# equipment for portrait studio



## raydius (Nov 23, 2007)

I have been searching the forum for advice on setting up a portrait studio.  My concern is primarily equipment needed.  I have set up and run a business for 4 years so I know what I need to do in terms of advertising, legal, sales.  I do not know exactly what equipment I need.  I have:
Nikon D2x 2-4 G flashcards, 1-1 G, 1-512 MB 
ring flash, sb-300
50mm lens,17-100 mm wide angle, 70-200 mm zoom, macro
tripod
2-600 watt strobe  w/ softboxes, portable backdrop stand,
G4 intel based imac, photoshop,aperture
tripod, (need a new one though)

I plan on providing family,senior,baby, and business portraits.

I know its just the nature of threads to quickly get off topic so I think this would be most useful to me and other readers if the experienced pros that understand stocking a portrait studio would simply list the items they find most useful, rather than delve into long explanations of what each item does, why its needed, or other aspects of starting a business.  I'm sorry if this sounds demanding or whatever, I don't mean to be, really.  I just feel more people would read it if it looked like a simple itemized list.  Hopefully this will lead to more people posting as well.  Of course I understand if some people feel the need to elaborate so please feel free.  I've been a photographer for 6 years and went to a 2 year school to get an AA in photography, so I understand how the equipment works,etc.  I guess my biggest worry is that I will buy a bunch of stuff I don't really need and will never use.

Thanks you so much for all the advice.


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## Flash Harry (Nov 23, 2007)

Depends on what you want to spend, the gear you have will allow startup, I'de consider a hi-glide system to keep lights off the floor away from the kids and a multi roller system for backdrops, white/black/ and one of your choice, another couple of lights or three and higher powered, snoots/ honeycomb/ a large softbox, as big as you can get, some props/toys, sofa, the list is endless really, a good studio can take in all sorts of work not just portraits. H


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## raydius (Nov 23, 2007)

Yea, thanks I should of mentioned cost.  3,000.00-4,000.00 is what I can afford.  Already have the studio space.  Don't think I could afford the hi-glide  system as of yet.  Will definitely get the multi-roller system.   How about  a  long narrow soft box.  Seems very  useful,  but there are a couple of different sizes.  Is bigger better with that too.  I think B&H had two of them, one was about 2 feet longer.  Whats the difference?  I have two strobes, and prefer to keep my lighting minimal.  Should I get one or two more?  When you say a good studio should be able to shoot many different things, do you mean products, events? I have done both before and will certainly offer it but I have tried to be the "jack of all trades" photographer before and just feels like I was stretching myself thin and not able to do a few things consistently to where I could be really good at them-artistically and efficiently.  I also feel like it is really hard to estimate my time per job when they vary so much thus making it hard to price accordingly.

ha ha, so much for my itemize idea.   guess that would be pretty limiting

thanks for the advice!


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