Lighting system

[ffmedic245]

I am wanting a lighting system (at least 2 lights) that I can take with me. I do alot of photography outdoors in the woods, so lighting can be hard to come by. I have looked at alien bees/white lighting with the vegabond system, norman allure ac/dc kits, photogenic studiomax ac/dc kit, and the sp excaliber ac/dc kit. The biggest thing it has to be portable and have somekind of battery power. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know. Thanks, Phillip

 

[Big Mike]

Welcome to the forum.

They way I see it, you could go either of two ways. One would be studio lights and a portable power system (Vagabond system).
The other way would just be to use hot-shoe type flash units.

The advantage of the studio lights is lighting power...the disadvantage is the size, weight and need for power (portable power is also big and heavy).

The advantage of flash units is that they are relatively very small and run on AA batteries. They are less powerful, especially if you are using something like a softbox or umbrella. But when used directly, they can be very powerful.

So I guess you will have to figure out how much lighting power you really need. Many photographers are getting by just fine with hot shoe flash units. There is a web site with a whole community of photographers, dedicated to the use of off camera flash. If you decide to go with the flash units, I strongly suggest you check it out. I'd start with their 'Lighting 101' section and go from there. http://www.strobist.blogspot.com/