Transportable Studio/Flash Lamps?

Question

I'm just getting into the studio side of photography -- looking for some recommendations in terms of studio lamps.

What I think would be really useful is a portable strobe/flash (same thing?) lamp with a diffuse box on it. I know they exist --- photographers doing shoots on beaches or in the middle of fields, etc. need transportable studio equipment. Any recommendations for transportable equipment?

Answer 1

If you just want to shoot outdoors and use flash as a fill, then there are a variety of powerful on camera flash units that will work fine and can be diffused somewhat. Canon and Nikon's high end units will do fine. Then use bounces (refelectors), etc., as light modifiers.

If I have to shoot on location and power is going to be a problem (which is rare) and I can't handle it with small portable flashes (less rare) I use (2) Bowens Explorer 1500ws battery generators at $2,300.00 USD each. That doesn't include the lighting setups per se, or extra batteries. Throw in the lights, etc., and you've got another $3,000.00 USD. Expensive and why I rent them.

Alien Bees and White Lightning make units that are far less expensive, have very good reputations and are very capable.

www.alienbees.com
www.white-lightning.com

I would also look at:

http://www.strobist.blogspot.com/

for information on what you can do with portable flashes.

Every location shooter I know only lights if it is absolutely necessary for the shot in some way and then they light in the simplest possible fashion. Bounces (reflectors) are used much more often than large battery powered flashes.

I suggest that you look at a lot of pictures of the type you are thinking about using battery powered studio flash for and analyzing how it could be done with no flash, or one or two portable flash units. You will learn a lot about lighting that way and that is something you will have to know. It doesn't matter what equipment you have if you don't know how to use it.

Vance

Answer 2

Well if you don't have a portable generator, then my suggestion is to go with a Quantum Q flash. It is a high powered portable flash(200-400w/s) which can either be mounted to your camera, flash bracket, or better yet mounted to a stand with an umbrella ( I think they may have a soft box for the camera, but definately you can buy diffusers). http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/314906-REG/Quantum_Instruments__Quantum_T5_Digital_Flash.html

These are pretty good flash units, they have a nice even, wrap around feeling when shooting portraits on location. They are not cheap of course. A battery and a flash will cost around $1000, but if you look at the alternative: buying a strobe kit and a generator, it is cheaper and certainly more flexible. Besides, for all practical purposes, does anyone really need a 3000w/s strobe kit on location? A lot can be done with a 400w/s parabollic flash, granted of course you aren't photographing locamotivesat night.

Answer 3

There's an outdoor studio light which is being powered by batteries (big one, similar to the one you can find in an UPS) and you can also get a softboxes or umbrella (I would prefer umbrella for outdoor shooting because of their portability) and legs for the light.

You might also want to get a couple of reflectors and ladders - for me they're the first choice because natural light is always preferrable.

Answer 4

Go to shutterbug.com and Search for lighting. There was an article in the June 2006 issue which you can read on-line.