I wanted to charge $ until I found your site…

[PicklesThePug]

If you can get to where no one in your area can take photos as well as you can, you can rise above the cheap photography providers.  That’s worth doing even if it is just for your own family memories.

I think there are some really great photographers around here.  I feel as though the quality of my stuff is better than the cheapest, equal with the inexpensive, and not on par with the pricy.  I think that becoming the best in my area may be a lofty goal, indeed.

[cameraclicker]

I went back and looked at your Facebook page.  You’re in Cambridge, south of Kitchener/Waterloo/Guelph?  In the grand scheme of things, I’m pretty close to you!

If you have time, Henry’s show is free (if you have one of their pre-printed tickets).  The show is May 23 – 25 at Hall 5 of the International Centre.  If you can’t get a ticket or two out of Henry’s and want to go, email me through my web page and I will send you a file you can print tickets from.  The International Centre is across the street from Pearson International Airport, sort of at the north east corner of the airport.  It is an opportunity to see some great photography, take in some pretty good, free, seminars, and see/purchase photo gear, some of which is at a reduced price for the show, or not.

[Bagga_Txips]

I live in China, where a lot of the stuff is made.  So YMMV.  However, it is amazing how prices vary so widely here.  Some stuff is dirt cheap, for example I get brand new Pentax lenses at prices close to the low range of used prices in the US.  And then I might have to pay double the US price for a smartphone that is actually made in China…

Anyway, to get back on-topic.  Pentaxforums.com has several threads extolling the virtues of the Yongnuo 560 mk II and mk III flashguns.  They are not as whizz-bang as Nikon guns apparently, and they are not fully automatic – they may even be manual only for all I know.  BUT, they seem to be dead cheap, and I think manual only is a good idea for studio work anyway.  And while I was checking them out on the Chinese amazon site, I found some nice portable LED panels made by Yongnuo that could be a nice low-heat way to provide continuous light.  One sec, I will check US amazon….  Yep, over 20 pages of Yongnuo stuff to drool over, I must not look, I must not look…..  50 dollars for a small panel, but don’t forget the battery pack costs too, and may well be heavy.

Such panels are probably nicer for doing baby shots, because they won’t be so hot and disturbing.   Sometimes you might need the heat to keep the baby warm of course.   A varied array of light sources may create havoc with the white balance, you are gonna need to be careful.  Or b&w only.  The rest of your gear sounds very useful for your needs, at the moment, but maybe a nice 40 mm f2.8 at $277 or the 35mm 1.8 at $199 might be a useful lens to add to your collection.  But stand well back using these lenses, you don’t want the dreaded bignose effect to show up.

Glaring omissions from your list include a really good tripod, and, sad to say, the most expensive, and in my opinion the most necessary addition – at least one extra camera body.  If you still have the D90, splendid.  800E on the tripod, all set up in advance, D90 with 35mm f1.8 around your neck.  You look the real deal, and you can prance around impressing the hell out of mom, swooping back and forth to take candids as you go.  BTW at this point we should think about the new Sigma Art lenses.  They seem to be built using the big-SUV ethos, so they are enormous and heavy, but they are cheap and are getting a good rep, and it seems that those not in the know equate enormity with professionalism, so the customer might swoon over the fact that you are blessing them with all your supergear.  (I, on the other hand, love my tiny Pentax  lenses, I carry 4 primes and a fisheye zoom everywhere atm, my gear weighs about 3 kilos in total)

 

And so on.  And now you meet a real stumbling block.  You may well be thinking of going semi-pro to help you buy that item of gear you dream of owning.  And here we are, proposing that you have to spend even more money on gear you will need to get to become semi-pro, BEFORE you can start saving up for that dream item… Sigh.

[cameraclicker]

Looks like version II is $100 here, plus 13% tax.

http://www.gtaphotostudio.com/YONGNUO-Speedlite-YN560-YN-560-II-Flash-for-Canon-or-Nikon_p_223.html

They have another model that is $150 plus tax.

They have a lot of interesting looking stuff, at low prices.  I may swing by and see if any of it is actually any good.

[Bagga_Txips]

The III is better I believe.  And get a set of triggers to go with them.

 

[fautox1977]

At the end of the day, it is not your gear that matters, but you. You can get superbly lit portraits with a just a camera and a reflector, or not even that.

I say go for it!!!

[PicklesThePug]

Thanks Cameraclicker – I definitely want to go.  I think I’ve been to the IC before.  I’ve also been known to take photos with my kids on Dixie when the planes lift off the end of the runway.  I’ll stop in at Henry’s today and see what they can do.

