Lights?

I'm taking pictures of my products for a website. I have an old Lowel Tota tungsten light kit it has three set of lights and stands. For Lowel Tota lights I need to get softboxes for them. Do you think I should use these old Tota tungsten lights (and buy softboxes for them) or should I invest in an LED kit?

I use Lowel V-lights but work with a video guy who uses the LED panels. IMO, for what you're doing, the LED is the only way to go.

750W tungsten in softboxes? I'd call that "arson".*

Get beautydishes, if you have to; another light source, if you can.

*= I haven't tried igniting a softbox that way. What I can tell: Removing a modifier surrounding a just 100W bulb already required gloves, for convenience's sake. There was a reason why modifiers for such lights were made from metal. Melting softboxes are quite likely to happen.

 

If somehow possible, I'd use strobes. Constant results, less heat, smaller apertures, handholding your camera an option.

You could use umbrellas instead or soft boxes with the Tota Lights--the Lowel umbrellas weren't that expensive and were heat resistant. I used them for a few years before I got studio flash, which is what I would recommend if you have the budget for the reasons listed above--more accurate color, less heat, etc.

...before I got studio flash, which is what I would recommend if you have the budget for the reasons listed above--more accurate color, less heat, etc.

A definite +1 to that.

I started out over 50 years ago having only tungsten lighting. Even a 1000 watt bulb in a 3 ft diameter white reflector was pathetically dim and inadequate for many purposes. Not to mention unbearably hot to work with for any length of time.

 

You'll also effectively lose sensor speed by having to use a 3200 Kelvin white balance. The necessary boosting of the blue 'channel' will increase sensor noise, which is just like shooting at a high ISO speed, and thus reducing image quality.

 

My advice would be to ditch those old hot lights and get flash.

 

LED lighting? It'll no doubt be a great choice in a few years time. At present, you can't get a small, hard LED source with enough useful output. LED panels are fine for close head-shot video interviews, but they cannot be hardened or sensibly snooted to give a controlled spot of light. Nor can they be easily further softened with a softbox or by bouncing - they just don't have sufficient brightness. In short, their quality of light isn't really controllable enough for studio use.

Edited June 16, 2020 by rodeo_joe|1

When softboxes are required, (big) led panels will do fine.

However, i believe they are still quite a bot more expensive then a small studio flash set.

 

Led 'bulbs' come in many different shapes and sizes, and you can get led studio lights that are and do more than just (be) flat panel lights.

 

Some tinkering required, but there are also high power led lights available as work lights, and also as unmounted led lights (with the required ballast), relatively cheap (prices vary and change, but i bought a bunch for about $ 5 a piece), that can be adapted to be many things.

You will have to test and select them for colour though. See if they are good and consistent enough.

 

When needing soft light(s), another way to go about it is to buy large sheets of white perspex. Put those up and set any light you wish behind them, at any distance and angle required for the light you want. Much better control over the resulting light and more versatile than softboxes.

Again, test those for colour. You do not want them to introduce a cast.

I'm taking pictures of my products for a website . . . Do you think I should use these old Tota tungsten lights (and buy softboxes for them) or should I invest in an LED kit?

 

Does it have to be either one or the other?

As already suggested, I suggest you use Flash Lighting.

 

WW

LED 'bulbs' vary widely in their equivalent colour temperature and spectrum. So if colour accuracy is important to the products you're showing, do yourself a favour and use flash (matching studio strobes). The cost of these needn't be prohibitive, and if you ensure they have the common Bowens 'S' fitting, there are cheap modifiers galore available for them.

 

The cost per lumen of flash is far lower than any LED lamp with assured colour quality, and you don't bake the subject as with tungsten.

Edited June 19, 2020 by rodeo_joe|1

Well, yes and no. When you decide to go for budget studio strobes, be prepared to find the the colour temperature of those is not constant and not necessarily matched either.

I have largely abandoned strobe lights for LED panels. They are lighter, cooler operating and easier to carry. Furthermore many will run for an hour or two on Li-Ion battery power. Tabletop product photography doesn't require action-freezing strobes, and with digital you have a lot of options between shutter speed and ISO settings. Continuous lighting is quicker to set up than strobes, with less trial and error, and is also suitable for video. There is a significant advantage to LED panels which are adjustable from 3200K to 5600K, allowing you to match ambient light. Even inexpensive panels often have a CRI index of 95% or better.

 

I have started using LED panel lights for live-streaming video in a non-studio environment, especially where the main lighting is directly overhead. A 40W LED panel with a 4' umbrella, just outside the FOV, provides a very soft, natural light just where you need it, on the talent. An LED bar light is perfect for lighting a green screen backdrop, or a more neutral background for portraits.

 

... and you don't have to carry a bag of extra bulbs. Does anyone remember how easily Lowel lights are extinguished with a minor mishap?

 

You can get LED floods, pars and spots, which will work with conventional modifiers, for about the same price as their hot light predecessors. Be warned that the chassis may get hot enough to burn you, but the beam won't melt a softbox.

Edited July 5, 2020 by Ed_Ingold