Photo studio: portrait and fashion — Pro (two 800s, strip, projection)

Bring your own

• a CFexpress Type B card for the camera's second slot
• a backdrop support system or a wall rail
• a light meter
• sandbags for both roller stands
• tethering hardware

Why this kit

At this tier the studio has to produce different looks on the same day, and that is an argument for two identical heads rather than one large and one small. Two AD800Pro bodies mean the key and the background head share menus, share the trigger's channel plan and share spares; when the background head is doing the work, the key becomes the background head and nothing has to be re-learnt. The 35 x 160 strip is the modifier that separates fashion from portraiture: it is the long vertical source that runs down a standing figure without spilling onto the backdrop. The BFP is the other half of that: a projection attachment turns a head into a hard graphic source, which is what stops every frame from being soft key plus flat paper. The V1Pro is not a studio head at all; it is the round-head flash you take to the recce and use as on-camera fill when the shoot leaves the room. The camera is a 45 MP Canon R5 Mark II, because a fashion frame gets cropped and printed: the RF24-105mm f/4L covers full length and the RF85mm f/1.4L the beauty close-up, with a spare LP-E6P and the trigger in its C (Canon) version.