Any photography pros or junkies here?

[cwiert]

I have a question. My wife has a Nikon D40 and an upgraded flash, a SB-600 speedlight. I want to get her a portable "studio in a box" for xmas. Something with backdrops, and additional lights for the indoors. The idea is so she can take her own pics of our 2 children (1.5 and 3yr old girls).
Now, I found this on sleezebay:
New Photography Photo Lights Studio Lighting Strobe Kit - eBay (item 370295754252 end time Nov-24-09 14:06:35 PST)
The problem is that I know the SB-600 isn't a master controller, but it can be used as a remote. But I see this kit has a wireless synch remote camera attachment. Will that do the trick to make all the lights flash at the same time?
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, since I don't know too much about this stuff. I just don't want to spend $400 on something that she can't use.
Thanks,
John

[hcariss]

Not to be rude but how well does your wife know the world of Photography and digital process(ing) ? Before you venture to the SIAB setup with sync flash, bounced light and she has to work with lighting, If she does not know photography really well a far more important element would be a good photoshop and then Photoshop advanced class, you can have the nicest pics in the world but if you cant manipulate them digitally its frustrating, also the backdrops and still life kind of setups are OK but limiting.
Photoshop lessons and a color synced screen linked to a decent printer will really help her explore photography and help her grow.
If she knows P'shop and her whole digi setup is please ignore the above advice

[cwiert]

Hey... thanks for the reply. And I don't think you're being rude. That's a good idea about the photoshop. We have one of the earlier photoshop programs. 5.0 I think... so yeah, it's about 8 years old or so. I took a couple photoshop classes back then too, but not my wife. I'll look into that.
But right now, for the kids birthday, she take her camera into a room that has good natural light and hangs a black bed sheet and uses some props and snaps away. She gets some really good shots. She has a great eye and some of her outdoor shots are amazing. So I do want to get her the SIAB, (plus she's asked for it for xmas - well, at least the backdrops) I just don't know if that one will work with her equipment.
But I like the idea of a photoshop course. I'll look into that.

[porsche4life]

She would probably get more out of a newer copy of photoshop and some good training.. On it and the camera... I know I would... But I'm not much into shooting people or things that a backdrop would help with.

[tabs]

I just assumed you were talking proffessionals here....

[RWebb]

yeh - buy her some good books on how to use lighting - not flash, the old timey kinda light

[gassy]

Studio photography and portrait photography start with lighting. Good lighting. If she's just starting out, I would recommend you getting her the above lights over Photoshop/classes in photoshop. She needs to learn how to light something first. Then she can worry about manipulating it, which is a completely different animal.

[herr_oberst]

If it's not what she's asking for, you risk disappointment all around, you, because she may damn your enthusiasm with faint praise when she opens the gift on xmas, her, because she feels obliged to use equipment she's not all that excited about in the first place, but she doesn't want to hurt your feelings.
A suggestion, if you really have your heart set on "Studio in a box", don't buy it on the bay, get it locally so you can return it, if need be.

Not trying to be a wet-blanket.

[vash]

YES.

i cannot see the link, but if the on camera is intended to make the remote lights flash...YES, it works amazingly well. i helped set up a graduation ceremony, because i was not afraid of heights. we hung strobes up in the rafters of the ball stadium and triggered them with something similar. speed of light is faster than any shutter...always.

[berettafan]

consider 'Lightroom' as a good starter software for processing pics.

also, if you haven't done so yet you MUST buy your wife the nikon 50mm prime lense. $100 from just about any vendor and will positively blow your mind. scary good portraits when combined with that great flash you have.

[cwiert]

Originally Posted by vash

YES.

i cannot see the link, but if the on camera is intended to make the remote lights flash...YES, it works amazingly well. i helped set up a graduation ceremony, because i was not afraid of heights. we hung strobes up in the rafters of the ball stadium and triggered them with something similar. speed of light is faster than any shutter...always.

Getting back to the original question at hand, what gets me confused is the fact that neither my camera, the Nikon d40 or my speedlight, the SB-600 can act as a "commander." the SB-600 can act as a slave, but that doesn't really help me. So I need a way to get all those external lights to flash with my shutter. I need a commander.

According to the link, the SIAB comes with all this stuff below... I just wanted to know if the "wireless synch remote camera attachment" they mention is actually a commander that will instruct all those lights when to flash.

Primary Briefcase Contents Include:

* 3 synch strobes/ flash lights 3 stands to hold each light
* 2 soft lighting boxes, gold/ silver double sided reflector
* wireless synch remote camera attachment
* 4 leaf barndoor, 4 colored gels
* a honeycomb light filter
* Snoot
* 1 6x9' Black Muslin
* 1 6x9' White Muslin
* 1 HUGE 10x20' Grey Muslin Backdrop
* LOTS of individual item inner cases for each items protection and separation.

