Beginner lighting kit question

Hello DPreview Community

So, I'm thinking of buying a lighting kit. I only have the built-in flash on my Nikon D50, and I hardly use it as I can't stand the way it makes things look.

I don't have a lot of money to spare right now. (Who does?) I have been looking on Ebay and Craig's list, but I realized I don't even know where to start. So I turn to you.

So, my main question so far is, how much wattage do you need? I have been seeing a lot of low priced kits that offer two lights at 25 or 45 watts each light. Is that enough? Then there's a few for substantially more that offer 1000 watts per light.Is that a lot? Another element on the high watt lights is that there is an on/off switch for each bulb. Handy? Or just a gimmick?

Also, do I want strobe, or continuous?

Umbrellas, or those puffy ballonish things?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thankful in advance,
BMVH

My 2 cents - try getting nikon's sb600. Lean how to use it as fill, in bounce mode, ttl, and manual mode, etc. Later you can try to use it Strobist style with a radio trigger. Lighting 101 from Strobist.blogspot.com may be a good resource for you. Hope this helps.

Regards

--
Alan Atendido
E-500, E-510, 14mm-42mm, 40-150mm, 12mm-60mm SWD, FL-36

A good answer to this could be 20+ pages, and I am not a very tech type guy so search some of these point.

BMVH said:

Hello DPreview Community

So, I'm thinking of buying a lighting kit. I only have the built-in flash on my Nikon D50, and I hardly use it as I can't stand the way it makes things look.

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I used to ahve a D200 and while built in flashes may not be all that useful they are great for a little fill and you will be able to use that little guy to fire your strobes/monolight (indoors and away from other peoples flashes at least)

BMVH said:

I don't have a lot of money to spare right now. (Who does?) I have been looking on Ebay and Craig's list, but I realized I don't even know where to start. So I turn to you.

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It helps to post around what you are looking to spend as a decent light can run from $150-$1000+ easy

BMVH said:

So, my main question so far is, how much wattage do you need?

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Watts really dont tell how much light it put out... it helps but.... I think I will let someone else go about explaining the power thing, but peopl will need to know what you plan on shooting with your light (single person portraits, groups, trucks and weather you want to do it inside or out in daylight

I have been seeing a lot of low priced kits that offer two lights at 25 or 45 watts each light. Is that enough?

can say for sure (see above) but a safe guess is that you will need/want a bit more, and a decent light is fairly adjustable... for portraits using the modifiers I like (be it umbrellas, softboxes, reflectors.... I would need a light to be able to hit around an f11 max and have the option of going much lower like f4 (preferably f2 for the odd times I want a very shallow DOF)

Then there's a few for substantially more that offer 1000 watts per light.Is that a lot? Another element on the high watt lights is that there is an on/off switch for each bulb. Handy? Or just a gimmick?

I bet the 2 bulbs you are talking about is flash tube and modeling light, the flash tube does all the work, its the one that exposes your shot with short powerful flash the modeling light is a normal type of light bulb that is there to help you aim and setup you lights, some modeling work like a dimmer switch in your house to trace the look of what the flash is going to do all usually have the ability to be turned on or off.

BMVH said:

Also, do I want strobe, or continuous?

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Strobe for people for sure and probably for everything else as well, people sometimes mention still life works fine with continuos lights and thats true as long as your subject wont wilt or melt from the heat, your camera and tripod are good for longish exposures.

BMVH said:

Umbrellas, or those puffy ballonish things?

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What modifiers are all up to you, do you want hard light or soft light? round or square catchlight in the eyes? How far from the subject will they be? Do you need to fold them up fast like on location? I could go on, but its usually safe to start with a couple low cost white umbrellas and figure out where you want to go next.

Hope you sitting down for this modifier

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/337656-REG/Broncolor_12_2090_Para_330FB_Reflector_Umbrella.html

Again the prices are really all over!

search for terms like
modeling light
monolight
brolly

umbrella (they come in silver, white, gold and translucent type you shoot through not into in all sizes and prices)
softbox
hard light soft light

read some post and check out the power people are using (Just my opinion but I feel 80% of the time people buy to much power and end up shooting at the very lowest setting, with almost all light and definitely with anything that could be called remotely affordable things get more inconsistent at the low low settings)

Just another opinion but I think a decent set of manual lights with a few different modifiers is far more easy to use than multiple flashes

BMVH said:

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thankful in advance,
BMVH

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--
http://www.TheSBimage.com

If you are thinking of buying a set of studio lights I would recommend getting a short course on studio lighting first. You may have a studio locally that gives these. If you set off now to buy a set of 40watt lights with balloony thingies I think you might end up spending money on things that you don't need/don't work for you. Studio time would get you familliar with the terms and uses of each item and give you a feel for what you need.

If you just want to take quick and easy snaps and have the flash lighting look a bit more natural then I suggest buying a Nikon SB600 and learning how to bounce it off of the ceiling and walls.

Thanks, AAtendido! A good website is always a big help

Raymond, you brought up a lot of stuff for me to think about that I didn't even know I should be thinking about and that's exactly what I needed Thank you so much for your thoughtful post! And yeah, yikes on the price of that umbrella!

LOL Wankle! Yeah, I really don't know what to look for, so that's a good suggestion, thank you Someone else has suggested the SB600, so i'll look into that as well.

Hi,

maybe it is better to start with some reading before spending money just to recognize later that this money was spend on the wrong equipment.

Some good books are:

• "The Hot Shoe Diaries" by Joe McNally
• "Light - Sience and Magic" by (uh - who was it?)

Some good websites:

• http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/03/lighting-101.html
• http://nikonclspracticalguide.blogspot.com/2008/01/nikon-flash-two-separate-metering.html

Good luck end enjoy the reading (I´ve enjoyed it myself),
Chris

Excellent links, thank you Chris! I have seen the magic and science book before, I guess it's time to buy it.

No one can begin to give you any useful advice until we know what types of things you are going to shoot.

If you plan on doing portraits, 45ws is definitely not enough. And continuous lights are out of the question. Sure you can use them, but they tend to get hot and color temperature cannot be easily controlled, etc. If you're doing portraits, you'll want to get strobes of at least 200ws. More is better. You can always dial down a 500ws strobe to 200ws, but you can't dial up a 200ws strobe to 500ws.

If you are doing products on a tabletop, then continuous lights are fine. 45ws may be ok if you are doing very small products.

As for light modifiers, that too depends on what you're shooting. I tend to prefer softboxes over umbrellas because softboxes can be more easily controlled. The light spill from softboxes can be controlled easier than from umbrellas. But umbrellas are easier to set up and take down. It's personal preference.

As was already said, the answer to this general question can (and does) fill entire books.
--
DeanT
http://www.tomasulastudio.com