Strobist gear: Where can I find it in Europe?

All My Gear in 2 BagsAaahh, Strobist!!!
Loved by everyone but the gear so hard to find and to get in Europe.

On today's post I will give a try to give you some search tips by posting some of the places where you can search for the gear you will be needing, besides the well known Ebay and Amazon.

I'm not in any agreement with the companies that I will be mentioning here nor I have anything to do with their business and prices so don't pick on me about this, simply choose what prices are best for your wallet.

If you have any other places besides the one's I will mention here please send me an email with a link to the products and I will update my posted list.

First things first.

The list of some of the things that you will be needing to get you started, assuming that you do not have any of the articles I mention bellow, if you have them already great... so why are you reading this for?... wait maybe you will need to get something extra, OK keep reading :)

01) Small portable Flash or Strobe (call it what you like best)
02) Umbrellas or Brolly
03) Light Stands
04) Umbrella adapter Swivel
05) Battery Chargers
06) Extra AA batteries
07) Triggers
08) Hot Shoe adapter for triggers
09) Clamps
10) Ball Bungees
11) Color corrected gels (CTO Orange, CTG Green and CTB Blue)
12) Gobos, Snoots, Bounces and Grids

Well maybe you will not be needing everything mentioned here at first but since this post is about where you can find this gear in Europe, anyway I mentioned them here as a reference point.

If you start reading Strobist, like me, from the beginning you will notice that one of the great things that is mentioned there is to travel light and that will teach you how to use your small flashes, off camera, to get professional results.
Two things for me very important for my work... don't you think the same way?

Didn't you read this part? If not you can click here to read all about it.

Starting from the very beginning at Lighting 101 David Hobby will show you all the gear that you will be needing to start on your own and explain in detail each and everyone of them so take a peak there.

And keep constantly updated with the news at the official Strobist Flickr discussion group in here.

And now the links I found so far:

GI & PW Side-By-Side_016

1) Small portable Flash

- Thyristor Twin Flash
- Hama zoom flash
- Metz Mecablitz 36AF-4C
- NISSIN 34DI-C
- NISSIN 34DI-P
- METZ MECABLITZ 36AF 3
- Several flashes
- Bilora D 40
- Cullmann
- Exakta Blitz DPZ 38
- Canon, Nikon and Sigma

My Gear - What you wanted to know but were afraid to ask_052

02) Umbrellas

- Umbrellas
- Umbrellas with folding
- Jimbei BS-50
- Umbrellas
- a)White umbrella 43"
b) White Umbrella
- a)Silver Umbrella 36"
b) Silver Umbrella
- a)Umbrellas
b) Umbrellas
- Falcon Eyes, Hedler, Lastolite, Profoto and RedWing

My Gear in the Bags_015

03) Light Stands

- a)Manfrotto Nano 001b
b) Manfrotto Nano 001b
c) Manfrotto Nano 001b
d) Manfrotto Nano 001b
e) Manfrotto Nano 001b
f) Manfrotto Nano 001b
g) Manfrotto Nano 001b
h) Manfrotto Nano 001b
- Falcon Eyes 805
- Excella

My Gear - What you wanted to know but were afraid to ask_056

04) Umbrella adapter Swivel

- Manfrotto 026 Lite Tite swivel + Umbrella adapter
- Metal ShoeMount Flash/Umbrella
- Studio umbrella adapter
- Falcon Eyes umbrella holder
- Universal umbrella adapter
- Hama Studio Umbrella Clamp

My Gear in the Bags_020

05) Battery Chargers

- AccuLoop 700mA
- a)Lacrosse Tech BC-900 v33
b) Lacrosse RS-900 v33
c) Lacrosse RS-900 v33
- a) Lacrosse RS-700
b) Lacrosse Tech BC-700 V33
- ANSMANN Energy check
- LaCross, Energizer, Ultra-Rapid and Universal chargers
- Voltcraft IPC-1L 700mA
- Voltcraft IPC-1L 500mA
- Voltcraft IPC-1L 900mA


My Gear in the Bags_007

06) Extra AA batteries

- All sizes
- AA Energizer Lithium
- Eneloop and Instant

GI & PW Side-By-Side_001

07) Triggers

- Gadget Infinity 4-Channel Wireless Flash Trigger V2s
- a)Pocket Wizard
b) Pocket Wizard
c) Pocket Wizard
d) Pocket Wizard
- Quantum triggers
- Remote Triggers
- Elinchrom EL Skyport Universal trigger

