An intro to studio lighting equipment

<b>An intro to studio lighting equipment by Brooks Short & Garry

Edwards</b><p>

This is an attempt to answer (or anticipate) some of the questions

that newcomers to studio lighting often ask in this forum. It isn't

a technical article as such, just an introduction that we hope will

be helpful to people just starting out in studio photography.<p>

There are basically two forms of artificial lighting - continuous

and flash.<br>

<b>Continuous</b> lighting can be sub-divided into:<br>

<b>Tungsten</b> - The term includes household lamps, security

lights, theatre lighting and car headlights as well as lights

designed specifically for photography.<br>

 

<b>Fluorescent <br>

Metal discharge,</b> e.g. HMI.<BR>

 

We'll come back to the different types in a moment.<p>

<b>Continuous lighting</b> is often seen by beginners as being

ideal, possibly because, in its most basic form it seems to be

cheaper, and possibly because of its WYSIWYG (what you see is what

you get) qualities. In fact, although the basic lights may be

cheaper than flash the running costs are higher and the various

light modifiers needed are both more expensive and less efficient

than with flash. <p>

Although there are exceptions, most tungsten light designed

specifically for photography produces light of a colour around 3200 -

3400 deg K, which is much warmer in colour (less blue) than flash.

Because of this the colour needs to be corrected by using filters,

either in the form of gels fitted to the lamps themselves or to the

camera lens. However, if the tungsten lights are the ONLY light

source (i.e. all lights produce the same colour of light and there

is no daylight or overhead room lighting) then filters are not

needed with digital cameras, where the white balance can be adjusted

instead of using filters. <p>

We were trained on tungsten lighting and I (Garry) still use it

today, if only very occasionally, if I am photographing still life

subjects or room interiors when it's possible to use very long

exposures, or when I deliberately want to include subject blur, for

example blurred people in an architectural interior. <br>

But I would never use them for portrait or any other kind of people

photography, for the following reasons, not in any particular

order:<p>

1. Although they <i>appear</i> to be very bright, tungsten lights

produce a very low level of actual light compared to studio flash

and so they are less than ideal if short shutter speeds are needed,

or if a small aperture is needed for depth of field.<br>

2. They are known (in The States at least) as hotlights, and there

is a very good reason for this - they produce far more heat than

light and are both intimidating and very uncomfortable for the

sitter. Think of them in terms of an electric heater - the function of the heater

is to produce heat and it does so by passing electrical current

through a thin wire - as a side effect, some light is also produced.

This applies to tungsten lighting too because although the light is

brighter and whiter there is still a lot more heat than light.<br>

3. Because of the amount of heat they produce it is difficult and

expensive to fit them with modifiers such as softboxes, they can

melt lighting gels and scrims, polarising gels will be ruined by the

heat and the lamps are liable to 'blow' if they are moved or

adjusted when they are switched on or still hot.<br>

4. They present a very real risk of fire. <br>

5. They use a lot of electricity <br>

6. They are not adjustable for power - dimmers can be fitted but

this is for setup use only, because the use of a dimmer dramatically

affects the colour of the light.<br>

7. The colour of the light is inconsistent. With all forms of

tungsten lighting, small changes of current will change the power

output to some extent and will change the colour too, sometimes

quite dramatically, so you'll get inconsistency between your shots.

Quartz halogen lamps maintain their output power fairly well

throughout their life but 'Photoflood' lamps (basically very short-

life overrun domestic lamps) darken with use and change colour

too.<br>

8. Because the lights <i>appear</i> to be very bright, the pupils of

live subjects are smaller than normal and look decidedly odd - very

similar in effect to bright sunlight.<p>

In theory, if you're shooting on digital then changes of colour or

even output may not seem to be important <b>as long as all of the

lights are the same</b> - but even though nearly all my own shots

are on digital I'm old-fashioned enough to believe that it's much

better to get the shot right in camera and to keep avoidable

computer work down to a minimum.<p>

 

<b>Advantages</b><br>They do have a couple of advantages over studio

flash.<br>

1. They are cheaper, at least initially. <br>

2. They may be easier than flash for beginners because arguably they

show a more accurate rendition of how the actual shot will look.

