I have finally set up my studio the way I want it. I’ve gone with a totally battery operated studio, that’s right not a single power cable in sight. Pretty much a standard Strobist setup.
The kit looks something like this:
3 x Vivitar 285HV flashes
The standard recommendation from any strobitst. I’m very happy with them, especially as they only set me back US$89 each. B&H Photo (where I got mine) seems to offer the most cost effective shipping and they got here really fast.
The only down side of the Vivitars is the 10 second cycle time when on full power. This can be rectified by buying the AC adapter for it. But I’m ok with it as I don’t find myself using full power all that often.
3 x Cactus V2s wireless receivers + 1 x Cactus V2s wireless transmitter
These are budget triggers but they do the job. I’e yet to have them fail to fire on me. They’re US$34 a pair and US$20 for the receivers only. I’m very happy with mine. These guys are the de-facto standard budget strobist trigger.
3 x Phototgen cushioned light stands
These stands feel very study. They’re also cushioned and best of all, they’re very light. They’ll set you back $78 each (shipped) on ebay. I saved heaps on shipping as I bought in bulk.
3 x Hot shoe brackets
These are used to mount the triggers to my light stands. They set me back about $25 each (on ebay) and they came with reflector umbrellas. All up, they’re average. There are much nicer heavy duty ones out there.
3 x Umbrellas
I’e got 1 x shoot through and 2 x reflector umbrellas. They’re a little small but they do the trick as I didn’t pay much for them since they came with my shoe brackets. I reckon a proper softbox is in order one day.
1 x Shutter release
You can pick these up for very little on ebay. I find it very handy when I’m doing tethered shooting as i always keep it in my hand and don’t have to make my way to the camera every time I want to shoot.
Tethered Shooting
I’m using the Canon EOS Utility to shoot tethered. I”s free from Canon.
I then couple that with FastPictureViewer. FastPictureViewer is damn awesome and free (for personal use). It’s ideal as I’m shooting to my Eee PC which is very low res (1024×600). Reason I mention this is most remote capture software (ie the ones that come from Canon) can’t handle low res screens.
That is my setup. 100% battery operated and portable. Now, I have no excuse for not shooting awesome pics. Ok, off to win the Canon Photo5 competition 🙂