Years ago, in the days of O-levels in the UK, my mate Stuart and I bunked off study lessons to allegedly teach ourselves photography O level. Our ship of ambition foundered on the rocks of studio equipment. We needed it, it was expensive, we had no money. Mayday. Stuart has since gone on to great things photographically.

This clearly isn't happening for me, so what are the alternatives?

One top quality studio flash head will set  you back upwards of £500. This clearly isn't happening for me, so what are the alternatives?

First decision - flash or continuous? Well, I have used medium price permanent lights and been less than impressed - even at full welly, shutter speeds dip dangerously low and apertures are wide at any decent sort of ISO. So for me, it was flash. Next problem, what (should that be Watt) power? ebay is awash with 540 Watt flash kits, up to 900 being the usual maximum. Not wanting to experience lack of available power I narrowed my search to 3x300W heads. This seller impressed me (despite my cynicism) with their arguments about guide number and the quality of their accessories. 

I wasn't disappointed. They came quickly - within a week to the Czech Republic - and were well packaged. The carry-all for the lighting kit is very rugged, and in fact is my go-to bag if I'm taking more than just camera and tripod anywhere. The softboxes almost defeated my technical clumsiness in construction, but everything is pretty well-made. One of the stands is a little loose in the join where the head attaches. I quickly fixed this with a few turns of PTFE tape.

"even on lowest power setting you need fairly small apertures"

One other grouse - the backdrop stands are only 2m tall - get anyone of average height or above and you're struggling to get any blank space above them. Seems this would be pretty easy to fix as there is plenty of backdrop. 

For a basic studio set- up this is fine. Run of the mill portraits and baby photos will pose no challenge with the choice of silvered brolly, white brolly, softboxes and barn door. The biggest problem, if you're operating in a smallish space, is that they are almost too powerful - even on lowest power setting you need fairly small apertures, and that can bring the background more into focus than you'd wish. Other than that though, this is a great set. As a bonus, the remote trigger and receiver fit my old Nissin Studio flash, so I have an off-camera flash option that is portable.

Delighted with the whole set-up. You can see the set-up for a still-life test I carried out above, and the resulting photo. I was also pleased with the first human photo I took:  my friend Dave was delighted with his portrait. Of course there are things that take getting used to - often good problems. For instance, it wasn't until I uploaded the photographs of the battery grip, taken using my studio lights, that I realised how equipment this good picks up everything.  I should have dusted the (very dirty-looking) grip before taking the shot! We live and learn.

full image at http://www.tpemarshall.com/Objects/i-wxCWrTc/A

Next time - a not-so-happy tale of cheap ebay purchases.