The next step: Speedlights vs Monolights?

As i've been getting better with off camera lighting, i feel that i'm comming to a decision point: should i continue to buy speedlights or go with a studio kinda light?

My only real issue with the studio lights would be that i cant take them with me like a speed light... (i currently have a Yonguno 460II and a SB700, and i'm looking to get 2 more yonguno's unless i go the studio route...)

My budget isnt very large right now (with my current photo income, maybe $150 per studio light). If that's not enough to get a good one, i'd rather save up then save money now (obviously within reason... i'm not going to save up for a $1,000 light, but $300 or possibly $400 might be feasable, it'll just take me a few months).

Ok, I'm aware of the advantages and dissadvantages of the speedlights. What's it like on the studio light side? I have a small light stand (7'?). Will that be strong enough to hold a studio light? Will the Yonguno RF603's be able to trigger the studio lights? Will i need to buy new light modifiers? (ie umbrellas)

The way i'm looking at it now, i could get a few yonguno 460's and more 603's for added power or additional light sources for pretty cheap. Will a $150 studio light be worth three 460's? (ok maybe 2 460's and 2 603's +batteries...).

Thanks in advance.

Save your money and don't buy anything right now. When you know what you need to achieve the look you desire, then make a purchasing decision.

The Battery said:

My only real issue with the studio lights would be that i cant take them with me like a speed light...

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Why not? Is this a size issue? Many strobes have battery packs. An Alien Bee has a mini-Vagabon battery that isn't much bigger than the original Quantum Turbo battery, but can power a 640w/s strobe.

The Battery said:

Ok, I'm aware of the advantages and dissadvantages of the speedlights.... Will i need to buy new light modifiers? (ie umbrellas)

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No, you don't need to buy new light modifiers. But that is one of the disadvantages to speedlights: lack of modifiers! A shoe mount flash isn't going to successfully light a 60" "softlighter".

So the question isn't Speedlights vs Monolights (which, in general, monolights wine!0, but rather what are you trying to accomplish and what is holding you back from accomplishing that? Once you answer that, you can spend your money!

The Battery said:

My budget isnt very large right now (with my current photo income, maybe $150 per studio light). If that's not enough to get a good one, i'd rather save up then save money now (obviously within reason... i'm not going to save up for a $1,000 light, but $300 or possibly $400 might be feasable, it'll just take me a few months).

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For a low budget start in using studio flashes you might check Adorama's housebrand. 150Ws or 300Ws, incl. a battery pack - there's nothing cheaper.
http://www.adorama.com/FP320MP.html

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cheers, Peter
Germany

Learning to see the light and the shadows is critical to portraiture. Studio strobes with good quality modeling lights, who's brightness varies with the flash power adjustment, make this possible.

Hot-shoe flash units lack modeling lights so seeing the light and shadows is impossible with them. Obtaining good portrait lighting with hot-shoe flash units is a case of lots of trial and error, and very wasteful of your time and energy as a photographer.

Quality studio strobes will last you for decades. Cheap low quality studio strobes will quickly wind up in the trash and are a total waste of money. I speak from experience here. My first set of studio strobes were cheap low quality strobes, virtually unusable for quality work, and yes, they wound up in the trash so they were a complete waste of money. Spend a bit more on quality strobes and you will never regret it.

Be sure you buy your studio strobes from a company with a good reputation for customer relations.

Quality doesn't mean high prices for the amateur. There are several brands of budget priced studio strobes available from reputable companies. Three excellent choices are AlienBees from Paul C. Buff (PCB), Flashpoint from Adorama, and Impact from B&H. Also popular are the Elincrome D-Lite 4 lights and the Bowens Gemini lights. I'm sure there are others I'm not familiar with.

My advice is save your money until you can afford to buy a budget priced 300 Ws studio strobe with a reasonable diffuser.

The cheapest diffusers are umbrellas. If you do get one, get at least a 43" white translucent umbrella with a removable black backing. Later add a 60" for standing portraits. You can use this umbrella in reflective or shot through mode but always use the black backing to help cut down the stray light umbrellas throw. This will give you better control over subject lighting and reduced color contamination from stray light bouncing off of colored walls or ceiling.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/423625-REG/Impact_UBBW45_45_Convertible_Umbrella.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/423631-REG/Impact_UBBW60_60_Convertible_Umbrella.html

Softboxes are better than umbrellas because they give you better light control, but more expensive. A 3'x5' softbox is a great starter one. Use it horizontally or vertically, depending on subject size.

An attractive alternative is the Paul C. Buff 64" Soft Silver PLM with a sock. Another alternative is a Photek Softlighter.

It really depends on what you shoot, and how you shoot. Nobody can tell you what you need until they know what and how you shoot.

With that said…

A handful of speedlights can be used to great effect in a studio setting. If you’re not trying to fire off shot after shot quickly and give them some time between shots to recycle/cool down they can be used just fine even as main and fill lights. But if your model is doing something right and you want to snap off 4 or 5 shots in quick succession, you’ll find the speedlights will not keep up when a monolight will be able to keep up.

