Need help looking for lighting set up.

[RubyMagic]

In order to work on my portrait skills, I decided I want to buy some Lights.

I have 800 bucks. I use a D40 and I already have an SB-600. I was just wondering if I should buy some gear to accomodate Speedlights, or if I can go full monolight with my money.

I am a complete noob to lighting so please help me!

 

[Village Idiot]

You can get one or two monolinghts and a cheap softbox depending on the brand. I think Elinchrom has a d-lite 4 kit which has 2 400w/s d-lite 4's with a softbox, stands, and other goodies for close to that price.

Or you could get two or three more speed lights, something like sunpaks, with an Elinchrom Skyport radio trigger set and all the extras needed for that.

The real question is how much portability do you want? Monolights always have to be tethered to a power source, be it a wall socket or a large battery pack. Strobes have the advantage of being able to go pretty much anywhere and can be integrated into your kit fairly easily. Setting up and shooting at the park is as easy as shooting in the middle of a forest or inside my house with my strobes. I can also put them on a clamp and attach them to windows, cars, bartops, or whatever I can fit a spring clamp on. My monolight doesn't quite have that flexibity.

My monolight has as much power as about 5-6 strobes combined. The light from it's much nicer and I have plenty of power with it.

 

[RubyMagic]

Ugh. I hate compensating. Haha.


The thing is, I was thinking about buying an AC adapter for my car so I could run extensions to plug them in in my car. However i cannot drive my car up into the woods, or in a desert, etc.

Right now Im thinking about either an SU-800 controller with 2 more SB-600's (stands, umbrellas, etc.), an SB-800 and an SB-600 (with accs.), or a cheap impact monolight setup.

I dont know. What would would you do in my situation if you wanted the best value for your money?

 

[RubyMagic]

I found this:

http://www.adorama.com/RP3LK480.html

Is this a good deal?


Also, would I need to buy a special bracket for the light stands if I got a Speedlight set-up, or can I just screm them right in?

 

[Village Idiot]

I found this:

http://www.adorama.com/RP3LK480.html

Is this a good deal?


Also, would I need to buy a special bracket for the light stands if I got a Speedlight set-up, or can I just screm them right in?

Never heard of them. The problem with monolights is that the cheaper they are, the more there usually is wrong with them. Cheaper monolights can suffer from different exposures and color shifts from pop to pop and across the power level.

You'd need something like an umbrella adapter. They're $15.

 

[icassell]

Check out strobist.com -- a great resource for learning about lighting.

 

[RubyMagic]

Ive read ALL of strobist.

 

[asfixiate]

2 or 3 umbrella light stands with ability to plug hot shoe flashes into.

2 or 3 Sunpak 383 or vivitar 285

Skyport/Pocket wizard/Cactus/optical triggers.

All that stuff under 800. Give me what you don't spend.

B&H has good deals on that stuff...I think I looked up the same setup and it was 600 something.

 

[Village Idiot]

Except monolights will give you better light if you spend the money. They're just more restrictive in where and how you can use them.