So, i was looking at the canon 600ex-rt and the Canon ST-E3-RT Speedlite Transmitter, yes i know a 900.00 investment is a lot but is it worth it for what i want to do. Or for now should i just look at the 430exii or the 580exii and get a pocket wizard or some other radio transmitter.
or am i better off getting some sort of studio strobe and can add on to it as needed.
Indoors, with a small number of subjects, a Speedlite based setup can be fine. I'd recommend checking out Syl Arena's excellent
Speedliter's Handbook.
If you're going to put the flash in a softbox, the more power the better - the 430EX II does ok with a smallish softbox (I use them in Lastolite 24" Ezyboxes), but they need to be pretty close to the subject.
If you're going to be shooting outdoors, trying to overpower the sun, a monolight setup is better (can be done with Speedlites, but you have to gang several of them together inside a modifier to have sufficient power).
Cost is another concern - an excellent monolight like the Paul C. Buff Einstein 640 costs less than a 600EX-RT.
Personally, I have an Einstein and 3 speedlites (one 600EX-RT, two 430EX II's), and I trigger with PocketWizards. The advantage there is that I can trigger Speedlites and the monolight with the same system. The powerful monolight lets me use a nice, big softbox (a 48" octabox) for soft, 'wrap-around' light.
If I was going to go with a Speedlite-only system, I'd definitely get the 600EX-RT + ST-E3-RT, or multiple 600's.
