HELP! lighting equipment for architectural/real estate photography

[jparker1]

Hey there, I realize this is a bit broad, but I am looking for opinions on the best way to light empty houses for commercial and residential real estate photography. I would like to know more about the strengths and weaknesses of a multi strobe set up versus using multiple slave flashes synced with pocketwizard gear. It seems like strobes may be easier. Any recommendations on specific equipment would also be really helpful. What would you come up with for a setup for $1000? What order would you purchase the equipment?

Thanks a lot!

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[gsgary]

Strobes will give you tons more power

[jparker1]

Strobes will give you tons more power

Do you have any specific recommendations?

[tirediron]

It depends on the size of the rooms you're working with, whether electricity will be available, how much gear you're willing to carry, and what effect you're looking for.

For an average family home or smaller, say up to 3000 sq ft, with rooms typically not more than 30' on the longest dimension and celings 15' or lower, 3-4 speedlights would be more than adequate. As for specific recommendations, can't really say without knowing your system (Canon, Nikon, Pentax...) and budget. I would look for a minimum GN of 100.

If you're talking about very large rooms, warehouses, large offices with open floor-plans etc, than you will be much better off with monolights, but again, you have to give us a budget. You can spend $100 a head, or $1000 a head, or anywhere in between...

[jparker1]

It depends on the size of the rooms you're working with, whether electricity will be available, how much gear you're willing to carry, and what effect you're looking for.

For an average family home or smaller, say up to 3000 sq ft, with rooms typically not more than 30' on the longest dimension and celings 15' or lower, 3-4 speedlights would be more than adequate. As for specific recommendations, can't really say without knowing your system (Canon, Nikon, Pentax...) and budget. I would look for a minimum GN of 100.

If you're talking about very large rooms, warehouses, large offices with open floor-plans etc, than you will be much better off with monolights, but again, you have to give us a budget. You can spend $100 a head, or $1000 a head, or anywhere in between...

I'm using Canon and I'd be spending $500 on the initial purchase to hopefully have something at least usable for the time being, whether that is just a shoe flash (580EX II) or a shoe flash and a slave (2 430s) or I could start putting together a strobe or monolight setup to at least get some light assistance. I'd spend up to another $1000 over the next month to 6 weeks.

I would be shooting any residential and commercial real estate. Largest continuous areas probably wouldn't exceed 1200 feet.

Thanks for the help

[dakkon76]

Want it cheap? Nothing is moving so you don't need smart flashes - use manual's that cost $60 a piece and get a remote trigger for them... you're only into it a few hundred bucks if you've got the camera body/lens that you think will work.

[Village Idiot]

strobe = flash = strobe = flash.

They're the same thing. Speedlight and Speedlite are names given to the hotshoe flashes by Canon and Nikon and have generally been adopted as terminology for all hotshoe flashes. People say studio flashes and are talking about monolights and pack and head systems while there's a site called Strobist that's dedicated almost entirely to using hotshoe flashes off camera.