What about studio lighting, strobes, etc.

I am new to LF and need some lighting equipment. I am needing input on what to buy and approximate cost. I am interested in a setup for still life and portrait work. This would be accomplished with a 4x5 view camera. I have checked the archives and didn't really find anythng. Also I have looked in my latest issue of shutterbug which always has plenty of adds but no real attention to application.

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All input is welcome, thank you!

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Clark King

Hi Clark,

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First off I would stay with the well known brands that offer

complete systems and quality build made in teh US or Germany

usually. Personally I ues Hensel but there are otehrs tahat are

equally as good. I have used hensel for several years because I

felt it giave me the best value for money.

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The big decisions you need to make are what sort of light outpyut

you need and whether you want hot lights, monolights or strobe

heads and a power pack.

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When i was operating a large studio with 30 foot ceilings adn all

teh ventilation in the world I used theathre hot lights mounted on

an overhead grid and controled by a theatre patch panel but that

is neither what you need nor what you likely can house. Today I

use two monolights most of the time and sometimes a small

fresnel hotlight as a highlight or 'kicker.' Actually, with some

practice you acan achieve very satisfactury results with only one

light. I do recomment that you go with at least 500 w. My

preference for monolights is that I like the self contained units

and am not worrying about a powerpack... if you are always

going to use the lights indoors this is a fine solution. If you think

you rae going to be away from power then think about power

packs. Things to look for:

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Variable power levels .... at least five levels down from full.

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A builtin modeling light thta will oerate proportionally to the flash

tube or at full power

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A built in slave (if you are going to use more than one light)

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Decent metal construction but not too heavy

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All of the major manufacturers offer kits where you cna save a

few hundred by buying a set of a couple of lights and

accessories ... would probably work well if you need everything.

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This should help for starters ... come back with some more

specifics now.

I am using the Speedotron 2405cx and find it excellent, although I

use it for location lighting with the 202vf heads. Speedo gear is

rugged and reliable (made in the USA) -- see you local rental house

and see what they use! (Speedo) The other brand worth considering is

Profoto i.e. Acute. If you are shooting color trans, consistent color

temperature is important, and Acute varies very little over its power

range. If money is no object and quality is king -- Broncolor! I have

also used Elinchrom Micro packs, with 1/10 f-stop controls, are nice

but pricey IMHO. Lots of pros use Dynalight, and they are a light,

compact and good value esp if you shoot black & white -- check out

the color temp variance if you shoot color. For hot lights, I chose

ARRI and think highly of their quality and design. I hope this helps.

Best, Paul

You will find that ALOT of people use alot of different strobe setups.

I use Dynalites because I do alot of studio and location work. They are

light and powerful. Two 1000w/s packs and 4 heads will run you about

$3000.+- including healthy light stands and cases to transport. I

bought them back in the early '80's so prices have changed a bit. My

advice is to find a good proshop and rent some. Usually the rental

price is put back into the sale of the final purchase price but ask

first! Novatrons are decent low priced units with kits ranging from

400w/s on up...

Hot lights are a good option for still life. You can buy a really

versatile set of Arri's and Mole's for the cost of cost of one

ProFoto pack and a couple of heads.

As compared to stuff like Bron strobes, Speedotrons are one heck of a

deal. We use nothing but Speedo's in the studio here at OU and I'm

pretty impressed with their durability if nothing else. Any strobe

that can handle numerous different college students using them on any

given day throughout the year are pretty tough. If you're still

considering hot lights, it's hard to beat the Photoflex Starlite

system.

since you are in Houston, TX I just sent an e-mail with listings of

local dealers. <P>Otherwise go to www.calumetphoto.com or

http://www.flashclinic.com.<P>

You should be able to get fully set up a budget of $5-6,000 (this

includes packs, heads, stands, a Manfrotto boom, misc. grip

equipment, remote triggering devices (LPA Pocket Wizards), light

modifiers (grid spots, softboxes, umbrellas, portable bounce

panels, black flags) sandbags, etc.

Look at Speedotron or Dynalite. <P>Broncolor, Balcar, Comet,

Profoto and Elinchrom are terrific as well and very sexy to look at

but very expensive and not well supported in our neck ofthe

woods.<P>Norman is similar to Speedotron but only half as

efficient at turning watt seconds into light (inefficient head

design).<P>I used to use Norman, I know use mostly Balcar

and a smattering of Elinchrom, all bought used.

<I>Hot lights are a good option for still life.</I>

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How hot do these things actually get? Are they usable in a small room

(10x8x8 ft.)?

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I'm not planning on photographing ice cream, but I'm concerned that

hot lights will excessively heat up both the room and the subjects.

Jerry...if you are in a 10x8x8 room, maybe you should stop buying

lights and invest in a larger room???