Equipment for small group photography

[Sune Pedersen]

Greetings everyone,

So far all of my photography has been au natural w. a big reflector for filling the shadows. However, I have lately been addressed by people wanting indoor portraits taken in their living rooms or other indoor locations with little or insufficient window lighting.

So... I am looking to shell out for some strobes, which are portable enough for taking them with me in the trunk of my car. Or the back seat or whatever.

However, they must be powerful enough for taking "sofa shots" as I call them meaning shots 1-3½ people (2 grown ups, various littleones and an occasional dog).

Will 2 200Ws strobes with either translucent umbrellas and/or softboxes be sufficient for such a task or do I need something more heavy duty?

I have my eyes on the Elinchrom D-lite 2 kit, as they seem to have been praised widely here and elsewhere.

Any other suggestions and or recommandations?

thank you in advance!

[Sune Pedersen]

A small additional question I forgot to ask.

If I were to use a strobe outside for fill, how would one use the modelling light to adjust? I mean it would probably not be powerful enough for showing much of anything on sunlit models.

[Frank Doorhof]

Outside you can forget about the modeling light, chimping on the display or of course measuring is the only solution.

The Dlites are wonderful for what you want, they are very lightweigth and still durable and of course can be set digital like their big brothers.

[Sune Pedersen]

Excellent!

So now all there is to it is the choice between the dlite 2 or 4 kit.

They seem to be the best bang for the buck from a "high end" manufacturer in europe. Does anyone else have any brand recommendations?

I guess all the cheap makes such as Walimex etc. are not up to the task as the dlites?

[Frank Doorhof]

The problem with the other cheaper flash units is that there are too many problems with them, except maybe Alien Bees but they are only sold in the US as far as I know.

the 4 kit would have my preference, in my experience you run out of power before you need to use less power :D

[Sean DeMerchant]

So now all there is to it is the choice between the dlite 2 or 4 kit.

Stateside the upgrade cost from the 2 to the 4 kit is less than the cost of upgrading a single lens from f/4 to f/2.8 so ecenomically it makes sense to go with more power.

my $0.02,

Sean

[Sune Pedersen]

Excellent, so the D 4s it is.

Now I just need the money and somehow sneak 2 strobes and light stands into the house without my gf complaining too much :)