Combining slower and faster strobes - studio set-up

Eye4India · Jan 18, 2014

Dear everybody,

I am planning to set up a mini studio at my home in a room roughly 4mx5m with a ceiling height of approx. 3m. I am planning to use the studio for product shots, portraiture/modelling shots and child photography. Since I am planning to involve a certain amount of action in the shots such as jumping and wind-machine I am facing the problem that most studio strobes that I can dream of affording at this point might not be fast enough/aka their flash duration seems to be too long to be useful for me. Additionally I have moved from Germany to India and am now confronted with a market with limited buying options.

Luckily there is an Elinchrom distributor in Mumbai and thus I have limited my choices down to their equipment (Photoquip) - unluckily again, not all of the usually available Elinchrom products are available in Mumbai.

So far my thoughts: Either the Fx 200 or FX 400 kit plus one monolight Style Rx 300. Now the first question is - in as a small studio as mine would the FX 200 kit be sufficient? - Advantage of the 200FX - shorter flash duration of 1/1200s at full power than the FX 400 (1/800s). On the other hand I have read that strobes with only 200W/s are hardly sufficient for anything other than fill lights. If I on the other hand opt for the FX 400 kit I might have to shoot at a very reduced power due to reflection in the small studio, thus having even longer flashdurations...

That's when I thought of adding one faster strobe to the set and use it as my main light - the Style Rx 300 with a flash duration of 1/2850s (all figures apply to t0.5). Is it possible to have only one really fast flash in my light set-up using the slower ones as fill lights and still achieving sharp action shots?

What is your experience with FX 200 and FX 400 which one would you recommend for my prupose?

And last but not least - if I can afford a battery pack in the future to also use my strobes outdoors - then the FX 200 would not be sufficient to cut ambient light, would it?

Many thanks in advance!

Helen

tirediron · Jan 18, 2014

In a 4mx5m (12'x15') studio, you are VERY unlikely to be using a 400 w/s head at full power. My studio space is 5mx15m (15'x45') and when I use my monolights, I don't think I've EVERY used my 250 w/s units above 1/2 power. Given your space the Rx300 with a flash duration of 1/2850 at full power would be MORE than adequate. I definitely would not spend the money on 400w/s units and in fact, I would say that in your space, the 200w/s units would be sufficient. To answer your question about mixing duration, in practice, it won't make any difference.

The 200 would not be suitable for bright sunlight outdoor work, no.

Eye4India · Jan 19, 2014

tirediron said:
In a 4mx5m (12'x15') studio, you are VERY unlikely to be using a 400 w/s head at full power. My studio space is 5mx15m (15'x45') and when I use my monolights, I don't think I've EVERY used my 250 w/s units above 1/2 power. Given your space the Rx300 with a flash duration of 1/2850 at full power would be MORE than adequate. I definitely would not spend the money on 400w/s units and in fact, I would say that in your space, the 200w/s units would be sufficient. To answer your question about mixing duration, in practice, it won't make any difference.

The 200 would not be suitable for bright sunlight outdoor work, no.

Thank you very much for this insightful response - very helpful!

Eye4India · Jan 19, 2014

Oh, one more question - how did you mean that it won't make a difference when mixing durations? Did you mean my slower flashes won't interfere if my main light is fast or the other way round? Thank you again

tirediron · Jan 19, 2014

In practical terms, the durations are all so short that I don't think there would be any difference in the image. 1/500 is plenty fast enough to freeze all motion in a studio setting unless you have a couple of small children running at full speed.