Getting by with speedlights

[dpedro]

Can you get by using speedlight canon 600's on umbrellas with an St-E3 or should I stop kidding myself and get a nice flash setup?  I have 2 600's and the umbrellas/tripods.  Was thinking of alien bees or white lightening.

[RMC33]

If you have a few soft boxes/umbrellas that can hold more then one light I would not see any issue. I routinely use two speedlites in a 24 in lastolite from one direction, if I need more light. Other then no 2nd curtain and no zoom controls on the ST E3 RT I love mine (got it for $150 from someone who could not handle the fact it did neither of those). Like PBD said your situation would tell a whale of a load more.

[agierke]

Strobes will offer more power and better quality of light. the AB units also cost less than a 600 EXRT. i would recommend picking up 1 AB800 (should cost about 280.00) and play around with that. if you enjoy the results and experience then you know that you should build a strobe set.

beware though, acquiring studio equipment is just as addictive as cameras and lenses. only there is much more of it out there....

[dpedro]

I am shooting events (one 600 on my 5D 3 with Gary Fong Lightsphere) I am shooting weddings with natural lighting and the same event setup I already mentioned.  I shoot models using the 2 600's and my E3 controller with umbrellas.  I am just wondering if I'd get a better look by going to stronger off camera flash sets.  It's not at easy to carry and set up the other setups and I'd need battery packs to shoot in parks and on lakes/beaches.  I may opt for LED continous lights in a soft box, coupled with my current speedlights.  If you go to my link below, you can see my various works.

[pwp]

Can you get by using speedlight canon 600's on umbrellas with an St-E3 or should I stop kidding myself and get a nice flash setup?  I have 2 600's and the umbrellas/tripods.  Was thinking of alien bees or white lightening.

You can probably get by with just about anything. You'd get by with a desk lamp if you had to. So do you merely want to get by or do work that is relevant and creatively aligned with your needs & vision. 

So as privatebydesign suggests, without a clearer explanation of your intentions, it's a tough question to answer. Nevertheless, as you're talking about umbrellas and ST-E3's, Alien Bees or Einsteins will free you up incredibly compared to your current setup. The 600's are throttled back with low output, slow recycle times, no modelling lamp and in the absence of expensive high capacity external batteries, an over reliance on a huge supply of AA cells.

No one setup will do everything for you. You can't beat your 600's for events and other obvious jobs that by their nature require flash on camera or very compact lightweight solutions, but the Alien Bees or Einsteins will come to the fore when you're doing studio style work, whether in your studio or certain location projects.

-PW

[pwp]

You could refer to a very similar thread right next door...600EX RT vs AlienBees
http://www.canonrumors.com/forum/index.php?topic=13114.0

-PW

[RLPhoto]

Once you start pushing a 6x4 foot softbox at f/8 and smaller in a studio, a speedlite becomes an issue.

[RMC33]

RMC33,

How do you fit two flashes in the Lastolite 24" I have one and don't see how two would fit, I'd love to get two in there though. I hate the stupid plastic lollipop thing, and the coldshoe is crap, I replaced my coldshoe with a much better one but haven't found a way around the damn lollipop.

I rubberband the heads together and slip em in, one in cold shoe (I use an RSS) one on top. I use heavy duty industrial bands with a thin piece of rubber in between so they do not slip. The "lollipop" (laughed my ass off) I modified by cutting out the "window" in the middle into a full circle using a small Dremel tool and some sand paper to smooth the finish. Fits two heads just fine (may be a bit tight with diffusers). When I get home from my trip ill post a few pics of the mod. Took me about an hour.

Here they are with my rouge gel rubberbands (which I WOULD NOT USE. Get nice thick heavy industrial ones), only thing I had, before I toss them into the cold shoe. I am working on bending an aluminum piece to hold the top flash in an RSS cold shoe upside down so I don't risk my 600's.

[RMC33]

Ah, sweet, cut the damn lollipop

I think we should start a thread that only has pictures of mods we have done, my $22 beautydish, your double 24" Lastolite, I have a painters pole mod too.........

I am working on making a custom loli (stealing that btw) with my new 3D printer. Been shooting too much to work on it. I also have a few drawings for a 90deg ETTL bracket that moves the ST E3 RT parallel to the back of your camera. That one is going to be a bit more tough to get 100% right.

[Mr Bean]

beware though, acquiring studio equipment is just as addictive as cameras and lenses. only there is much more of it out there....

Oh yeah, so I'm learning......quickly

This book, which was recommended by a few folk here; I've only had for 4-5 days, and I'm amazed how much can be done with a Speedlite or three......and, how much gear is available.

Worth looking at......
http://www.amazon.com/Speedliters-Handbook-Learning-Craft-Speedlites/dp/032171105X?tag=crf-20

[dpedro]

Ok, so http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00A3BQWXK/ref=redir_mdp_mobile or 4 used working Einstein 3200's for 900.00.  Includes soft boxes, stands and umbrellas.