Lighting Kit - recommendations?
Discussion
Im looking to get some sort of lighting kit consisting of a couple of continous/strobe lights, stands, umbrellas/soft boxes, backdrops. I will want to use this for portrait/product/outdoor automotive photography but have no idea how much wattage i need. I dont want to spend too much, maybe £150 so can make compromises with what is included. Does anyone have any recommendation? How much wattage would i need for these different types of photography?
Any help is much appreciated!
Any help is much appreciated!
OK, the budget is going to put you into previously enjoyed territory. Continuous will be OK for most things that stand still, but you may run into problems with the portrait side. Not to say you cant do it, but you'll need the lights in fairly close if you're competing with ambient at most points during the day
Initial thoughts were a cheap'ish pair of preloved flash heads from one of the many forums, but the more I think about it you might be better getting cheap speedlights/triggers and DIY modifiers to shape the light how and where you want it.
Portability on mains is going to be a fairly high cost, the battery packs alone would be triple your total budget unless you have a reeeeeeeaaaaallllly long extension lead
Initial thoughts were a cheap'ish pair of preloved flash heads from one of the many forums, but the more I think about it you might be better getting cheap speedlights/triggers and DIY modifiers to shape the light how and where you want it.
Portability on mains is going to be a fairly high cost, the battery packs alone would be triple your total budget unless you have a reeeeeeeaaaaallllly long extension lead
As Andy has suggested the budget you suggest is inadequate!
Flash wise...
Portraits indoors 150w/s is minimum and cost about £150 each then budget at least £50 for soft boxes/dishes etc.
Automotive though demands more power and more of them
Remarkable what can be achieved with speedlights but again you don't get much for £150.
I think you need to revise your budget; at least treble it!
Or get good at ambient!
Flash wise...
Portraits indoors 150w/s is minimum and cost about £150 each then budget at least £50 for soft boxes/dishes etc.
Automotive though demands more power and more of them
Remarkable what can be achieved with speedlights but again you don't get much for £150.
I think you need to revise your budget; at least treble it!
Or get good at ambient!
Edited by ian in lancs on Thursday 16th December 12:57
Best I could find
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2-x-800W-Redhead-Studio-Cont...
I have a 4 head set that I bought from Smick, they're cheap, they blow bulbs regularly and they need colour balancing, but it's better than darkness
Add to that one of these
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Nissin-Di466-Speedlite-Flash...
and one of these
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/WIRELESS-FLASH-TRIGGER-SB-80...
and there's some portability and off camera flash
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2-x-800W-Redhead-Studio-Cont...
I have a 4 head set that I bought from Smick, they're cheap, they blow bulbs regularly and they need colour balancing, but it's better than darkness
Add to that one of these
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Nissin-Di466-Speedlite-Flash...
and one of these
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/WIRELESS-FLASH-TRIGGER-SB-80...
and there's some portability and off camera flash
Edited by andy-xr on Thursday 16th December 13:10
andy-xr said:
They're really for video not stills.OP needs more dosh I'm afraid, totally unworkable budget for the requirements.
Good for the money, though it's likely to be flimsy and not take much abuse. It should be OK for portraits and some products. 200W per head isn't much once you start soaking it up with softboxes, especially if you need decent depth of field.
To get lots of portable power is another league.
But yes, give it a go and experiment; you can always upgrade if you want to. When I was at this stage I tried continuous lighting, and very quickly dumped it in favour of s/h Elinchrom.
To get lots of portable power is another league.
But yes, give it a go and experiment; you can always upgrade if you want to. When I was at this stage I tried continuous lighting, and very quickly dumped it in favour of s/h Elinchrom.
Edited by Simpo Two on Tuesday 28th December 15:26
4Lmike said:
I bought something similar off ebay and for under £200 it's OK. It's not going to be up to an Autocar photoshoot, but for a lighting rig at home it does the job just fine. The manufacturer is aware there must be a fuse problem as each light (I got 3 in my set) has two spare fuses and a couple of spare bulbs.I had tried with a couple of 200w halogen mains powered lights from work, but they really weren't the right solution.
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