I'm sure the "I am looking to do a budget studio in the basement" question has been beaten to death, but maybe I can avoid being too redundant by asking specific questions.
First the situation: I am looking to do a budget studio in the basement (partially finished, 9 foot ceilings + 1 foot open into the rafters and the room I will be using is roughly 12 feet by 20 feet with no windows.)
Please understand I have no delusions of going pro. I just have two young kids and would like to be able to do some nice high key, low key and perhaps prop (like Christmas trees, etc...) photography from time to time.
I have a 30D and a 580 and 580 II flash (my wife has a rebel and the 580 is hers but she will let me use it if I ask nice) and a fairly nice selection of lenses, including 50mm f/1.4, 24-70L, 100 f/2.8 Macro, EFS 17-55 f/2.8 IS and a host of others that probably won't be useful for studio work. Please note, I do not want to use the 580's as my main units though. My goal would be to set up my lighting and mark X's on the floor for various lighting setups and be able to walk down, put the camera on the tripod and fire it up and start shooting with a proven lighting setup in place so that I can get good pics.
With the room being partially finished, I can do all manner of mounting as well. There is nothing to stop me from mounting to walls or ceiling if that would improve my situation.
Also, I have a decent Manfrotto tripod and head that would be suitable for the limited purpose of this studio. 488RC2/3021BPRO
My budget is in the $1,000-$1,500 range.
After doing some looking it seems that a couple of decent choices might be the Alien Bee "Busy Bee" kit, which would run about $1,450 if I used the B400's instead of the B800's or the D-Lite 4 Elinchrom kit at around $1,100.
The AB kit has four lights. The Elinchrom kit has 2 lights.
My questions are as follows:
1. Am I even in the ballpark with either of these kits? The Elinchrom kit only has two lights, but with the extra money I could add a light if needed.
2. What am I still missing if I get these kits besides backdrops?
3. What books do you recommend to help with studio setup. I am familiar with amazon.com and I'm dangerous!
4. Is there a better "kit" or fairly standard starting point for starting out with a home studio that I am missing?
Lighting is sorta a religious issue around here, so I won't get into that!
As far as the physical space, I would put up wall board at either narrow end, say 8-10 foot wide. Paint one end white, and the other black or a medium gray. This gives you two different shooting areas. Using gels you can color the black/gray wall
Also get some 4x8' black and white foamcore. Make two V-flats (Carmen calls them "book ends" I believe. Useful as both reflectors and for blocking light.
c.d.embrey wrote:
Lighting is sorta a religious issue around here, so I won't get into that!
Amen brother!
As far as the physical space, I would put up wall board at either narrow end, say 8-10 foot wide. Paint one end white, and the other black or a medium gray. This gives you two different shooting areas. Using gels you can color the black/gray wall
Also get some 4x8' black and white foamcore. Make two V-flats (Carmen calls them "book ends" I believe. Useful as both reflectors and for blocking light.
Tom,
V-Flats are another good cheap way to change studio environment without paint. I prefer a "sunnier" work environment, but white walls can be a challenge in a small studio. However with enough B/W FC panels you can easily line side walls with black side out for low key and greater light control. And when shoot is over you can fold one half of the VFlat over to expose the white side of the FC, block the other black half and the expose the white wall where it is no longer covering the wall. They are also easy to stack up and store. Plus they can be moved around as additive or negative reflectors as needed. Definitely worth a try before you paint walls black.
Aside from recommending specific products, I would say that starting out with 2 lights (even if you can resist unpacking a 3rd and 4th light in a kit) is a good way to go. It's much easier to learn lighting fundamentals with just one light. More lights has the potential to confuse and frustrate many who start out with studio lighting. Not to mention you can do a lot with one light. Plus there are numerous light control techniques that will no doubt get overlooked if you're always reaching for another light source. Each light has an exponential effect in the lighting equation so it pays to add with caveat.
This isn't to say that you won't want or need more lights, but it's just easier to learn the why, where, when and how if you've been limited to one for awhile. The 2nd makes sense because it is the natural step towards learning controlled fill or accent/background lighting. But again it's best to learn these separately in steps before throwing a 4 light kit together.