Budget studio flash units tend to have pretty weak modelling lamps,

which don't give an accurate indication of how the final shot will

look. The reason for this is that although the modelling lamps

contribute little or nothing to the actual shot (and neither does

the ambient light in the studio) because the light is totally

overwhelmed by the power of the flash, the ambient light <i>does</i>

affect the photographers' perception. The ambient light effectively

lowers the contrast created by the modelling lights, so the actual

contrast of the shot is much higher than it appears to be.<br>

Other than that, we can think of no advantages at all.<p>

 

<b>Other types of continuous light</b><p><br><b>Fluorescent</b><br>

Professionals have used fluorescent lighting for years and it has

also become almost the standard in TV studios.<br>But let's not get

confused here, because there's a world of difference between the pro

fluorescent lighting and the cheaper stuff.<br>

<b>Flat panel

fluorescent lights</b> are available for the amateur market....<br>

These lights are claimed to produce daylight colour, removing the

need for colour correcting filters. In fact, fluorescent light is

deficient in magenta and so (on the lights I've tested) the

manufacturers have added a magenta grid. Clever.<br>

Because they are fluorescent and not tungsten lights, they are cool

running. Personally, I do not feel that they can generate anywhere

near enough power for any type of still photography of people,

although it seems they're OK for video photography. I made this

observation once before and a manufacturer got a little bit sniffy

about it and told me that I was wrong. I responded by offering to

test their products in my own studio but I heard no more from

them....<br> Since then I've carried out a quick & dirty test on a

couple of lights owned by someone I know - 2 of these flat panel

lights, each measuring 17"x13" at a distance of 72" from the

subject. And the result? 100 ISO, 1/30th at f1.5, or 1 sec at f6.3.

An incident light measurement with the sensor actually pressed

against the screen, which is useful for measurement but which is not

a practical test, produced a reading of only f22.8 at 1/30th... !

The manufacturers also claim that they produce soft light. Well,

they will produce soft (if uneven) light at a lamp to subject

distance of up to about 21", which produces a 100 ISO reading of

f6.3 at 1/30th sec - so they may be usable for some tabletop still

life applications I suppose. The tests I carried out were on one

make of light only, perhaps there are other, better ones available

too, I don't know. <p>

<b>HMI lights</b>

HMI stands for Hydrargyrum Medium-Arc Iodide. Hydrargyrum is better

known as Mercury and the active ingredient of Idodide is halogen.<p>.<br><center><img src="http://www.compho.org/hmi.jpg" /></center><p>

 

HMI lights are very widely used in the motion film industry - the

lights are massive and very expensive but they are ideal for the

purpose because<br>

1. They have a consistent colour temperature of around 5,600

degrees<br>

2. They are flicker-free<br>

3. They are cool running<br>

4. The quantity of light produced is fairly high<p>

<b>Notes on these statements</b><br>

<i>The colour temperature is OK up to about 500 hours of use, after

which they become progressively more green. There is usually

an 'hours run' meter so that the lamps can be changed when

necessary. <br>They are available with either magnetic or electronic

ballast, electronic is much more expensive but produces flicker-

free, consistent lighting. <br>They are not really cool running but

are much cooler than their equivalents in tungsten lighting.

<br>They are efficient in that they produce a lot more light than

their equivalents in tungsten lighting - this is not an authoritive

statement (just my own finding based on limited personal experience)

but a test on one of my own 70 watt HMI lights produced slightly more light tahn a 500 watt quartz halogen lamp, PAR (parabolic aluminized

reflector) with no modifiers, 1 meter distance from a standard grey

card. The result was 1/250th at f4.8, 100 ISO.</i><br>This shot shows, left to right, a 70 watt HMI, a 500 watt Quartz Halogen and a standard flash head, all positioned 2' from a cream wall. The aperture of f22 was set to suit the flash, which was dialled down to just 37J, and the shutter speed of 1/4 sec was set to suit the continuous lighting. As you can see, the level of light produced by both forms of continuous lighting were very low.<br><center><img src="http://www.compho.org/compare.jpg" /></center><p>

<p>Used in a studio for people photography, HMI lights have

basically the same advantages and the same disadvantages as tungsten

lights, except that they don't run nearly as hot, the colour

temperature approximates average daylight and the colour and output

is very consistent. Because they don't run as hot as tungsten it's

much easier to use modifiers such as softboxes, scrims and honeycomb

grids, if they are available in the fittings needed.<p>HMI lights

are fairly popular with still life photographers and there is at

least one brand that comes complete with a very good range of light

modifiers specifically designed for very precise still life

photography. The light output is very low however and I can't

comment on the usefulness or otherwise of this particular setup

because I have no personal experience of it. Personally I only use

my 2 HMI lights for the occasional architectural interior, where I

need to hide lights to fill in specific areas, adjusting the

effective power by means of the shutter speed.<p>

 

