Lighting Kit

I've decided to purchase an inexpensive lighting kit, my wife would
like me to take portraits of the kids, and I have a interest in macro
photography of coins and other small objects.

But, after a search of Amazon, I'm not sure what I should buy. I
would like to keep it under $300. If I like the results, I'll
purchase better lights, tripods and so forth later, building into a
better setup, but for right now, I want an all in one.

Any recommendations? Any regrets?

Thanks in advance,
Wayne

Cheshire Cat wrote:

I've decided to purchase an inexpensive lighting kit, my wife would
like me to take portraits of the kids, and I have a interest in macro
photography of coins and other small objects.

But, after a search of Amazon, I'm not sure what I should buy. I
would like to keep it under $300. If I like the results, I'll
purchase better lights, tripods and so forth later, building into a
better setup, but for right now, I want an all in one.

Any recommendations? Any regrets?

What camera? I know Nikons require the latest tech to meter best. Is
there a better system you have ruled out due to price? How about a pair
of $150 ea SB-R200s? Small macro flashes, perhaps powerful enough for
portraits. You can figure out some way to mount them and the built-in
flash triggers them.

On Mar 5, 10:09 pm, Paul Furman wrote:
Cheshire Cat wrote:
I've decided to purchase an inexpensive lighting kit, my wife would
like me to take portraits of the kids, and I have a interest in macro
photography of coins and other small objects.

But, after a search of Amazon, I'm not sure what I should buy. I
would like to keep it under $300. If I like the results, I'll
purchase better lights, tripods and so forth later, building into a
better setup, but for right now, I want an all in one.

Any recommendations? Any regrets?

What camera? I know Nikons require the latest tech to meter best. Is
there a better system you have ruled out due to price? How about a pair
of $150 ea SB-R200s? Small macro flashes, perhaps powerful enough for
portraits. You can figure out some way to mount them and the built-in
flash triggers them.

I have a Canon XTi and a 430ex flash.
Wayne

Paul Furman wrote:

Cheshire Cat wrote:

I've decided to purchase an inexpensive lighting kit, my wife would
like me to take portraits of the kids, and I have a interest in macro
photography of coins and other small objects.

But, after a search of Amazon, I'm not sure what I should buy. I
would like to keep it under $300. If I like the results, I'll
purchase better lights, tripods and so forth later, building into a
better setup, but for right now, I want an all in one.

Any recommendations? Any regrets?


What camera? I know Nikons require the latest tech to meter best. Is
there a better system you have ruled out due to price? How about a pair
of $150 ea SB-R200s? Small macro flashes, perhaps powerful enough for
portraits. You can figure out some way to mount them and the built-in
flash triggers them.

I'd be curious about people's thoughts on these. I've got an ancient hot
shoe flash but I'm hesitant to bother investing in a remote cord for it,
if I was using off camera flash it seems I should have two or not
bother... and I rarely bother with the on-camera flash because of ugly
shadows so I'm really clueless about flash, and not all that interested
except for macro, and the mounting ring to use these for macro puts the
package at close to $400. When I do use on-board flash I usually dial it
way down so maybe these would be suitable for quite a few situations.

On Mar 5, 8:09 pm, Paul Furman wrote:

What camera? I know Nikons require the latest tech to meter best.

I'm curious what you mean by this. I have a D200 and have used it with
everything from the SB800 on and off-camera to studio strobes like the
Calumet/Bowens monolights. Seems to work great wherever I use it. I do
use an incident light meter when setting up studio strobes, though,
then I use the PC socket just to trigger the lights.

-Karl

Karl Winkler wrote:

On Mar 5, 8:09 pm, Paul Furman wrote:

What camera? I know Nikons require the latest tech to meter best.

I'm curious what you mean by this. I have a D200 and have used it with
everything from the SB800 on and off-camera to studio strobes like the
Calumet/Bowens monolights. Seems to work great wherever I use it. I do
use an incident light meter when setting up studio strobes, though,
then I use the PC socket just to trigger the lights.

I shouldn't speak, I really don't understand fully, but the newer models
support iTTL metering and flash-triggered slave operation (I think). And
I think it's the same with Canon. For studio setups I'd guess most
anything could be used if you don't mind a bunch of cables & manual
settings.

On Mon, 05 Mar 2007 17:39:50 -0800, Cheshire Cat wrote:

I've decided to purchase an inexpensive lighting kit, my wife would
like me to take portraits of the kids, and I have a interest in macro
photography of coins and other small objects.

But, after a search of Amazon, I'm not sure what I should buy. I
would like to keep it under $300. If I like the results, I'll
purchase better lights, tripods and so forth later, building into a
better setup, but for right now, I want an all in one.

Any recommendations? Any regrets?

Before you buy any lighting equipment, buy a book on Natural Light
Portraiture, and learn how to take portraits using natural light with
reflectors, diffusers, scrims, gobos, etc. After a few months add a
simple flash that can be used on or off camera. After a year, you'll
have enough experience to know what artificial lighting you'll need. Buy
them then.

Photography is best learned in baby steps.

Stef