Home Studio Checklist

jobo5432 · May 1, 2011

I wish I could have my wife post this thread, but seeing as how I'm trying to set her up (all or in part) for her birthday and I want it to be a surprise, I guess I'm left to my own devices...

My wife currently has a Nikon D40x body which I outfitted with a Tamron Di II 18-270mm zoom lens last Christmas. She would like to start doing amateur studio photography for family and friends. I'm looking for a basic list of equipment she would need... Lenses, filters, lighting options, backdrops, etc?

I'm not looking to build a complete professional-grade studio, and I don't have a goose which lays the golden eggs, so I'm trying to keep it on a budget too. I'm not looking for "cheap" but "affordable". If you fine folks have suggestions for me, I'm all ears.

Thank you all in advance and please let me apologize for being completely dumb on the subject....

mrpink · May 1, 2011

Give us a dollar amount to work with. "Affordable" for someone that has been in photography for a while is much different from someone who has not.

I see a $600 macro lens as "affordable", where others see that as an obscene amount to spend.

My "studio setup"... 2 SB-600 speedlights (~$200 each), Light stands and umbrella kit from B&H (~$100), I use fabric as my backdrops, you will need wireless radio triggers off eBay (Cactus V4's I believe are around $75). The lens I shoot with is a Nikkor 17-55 2.8 (~$1300) but the lens your wife has will work, just not the greatest for flash photography due to the small aperture value.

Results from the above equipment....

allie by Matt Francosky, on Flickr

p!nK

mattinthehat · May 1, 2011

Like Pink said it is really a matter of how much.

I went on the more ... affordable... side, and got a setup through Cowboy Studio that I pieced together. I got two 110w strobes with stands and 33" soft umbrellas (decent shoot through, not great reflection) for about 140$ total. I like these strobes because of the modeling lights, so just learning about studio lighting you can move the light around and see how it casts shadows etc. They sell a wireless trigger in the 30$ range. They have backdrop stands and backdrops, reflectors and reflector stands (though I opted for a coffee can, a little bit of concrete, a meter stick and a collapsible windshield reflector).

Other nice things are softboxes, big ones.