<b>Flash</b><br>

Firstly, a statement of the obvious:<br>

Photographic flash is nothing more than a brief, intense flash of

light used by photographers to illuminate a subject. It is normally

synchronised so that it fires during the brief period of time that

the camera shutter is open. Used in a studio environment in which

there is little existing (ambient) light, the presence of other

light is normally insignificant and will not affect the exposure, so

it doesn't really matter whether the shutter speed is, say, 1/125th

or 1/15th sec - all that really matters is that the shutter is fully

open at the time the flash is fired. <b>The effective length of the

exposure is determined by the duration of the flash, not by the

shutter speed of the camera.</b><br>

However, where there are high levels of ambient light, this needs to

be taken into account when choosing the shutter speed. <p>

Given that the process itself is so simple, it can be confusing for

people when they find that there are so many different brands,

models and types of flash available - hopefully this article will

help to address some of this confusion. <p>

There are 2 very different types of flash, <br>the type that fits

onto a camera and <br>the type that's used for studio

lighting.<p><b>On-camera flash units</b> are clever, and if they're

dedicated to the camera they can communicate with it, focusing the

camera even in the dark, setting themselves to the camera ISO

setting, setting the zoom to suit the camera lens, calculating the

exposure adjusting the power output accordingly. <br><b>Studio flash

units</b> are dumb, and don't have any of these features - but

they're far easier to use in the studio, generally have far more

power and can be used with modifiers.<p>The terms <b>flash</b> and

<b>strobe</b> are interchangeable and don't refer to any specific

type of unit.<p>

There are 2 basic types of studio flash - <br><b>Generator</b>

(England) also known as <b>Pack & Head</b> (USA) flash basically

consists of a box that sits on the floor (or, with professional

units too heavy to lift, sits on wheels) and <br><b>Monoblock</b>

(England) or <b>Monolight</b> (USA).

<b>Generator/Pack and head lights</b> contain all their 'works' in

the box, and a high-voltage cable connects the box to the actual

flash head. .<br><center><img src="http://www.compho.org/elinpack.jpg" /></center><p>

Typically, the flash head contains just a flash tube, a

modelling lamp and (usually) a cooling fan. Because the head itself

is so simple it is light in weight and fairly small, so it's less

unstable when perched at the top of a flimsy light stand or on a

boom arm. And because the head doesn't include any complex

electronics there is less risk of damage caused by overheating when

using accessories such as honeycomb grids, which restrict

ventilation and trap heat.<br>

I once had a mono head, fitted with a honeycomb grid, blow up - I

had forgotten to switch off the modelling lamp! It was both dramatic

and expensive, with a loud bang, a cloud of black acrid smoke and a

terrified fashion model.... <p>

Most generator packs can power more than one lamphead at a time. If,

for example, the pack generates 2,400 Joules and can power 2 heads,

if only 1 head is fitted then the output is adjustable up to the

full 2,400, with 2 heads fitted the output per head will be divided

between them. Some generator packs are symmetrical, that is the

distribution of power between however many heads are plugged in is

equal, other (better) units are asymmetrical, allowing different

heads to be set to different power levels. The adjustment may be

infinitely variable, or the allocation of power may be fixed, or

variable to only a limited degree - you need to check the spec. One

of the many advantages of generator packs is that all the

adjustments are carried out on the magic box, so there is no need to

climb a stepladder to switch off a modelling lamp or alter the

power. Some professional generator packs can also be adjusted from

the computer. As with mono lights, some generator packs have

infinitely variable (stepless) power adjustment, allowing literally

any level of power to be set, others have simple 'click stop' dials,

which are less versatile. In an attempt to make mono heads easier to

adjust, some manufacturers have remote controls available, either

wireless or hard-wired. <br>Personally, I'm a great believer in redundancy, so I normally have one generator pack for each light head, which means that I have extra packs available in case of breakdown - although breakdown is very rare.<br>

