Basic Items for a Home Studio

[LizardKing]

Hello!

I know there are tons of threads and articles about this, and believe me I've read quite a few of them; but still couldn't find one that helps me in what I need. So, I thought about writing here and maybe you could all point me in the right direction.

I want to setup a basic home studio, mostly for products, objects, macro and maybe some abstracts. Not planning to do any portraits here for now.
Don't have much space at home, but I thought I won't need much space if I'm not gonna shoot people or large objects.

Mostly, I'll be trying to learn the basics of artificial lightning and put the concepts to practice. (Thanks KmH for recommending this book. Just ordered and should be here within the month!)

Anyway, enough with the intro... My budget is really limited and I'm looking to buy only the most essential stuff. The problem is, I don't know what's essential and what could be bought later.
Not really looking for you to tell me the models or brands I should get, since I can easily find that. But what I do need, is like a quick list of the basic Items I'll need. This is what I'm having troubles defining.

My current gear is just the camera, lenses and an SB-700. So, of course I'll need a good tripod, but that's another matter.
I'm also going to get a good grey/white card (for both WB and Exposure) and thought I should get some remote shutter. I was thinking of the Nikon ML-L3 but maybe there's something better I could buy.

After doing some reading, I prefer to go with strobes rather than continuous lightning. But not sure about the 'backgrounds' of the studio or the umbrellas, diffusers, etc.

One last thing, I don't really like buying crap and then have to throw it away just because it's not good enough. I mean, I rather buy just 1 item or keep saving till I can buy good stuff, than throw my money into the garbage. This doesn't mean I'm looking to buy pro equipment, not even close to that. But I do want to be able to take quality pictures and not waste both my money and time.

Hope this is enough info for you to point me in the right direction. If not, please ask anything you need to know and I'll answer ASAP.

Thanks in advance and have a nice day!!

 

[cgipson1]

I would suggest a single light to start out with.. with a stand and either an umbrella or a brolly. Learn that first.. then add another light.

Are you wanting speedlights? Yongnou 560 is a good manual flash.. pretty cheap. So are some of the older Nikons like the SB-28... or even the old but reliable Vivitar 283.

how about a budget? That will help us help you!

If you can swing it.. I HIGHLY recommend a Flashpoint 320 $99 (if you don't want a speedlight)

 

[Mach0]

I would suggest a single light to start out with.. with a stand and either an umbrella or a brolly. Learn that first.. then add another light.

Are you wanting speedlights? Yongnou 560 is a good manual flash.. pretty cheap. So are some of the older Nikons like the SB-28... or even the old but reliable Vivitar 283.

how about a budget? That will help us help you!

If you can swing it.. I HIGHLY recommend a Flashpoint 320 $99 (if you don't want a speedlight)

X2 I have a few speedlights. I love my sb28. However, you can get some really large modifiers for a monolight. An sb28 will cost almost the same as a flashpoint 320. I have vivitars as well but the Nikon is smaller and recycles faster. I would probably get the flashpoint.

 

[2WheelPhoto]

Google elinchrom and profoto

 

[GeorgieGirl]

I think of all the photgraphy books I have purchased and read, lighting out numbers any other topic.

 

[KmH]

Calumet's Genesis 200 monolights lights use Elinchrom speedrings for soft boxes.

This kit often goes on sale - http://www.calumetphoto.com/eng/product/calumet_genesis_200_2_light_kit/cf0502k1

If you are shooting things instead of people, you'll need more reflectors, flags, scrims, and light subtractors than would be needed for doing portraiture.

But for stuff that doesn't move you can use longer shutter speeds, which means you can use constant lights. No doubt, you lose the ability to control ambient light separately from strobed light since there is no strobed light.