My Gear in the Bags_009

08) Hot Shoe adapter for triggers

- a) Hama Metal Hot Shoe adapter with cord
b) Hama Metal Hot Shoe Adapter
c) Hama Metal Hot Shoe Adapter
d)Hama Metal Hot Shoe Adapter w/cable
e) Hama metal Hot Shoe Adapter
f)Hama Hotshoe Adapter - Universal & Adjustable
g) Hama metal Hotshoe Adapter w/cable
h) Hama metal Hot Shoe adapter
- a)Plastic Hot Shoe Adapter
b) Hama plastic Hot Shoe Adapter
- Metal Hot shoe adapter
- Hot Shoe adapter with photocell and PC connection
- Kaiser plastic w/PC cable
- Adjustable shoe mount with PC cord
- Hama Flash Slave Wireless

My Gear in the Bags_028

09) Clamps

- a) a) Manfrotto 035 Superclamp
b) Manfrotto 035 Superclamp
c) Manfrotto 035 Superclamp
- Manfrotto 175 Spring Clamp
- Manfrotto 175F Spring Clamp + Ballhead w/flashshoe
- Clamp
- Clip
- Clamp
- Superb Clamp
- Falcon Eyes, Manfrotto, Studio

My Gear in the Bags_027

10) Ball Bungee or Similar

- a)Ball Bungee
b) Ball Bungees
- Spannflex
- Spannfix
- Velcro

My Gear in the Bags_011

11) Color corrected gels packs or sheets (CTO "Orange", CTG "Green" and CTB "Blue")

- Lee Filters
- a)Rosco Filters
b) Rosco Filters UK
- Gels & Filters
- Lee, E-Colour, Rosco, GAM
- Cinefoil
- Rosco, Lee filters and sample packs
- 4cm Gel Packs
- 5cm Gel Packs

12) Gobos, Snoots, Bounces and Grids

- Snoot and Gobo
- Make your own take a look here, here and here.
- Lumiquest LQ-001D Ultrabounce
- Bounces and Diffusers
- Gaffer tape
- Lumiquest Snoot
- Lumiquest Ultra Bounce


Some of the gear post here have lower prices but it does not mean you cannot get some less expensive ones at Ebay or even try Amazon.

Oh well!! at least you got some store link prices to start from :)

The links above are showed in the main language of each site that could English, French, German or other. If you do not speak any of those languages you can always send an English email to the store asking about your product and delivery times.

To know more about what you can do or even what are they used for you can take a look at Part 1 and Part 2 on my Lighting Mods articles blog.

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

thanks a lot for this post/list!

Anonymous said...

Think I'm going to bookmark thisone.

The velcro link worries me a bit. I does not seem to lead to any retailer.

greetings,

Mariano said...

Very helpful, thanks for taking the time to research/compile the list.

Anonymous said...

Thanks a lot for the great post. I live in Finland and I have used Milkplatform
It has Manfrotto stands, Elinchrom Skyports, LaCrosse chargers, reflectors, brollys, cheap flashes, umbarella adapters etc. with reasonable prices. Actually everything but filters (I have suggested those already).

Anonymous said...

Great resource.

Thanks for putting this together.

Anonymous said...

Although I already have some of this gear, this is a post that will be bookmarked in my favourites! Thank you! Very helpful!

Bach Tran said...

www.robertwhite.co.uk, Elinchrom official UK distributor, can find skyport here

Spidermaf said...

Hi there,
In the UK 7day shop are great for AA and AAA nimh rechargers:
http://www.7dayshop.com/
They also come in a free plastic case. They have 2600 and 2700 really reasonable prices. Not sure if they ship to Europe.

Unknown said...

(from Strobist link)
Wonderful places for us European flashers ! Thanks a lot.

In Spain there is AmericanPhotoImp where I already shopped a lot and will be shopping more. Lots of strobist goodies there, and they're very friendly.

Anonymous said...

UK Black Cinefoil:

http://www.flints.co.uk/acatalog/Matt_black_Cinefoil.html

They also do various gaffa tape, smoke machines et al.

Also this site is good for hunting bargains down:

http://www.camerapricebuster.co.uk/index.html

It's for camera gear rather than lighting, but still useful. Now all I have to do is find somewhere that sells cheap Quantum gear.

Thanks for putting this together.

Anonymous said...