As you would expect, generator packs are more expensive than mono

heads. <p>

<b>Mono heads</b> contain all their 'works' in the actual head,

making them heavy and delicate. Because of their low(er) cost they

are usually the tool of choice for occasional users, but cost saving

is the only real advantage I can think of. <p>

<b>The power hype</b><br>

Flash power is expressed as watt seconds (w/s) or Joules

(effectively the same thing) or as effective watt seconds (IMO

meaningless marketing hype) and about the only indication you can

usefully glean from this kind of 'information' is that a higher

figure should indicate the probability of higher power, the actual

figure and the terminology used is less informative and can be

downright misleading. To indicate the scale of the differences, I

tested two makes with identical theoretical ratings, one produced

almost twice the actual power of the other. <p>

If you <i>really</i> want to know how much power a given flash will

produce you need to look through all the manufacturers data and find

the <b>guide number,</b> sometimes hidden away almost out of sight

amongst the hype - the guide number is an indication of actual

measured power, not of consumed energy, and so this information is

actually useful.<br>

Suppose, for example, that the guide number is stated to be 110

(feet). In Europe we measure in metres not feet, so the figures are

different but the results are the same. <br>What the guide number

actually means is that if you divide the distance from flash to

subject into the guide number the answer is the aperture you will

use, assuming the use of 100 ISO film. <br>So a flash with a guide

number of 110 (ft) means an aperture of f11 when used at 10 feet.

<p>Simple? Well... actually, no! <br>First of all you need to know

the conditions under which the guide number was measured - which

reflector was fitted to the head at the time? <br>The choice of

reflector makes an enormous difference - IMO manufacturers should

conduct their tests using a standard reflector, but some reflectors

can be up to 400% more efficient than standard reflectors, producing

very misleading figures. <br>'Guide Number Inflation' seems to be

especially common with the type of flashguns that fit into camera

hotshoes, where manufacturers often quote guide numbers tested on

the narrowest possible zoom. <br>Going off at a bit of a tangent, a

few years ago I tested a few hotshoe flashguns and in each case the

actual guide number, tested in my own studio, was inflated by at

least 30%. In one case it was inflated by 400%!<p>Here are 3 different flash heads - this one is one is one of the cheapest available, what you see here isn't normally visible because the reflector is fixed and built in to the flash and is normally hidden by a translucent cover..<br><center><img src="http://www.compho.org/porta.jpg" /></center><p>The flash tube itself if tiny, probably about the same size as fitted to the average accessory flashgun and the mirror-like qualitites of the reflector exaggerate its performance, producing extremely harsh and barely usable lighting.<br>Next we have an Elinchrom head in a standard reflector, this produces directional but useful light of good quality.<br><center><img src="http://www.compho.org/elin.jpg" /></center><p>And finally we have a Stobex flash head, massive by comparison, this head operates on very high voltage and is housed in a white-painted reflector that produces directional yet soft light. .<br><center><img src="http://www.compho.org/strobex.jpg" /></center><p> This type of flash produces very long flash duration which can be useful sometimes (more of this later)<p>

 

 

 

And what about the size and decoration of the studio used? If the

test was carried out in a small room with white walls and a low

white ceiling then the figure will be much higher than in a large

studio with distant walls and a high ceiling, which won't bounce

light back from their surfaces. <br>It's probably reasonable to

assume that reputable manufacturers will measure their lights

sensibly and fairly and may publish their testing conditions, but it

may not be a good idea to assume that all lights are tested in the

same way, especially those sold on auction sites?<p>

<b>How much power is enough?</b><br>

This is a question without an answer!<br>

Visit any commercial studio and you'll find a wide range of very

powerful lighting. This is often only normally needed for large sets

(usually furniture) shot at small apertures on large cameras.

<br>And because image quality is paramount in commercial work, just

about everything is shot at 100 ISO or less. If you shoot still life

at f32 to get maximum depth of field, or use a 5" x 4" camera at f45

or a 10" x 8" at f90 you will need a LOT more power than if you use

a 35mm at f16 or a cropped-sensor DSLR at f11.<p>

But if you want to shoot portrait heads in a small studio using a

small camera and you want to shoot at f4 to get part of your subject

out of focus then very little power will be needed and too much can

be a problem. <br>And if your studio photography is carried out on

an occasional basis then you may find that the quality loss involved

in using, say, 200 or even 400 ISO instead of 100 could be

acceptable to you - a very cheap way of getting more effective

power! <br>I don't really want to feature specific makes of lights

but, just as an example, let's take a look at the power output of

Alien Bees, which seem to be very popular...<br>

Take their 'entry level' model, the B400, which they claim to be 160

WS. They say that, using their standard reflector, tested in what

seems to me to be a perfectly reasonable test environment, the guide

No. is 118.<br>

Now, this is a very low-powered unit, but 118 means an ISO 100

aperture of f11.8 at 10 feet, which seems to me to be very usable

for most portrait use.<p>

Of course, guide numbers are just that, guides, and will be affected

by light modifiers as well as by reflectors and the environment.