Also, you may find that with only speedlights you are continually trying to setup your pictures such that you can work around the relatively limited light output you have. Whether that means picking a shallower depth of field than you may want to use or changing up that full length shot to just a head/shoulder shot so you can get the lights in closer.

On the other hand, speedlights have their main advantage in their small size and self-contained battery compartment. They really only show an advantage when you want to get into someplace quickly to take a shot and get back out, or you just physically don’t want to haul a lot of bulk. You certainly can take monolights with you (though you may need to also purchase a battery pack for them) you just need to use a bigger bag.

Anyway, for not knowing your types of shooting, or your general preferences, the best I can say is that having a lighting system that comprises a pair of decent monolights and a pair of decent speedlights offers a lot of lighting flexibility in a starter/intermediate setup.

Oh yeah, I can attest that the 603 RF triggers will reliably trigger Alien Bees monolights. If you decide to go this route, I would suggest getting one of these for each trigger/monolight pair. Add a bit of velcro to the side of the Bee and the underside of the 603 and you have a self-contained RF based monolight flash with minimal wiring to trip on.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250838813016&ssPageName=ADME:L:OC:US:1123

-Suntan

Suntan said:

Oh yeah, I can attest that the 603 RF triggers will reliably trigger Alien Bees monolights. If you decide to go this route, I would suggest getting one of these for each trigger/monolight pair. Add a bit of velcro to the side of the Bee and the underside of the 603 and you have a self-contained RF based monolight flash with minimal wiring to trip on.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250838813016&ssPageName=ADME:L:OC:US:1123

-Suntan

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The RF-602's are still a great product and come with the necessary sync cord. Just be sure to order the ones for your camera brand.

I have two transmitters, one for the camera and one for my hand when using the flash meter to set up the lighting ratios, and six receivers. Four receivers would have been more than enough.

I really only need one for one light in the studio - all the other lights fire with their built-in optical slaves. Outdoors more receivers are great to have since bright light screws up optical slave sensors.

The link I posted was of a short, screwlock PC-to-3.5mm able that can be connected between the transceiver and the strobe for triggering the PCB strobes. Not a cable for triggering the camera (which are included in the double 603 package.)

-Suntan

Sailor Blue said:

Learning to see the light and the shadows is critical to portraiture. Studio strobes with good quality modeling lights, who's brightness varies with the flash power adjustment, make this possible.

Hot-shoe flash units lack modeling lights so seeing the light and shadows is impossible with them. Obtaining good portrait lighting with hot-shoe flash units is a case of lots of trial and error, and very wasteful of your time and energy as a photographer.

Click to expand...

While I do agree with the above, for what its worth ...I stumbled accross this tip from the Scott Kelby site and made a couple with 100w flourescents that I am using with my softbox umbrellas and Vivitar 285's. I was pleasanty surprised. The one drawback is they can't be used without a 110 power source.

Now if we could just find a way to make a 3 million candlepower spotlight shoot into a softbox umbrella without such a focused beam, ..we could use them far from 110 power.

http://kelbytv.com/cheapshots/2010/10/15/a-cheap-easy-modeling-light-for-your-speedlight/

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/jjlad/sets/

Suntan said:

The link I posted was of a short, screwlock PC-to-3.5mm able that can be connected between the transceiver and the strobe for triggering the PCB strobes. Not a cable for triggering the camera (which are included in the double 603 package.)

-Suntan

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I understand.

A cable like your link showed is what comes with the RF-602's. Yongnuo calls it the LS-02/3.5 Connecting Cable (PC-3.5). It comes with a 3.5mm to 1/4" (6.25mm) adapter.

If you want a cable to trigger your camera you have to order that separately or you have to find a RF-602 combination transmitter, receiver(s), and camera trigger cable, which I was never able to do.

I wound up buying the camera trigger cable separately for my Canon 7D, and it works very well. For my Canon 7D the LS-02/C3 Shutter Release Cable is the correct cable.

If you want the camera trigger cable be sure to check your manual for the shutter release fitting and get the cable that will fit your camera.

Sailor Blue said:

A cable like your link showed is what comes with the RF-602's. Yongnuo calls it the LS-02/3.5 Connecting Cable (PC-3.5). It comes with a 3.5mm to 1/4" (6.25mm) adapter.

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Ah, fair enough. I did not know they changed the offering between the 602 and the 603.

In any case, why suggest getting the 602s when the OP already stated that he had 603s as was thinking about getting more? To my knowledge the 602s and the 603s aren't compatible with each other?

-Suntan

Suntan said:

Sailor Blue said:

A cable like your link showed is what comes with the RF-602's. Yongnuo calls it the LS-02/3.5 Connecting Cable (PC-3.5). It comes with a 3.5mm to 1/4" (6.25mm) adapter.

Click to expand...

Ah, fair enough. I did not know they changed the offering between the 602 and the 603.

In any case, why suggest getting the 602s when the OP already stated that he had 603s as was thinking about getting more? To my knowledge the 602s and the 603s aren't compatible with each other?

-Suntan

Click to expand...

No, RF-602's and RF-603's are not compatible with each other.

I didn't remember that the OP already had RF-603's. He should stick with what he has and spend the extra money to buy the appropriate PC-3.5 cables.