[GibbyTheMole]

I use dirt cheap white shoot-thru umbrellas (and on occasion the silver ones) from eBay. They're around $6 each if I remember correctly. I's like to have softboxes and all that good stuff, but I don't have the money or the room. That said, the umbrellas do a great job. I prefer the light quality from the white ones for most applications. If you do buy those, just be aware the main shaft of the umbrella is hollow tin & breaks easily, especially after you crimp it a few times in the umbrella holder. I went to the hardware store & bought some cheap steel rods to glue in to reinforce it. I applied glue to the rod and after inserting it, crimped the hollow tin shaft with a coax crimper every couple of inches to tighten it around the steel rod. Works great it was cheap and it won't break.

Good luck,
Bob :-)

[snipenekkid]

Using flash is all about practice, practice, practice....then practice, practice, practice some more.

I would suggest picking up a copy of Fil Hunter's book "Light: Science & Magic" to learn better how to manage light. It's not a book about any given technique but rather to understand how light works in a shot and how we can manage it to our advantage. This knowledge applies to all manner of lighting from the sun to studio strobes to flashes, to simple light modifiers as reflectors or to create shadows. $35 every photographer should spend on a book.

I bought my first set of softbox-like umbrella's. One is rectangular like a "real" softbox and two are umbrella SB's (but not shoot through's):
Amazon.com: ePhoto 24" x 36" Photography Studio Speedlite Flash Umbrella type Softbox works on Nikcon Canon AlienBees Soft6090: Camera & Photo
Amazon.com: PBL Photo Studio 42" Reflective Umbrella Softboxes Photo Lighting Umbrella Set of 2 Steve Kaeser Photographic Lighting: Camera & Photo

These were all reasonably priced and better for my needs than just having a few shoot-throughs. Something to remember is lighting modifiers like SB's mean you need light stands that can handle the weight and help position the light at the needed height. Stands can be costly. Those stands need umbrella brackets. So for every SB/shoot-through you want to use in a shot means you should grab another stand and bracket.

For that side of things i found some decent moderate use stands and a surprisingly well made inexpensive bracket on Amazon:
Amazon.com: PBL Light Stands 10 Foot, Pro Heavy Duty Spring Cushioned, All Metal Locking Collars, Set of 2 with Carry Bags Black Finish by PBL: Camera & Photo (light stand kit)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003TYDBYQ/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 (umbrella, speedlight bracket)

All totaled I spent about $150 on the 3-SB's, the 2-stand kit, 2-extra shoot-through umbrellas, 1-gold reflective umbrella, and a couple more umbrella-flash brackets.

I went larger on the stuff this time because I want some softer lighting on this project. I'm a cheap guy nut like quality stuff...I was leery of these items and much to my surprise I can see them all lasting 10-yrs with care. As long as I get 3+ years from them I'll consider it a great deal.

Oh, buy a better bag lighting kit bag to drag your stuff around. I cheaped out there and well, that worked "not good" to quote Lois Griffin. I'll get a much better bag at Ross or Amazon if something catches my eye.

[atupdate]

Oh, buy a better bag lighting kit bag to drag your stuff around. I cheaped out there and well, that worked "not good" to quote Lois Griffin. I'll get a much better bag at Ross or Amazon if something catches my eye.

I bought a used golf bag travel cover at Play It Again Sports to carry my lighting kit for around $20. Heavy duty material, padded strap, and lots of room.

Tim

[jrcastillo]

I was looking to buy this set:
Amazon.com: Linco Pro Heavy Duty 8ft Light Stands Set of 2 with Carrying Bag: Camera & Photo

until you mentioned the PBL set.

there are very few comments on thsi item, and to be honest I am a bit afraid if the comments are not even true.

has anyone used/seen this in person?

also about the

(umbrella, speedlight bracket)

is this good enough? i was looking at a set from adoroma which is all metal thinking that the plastic one was going to break within a day of use (that is after reading some scary reviews of plastic brackets)

I am going to buy the PBL set of umbrellas you mention and couple cheap white ones.

---

Last edited by jrcastillo; 10-28-2013 at 01:33 PM.

[snipenekkid]

I was looking to buy this set:
Amazon.com: Linco Pro Heavy Duty 8ft Light Stands Set of 2 with Carrying Bag: Camera & Photo

until you mentioned the PBL set.

there are very few comments on this item, and to be honest I am a bit afraid if the comments are not even true.

has anyone used/seen this in person?

Those stands look just fine. They do have some design elements that would push me to other options though. One is the those screw type "clamps" because that style is easy to over tighten (or have the knobs break in half while tightening). As time goes on over tightening can, if the support column metal is not thick enough, deform the tubes or introduce small surface deformations. But really I am just being over fussy there, my really issue with screw-type fasteners is if they are not perfectly snug to hold the gear on top. I went to the clip-style fasteners on my Manfrotto tripod and have never gone back to anything other than the twist-types on my mono-pod (match made in heaven there...I got a great carbon fiber mono-pod on Amazon around 7-8yrs back an the thing is still like new...but I digress.. ) The fastener on the legs is still a screw-type but well, nothing's perfect.

