Anthony has very good advice. I'll add that an on-camera flash unit with a GN of 40 (in meters at ISO 100) has about 150 watt-seconds of power. I used a pair of Metz 40s before I bought my Bowens and Courtenay studio strobes and found the power to be OK for f4 and f5.6, but marginal for f8 and inadequate for f11, which is sometimes necessary, especially when photographing two or more people at even slightly varying distances.
Therefore, I'd suggest getting the 200 watt-second units at least, as there will be some light loss when using umbrellas or soft boxes. When flashmetering cordlessly, you press the button on the meter, which ignores the ambient light and waits up to thirty seconds or so for the burst of light from the flash, then gives you a reading. Your studio seems large enough, but why would you shoot across the short side, rather than shooting from one end to the other? Many photographers like to position the model up to 2m from the backdrop, to throw it out of focus, to avoid visible shadows, and to allow it to go dark, if required. Also, if you can back up further from your model, you can use longer lenses, which sometimes give a more flattering look. I often use 150 to 200mm for head and shoulders, using 50mm only for three-quarter or full-length shots. Good luck and good shooting. Pat White - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