* 5600K color temperature
* 110-130 Volt
* Flash: maximum 160 watts (joule) per second
* Recharge Time ranges from 0.5-3 seconds
* Flash Duration: 1/600 second at t=0.1; 1/1000 second @ t=.05
* Flash tube lifetime: approximately 8k flashes
* Slave Effectiveness: 35' (10m)
* 5 amp fuse (spares included)
* Synch Volt: 5v
* E-14 screw
* Guide No.: 120'/36m ISO100
* Light Range of 55 degrees
* Weight 1.8 pounds (800g)
* Measures approximately f4-7.5" (f100-195mm)

[cwiert]

Originally Posted by berettafan

consider 'Lightroom' as a good starter software for processing pics.

also, if you haven't done so yet you MUST buy your wife the nikon 50mm prime lense. $100 from just about any vendor and will positively blow your mind. scary good portraits when combined with that great flash you have.

OK, I'll look into lightroom. Thanks. A new lense was last years xmas gift. I got her a Sigma 18-200 with OS. Nice lense. But you're right, that flash is amazing. Night and day between that flash and the built in one on the camera.

[vash]

oh, i see the confusion. the system i worked with, many, many times..you have the tiny flash on your camera..in your case the speedlight. i had a crappo vivitar or something. set it up like usual on the camera. here is how it works..when your camera light flashes, the other strobes in the system pick up the bright flash and fire off...INSTANTLY. you will need to get your wife a light meter with a flash mode. the way i did it, was that i set the aperture or shutter speed so that the on-camera flash was insignificant in exposing the film...(yes, i said film ) and had the more powerful strobes do the lighting. again, you will need a flashmeter. get one with a domed sensor because it is supposed to mimic the shape of a human face, and read the light as it will actually hit the person...cool stuff.

now get a light meter that you will NOT have to sync. mine i set in flash mode, hit "read" and it gives me a short window of time for me to hit the strobes. then it tells me what camera settings to use.

[cwiert]

Originally Posted by vash

here is how it works..when your camera light flashes, the other strobes in the system pick up the bright flash and fire off...INSTANTLY. you will need to get your wife a light meter with a flash mode.

so the meter just tells you what settings to make the camera perform at an optimal level, right?
do you think the system i listed above has the ability to detect the bright flash from the camera and fire off all the strobes?

[RWebb]

my camera, the Nikon d40 [cannot] act as a "commander."

- I didn't know the D40 lacked that, the D70 & D80 will - you are talking about the Nikon flash system, right?

I'm sure Nikon makes a little doodad you can clip on to the body. Call & ask them.

PS - another good gift (for you or her) is the RRS mounts and the Arca-Swiss ballheads for your tripods.

[vash]

check it. but i think that wireless sync replaces the flash on your camera, and shoots out (i would guess) an infrared "flash" out to the strobes. my money is on this system working for your wife.

yes, on the light meter...imagine a totally black room. now open that shutter...nothing gets exposed until a flash goes off. so you need the light meter to tell you how to manually set the camera. you choose aperture depending on the depth of field, etc you are wanting to achieve. in a sense you can move a strobe closer/further from the subject to adjust exposure...the meter takes the guess out of it. disclaimer; it has been a long time for me. i have never tried this with any of my digital stuff...only fully manual medium and small format cameras. i am outta the tech loop. for all i know, the camera can send out a "how bright" signal to strobes now..who knows?

[cwiert]

Originally Posted by RWebb

- I didn't know the D40 lacked that
I'm sure Nikon makes a little doodad you can clip on to the body. Call & ask them.

yeah. it lacks that feature. i guess they had to cut some bells and whistles to bring the price down on the D40.

[cwiert]

Originally Posted by vash

check it. but i think that wireless sync replaces the flash on your camera, and shoots out (i would guess) an infrared "flash" out to the strobes. my money is on this system working for your wife.

yeah, that's what i'm trying to figure out for sure. i speculate the same thing as you. i emailed the company (no phone number). hopefully i get a reply back soon.
or like someone else mentioned, i'll go to a local photo store and ask them. if the price is comparable, i'll support the local mom and pop. if not, well... you know.

[Looking_for_911]

I've been in it so long I could tell you everything you may want to know about "old school" lighting and camera techniques, darkroom work and machinery (manual equipment, 35mm to medium format, Hasselblad, Pentax, etc. and 4x5 and 8x10 view cameras... lighting as sophisticated as Speedotron and Novatrons and as simple as using hot lights in mechanic's reflectors) but when it comes to digital my knowledge is limited to the Nikon D1H, and the D200's. We may be getting D-300's to replace the 200's soon.
I'm limited in what I know about the D-40, but there is surely a radio slave or other attachment you could plug into a synch or use on the hot shoe - assuming it has one - that'd fire the light kit you're looking at. We used to use them in firing the lights we had to hang in basketball arenas.

Things have changed so much. For newbies I used to recommend an all manual camera (shooting film) and the Novatron 500-watt second light kit. This kit may be more money than you want to sink into it as it does not come with all the other neat toys like the studio in the box.

Outside of this I'd be happy to answer any questions I could... here or PM.

[cwiert]

[QUOTE= I'd be happy to answer any questions I could... here or PM.[/QUOTE]

Thank you. I appreciate it.