Home Studio Setup - Recommendations

[Mr Olympia]

If I had a couple of hundred-ish quid spare...can anyone recommend a basic studio setup for portraits, just so I can start practising with model type shots.

Would I be best using flash or continuous lighting...?

I only have my camera (350D), lenses and a Sigma EF 500 ST flash gun. I don't have a hot shoe cable or anything, I'm guessing I need to get one.

Thanks in advance.

[[wingnut]]

Would be cool to know what's needed, am having studio lessons with a local shooter this winter, but be nice to know what kit i should look out for.
Good call with the question.

[Mr Olympia]

These are 2 types of things I've been looking at so far. Click to follow link.

COMPLETE HOME STUDIO FLASH KIT

PROFESSIONAL CONTINUOUS LIGHTING KIT

[cosmicma]

portaflash stuff from jessops is relativly inexpensive they do studio heads, umbrellas, tripods etc

if your budget is really tight ( like mine ) it's quite easy to make up studio lighting for not a lot of money

for example i got hold of 2 photax 3200k studio heads with tripods second hand and put portaflash 220 ac slave flash units in them and got a couple of 18 inch ( could be 24 inch can't remember ) portaflash white umbrellas
the slave units are optically fired so all you need to do is use your sigma ef 500 pointed at the ceiling ( to reduce the chance of shadows ) to fire them.

example of the heads and tripods
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Photax-Interfi...QQcmdZViewItem

with the kind of setup i have described you can take your pick if you want to use flash or continous light although i have to say continous light even at 500w isn't really bright enough and boy does it get hot

portaflash do full studio kits it depends on what you want to spend

this looks cheap if you live near Gillingham
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Portaflash-Stu...QQcmdZViewItem

of course you could be snobbish and buy all new and spend a fortune

some other studio lighting i have played with ( it belongs to a friend but it's been in my possesion for the last 2 years ) is a courtenay portable studio setup and it's good i mean very good it consists of 2 solaflash 1250 heads, shades , tripods and umbrellas all in a nice case
it might be worth looking out for some of the heads

edit..
ah i see youv'e posted while i was typing
the first link in your post is basicly portaflash but branded under a different name
the portaflash brand name is exclusive to jessops ( i think )

have a look at this
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Portaflash-Stu...QQcmdZViewItem

personaly i wouldn't bother with continuous lighting flash is better and easier

[slartibartfast]

I don't have a hot shoe cable or anything, I'm guessing I need to get one.

Most kits come with a sync lead which attaches between your camera and flash unit, and will trigger the lights.

These are 2 types of things I've been looking at so far. Click to follow link.

COMPLETE HOME STUDIO FLASH KIT

PROFESSIONAL CONTINUOUS LIGHTING KIT

TBH I wouldn't go with either of them. The first kit is little more than two flash bulbs on stands, very low power and no apparent adjustability. The second is better, but as cosmicma has said, continuous lighting gets very hot and can therefore be uncomfortable to sit under for too long. I doubt anyone would appreciate a portrait of themselves looking like a sweaty bastard.

One kit that looks quite good for the price is the Interfit EX150A kit. Downside of this kit is the limited number of Interfit accessories that it can use.

If you think it's something you might use quite a lot, and may want to expand on later, then it might be better and less costly in the long run to spend a bit more and go for a better quality kit like the Elinchrom D-Lite. Which will also give you access to the large range of Elinchrom accessories.

Alternatively, a lot of people suggest going for a single light to start with, which coupled with a reflector can produce very good results, and could be more than adequate for what you intend.

There's some lighting guides on the warehouse express site that you might find useful, and here's another very good site with lots of info on lighting.

www.photoflexlightingschool.com