Killing two birds with one stone.

[eyob_kidanmariam]

I recently took a Studio Photography workshop and loved it very much, and now would like to get more experience

in it. Another event is that my wife is pregnant with our first child. She would like to be photographed now and

off course to photograph our child very frequently. I was wondering to buy inexpensive startup kit and setup a

studio in my garage. The idea here is to photograph my wife and my child and to perfect my skill along the way.

Killing two birds with one stone. Please advise me on what light kit I should consider, and I would appreciate if

you can provide me with links. Thank you so much.

[richard_crowe4]

Could you give us an idea of what you consider inexpensive? Adorama has a series of studio strobes marketed

under their Flashpoint brand that are both fairly decent and reasonably inexpensive. However, what may seem

inexpensive to one person could be expensive to another.

 

Here is a 150 WS Flashpoint monolight with stand and umbrella for $160.

http://www.adorama.com/FP320K.html

 

Here is a 300WS unit with softbox for $210

http://www.adorama.com/FPDP300WLK.html

 

I honestly have not used these specific lights but I have dealt extensively with Adorama and they tend to stand

behind their merchandise.

 

Another way to go would be a used setup from eBay. I purchased a minty German manufactured Multiblitz Mini 200

set of three monolights with snoot, grid, barndoors and filter holder with four glass colored filters for $200 plus a few

bucks shipping. The set came in a suitcase type travel case.

 

There are some Chinese made strobes sold very cheaply on eBay. I would tend to stay away from these because I

like strobes for which replacement parts are available. I broke the flashtube of one of my Multiblitz monolights and I

was able to order a replacement even though the set is quite a few years old.

 

There is another very inexpensive way to go in studio lighting. You can often find powerpack units such as

Speedotron or Norman for peanuts. These are usually professional quality lights but, most photographers seem to

want monolights these days. If you go the powerpack route - be careful of shipping costs on the heavy powerpack

units, These costs can eat up any savings you might make in buying powerpacks. You can often get the best deals

on powerpack set-ups by purchasing the powerpack and light heads separately. Sometimes a person only has a

powerpack for some reason and cannot use it without flash heads. Therefore he will sell it at a pretty low price.

[eyob_kidanmariam]

I just saw some cheap kits in ebay. Does any one of you has any experience with this one: http://cgi.ebay.com/3-LIGHT-440-W-S-FLASH-STROBE-STUDIO-LIGHTING-KIT-NEW_W0QQitemZ190229498171QQihZ009QQcategoryZ30087QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[ilkka]

That cheap kit you are referring to consists of Chinese Jinbei Delicacy lights. Jinbei is one of the better (best?) Chinese studio light manufacturers. They can be found in just about every Chinese photo studio, (and there are probably more photo studios in China than in all of USA). But the Delicacy is their cheapest series of lights. The lights cost about USD50/piece in China and this set comes with two. The other light is a cheaper one with no modelling light and no controls. I would guess the whole setup to be about USD 150-180 if bought in China at retail.

 

If money is really tight, this would probably be one of the better setups you can get with this sort of investment. I would rather get one good light to start with, a small Elinchrom or Alien Bee with one light stand and a reflector. 300-400Ws would be plenty to start with. 180Ws is a bit weak.