Questions about studio lighting

[Al-Wazeer]

Hello, my brother is welling to buy some studio lighting, so what's the best soft boxes and flashes to buy? And what's good but not the best? What's the difference between the "lights" and the "flashes" and which one is better?

And what do you think about this kit in this link?

http://a763.g.akamai.net/7/763/1644/3/app.infopia.com/img/image/fp/VPID/3767218/img3/img.jpg

Help please!

 

[Big Mike]

'Lights' is a very general term.

Flash or strobe refers to a type of light that gives you a burst (flash) of light...as opposed to continuous light that give you light constantly. You can use either type for photography but flash/strobe is better if you are shooting moving subjects like people.

Check out AlienBees: Illuminating the Galaxy with Professional Photographic Lighting Equipment

 

[Village Idiot]

Budget? That's the important part. Most of my recommendations clock in at at least $500.

 

[Al-Wazeer]

The budget for a whole kit around $800.

 

[Village Idiot]

The budget for a whole kit around $800.

http://www.cartserver.com/sc/cart.cgi

A decent start if you can get it. It's the digibee package with B800's instead of the B400's.

Two 320w/s lights, two cases, two stands, and two umbrellas. Probably one of the cheapest monolight solutions unless you go used.

 

[CSR Studio]

Looks like a nice all around kit depending on what you are planning on shooting. Do you do portraits? If so you may need to add a couple for hair and background lights. If you do product you will need another softbox and a tent or plexiglass.

 

[Derrel]

You must make sure your lighting equipment is compatible with the electrical current in your intended area of use. Looking at your sig, it looks like you are in Bahrain. What type of household electric current do they have there?

 

[Al-Wazeer]

The budget for a whole kit around $800.

http://www.cartserver.com/sc/cart.cgi

A decent start if you can get it. It's the digibee package with B800's instead of the B400's.

Two 320w/s lights, two cases, two stands, and two umbrellas. Probably one of the cheapest monolight solutions unless you go used.

Another question:

I read about this flash and I think its good for me but how can I fire these flashes without using another flash?

I mean they wrote in their spec. that the flash can be fired under the Slave mode...but nothing about firing it by wireless trigger

Is there anything to do to go around this?

Bader Alwazeer

 

[Al-Wazeer]

Looks like a nice all around kit depending on what you are planning on shooting. Do you do portraits? If so you may need to add a couple for hair and background lights. If you do product you will need another softbox and a tent or plexiglass.

I'll be doing both.

You must make sure your lighting equipment is compatible with the electrical current in your intended area of use. Looking at your sig, it looks like you are in Bahrain. What type of household electric current do they have there?

Electricity power is not a problem for me, in USA you use - I think - is 110V and in Bahrain the power is 240V or 220V, but I can convert it to 110V without a problem.

 

[Big Mike]

I read about this flash and I think its good for me but how can I fire these flashes without using another flash?

I mean they wrote in their spec. that the flash can be fired under the Slave mode...but nothing about firing it by wireless trigger

Is there anything to do to go around this?

With studio lights like this, they have a sync port, which is just a standard TRS connection. The lights come with a cord that connects to the lights and has a PC connection on the other end, to connect to the camera. If your camera doesn't have a PC connection, you can get a hot-shoe to PC adapter.

You can also use the sync connection to plug in a wireless flash trigger receiver.

Besides the sync connection, the lights also have a built-in optical slave....so all you have to do is trigger one of them, and the others will fire with the optical slave.

 

[Village Idiot]

The budget for a whole kit around $800.

http://www.cartserver.com/sc/cart.cgi

A decent start if you can get it. It's the digibee package with B800's instead of the B400's.

Two 320w/s lights, two cases, two stands, and two umbrellas. Probably one of the cheapest monolight solutions unless you go used.

Another question:

I read about this flash and I think its good for me but how can I fire these flashes without using another flash?

I mean they wrote in their spec. that the flash can be fired under the Slave mode...but nothing about firing it by wireless trigger

Is there anything to do to go around this?

Bader Alwazeer

They have an optical trigger so that any other flash can trigger them. They also have a port (I think it's 1/4", not sure) that you can plug a cable into and the other end can be connected to your camera or to a wireless trigger.

Paul C Buff (The Alien Bees creator) also has a trigger that plugs into an RJ46 type port on the back of the light which allows you to fire the lights wirelessly and adjust them from a trigger on your camera.

So there's multiple option for this. Also, regardless of what I think of the product, AB's customer service is good. Write or call them and they'll help you out with any questions you may have.