Help me settle this dispute...

[AtuspidsGoddess]

Hello everyone! Thank you for all your input! And yes, to answer some of the questions, I am interested in shooting people/portraiture. To put a more specific explanation in, I have a shoot coming up where I will be helping a girlfriend of mine with some boudoir type shots, so we are talking rather low light as well as some beauty type photos as well. I believe that for this shoot, the AB would benefit me along with my overall equipment as a whole...since I am shooting people...although I have seen great samples of the 50mm 1.4 and it would be a great lens to eventually get, when it really comes down to what's crucial now, I am also of the mind that what with having the 1.8 in the bag, it would likely be a much better buy to add some good lighting. Thanks for solidifying that!

I also have three light stands so I guess all I'll be needing is to look into triggers and a softbox to add as well. Also I am looking into all other suggestions that are being made in this thread as well for alternative lighting sets.

...and...thank you for the compliments!

 

[redtippmann]

Personally I would take a piece of lighting gear over a lens any day. I personally think lenses are over rated (my 18-105 and 80-200 cover 98% of what I need to shoot). But it really just comes down to how you shoot and your style.

Just about the light stands: I had a hotshoe flash set up for a while, and I was using stands with a small footprint. If you go with alien bees (what I use now) I would get similar stands to the heavy-duty ones sold on the alien bee website, or c-stands.

 

[kundalini]

:thumbup: +1 with redtippmann's comment on stands. Once you start adding bigger and heavier softboxes, you'll want heavy-duty stands. I use 13' heavy-duty stands and counter weigths for my WL's. I have also added casters to my main and key lights..... nice for me.

One more suggestion is to look at the Nikkor 85mm f/1.4 or f/1.8 for portrait work.