Bagga- thanks for doing all that legwork.  I will look into the lighting stuff for sure.  I do still use the D90 because changing lenses mid-anything is frustrating.  I always miss something good.
My shopping/wish list includes
Tripod ( I have a super crappy one, and a monopod with no head)
I was thinking this lens:  http://en.nikon.ca/Nikon-Products/Product/Camera-Lenses/2164/AF-S-NIKKOR-24-70mm-f%252F2.8G-ED.html  ( I know you mention a couple prime portrait lenses, but I thought I should have something that fits the range between my wide angle and my 70-200.  Let me know why or why not?)
More lighting – I guess another speed light is in order.  I am partial to getting the same kind as I have. (which has more to it than I’ve learned yet.)  Mostly because it works really well as a slave without having even bought a wireless trigger yet.  It’s sensitive enough indoors that I don’t even have to keep it in front of the camera.  Haven’t tried outdoors yet; bet I’ll need them then.  I will check out the one you linked for me too.
I like the idea of the continuous lighting for the babies and small kids.  The warmer the better, actually.  I had to use a space heater and mom with a hair dryer on low to keep baby warm so her skin didn’t get all mottled looking.  So some of those items you showed were reasonable.  I don’t see why I can’t have a little of both, but not to use at the same time.
Oh, and battery grips for both cameras.
I’m sure the list will grow by days end.

@fautox1977  thank you 🙂

[cameraclicker]

The warmer the better, actually.  I had to use a space heater and mom with a hair dryer on low to keep baby warm so her skin didn’t get all mottled looking.  So some of those items you showed were reasonable.  I don’t see why I can’t have a little of both, but not to use at the same time.

There’s warm = heat, and warm = light.  Incandescent bulbs throw heat, and usually warm (orange) light.  Some LED lights can be adjusted to different colour temperatures, but they don’t throw any heat to keep you warm. Halogen work lamps from Home Depot or Lowes have a brighter whiter light, but throw a lot of heat that warms the room.  Continuous lights come in incandescent and daylight balanced fluorescent flavours, so some will warm the room while others will not.  Nikon, Canon, and most other strobes, including studio strobes, have a light that is close to daylight temperature.   You can balance the light from strobes with incandescent room lights by putting CTO gels over the strobes which will make them orange like the room lights.  You can also get 1/2 CTO gel if full CTO is too strong.  If you gel the flash and have some light from room lamps contributing, you set white balance to incandescent and the resulting picture looks like it was taken in daylight, or with flash, instead of being orange.

A space heater, or adjusting the thermostat, is probably a better bet than relying on lights to keep your subject warm.  You can turn off, or turn down, the heat for summer if you are using heaters.  If lights are providing the heat, they can be a problem in summer.

[PicklesThePug]

I meant physical heat.  The babies just don’t regulate heat yet and when they’re cold, they’re not sleepy.  Halogen sounds nice.  Maybe I’ll macGyver a work lamp and make a home made soft box for the interim, until I can get something better.  I’d worry about setting the damn thing on fire.    I’ve never used the gels on the flash but that makes perfect sense.  Orange on the speed light, and supplementary desk lamp.  I’ll try it and see what happens.
That all being said, a large north side window is my favourite.

[Bagga_Txips]

Space heater, good idea.  Especially if you get one that can be a cooler in summer too.

 

That 24-70 lens.  Why?  because it is probably magnificent.  Why not?   Because f1.8 and f1.4 are more useful than f2.8 for focussing, though much less useful for portraits.  Because having 2 smaller primes includes redundancy, one can fail and you can still use the other.  Because you already have 50mm covered I believe, so need the long end much less in your smallish room.  (btw I suggested 2 lenses, but anticipated you only buying one of them.)  Because zooms rarely, if ever, give as good results as a prime in the same price range, or even much cheaper primes.  And there it is, my main misgiving – that 24-70 mil lens is 2,000 dollars.  That’s really splashing out at an early stage of the career path.  Buy it when the business has earned it, not before.   (I had a DTP business years ago, complete with a laser printer worth about 2500 dollars.  I gave really great product.  I sold about 1,000 dollars worth of product in the first year…  Lost more than that on reselling the printer at the end of the year, having learned that I was a poor businessman.)

 

You are using the biz to subsidise your dreams.  If that lens is the dream, and you can afford it, buy it.  But…  2k dolares! Ai caramba!!

[PicklesThePug]

Cameraclicker – just wanted to thank you for the heads up on the Henry’s show.  Went for a good amount of time, checked out a seminar on lighting, bought a new tripod, head and a belt holster.   Decided I’m going to wait (impatiently) and set myself up with strobes instead of going for the continuous lights.  Sticking with the speed light for now, and will get another inexpensive one to supplement.

 

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