External Lighting on a Budget!

How many of you want to lean the principles of lighting, but just don't have the funds to go out and purchase a studio lighting kit. The strobist movement can help you, and if your on a tight budget, here's all you really need. Just remember, this is not pro quality gear and should not be considered as such, but most of the flashes listed have an eBay market value and can later be sold if you decide to upgrade, getting most of your $$ back.

First, lets talk about new vs used. I'm not a big believer in used electronics, but if your on a really tight budget and your buying solid gear, I can live with it. I've been the victim of buying other peoples problems, so just be careful.

Here are the essentials...

Used Flashes:

Pick up a few Vivitar 283's as cheap as possible off of eBay, but no more than $45. Once you get them, you will need to also buy a variable power module here. With this module, your flash now ROCKS, as it's mobile, powerful, and the power output is variable. Add the SB-4 and you have quick recycle time in studio, or battery capability on location.

Another great used flash, but a little more pricey is the Nikon SB-24! Before you sink any more than $80 on a used flash, check out the New Flash recommendations.

New Flashes:

A great new flash, is a Sunpak 383 Super, which is an awesome flash that is more than capable to give you great results, and super easy to use. For just about $10 more, you should also check out Vivitar 285 HV, which has a pc sync socket, plus is just a little bit stronger light output, and has been in production for over 30 years. Probably dollar for dollar, one of the best flashes ever made.

You should have the heart and soul of your new lighting now, so lets look at how your going to trigger them.

Flash Triggers:

On the cheap side, you can buy a simple hotshoe trigger and receiver by Popsing, but you will have to buy more receivers as you get more flashes. or you can fire them via slave flash adapters. These remote triggers are cheap and pretty reliable within 25 feet or so, but certainly not meant to be pro quality or capability. There are a number of eBay sellers who specialize in these things, but it seems they all come from China, so be careful, shipping can add up quick.

Diffusers:

You will need a way to diffuse the light. You can invest in umbrellas and simple diffusers, that should all do the trick. My favorite diffuser for the money, is the bottom of rubbing alcohol bottle at walmart. Combine that simple diffuser with a shoot through translucent umbrella and you have a really quick and easy softbox effect that really provides you shadowless portraits. When it comes to the rubbing alcohol bottles at walmart, your on your own, but you can get some cheap white/translucent umbrellas on eBay here! You will also need to be able to mount your flashes and umbrellas together, which should require you go get something like this!

Now you can shoot one flash diffused with shoot through umbrella, and one light with the bounced white umbrella, if you only had a way to mount the lights.

Mounting the Lights:

Clamps can make great ways to mount flashes and umbrellas, but you must have someplace to clamp them to. Here is the cheapo version from Home Depot!

You can also buy Bogen Superclamps if you want something a little more professional. If you don't have something to clip onto, I would recommend lightstands.

Lightstands are a great way to hold your flash and your remote receivers already can be mounted directly onto a lightstand as well as your umbrella holder. I would recommend an 8 to 10 foot stand, and you can get them very reasonable here!

Finally, you can buy a whole kit already together from MPEX, specifically designed for poor strobists here!

The Bottom Line...

If I had to price this out today with a used Vivitar 283 and variable power module, with adapters, umbrellas, holders, triggers, and stands, it would be around $116 plus shipping. Now you just need a couple of lights to get started and when time, ability, and money are available, you can upgrade to better quality stuff as necessary. The shipping on all of this will be cheaper if you can source from one vendor, which makes the whole strobist package pretty appealing. Anyway hope this has helped a few of you and until next post, stay safe...

-m