel like I can do so much more photographically now even with my dinky D3100 ... as long as I have a working CLS system :)

[colormeter]

yeah I also started thinking about starting strobist photography because of that blog and their flickr group. some amazing photographs there

[n00g33]

btw you should've posted in the strobist section - may have got more strobist pros to help you out.

yeah stick with strobist blogspot. and go onto flickr. a lot of the stuff there is offcamera lighting.
the shootthru umbrellas are best according to the strobist site.. but reflective is good when you need distance between the flash and your subject.
a softbox is better for studio lighting among other things - the light source can be isolated to areas whereas the umbrellas bounce it al over the room. softboxes cost more (not that much) hence why I only have umbrellas at the moment. I do mostly outdoor stuff so its not really needed for me.