I'm having a budget to start a studio now After years of using crappy equipment to earn hard money and savings, now I need all you sifus' advice and experience to guide me.

I have a very spacious place to start with, it's a shop-lot, yes, the whole floor is mine, but I'm stuck on where to begin with and what equipment should I buy.

I'll be focusing on product and portrait, this two seems to be the most profitable one other than wedding photography, I don't have a good portfolio yet, but will start slowly. Is there any other kind of photography that you sifus recommend ?

About equipment, my current equipment is kind of amateurish and totally not complete and I'm planning to buy into a new system and I need advice on what specific studio equipment do I need for specific kind of photography *strobes, brackets, props, etc.

My budget isn't really a lot actually, I could spend only around 15K on equipment and another 5k for business card and stuffs, please advice me on all these question and acknowledge me if there's any question that I should be asking and problems that I should be concerned with.

PS: the flickr profile in my sig is not my portfolio

This post has been edited by ahquan26: Dec 11 2014, 11:23 PM

If you already have camera and such, I think you shouldn't be spending RM 15k on equipment.

A simple cari-makan studio setup doesn't have to reach RM 15k. In fact as a business should consider more to be spent on marketing.

http://www.gstrapinuse.com/ <=- try visit here. look at the equipment, RM 999 is enough to get you decent stuff.

Grats ahquan26

Its always my dream to own a Studio apartments or sorts and set up my studio there, not for commercial purposely, but ya, it’s a dream.

Grats for making it. All the best with your venture.

I'm looking to upgrade to a full frame camera, currently eyeing the D750... and gonna upgrade my monitor to do editing too

Sifus are welcomed to use the studio

that's a good choice but it's going to set you back a lot depending on what you shoot.

what camera do you have now?

*Full frame doesn't mean you'll do a better job.

Very well aware that full frame doesn't mean I'll do a better job but for my current camera, I really need to have a more capable body, I'm using Sony a65 and Fuji XE-1, which is really not suitable for pro-level work, not saying that they couldn't produce pro-level images but an upgrade to a more capable body is more sensible, but yeah I'm looking into a new system to invest in, not just a body

What kind of job? I used EOS 60D for commercial work and they're top grade award winning capable works.

If I can do that, why can't you do that with your A65? It's fine for pro-level work.

If you think need D750 for pro-level work then why not go for medium format?

I like that quote... gonna steal it for future use...

Umm probably for outdoor shoots, needs better built camera, it's gonna be my daily camera too ... Probably a65 keep in studio and D750 for everyday and studio work too. Anything can do pro level work, skills come into play, but I need a better body, weather-sealing is very required too, the af performance would be nice for outdoor family portrait too or pet portraits, I'm not saying that these camera couldn't do pro level work, but why not an upgrade to a better body when you could afford it ?

because ................

D750 alone is going to set you back some RM 7k or so. You have 8k left. After buying el-cheapo studio lights you used another RM 1k. Total 8k spent, 7k left. No Nikon lenses or flash yet.

You intend to do portraits, how many and what lens would you be buying? 7k isn't that much left when you consider portable lights and lenses. That RM 999 type I show you earlier works in studio but when you're on location (not in studio) then your lighting setup is different.

You'll be having to buy flash units, trigger, receiver, stand, diffusers and such..............

the "better build" and "weather seal" thing is overrated. People who often promote those features are also people who are not using it, and are often using those camera at environments that aren't even close to requiring weather-seal.

I'm pretty sure people like lwliam and albnok can guide you on a good setup for your A65.

In fact if you insist for a better build body and all, I'd suggest a Sony A99 or a Sony A7 (cheap!). Using all within the same system would be more cost effective, after all you're starting a business and budget allocation for marketing / promotion would be more important.

I totally agree with you at this point *budget wise*. I really need weather sealing, I work in rough environment too, need a trusty camera to withstand rain, sand and mud, Nikon has more options on weather sealed lenses, Sony only offer a few of them.

For outdoor shoots I will probably be depending on flashguns, portable strobes cost a bomb !

On a99 and a7, I would ignore a7 at the moment unless I've got the money for two bodies, a7's AF is not reliable enough for my taste. a99 is one hell of a camera, had some experience with it, but it's two years old and the price is the same with the d750 and I don't really have any FF lens for the a99 too. I would probably wait for a99 M2, get it when the price goes down or get the M2 if it's attractive enough. Anyway, other than lightning equipment, I'll play the waiting game first.

Do you have any experience with studio strobes ? I need more advice on it

*I would get extra cash for equipment next year, marketing and promotion's budget is enough for my plan at the moment

Edit: D750 is cheaper than a99 ...

This post has been edited by ahquan26: Dec 15 2014, 12:18 AM

OK well at least you're more specific now.

D750 is a very nice camera but bear in mind that lenses aren't cheap.

As for studio strobes, it really depends on how far you can to go. I was thinking of A99 because if you have an A65 then chances are you would have flash that works with the A99.

Have you browse the market for studio strobes? Where's your location by the way?

There's really 101 setup you can have for studio.

Those blue babes are not cheap too XD

I wonder if there's a situation that I actually need a power of more than 400W, flashes is a big big problem with that stupid hotshoe XD I use the popup flash to trigger optic slaves, didn't really have any flashgun that works with Sony at the moment

Yeah I had browse the market for studio strobes, currently eyeing the ducame branded range. My location is quite remote, a small town