Expandable Studio Lighting.

theilluminated · Aug 6, 2009

Good day!

As an aspiring photographer and current student of the subject I have found myself in need of getting myself a studio and something long term as well in the way that it is easily expandable.

I'm starting out with a budget of around 1500-2000USD and the purpose is to have something that is good enough now as a simple setup but expandable into something more complex later on that could also be run on batteries for on-location shooting.

The goal is to start out with a good and professional setup and later add some lighting here and there as I see fit. It is not necessary to create setups for me (though you can if you wish! :thumbup

but I am mostly interested in what experiences you have had with own setups, why you bought them, what the initially cost was and why you stuck to it or changed to another setup.

c.cloudwalker · Aug 6, 2009

Student of the subject in what way? Are you in a photo school or just reading a couple books on your own?

What you intend to do with your photography is going to be very important in your decision of what equipment to get. I had over 10 years of photojournalism behind me when I set up my first studio, I was very serious about continuing to earn a living with photography although in a different manner and because I believe that quality tools are worth the cost in the long run, I started with 3 monolights by Broncolor.

Not the cheapest strobes but beautiful quality and I had a dealer/service center in town which, I thought, was very important since I could get accessories very quickly and easily, I could rent extra lights until I could buy more, and if something broke (it never happened) I could get it fixed quickly.

Now, if you are just having fun with your photo, there are cheaper alternatives. But I would definitely try and stick with a brand that is sold locally for the reasons mentioned above. If you live in Oslo it should not be a problem.

As far as expandability is concerned, if you stick with a known name, a company that has been around for a while, it shouldn't be a problem either.

Cheers.

theilluminated · Aug 6, 2009

I'm at the moment taking an online course which is supposed teach the necessary knowledge to start out as a freelancer or having your own studio etc. and I am half way through it and love it!

Besides the course I am taking I got a lot of different books also which I am reading to fill in or expand on the subjects I learn at the course.

The course is done on my spare time since I am working full time in IT and I am earning enough money to buy quality merchandise and in that way I have afforded two L-lenses already and will only buy L in the future also.

I live in Stavanger at the moment though I doubt I will stay here forever, but in general I think that the industry in Norway for renting out such equipment is considerably smaller here compared to everywhere else but I don't want to be quoted on that, hehe.

In general I would love to do portraits (both humans and animals), product photography and landscape though the sun can help me do the last part or it would get really expensive.

I very much agree on finding a brand and just stick to it. At the moment there aren't so many different vendors in Norway and I might need to import due to the low availability. Here in Norway we seem to have Bowens, Hensel, and Elinchrom, if I want anything else I have to import which is kind of a bad solution in the long run.

If anyone got experiences with any of I would love to hear about it.

c.cloudwalker · Aug 6, 2009

Stavanger didn't ring a bell (been a long time since I was in Norway

) so I had to look it up and noticed that it's closer to Bergen than Oslo. But Bergen does not seem to be much larger than your own city. Stavanger sounds like it could be a good place to be doing photography, though. Any serious photo stores there? or would you have to get equipment from Oslo?

No personal experience with the brands you mention but Elinchrom is used by many pros and has a very good reputation. Bowens is english and I'll admit knowing nothing about the quality of their electronics. But both of those are European companies and that could be an advantage in terms of delivery time, repair turn-over time, etc

JerryPH · Aug 6, 2009

Once you purchase into a system, you usually stick with it. Elinchrom offers a broad range of equipment and it is made to work together. I doubt there is something outside of their product line that you will ever need.

It is like a camera system... you research, see if it does what you want now and in the future, and then make the choice based on this. Same thing for lighting.

As for what exactly needs to be purchased... well, no one knows your needs better than you... so you get the fun of matching products with needs and finding what you are going to spend your money on.

epatsellis · Aug 7, 2009

Broncolor, Elinchrom and Briese (in the EU) are three "most complete" systems out there, each has something the other's don't, with Bron traditionally leaning more towards product work, Elinchrom more towards fashion/portrait work and I dont' have familiarity with Briese to know.

Personally, I have Bron, but I've been using them for 20+ years and if I had to do it over, I'd probably go Elinchrom.

erie

snowdog · Aug 7, 2009

In my opinion, the best start into affordable studio and location lighting is either speedlights (highly compact and portable but less powerful outdoors) or the alien bees.

www.poze-studio.ro/

Annamas · Aug 7, 2009

What course are you taking . . . I've looked at some options, but haven't decided upon anything at this point.

Andrew Boyd · Aug 12, 2009

If you look abroad you should check out the Alien Bees system. They're inexpensive, easy to upgrade and have a battery pack option which will make them portable--something you mentioned you wanted.
But you won't get local service...

