Need advice lighting (Is this a good starter setup?)

[dezignx]

Hi,

I'm just wondering is this a good starter setup for a beginner? like to do trial and error shots on my kids or family....my daughter is turning 2 in April & I would like to take pictures of her myself rather than go to a studio since I have a d90

New Photography Softbox Backdrop Strobe Flash Lights - eBay (item 370337157588 end time Feb-27-10 16:07:06 PST)

Thanks

 

[Village Idiot]

Slightly more expensive, but would be better in my opinion.

Calumet Genesis 400 2-Light Kit - CF0514K1 -

 

[inTempus]

I wouldn't even consider that eBay kit.

Go with the Calumet system VI mentioned, some Alien Bees or even some D-Lites. Buy something with a brand name and a warranty you can actually use.

 

[Derrel]

This kit, or one very much like it, comes up quite often. It's a case of the sales photos being better than the equipment itself. The lights themselves are quite cheap,and I mean both low cost and cheap. The snoot and barndoors and color filters add more stuff to the setup,and you get a low cost background support system and a muslin.

Personally, I think snoots are almost useless. A better setup would be a couple of Adorama FlashPoint 620 monolights with stands and free shipping for $129 each WITH the stand and umbrella. With the FlashPoint monolights, you get a user-changeable flashtube...on these economy kits, the flashtubes are not user-replaceable, so when they tip over and break, the unit is basically garbage bin material.

You could do some decent portraits of a two year old with one umbrella and a monolight and a backdrop. A single, 150 watt-second monolight is about right for pics of a small child, especially with a camera that has superb ISO 200 performance like the D90. The biggest problem with higher-powered lights is having too much power at portraiture ranges.

 

[dezignx]

Thank you all for the advice. I figured it was a bunch of junk but I wanted to make sure. Its the picture itself that caught my attention.

But, now I am trying to decide between the Calumet kit and AlienBee Kit....

 

[Village Idiot]

Thank you all for the advice. I figured it was a bunch of junk but I wanted to make sure. Its the picture itself that caught my attention.

But, now I am trying to decide between the Calumet kit and AlienBee Kit....

The Calumet offers a greater upgrade path. The lights use Elinchrom accessories and Elinchrom is a fairly big name in the lighting industry. They're gear is going to be more expensive than the AB's stuff.

It really depends on which direction you want to go.