It's funny, but it seems the more lights you own the more you find yourself actually TRYING to use less. Start out that way and it will be much easier to do when you need to.
I think a flash meter would be a better investment than a 3rd or 4th light. You'll certainly want one, if not need one, when you use extra lights.
I freely admit to being a "fanboy" of digital light control, especially for small home studios. Not that digital control is inherently better, but it does make it so much easier to fine adjust your lights. Not a bad thing when studio space is at a premium.
Thanks for the tips about the lights. I was hoping that a two-light setup would be a good starting place - it is much better for my budget. But I also did not know if I would need at least a third for a hair light.
I don't know that I need a hair light, but coming back from a studio today where they were using one (and where I wasn't 100% satisfied with the results and thought, "why not just go ahead and do small studio in the basement?") I thought that it might be a necessity.
I can do the Alien Bees with two lights WELL within my budget, and even the Elinchroms would be cheaper.
Thanks for the advice on backdrops from both of you also!
Just FYI - B&H sells the D-Lite4 kits for $733 plus shipping (when you add to cart, the price goes down from $900 to $733). In other words - you could still get a four-light kit, with digital controls, etc, and stay within budget.
I didn't even see the elinchroms on BH at first because something called DA-LITE kept coming up.
And I definitely didn't know about the price reduction upon putting it in the inbox.
I might just start with the D-Lite4 kit with 2 lights and then see if I need to build from there. I'll come in well under budget that way and still have $ left to add on after I have gained some experience.
The limited reviews I have been able to find have been pretty good on that kit.
If you go with the D-Lite4 kit (same lights I'm using, BTW) you might want to throw some dough at the Deep Throat Octa. That, plus the grid set and you have a lot of tools to work with and get to know.
Right now you can get the Elinchrom BX400 kit at B&H for $998. Add a 39" or 53" Octa or 39" square Rotalux and you'll have an awesome kit for less than $1,500. Add a good reflector and small stand and you can do a lot in a small space. I have both BX 400's and D-Lite 2's and for the difference in price now I'd go with the BX's. Way nicer than the AB400's.
Question about the BH kit, it is fairly less expensive than the others who sell it and it doesn't say anything about having model lights. Is that just something that is automatically included and they don't mention it because it is automatically included, or is it something they leave out of the kit and does it matter?
Thanks for the tips on the BX400's, I will look into them.
I just spent a while analyzing all this and I ended up getting the new BXRi 500 To Go kit from Elinchrom... it comes with two 500s, soft boxes etc. Sorry I can't tell you much about it yet (expect it to arrive today) but the kit comes with a skyport transmitter and transmitter built into the heads. I'm not sure if B&H have these yet. I got mine from Vistek in Toronto.
Yes the BX 400's come with modeling lights, fans, etc. Pretty much everything you need. I would get the new BXRi 500's also if you have the money but I don't think they are available in the U.S. yet. I'm sure this explains the deep discount on the BX400's. However, the BX400's are very nice lights and as I said before, for this price, with your budget, you can get some nice modifers also, plus maybe a Universal EL-Skyport kit.
Thanks for the info. I would like to consider a Skyport kit or something like that, but I am not at all up-to-speed on what I need there. I still have some research to do on what I need to easily go wireless.
I am leaning towards the BX400 kit, but I do wonder about the umbrellas. Everything I have read so far (and I am trying to come up-to-speed fast and I'm not there yet) seems to lead me to believe that I am going to prefer softboxes to umbrellas.
Should I go ahead and get the kit and then get my own medium or large softboxes separately?
Every one is different in their approach to lighting. I NEVER use soft boxes and seldom use umbrellas, I prefer Beauty Dishes. Some love the Big Octa and some swear by the Deep Throat Octa.
Reminding me of my first time into studio lighting, i was asking many many question maybe in more than 30 websites, got many answers, and now i got almost stable equipment, even not that high end or ideal as i want but all will say it is the results more important.
