A big dilemma. Active research over six months, with years of tinkering with photo magazines and web sites.

Budget and Decisions
Yes I had a budget. $1000 for a digital SLR camera. About $600 for studio lights. Of course it was low. I ended up spending about $2200 - and still have some way to go.

The Camera
I have two Nikon SLR film cameras, but I wanted a digital for the studio. The film, developing and printing cost would not leave me with much profit. The digital camera I finally bought was Nikon D70s with the default lens ( 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G ED) which ended up in costing me about $1400 with filters. The Circuit City - eighteen months interest free finance plan worked out - I pay about $100 each month.

From B&H, I got the Tiffen 67mm Photo Essentials Kit ($70) which includes UV Protector, 812 Color Warming, Circular Polarizing Glass Filters & 4 Pocket Pouch. It is almost mandatory to have a UV Protector ($12-20) attached to each lens.

What kind of lights? How many?
To set up a home studio with at least a couple of lights. I had earlier worked with continuous lighting - and I knew the pitfalls - low light, low shutter speed, hot environment, warm color temperature and overall an unprofessional look. I needed strobes. Also, unless there is real need, I preferred the self contained strobes instead of the head and power packs. This way, if one unit fails, then it would not shut down the studio.

So how many? I started with two - one main, another for fill. What about background light? Back light? Hair light? Suddenly I found the need increasing - it looked like I needed at least four. The budget shot through the roof.

Finally I made a compromise. One main. One fill. One for back or hair. Good. I had a decision. Three strobes.

Next - what wattage? The Alien Bees came in 160, 320 and 640 true watt seconds.  Which one considering the difference in prices was about eighty dollars between each model.  For my living room studio, the 320s seemed appropriate. So three 320ws strobes.

Stands
Two 13 feet heavy duty stands that can bear the weight of the lights, softbox or any other thing that I want to load up. One 10 feet general purpose stand - light and easy to move - this is the one I will fit the light for background and hair. Also the 10 feet stand had a minimum height of about three and a half feet - great for low angle lighting. I wanted the air cushioned stands - they are really nice - but were out of my budget range. I later found out that for the same price as the Alien Bees 13 feet stands (manufactured in China), I could have had the air cushioned ones from B&H. Oh well.

Umbrellas & Softboxes
So I needed umbrellas - I decided to go with reversible silver / white umbrellas - two of them for the main and fill lights.

For the hair light and creative lighting a snoot would be perfect. It seems the honeycomb grids actually replaces the snoot. It comes in various angles of beam light, and I settled one with 18 degrees spread. Why? It seemed that was the most popular.  After I had set it up, I found that though it could do the hair light very well, it also let light leek all around the main area - so it did not work like snoot at all - which keeps the light tight and focused. Maybe I am missing something with the honeycomb.

Pondered over whether to buy a softbox. I really did not need it but also knew that if I didn't buy it with the other stuff, I will probably never ever have it. Also it would be fun to experiment.  So I ordered one - 32" by 40" ($110). There is a cheaper alternative - called the Brolly Boxes - which have a white soft-box like cloth fixed over umbrellas.

Background Stands and  BackDrops
Got the stand and two backdrops from eBay. All I wanted a background stand and two backdrops - black and white. B&H and other merchants also sell those - and probably should have bought with them. Within one week, one of the sections of the stand wouldn't fit. Cost - $120.

How Much?
The lights were the costliest with $280 each - came to $840. Stands, softbox etc came to about $300.  Total bill with shipping -  about $1250.

That's All?
The equipment list of a photographer is never ending, and for the moment, shall I say, I am temporarily content. Well - I do need a light meter.

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