Hi, nice list :)

However, I got my gels from www.photogels.com. The guy who runs it is a great help and the stuff I ordered (3 packs of the 2x5 gels) took 3 working days to arrive from USA to UK. Postage was $4.50, items were $15.

They accept Paypal too- definately recommended.

Photosmudger said...

You, sir, are a true gentleman - thank you for taking the time and effort to do all this! I already own much of this stuff sourced from various places in the UK - but some of the more esoteric (and downright essential) bits, have been hard to come by. You've just saved me tonnes of legwork. Cheers!

And Rob - well done for finding the cinefoil. I had some for years that "fell off" the back of a film set. A few weeks back it went missing, and the guys at calumet looked at me blanky when I asked for some!

Blog: www.photosmudger.com

www.tmphoto.co.uk

wotnousername said...

Found a nice place to get gel swatches in the UK,

managed to get 4 books (only because i had to pay postage only and it was the same for 1 as all 4 books). rosco (2 books) lee and GAM.

even sent me a couple of pens as well.

site is http://www.lxstore.com look under gels and swatches. postage is abot £10 but came next day.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for taking the time.
I was having real trouble, sourcing this stuff in UK.
You have saved me (and others) days of searching.
Smiles
Drew

Liam said...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&Item=350017323533&Category=3325&_trksid=p3907.m29

Not too shabby, €100 for two shipped to Ireland

Anonymous said...

Has anyone found a UK/ European supplier for the components required to modify the Cactus trigger's antenna, something like http://www.deciacco.com/blog/photography/gi-cactus-v2s-wireless-ebay-triggers-mod/ . I know Maplin sell 433 MHz antenna (http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=24845&criteria=antenna&doy=15m8) but haven't found a suitable connector to mount on the case.

Anonymous said...

thanks so much for the very usefull Info !

paly said...

Found a 433Mhz antenna here: http://ideetron.biedmeer.nl/Webwinkel-Product-396566/Antenne-helical-433-MHz.html

grtz,
www.paly.be

Anonymous said...

Uk wave antenna

Buy it here
http://www.simplesolutions-uk.com/index.php?do=products&sub=showdetails&pid=90

Connector here
http://www.simplesolutions-uk.com/index.php?do=products&sub=showdetails&pid=119

I have done the modiofication and it works a treat

Dave

Unknown said...

Great resource!!!
it's just what I've been looking for!
Thank you!

Phil Jones said...

Really useful list for us in the UK, thanks.

An OT query. How do you do the drop down menus at the side of the blog,. Both you and strobist have them and I want something similar for my blog, but cannot find out how or where. Help appreciated. Cheers Phil

Unknown said...

You can get some big ass 43" umbrellas and the foldable softbox here

http://shop.ebay.co.uk/merchant/jscamerastore

vampirnata said...

I don't suppose anyone can point me to an online shop/s in Austria/Germany that stock the following:

433Mhz antenna & connector
Matte Black Gaffer Tape
Black Straws or Coroplast

Can't find the above ANYWHERE in Austria...

The links above in the comments are great but shipping to Austria costs a fortune! E.g. SimpleSolutions - for antenna and connector costing 10 GBP, they charge 56 GBP!
Flints - for 1xGaffer they charge 48GBP for delivery!

Any help would be greatly appreciated...

Alexander said...

Hiya,

I hope that anyone reads this :)
My question is:
The Nissin 34di is it usuable off camera. I ask since I can only find online references to the fact that it isn't manually controlable.
Anyone any ideas?

ruimleal said...

Hello Hiya,

According the camera dealer, the Nissin 34DI flash is only dedicated for use with certain Canon and Sony digital cameras. Also see Nissin's own website (http://www.nissinflash.com/), which states the same.

There is apparently a version of the flash which will dedicate to some Nikon digital cameras, too.

Another tip is if the flash doesn't have manual modes please choose another one. It will be much easier for you later on.

Hope this helps,

Rui

Unknown said...

Check this out: http://www.redferret.net/?p=19979

richard daniels said...

hi all,

i am moving into video and have just put all my strobist gear on ebay 25/1/11 @ 1900hrs to 2200 hrs. The ebay name is rjdsony. Selling lots of manfortto gear , westcott, honl and other bits and bobs. Sorry if its a bit cheeky to list this info here . I just hope someone makes use of it !

ruimleal said...

Thanks Richard Daniels hope you could sell all the things fast.

Here is the direct link to his ebay account

http://myworld.ebay.com/rjdsony