Position:Home>Visual Arts> Good flash/lighting for a beginner?
Question: Good flash/lighting for a beginner!?
I'd like to take the next step and purchase some good lighting equipment!.!.!.!.but I took a look on Adorama!.com and there's only about 1,001 different choices and I'm thoroughly confused about what I should purchase!. I use a bridge/prosumer camera (for now!.!.!.) so unfortunately, I don't have the ability to attach a better flash (all I have is the pop-up)!. Is there some kind of portable flash or other kind of lighting equipment that doesn't need to be attached to the camera that I can carry with me!? If not, what would you suggest for at-home lighting!.!.!.!.!.a softbox!? monolight!? slave!? umbrellas!? reflectors!? I'm new to the whole artificial lighting department, so I just need a little insight, advice!. Thanks so much!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
It is possible to use a light activated slave with your camera!.
If you have the ability to control shutter/aperture values you could make a strobe work with your camera!.
I really do not like continuous light for photography; the color can be weird and, most of all, I can't afford the electricity bills that continuous lights run up!.
Invest in a quality strobe and it will last a very long time!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
Unfortunately your camera does not have Manual mode and without a hot shoe or sync outlet you can not work with strobes, anyway!.In general the slaves don't sync with the on camera strobe of a digital!. Continuous light would be your best bet!.
Edited to add, I tried to use the built in camera flash to sync fire my Aliens Bees and White Lightinings and it wouldn't work!.Www@QuestionHome@Com
You are almost putting the cart before the horse here!. You really, REALLY need a camera with more control before you start thinking about lights!. Studio lights will be nothing but a frustration for you with your camera!. Yes, you can get lights that will activate from your pop up flash, but I have NEVER seen this as making any sense!. The entire purpose of good, external lighting is CONTROL, !.!.!.!. so then you are going to go and screw it all up with the goofy pop up flash ruining all your carefully co-ordinated lighting set up!?
I suggest you get the proper camera first, then start getting into lightiing!. You need a hot shoe to mount a remote trigger for external lights!. This is the only way to go!. Running cords between the camera and lights and tripping over them is not the way to do it! You also need to be able to fully control your aperture and shutter speed to work with the lights!. Even the beginner model Nikon D40 DSLR would be a world better than what you have now!.
When you do have the proper camera, I then suggest you look into the Alien Bees line of strobe lights!. They are very high quality products at a decent price!. There are some starter kits that will work well for you, and of course, you want to get the radio trigger for them also!.
I also recommend strobes over continuous lights, often called HOT lights!.!.!.!. because they ARE!. They EAT power and also require you to mount the camera to a tripod and your subject must remain STILL!.
A strobe can be thought of as a super powerful flash, which is what it is!. It will freeze movement of your subject, and allow you to handhold the camera!. Kelvin temp of the lamps is also more consistent!.
You can play around with power levels and camera settings until you hit on a working combination, but the best thing to use is an external flash light meter to determine correct exposure!. You MUST use the camera on full manual settings as there is no way the camera can meter for external studio strobe lighting!.
Here is the link to Alien Bees, but again, you really need to have your camera equipment in order before you get into lighting!.
http://www!.alienbees!.com/
steveWww@QuestionHome@Com