Advice on this product please!

[table1349]

Buy this book and read it. https://www.amazon.com/Light-Science-Magic-Introduction-Photographic/dp/0415719402

Sounds like you have no idea what you are doing hence you have no idea what you need to make it work. You need to understand light and how to use it first then you can plan what you need to buy to achieve your goals.

 

[Mikeyb90]

Buy this book and read it. https://www.amazon.com/Light-Science-Magic-Introduction-Photographic/dp/0415719402

Sounds like you have no idea what you are doing hence you have no idea what you need to make it work. You need to understand light and how to use it first then you can plan what you need to buy to achieve your goals.

No offense, but I can watch a video on YouTube rather than spend 60 bucks on a book. What I need is simple. What I'm asking is the easiest and cheapest ways to get what I need. I just don't have 300 bucks for a single speed light and then the trigger, stand, soft box etc. I'm asking if there is a cheaper way to use portable constant light.

 

[table1349]

Well you can buy one of these to go with it since you will need power: Paul C. Buff - Vagabond™ Lithium Extreme
Or you can get one of these. WEN 2000W Inverter Generator, CARB Compliant - Walmart.com

Neither are cheap, but if you are looking at the item you posted, then you don't need a power supply with a pure sign wave inverter but you will need a lot of the lights if that is a continuous light system. The ones you posted the photo of don't provide that much light when dealing with sunlight.

If you want to use cheap constant lighting outdoors then you are going to need high power lighting. The cheap stuff will cause you color issues and the good stuff that is color temp balanced is not going to be cheap.

If that is a pair of flash heads then you will need a pure sign wave inverter source of power. Either the Vagabond above or a generator which will start in the area of $450-500.

Of course good lighting outdoors doesn't have to include lights if you understand light and lighting.

 

[Mikeyb90]

Well you can buy one of these to go with it since you will need power: Paul C. Buff - Vagabond™ Lithium Extreme
Or you can get one of these. WEN 2000W Inverter Generator, CARB Compliant - Walmart.com

Neither are cheap, but if you are looking at the item you posted, then you don't need a power supply with a pure sign wave inverter but you will need a lot of the lights. The ones you posted the photo of don't provide that much light when dealing with sunlight.

If you want to use cheap constant lighting outdoors then you are going to need high power lighting. The cheap stuff will cause you color issues and the good stuff that is color temp balanced is not going to be cheap.

I went ahead and passed on buying those lights.. I don't want to make a Frankenstein set-up. I figured I might run into temp issues with constants. So I gotta bite the bullet and save for a couple speed lights I guess. Until then I'll continue to carry my white poster board -.-

 

[table1349]

Buy this book and read it. https://www.amazon.com/Light-Science-Magic-Introduction-Photographic/dp/0415719402

Sounds like you have no idea what you are doing hence you have no idea what you need to make it work. You need to understand light and how to use it first then you can plan what you need to buy to achieve your goals.

No offense, but I can watch a video on YouTube rather than spend 60 bucks on a book. What I need is simple. What I'm asking is the easiest and cheapest ways to get what I need. I just don't have 300 bucks for a single speed light and then the trigger, stand, soft box etc. I'm asking if there is a cheaper way to use portable constant light.

FYI there is no video on youtube that comes close to having the information you will find in that book. The authors are some of the best on lighting there are these days. Another was Monte Zucker and his classes cost me a whole lot more than the 28-48 dollars that book can be had for.

 

[photo1x1.com]

Uuuups - sorry, I just reread - I was googling the set and then forgot to reread your post .
Hmmmm - you would first need a power source. There isn´t too much available, and if so they are rather heavy and bulky.
You can use it as a fill outdoors, but you´d also need to consider flash sync speed of your camera. If you want to create portraits with shallow depth, you´d need an ND filter.
Is flash sync speed a familiar term for you?
Most cameras have a flash sync of 1/250th or slower. Without ND filter this would result in roughly f11 for aperture on a bright sunny day. Not too nice for portraits.

Familiar but not educated lol. I have the filter but not an adapter ring for the lens I use.. Didn't think about that. My other concern is that I really don't like straight on flash..

Me neither . But if it is really only fill and done gently, it is sometimes hardly recognizable. Dial it down and use manual rather than TTL, and chances are you like it much better. If not, consider that it might not only be the straight on flash you don't like, but also the hard light of speedlights. Even placed off camera, one single flash can look really bad if not placed correctly with the right power setting. Light modifyers like softboxes help and so does a second light.
You use a white poster board, that is great and also helps intuitively learn how to light your portraits. There are cheap collapsible reflectors. They can be a pain to use, but sometimes are quite useful. Plus: some people have problems with getting dazzled, even if they are placed well off camera.

No cheap way for constant lights that can keep up with the sun, and I guess it will stay that way for decades, despite LEDs and whatnot entering the market. You'd need 1000s of watts of standard lights for direct sunlight. That's hollywood stuff.

 

[Scatterbrained]

Whatever is easiest/cheapest. I just want some soft fill light for when I'm in the woods and whatnot

Have you tried working with a speedlight yet? That's about as cheap and easy as it gets. Besides, I'm a firm believer that everyone should have at least one speedlight.

I used to have one.. But honestly I don't like the straight on flash.. Secondly, if I'm shooting outdoor portraits, I'm typically using a wide aperture and faster shutter speed.. With a speed light I can only go up to a 200 shutter speed and at that point everything is blown out. Unless I'm missing something?

Get the speedlight off camera and push it through a shoot through umbrella. That's the cheapest way to get off camera lighting. You can get a non TTL third party speedlight for $60. Get a set of basic radio triggers for about the same. A coldshoe adapter with umbrella mount for $15. Just because it's a speedlight doesn't mean the light is hard or direct. Hard light and direct light are properties controlled by you, not determined by the light you choose to use.

 

[table1349]

I realize that this is something that you will have to read instead of watching you youtube but it is free.
Lighting Outdoor Portraits: A Quick Guide

 

[beagle100]

What kind of budget are you looking at and exactly how are you planning to use the lights? You can get some traditional strobes and then buy a portable battery pack like the PaulCBuff Vagabond Mini. Bear in mind that you'll be paying almost $200 extra to have a battery pack for your strobe.

You could look into the bare bulb "speedlight" style lights that have their own internal battery. They are ideal for fast moving location work, or just when you need to travel as light as possible, but still need more than what a standard speedlight offers.

Minimal budget.. I've been able to get away with adding fill in LR but I want to get set up to do it right. The equipment that I posted was 100 bucks. I'd really like to use constant lights if I could

a cheap yongnuo flash and umbrella is less than $100

 

[Mikeyb90]

What kind of budget are you looking at and exactly how are you planning to use the lights? You can get some traditional strobes and then buy a portable battery pack like the PaulCBuff Vagabond Mini. Bear in mind that you'll be paying almost $200 extra to have a battery pack for your strobe.

You could look into the bare bulb "speedlight" style lights that have their own internal battery. They are ideal for fast moving location work, or just when you need to travel as light as possible, but still need more than what a standard speedlight offers.

Minimal budget.. I've been able to get away with adding fill in LR but I want to get set up to do it right. The equipment that I posted was 100 bucks. I'd really like to use constant lights if I could

a cheap yongnuo flash and umbrella is less than $100

What model would I look into getting? Do any of them compare to a sb800?