As long as the stands have some sort of cushioning (spring/air/fairy-dust/whatever...fyi, air is the best of the best but costs a lot more) these stands should easily be fine for a decade. The reason I grabbed my PBL set was they are 10' tall and the project I am on now has HUGE rooms. It's a where even soft light is the key rather above anything else. Plus when I shoot events they will give me plenty of options from above in a room with few places I can mount lighting high on a way or something and will need to add a boom to cantilever my lighting light out away from the stand and not have the stand in the shot. I also prefer to have more options in a single bit of gear even if I never need all of the ability.

On the PBL stands you can also use the legs to adjust height not only the center column. But when the legs are closer together they are going to be easier to knock over, even when weighed down. Still it's a nice ability. Looks like the stands you've found will work just the same. The legs also go a lot wider than many stands...something around 3ft. this is very helpful in several situations like windy conditions or shooting anywhere someone might trip across the legs. Wider will help reduce the chance of a stand getting knocked over. I figured this will be helpful when adding a boom-arm at times.

Something else was my set came with two saddlebag style bags into help secure the stands. I bought 8 more as I often shoot in windy conditions around here and feel I need at least two bags per stand, three is better with even a fourth hanging from the bottom of the center column (had to add a hook to my stands). You can just use ziploc bags and/or a canvas grocery bag but I like these saddlebag style (pretty durable too). Here is where the ability of the legs to go wider really, really helps as that lowers the center of gravity for the stands.

also about the
is this good enough? i was looking at a set from adoroma which is all metal thinking that the plastic one was going to break within a day of use (that is after reading some scary reviews of plastic brackets).

I don't know about the Adorama options, likely the same as from Cowboy Studio which look fine. Just know even those brackets are NOT all metal, only some of the parts are metal but not the internal parts.

The plastic brackets might well be the "plastic fantastic" version of a good inexpensive 50mm lens. Note that the cold-shoe is ALL METAL and not plastic so calling these all-plastic brackets is not really accurate. Don't forget the plastic won't, however, tolerate abuse like an all metal Manfrotto ...take care of them as they are supporting your expensive lighting but I see no reason they won't last a long time. Then when and if you can justify spending more grab the Manfrotto gear as that is a great bracket. I'm not sure for my shorter term needs, or for lighter use needs, the Manfrotto's represent a better value. If you are using them A LOT and everyday I see no reason to go less expensive buying the plastic bracket, other than the fact buying several all metal versions at the same time will cost a bunch. I bought mine as are more of an experiment to see how they hold up, but based on the absolute reliability of the plastic one I already owned (I truly thought it was all metal after all these years). So I took a flyer on the $6.99 brackets, just two however. But based on the construction I don't think you are putting your gear at any greater risk in the short terms with them. Just keep an eye on them and always have one or two back-ups in case of failure when you need it most. So far I'm very pleased with the newer version I grabbed. As for the complaint I read about the umbrella pole not fitting, nope do not buy that complaint. These fit every umbrella I have and they vary in diameter of the pole. Maybe there are some HUGE poles out there but I don't have any nor do any of my friends...I know as I checked their umbrellas.

As for online reviews on sites like Amazon be wary of many reviews on Amazon, especially the more strident alarmist (also the overly positive too) reviews. I mean read this board and many others where we read all manner of alarmist reactionary irrational comments. Look for more reasoned commentary to find the real details. For all we know some of those reviews were from people who were trying to mount a 30lb+ stage light on a boom arm...or were toilet trained at gunpoint. Also read the review history of the reviewers you are looking at. Often times you'll find they never leave reasoned or positive reviews. I know I won't give such reviewers any credence. Still don't always dismiss them just research.

I was like you about plastic...then I looked at a 10yr old bracket I have used for years and guess what? The silly thing is plastic...who knew???...well Wikipedia knew as when I searched bracket type (you know "B", "C", "E". "D" what have you)...the "B" bracket spec is apparently plastic. Remember though we are not talking lightweight plastics here, this is very industrial heavy use plastic. It's very dense

I am going to buy the PBL set of umbrellas you mention and couple cheap white ones.

yup...my feeling about shoot through's are buy inexpensive but buy a bunch because they will not last a long time. But at the current prices who cares? Just carry extra. I am not sold that a larger shoot through matter. That's because your flash is pointing at the dead center even when zoomed in to 24mm or so I am not sold anything more than a 30" bumber-shoot is needed. Never experimented though as I hardly every use a shoot though. Instead I have a couple of softboxes from Lumiquist to do about the same thing and of course got to spend a LOT more cash on them...hehehe...actually the two largest softboxes from Lumiquist are pretty nifty under the right situations.