Denton,
I agree with you that a monolight such as a Photogenic 500ws or 750ws along
with a softbox
offers much bang for the buck. That is the set-up I use for quick and
inexpensive product
shots. (though the modeling lights are of little use when shooting with one
light). However
I like really high end umbrella light for portriats and if you ever seen me
shoot a studio
portrait you will see a minimum of three Larson's in an arc around the subject
and sometimes
a softbox over head to fill the background with even shadowless light. So in
essense these
three inexpensive strobes give me much flexiblity and ease of use. They are
relatively
close to the subject and I can get a real intense color jumping out of the shot
where as
using just one softbox just tends to make the shot look like a boring portrait.
There are a
few guys I know who can arrange the subject and the softbox in a way to give
more depth but
they just have a knack for it. Also the three strobes and umbrellas will
usually give me
plenty of light to shoot at f11 or f16, where as if I was using multiple
monolights I would
have to turn the power way down. Personally I think good monolights with a
softbox is a good
general studio setup for general subjects. However when you are wanting to do
many multiple
lights they can be a pain. So at that expense I would go with a component
lighting system
with multiple heads and a quality power source. However that again can get
expensive. The
three "on camera" strobes is really a very inexpensive setup for what you can
do. One thing
I try and to suggest is don't buy crappy ligtstands and hardware. Watching
light stands drop
or fall over is a good way to ruin a studio shoot. Also buy high quality
umbrellas. They
will make more of a difference than super expensive optics.
Yes I agree with Ken. There are too many interesting topics and not enough
time to shoot.
Not enough time to finish my busy work either. So would somebody start a topic
on SUV's or
something that I will skip.
Phillip Franklin
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