What Gear Does a Commercial Photography Studio Use

It should come as no surprise that different genres of photography require different equipment, but have you ever wondered what specific gear does a studio use for commercial photography?

As some of you may know, COCO Creative Studio moved into our new location in Aljunied in the middle of last year, and as result, we gained a much larger space for storage.

Our new studio is at:

Yu Li Industrial Building
37 Lorong 23 Geylang #10-02
SINGAPORE 388371

The studio is also available for rent. Check out our rental page, COCO Creative Space, here for more information!

This space, coupled with growing enquiries for our commercial photography services, encouraged us to invest in additional equipment to better serve our clients.

Let’s take a dive into our equipment bag to discover what gear a commercial photography studio uses for a client shoot!

Cameras for Commercial Photography

Currently, at COCO Creative Studio, we shoot all our commercial work using Fujifilm cameras and lenses. We use the Fujifilm GFX 100S, Fujifilm GFX 50SII, and the Fujifilm GFX 50R. We also use a range of 9 GF lenses to shoot according to our needs depending on the shoot.

Each photographer or photography studio has their own personal preference on what cameras and lenses to use. Our founder Jose favours these Fujifilm cameras for their superb image quality, ability to capture greater detail, as well as their portability.

We use mostly medium format cameras for commercial photography, as their larger sensors offer a range of benefits that include greater image resolution, shallower depth of field, and better performance in low light environments.

For more information, you can read Jose’s reviews on the GFX 100S and GFX 50R on his website.

Lighting Gear for Commercial Photography

In commercial photography, clients want images of consistent quality. One important factor to achieve consistent images throughout the shoot is lighting.

We use a multitude of different lighting equipment to ensure that images captured turn out well, regardless of the existing lighting within the location or in the studio.

At COCO Creative Studio, we mostly use the Godox 600 and Godox 400 for strobe lighting, and Aputure 300D Mark II for continuous ambient light.

Other well-recommended brands of light sources that we have had the pleasure of using include ProFoto and Broncolor.

Alongside these light sources, we also use light modifiers such as umbrellas and reflectors to control and shape light.

Other essential equipments used in lighting include C-Stands for mounting light sources, sandbags to stabilize the C-Stands, and black cloths to block out windows or reflective surfaces that may interfere with the lighting.

Tethering Equipment

While shooting commercial photography, tethered shooting is a huge assistance to the photographer. Tethered shooting allows the photographer to connect the camera to a computer, and gives them an instant preview of what the taken image looks like on a larger screen.

This instant preview allows the photographer to notice any issues with their composition or settings much more quickly, and then make the necessary adjustments to capture better images.

The client is also able to see the previews live, allowing them to give the photographer or the talents feedback on what can be modified to suit their vision better.

As you can imagine, this allows for a much smoother and more efficient shoot, and may even save time and effort during post-production editing,

We use Tether Tools’ TetherPro cable, Capture One Pro as the software, and a 16-inch Macbook to preview the images.

In this video, you can see an example of how we use tethered shooting to assist our photographers in their shoot.

Backdrops

Depending on the client’s vision, we use a variety of backdrops for our commercial photography shoots.

The natural environment of the shoot, paper backdrops, or hand-painted backdrops are the ones commonly used.

Paper backdrops are usually plain, single-coloured sheets of paper that are affordable and lightweight. They are, however, easily damaged and very generic in appearance.

Hand-painted canvas backdrops are unique and can be customized to different colours and textures. They are sturdier and longer lasting than paper backdrops.

However, clients may prefer a more generic background over a hand-painted one, and hand-painted backdrops are also more expensive and heavy. We get our hand-painted backdrops from Gravity Backdrops.

 

We hope you’ve enjoyed this short tour along our equipment list, and that you have gained some insight on what goes on behind the scenes of a commercial photography shoot.

For a behind-the-scenes look at a commercial shoot, take a look at our video on a commercial lifestyle shoot with Voco Orchard Hotel in Singapore.

COCO Creative Space – Photography & Video studio rental space:
Instagram: @cococreativespace
Website: https://cococreativespace.com/
Space: https://cococreativespace.com/book-studio-rental-singapore/
Facebook: COCO Creative Space