Nikon SLR Cameras

Using a nikon sb700 flash/led light with Westcott 7 Feet white/black umbrella?

Guest
Guest

The sb700 obviously used for photography.
Anyway, I also own an LED light kit with 500 led bulbs. It seems pretty bright when lit up. I have ordered a Westcott 7 Feet umbrella with the white interior and black exterior.
My question then is, will any of these light sources be powerful enough to achieve an effective lighting with this umbrella considering it has the white interior?

Here are the links to the led light kit and umbrella I'm talking about:

Light kit - http://www.amazon.com/...00ATTY8SW/

Umbrella - http://www.amazon.com/...004QEV50A/

If for some reasone any of these are not powerful enough, please recommend me light sources that are great quality but affordable.

Thanks.

Added (1). My mistake, the LED light kit I have is a 600 led video light panel.

deep blue2
deep blue2

Umbrellas usually eat about 1.5 stops of light.

It's a bit of a moot question really as what do you mean by 'effective'. It depends on many more factors. Not least is how do you want to light your subject? What aperture will you want to shoot at? How close do you want your lighting? Can you raise your ISO without noise issues?

Generally speaking you want to buy the most powerful you can afford. It's easier to reduce your light than to try to increase it.

Also by mixing flash and ambient you are potentially giving yourself white balance issues that will be a pain to sort out in post. Better to add further flash than continuous lighting.

John P
John P

Several other factors need to be added by you before even a 'guesstimate' of adequacy can be made.

How big an area are you hoping to light? (EG Big living room at home? Large hall at college?)

Will the lighting be close to the camera or are you aiming for artistic sidelighting?

What ISO number will you be using?

What f-stop will you be hoping to us?

But with a 600 LED light panel or a powerful hand flash such as the SB 700 you should be able to light a fairly large area, and use a fairly small ISO and a medium f-stop [With the LED light maybe f4 or f5.6 with a reasonable shutter speed ] with a white umbrella of any brand.

Seeing that you will be shooting digitally, a few test shots will give you precise answers.

Eric Lefebvre
Eric Lefebvre

Effective is a relative term… What are you shooting, how big is the space, can you afford to nump up your ISO… But here are some shots I have done with cheap flashes that are even less powerful than your SB700. I used to use some YN460's but I just bought 5 Neewer TT850's.

Two cheap flashes (YN460: 60$) blasting a white background and one cheap flash inside a softbox on the subject. For the background lights, I was using black bounce umbrellas to prevent direct lightspill on my product.

One cheap flash inside a softbox.

One cheap flash inside a softbox.


As far as the LED panel is concerned? Who knows… 600 led lights doesn't really say anything about the quantity of light. Those panels are better for product photography where you can use longer shutter speeds or, better yet, video work.

When I use hot lights, I use 108W CFL bulbs (400W equivalent).