CharleyL
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 p.1 #6 · Upgrading strobes from Flashpoint Xplor600? | |
When outfitting my present studio I debated on batteries or AC Power for the lighting. I ended up putting electric outlet power strips on the ceiling, roughly above where I usually place my lights camera right and left in the studio. I minimize power cords running around on the floor, but never want a dead battery problem mid shoot either. All of my lights are Godox or Flashpoint and with Bowens mounts. I do have high powered lights in 800 and 1000 w/s sizes, but I find that the SK300 and SK400 Godox lights or equivalent Flashpoint lights are more than adequate for my studio use. Smaller and cheaper too. The bigger, heavier lights for most needs in my studio is just a waste of money, because I just don't need that much light power for all but very unusual shooting most of the time. My studio is 19 x 26' with an 8' ceiling height (wish it was higher, but not possible here). The walls and ceiling are white, so I can bounce light off of them when needed, or depend on the inverse square law of light and distance when I want darkness. The studio is set up for Portraits, Still Life, Macro, and Video shooting with the video LED light panels placed on a DIY ceiling lighting support grid, so I can leave them all in place when shooting stills below. Yes, I use light stands when needed, but without power cords on the floor. Lights and soft boxes usually get hung from the ceiling grid if they won't need to be moved around during the shoot. Modified light stands hung upside down from the ceiling grid eliminates the trip hazard of the tripod legs on the floor and can be adjusted up and down easily. The grid allows me to place a light anywhere within a 10' wide by 22' area of the studio and AC Power is available anywhere within 5' of a hanging light or light on a stand. Though only one 20 amp power circuit on the ceiling, I have wireless control modules and remotes so I can turn power on and off for any group or kind of light, whether it's on the ceiling grid or on a stand below it. Even my tether cable runs to the ceiling grid and across to above my computer table, with enough slack at the camera end for free movement in the camera half of the studio. I have a tether cable extension to use if I ever need it, but haven't needed it in 6 years of shooting in this studio. With no power cables on the floor and a minimum of light stands too, so my studio is far safer than most photo studios. I now use camera stands instead of camera tripods most of the time, again for safety, as well as for more camera stability that helps when shooting Still Life and macro. Even my ceiling "work light" is wirelessly controlled from any camera stand, the computer table, a toolbox on wheels that I place my camera on during shooting breaks, and at the original light switch position at the entrance door. In most cases, I use a camera F-8 setting to eliminate the ceiling light from having any effect on the shoot, but if a lower F-Stop setting is required, I have the way to turn the ceiling work light off before the shot and then back on without the need to move around in the darkened studio. Yes, I know that the F-Stop setting of the camera determines the focal depth, but it can also be used to eliminate low level room lighting from affecting most photo shoots. If a lower F-Stop setting is required for a shoot, then I have the way to briefly turn this light off and then back on without the need to move around in the dark to turn it off and then back on. Safety in my studio for both me and my models is very important to me, and I have designed safety into my studio as much as I can.
Charley
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