Home Lighting Kit - Advice please.

[freddies_dad]

Hi gang,

Do you guys have opinions on a good (acceptable) set of lighting for home use? My budget is around £230-250. It'll mostly be used for portrait type photography and occasionally used with a light-tent (UKBob's old one!).

Cheers,
Phil

[luca brazzi]

In that price range, you'll be looking at the Jessops branded stuff, either from Jessops, or Ebay. I bought a whole load of it on Ebay a couple of years ago, and its ok. Good value for money, but I must stress its only ok. It really is the budget end of the range. The range is called Portaflash, and you can buy individual items, or as a complete set to go, either the Portaflash 2 or 3.

Alternatively, check on Ebay under photography -> flash, and see what comes up....all depends on what you are wanting to photograph.

Hope this helps, any questions, just ask.

If I had the funds, I'd sell it all and buy either the Bowens or Elinchrom stuff, but it does me ok for the time being.

LB

[crmcatee]

Phone about the camera shops..

I got a couple of bowens lights, stands etc that had been traded in from a studio for not a lot of money more than the 250.

Give these people a shout - that's where I got mine from.. www.cambrianphoto.co.uk/

[nick_bbb]

I've taken the decision to tread a different path with lighting. I just got delivered a couple of constant lights with 5000K temp bulbs. I got then from ebay (can't log in at work but the seller is something like photosupplies). Each light has 3 24W Low energy bulbs which is the equivilant to 120W so 360W per light. The seller was having a sale and I got both lights with stands for £150 They have a diffuser that covers the front to evenly spread the light. Haven't had chance to use them yet but I'll stick up some results when I do. If I need more power I can just add more lights as and when I can afford them and clamps to add to the stands

To be honest I can't really get my head around flash, I like to see what I'm actually taking a photo of. I can always use my 580 speedlight if I need a bit more light to fill in. With generators available cheaply now my setup will be portable too

I've also found that having a couple of powerful daylights around the house is very handy, like when I was fitting some new blinds last night :lol:

[freddies_dad]

Thanks guys - I tried to reply to this last night but, obviously, that was no go.

The situation is that I have about £180 in Jessops vouchers (which rules out eBay) and £50 in cash (accumulated gifts) and I'm struggling to think of what to buy with it.

£250 isn't enough for a decent lens, I don't really want another tri-pod. Filters maybe but not sure which to get (I've got a 10-20mm Sigma @ 78mm which would cause a load of vignetting as far as I know).

Just stuck for ideas!

[_dobbo_]

Filters wont really make a dent in that budget anyway, unless you go crazy like Martin and start buying Lee filters! Personally I'd invest in some ND grads at least, even if the cokin holder does cause vignetting at 10mm, you can just hold the filter in your hand and hold it up to the end of the lens to avoid this. At all other times the filter holder will be fine.

I'll check again because I'm sure my Cokin doesn't cause vignetting at 10mm.

I have the same issue with lighting, and have gone down a similar route to bbb, I'm using 2x 300W halogen uplighters which are directional, and very bright. I'm sure they are no substitute for proper lighting but at £10 each I can live with a compromise, as I can use my SB600 to provide a decent boost.

Do you have a good flash? Your budget will cover an SB600.

[freddies_dad]

_dobbo_ said:

Filters wont really make a dent in that budget anyway, unless you go crazy like Martin and start buying Lee filters! Personally I'd invest in some ND grads at least, even if the cokin holder does cause vignetting at 10mm, you can just hold the filter in your hand and hold it up to the end of the lens to avoid this. At all other times the filter holder will be fine.

I'll check again because I'm sure my Cokin doesn't cause vignetting at 10mm.

I have the same issue with lighting, and have gone down a similar route to bbb, I'm using 2x 300W halogen uplighters which are directional, and very bright. I'm sure they are no substitute for proper lighting but at £10 each I can live with a compromise, as I can use my SB600 to provide a decent boost.

Do you have a good flash? Your budget will cover an SB600.

Thanks _dobbo_ - yep, I have the SB600 too (and love it).

How stupid though - struggling to think how to spend £250. I'm almost embarrassed (honestly). It's a lot of money anyway you look at it (apart from if you're loaded, which I'm not!).

[_dobbo_]

I've just checked and I was completely wrong, the Cokin holder is visible at anything less than 13mm.

The trouble with an amount like £250 is that once you have covered the basics, it's too much to easily spend on bits and bobs, and not enough to spend on something substantial. I reckon lighting wise you have to look at spending more like £450 to get anything powerful and flexible enough.

Maybe shop around second hand on ebay? Diffuculty is knowing what to buy, hence the thread here I guess