Looks like I have a problem.

I cannot stop buying flash gear. Mods, strobes, backdrops, little widgets and gadgets, they just keep arriving at my door ;().

This over abundance has though allowed me to be really organised, which is great, because this year, organised is what I need to be.

My resources have developed into two independent kits on three levels, which can be supportive of each other, but really do not need to be.

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My immediate flash needs, for the basic function getting a workable shot in poor light, can be satisfied by this little rig, but it offers a limited choice (fill, bounce and a little off camera glow).

The “minimum field kit”, which is my take anywhere, location portrait or problem light solving set-up is based around 1x Godox 860, 1x Godox 685 some flagging foams, mini tripod rig, a small 176 LED with gels, a small 5-in-1 reflector and a 16” circular soft box. The flashes can operate in TTL and HSS with my cameras which is ideal for daylight fill, side key light, backlight or the can bounce with the flagging as a giant soft box, using the little 16” diffuser as a reflector if needed.

The LED can go on or off camera as a rim or fill light or light up the background as needed.

The 860’s monster Lithium battery will hopefully provide enough grunt to handle multiple (usually a burst of three) fast shots in HSS. This set-up will fit into my Domke F802 bag with my basic camera kit.

The 685 becomes the master, because it’s slower recharge is ok* for weaker fill or triggering of the main 860 flash.

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For bigger outside jobs, have a second kit bag with 2 small stands, a reflector/diffuser clamp, an umbrella clamp, three 33” umbrellas (silver, white shoot through and gold), a 43” umbrella soft box for when I have time especially useful with the LED panels.

This can be supplemented by my Neewer 480 RGB and/or 660 Bi-colour LED panels and any of my reflectors or diffusers.

This has the makings for a truly versatile and quite powerful 4-5 light rig, which if I remember rightly was my desired kit in it’s entirety only a few months ago!

Likely additions are maybe another 1 or 2 176/216 LED’s, so the bigger one can be left at home.

All of this fits into my basic camera bag and a small lighting kit bag except for the larger reflectors and LED’s.

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The “portable studio” kit, which is now well out of hand, but also reassuringly competent, consists of 4 Yongnuo 560 mkIV’s and a MKIII all controlled by a TX 560. These seem to recycle faster than the 685 Godox** and being manual only are ideal for studio use. Powered by Eneloop pro batteries, I can see this outfit handling some serious work.

The LED’s can fix any balance problems, provide effects or fill for the above and the 2 Godox can be slotted in as dumb slaves as well, making potentially a 9 light kit!

Modifiers are many, probably too many, but I am learning and cannot resist a bargain. I think the dearest single modifier, a 72” shoot through brolly, was $60 Australian, making this entire kit (20 odd modifiers, 7 flash units, 3 LED’s, 2 big and 2 small stands and various bits and a 3x6’ stand for my 12x5’ diffuser cloth, which may be single, double or triple layered as needed), a total investment of about $2000au (lost exact count a few orders ago).

The mods cover the full range from tight (7” reflector dishes with 10-60 degree grids) through to very broad/soft (72” shoot-through brolly).

There are better/dearer modifier options out there, but in this case depth can genuinely make up for quality and light is, at the end of the day just light. The only areas these mods fall short are durability and “name”, but they do come with the added benefits of often being smaller, lighter and more easily bought/replaced. Interestingly, a few reviewers have taken the “Parabolic” craze apart, finding it makes little difference, but it sure is hiking up the prices of a lot of mods.

For backdrops, which I have pretty much put on the back burner as I am favouring location control instead, I have a 9’ wide Black and 7’ Grey muslin and a Kate mottled grey 5x7’ microfibre that looks nice (not tried yet). These are held in place by two $10 Smallrig Super Clamps on two of my bigger stands, with a $20 collapsible 9’ K-Mart curtain rail (cheap as chips and is a little sturdier than many backdrop poles).

There are now plans afoot to make a 14x9’ studio space in the old garage/store room downstairs. Not a perfect solution, but plenty for experimenting etc.

The reality is, I may need to do some “school portrait” style images, so this will likely get some use.

If this turns in to something more serious, I may look at either a couple of the best selling AD200 Godox units, some Godox SL60 mono blocks, more 660 LED’s or maybe I won’t bother.

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*Eneloops have made the 685 more consistent, but it still has just not quite fast enough recycling to handle my 3x HSS bursts, although it can now help reduce the strain on it’s more efficient partner.

** If I were to start from scratch, I would buy 1 860 Godox and 3 850’s. These all run on lithium batteries, which are better and way less fiddly than AA’s. The 860 offers all of the TTL goodness I would need, the 850’s fit with it seamlessly in manual (but also with HSS etc.).