Andrew Boyd
TheDiscerningPhotographer

Village Idiot · Aug 13, 2009

snowdog said:
In my opinion, the best start into affordable studio and location lighting is either speedlights (highly compact and portable but less powerful outdoors) or the alien bees.

www.poze-studio.ro/

Andrew Boyd said:
If you look abroad you should check out the Alien Bees system. They're inexpensive, easy to upgrade and have a battery pack option which will make them portable--something you mentioned you wanted.
But you won't get local service...

Andrew Boyd
TheDiscerningPhotographer

Although Alien Bees are the cheapest portable monolight solution, they no longer have a European retailer, which means he would have to buy from the US. :thumbdown:

Elinchrom are better lights anyways, the only problem is for a battery powered Elinchrom light is that you spend $$$$

You could always go with a pack and head system. If you buy used, they're resonable and you can hook something like a Speedotron pack up to a pure sine wave inveter on a battery.

JerryPH · Aug 13, 2009

I *love* Photogenic, they have incredible quality equipment... and the *the* oldest studio flash makers known... at well over 100 years in business. They are also NOT made in China, Japan or Taiwan like 90% of the new mid-range systems (even Elinchrom D-Lite-2 and 4's are made in the orient!)... The Photogenic manufactureing plant is in Illinois, right near Chicago, right smack in the US of A.

I love this brand (I own a 2500DR), and when getting studio heads, *this* is the ONLY brand I will ever purchase.

inTempus · Aug 13, 2009

I guess I struggle to understand why something being made in China is a problem. This isn't 1950, the Chinese are capable of manufacturing some of the highest quality electronics made. Heck, Mac's are almost all exclusively made in China including the iPhone.

If you have a "buy American" hang-up, I can understand that. But since we're talking about a European buying European products, I don't see how this is a factor.

Derrel · Aug 14, 2009

I don't know why somebody keeps insistng that Photgenic is *the* oldest studio flash manufacturer...Harold Edgerton invented stroboscopic flash in 1931. In 1938 he made his famous photograph of a football being place-kicked, showing the impact of the kicker's foot on the football. The American company, Speedotron Corporation, made the first commerical power pack and head system in 1939. They are still making both monolights and pack and head systems.

Photogenic was begun a long time ago--before electricity was even wired into most buildings in North American,and they first made arc lighting for the movie industry, but they did not get into electronic flash until the 1940's. The company has been sold many times.

One of the neatest things about Photogenic monolights is that they have very fast flash durations that have very stable and consistent color temperature,even at low power settings, which is something many "offshore" lights can not claim.

As to why something being made in China is a problem, it;s simply the low standard of quality that so,so many CHinese-made monolights exhibit. Cheap,cheap,cheap. When you buy Photogenic or Speedotron flash, you are buying solid, heavy-duty,American-made products that are designed to work ALL DAY, for YEARS on end. I shot at some studios that used Photogenic power packs and heads and they were used HARD, six days a week, from 8 am until 6 PM. We shot on long-rolls and were very busy,and I cannot remember replacing a flash tube in a Photogenic head in one two-year stretch. I also have some Speedotron M11 flash heads uses with a 1600-watt-second power pack; they were bought in 1987 and 2 of 3 flashtubes are STILL WORKING!!!! Even after one fall onto conrete flooring from eight feet.

By comparison, I have a CHInese-made JTL monolight....its flashtube FAILED after about 200 shots. It gets so hot to the touch,it's almost impossible to change the reflector after 30 minutes of modeling light being on....with a Speedotron or Photogenic head, you can change the reflector after its been on an hour,or two hours,or three hours.

If one has worked with Photogenic or SPeedotron professional lights and then used Chinese-made monolights, the education in value-versus-cost begins after about one day...frankly, what I have seen from China is craptastic, but low-cost. The old-line American brands have designs that have not changed in decades, because they were perfected between the 1940's and the 1980's...most of the CHinese stuff is very,very new and very unreliable. There is *nothing* made in China that can compare with the quality and durability of Photogenic Machine Company or Speedotron Corporation's studio lighting gear. Nothing.

theilluminated · Aug 19, 2009

I must thank everyone for some great information and I have decided to place my money on Elinchrom for the time being. Do any of you by any chance know of a dependable place to buy Elinchrom in Europe like the UK with decent delivery times?

JerryPH · Aug 19, 2009

tharmsen said:
I guess I struggle to understand why something being made in China is a problem.

If you have a "buy American" hang-up, I can understand that. But since we're talking about a European buying European products, I don't see how this is a factor.

Fair enough... but it does become an issue when you purchase a new plastic cased D-Lite2 or 4 kit, pick up the head by it's handle and it breaks off in your hand... whereas a 10 year old swiss made BxRI unit with metal casing and handles can basically be dropped from 4 feet, picked up and continued to be worked with.

Hate to mention the obvious, but things are made in the orient for a very clear cut reasons:
1. people work for much less.
2. its made with cheaper lower grade materials

Both are done simply to be more competitive in the market today.

I am not a "Made in the USA" leg humper, I am a Canadian... but the quality is OBVIOUS as soon as you've worked with them.