Studio flash or 550/380 ex w/umbrella?

[peter_bongard]

Hi!

I'm planning to do portraits with my EOS 3 and now I'm thinking of

some good flash alternatives. Right now I have to make a decision

wheter to buy a proper studioflash or to buy the 550 ex, perhaps with

the IR-control, as well as an umbrella/softbox, a stand and that's it.

I now have the 380 ex, but I think it's too weak to shoot larger

groups of people indoors, right? So do you think I'll get nearly the

same results with the 550/umbrella-combo as with a studioflash? Or

perhaps even my 380 ex (with umbrella/stand) will do the job? If so,

are there any possibilities to release the 380 ex without a cable?

thanks!

Peter

[richard_cochran]

An umbrella/softbox will eat up lots of light. Even a

powerful battery flash will have trouble with large groups of people

unless you go to very fast film with a wide aperture. A

fairly tight headshot at full power might work at f5.6 or

f8 at ISO 100, but large groups won't be lit effectively. The

Canon flash units offer nice dedicated control when used on

your camera, but the price per unit of light output isn't

so great. For large groups, I'd expect better results for less

money from a basic monolight, umbrella, stand, and flash meter.

See <a href="http://webs.lanset.com/rcochran/flash">my page</a>

for some basic info on how to set up a primitive studio.