<br>All modifiers will 'reduce' light to some extent (although, in

theory, the light is not so much reduced as spread around by most

modifiers) And a medium softbox might 'eat' perhaps 2 stops of light

but, typically, the softbox would be used very close to the subject,

say 2' away, so there will be plenty of power for most situations,

most of the time.<br>

Don't get the idea that low-powered flash will be fine for every

type of studio, with every type of camera and every type of subject -

it won't - we just feel that we need to point out that high power

is not always needed and that there are other, equally important

things to consider. <p>

One important feature is <b>the range of adjustment</b> and the way

in which the adjustment is made.<br>

Now, there are some very basic flash heads that don't have any power

adjustment at all, and the only ways in which the power can

(effectively) be adjusted is to move the head closer or further from

the subject, or to fit one or more neutral density gels in front of

the light.<br>

Moving the flash closer or further away is no answer at all, because

by doing so you will affect the quality and softness of the light

and the size and softness of the shadows.<br>

Next up in terms of sophistication are lamps with 'click stop'

adjustment, e.g. full, half, quarter power etc. These often have a

limited range of adjustment, and a 100% incremental 'click' doesn't

allow for fine adjustment, so it's better if possible to go for

infinite, or stepless adjustment, usually carried out by means of a

slider. <br>Typically, flash units with stepless adjustment will

adjust by about 5 stops, a ratio of 32:1, with an even wider

adjustment range possible on some units. <p>

At least as important as the range of adjustment, is the <b>range of

accessories</b> available. <br>Some of the very cheapest flash units

(AKA auction site wonders) have built-in reflectors and may not take

any accessories at all, but the better makes have a range of

different reflectors available, from wideangle to almost parabolic,

from highly reflective to matt surface, and in a range of different

sizes. <br>The reflectors can be used with umbrellas, or they can

have a honeycomb grid fitted into the front of the reflector, or

they can be removed to allow the lights to be used with softboxes,

spotlight attachments etc. <br>Softboxes are usually available from

the lamp manufacturers, and come complete with the same fitting as

their reflectors - or you can buy an independent make, together with

a speedring that fits your lamp. This is often the better option.<p>

I've noticed a range of small softboxes sold on American Ebay that

have a 'universal' fitting, simply a ring fitted with thumbscrews.

These will fit onto many lights that cannot otherwise be fitted with

softboxes - and at very low prices too! They are also offered for

sale on British Ebay, but at several times the USA price. <p>

<b>What else?</b><br>

Well, <b>recycling speed</b> may be important to you if you shoot

fashion or any other kind of people photography or if, like me,

nearly all your work is commercial, it will be unimportant. <br>The

recycling speed is usually quoted in the spec, but it can be a good

idea to take the figure with a small pinch of salt, allowing perhaps

double the quoted time for the flash to reach its full charge.

<br>Going off at a slight tangent, some flash units can be set to

beep when ready to use, with others the modelling lamp switches off

when fired, coming back on when recharging is (claimed to be)

complete.<p>

<b>Modellng lamps</b> don't normally contribute to the actual

exposure, their function is simply to indicate the effect of the

light. Even the best modelling lamps fall short of the ideal

however, simply because the light isn't bright enough to show the

true contrast that the flashhead produces. As a result, shadows are

always much harsher than the modelling lamp indicates them to be.<p>

In general terms, the brighter the better as far as modelling lamps

go; bright lamps provide more information to the photographer and

make focussing easier. Turn the room lights out and block out any

natural daylight to get the most accurate indication from the

modelling lights, especially if you have budget-range lights with

dim modelling lamps.<p>

Some flash heads are fitted with <b>proportional modelling

lamps</b> - what this means is that if the power of the flash is

turned down then the brightness of the modelling lamp is reduced in

proportion.<p>

(Nearly) all flash heads have a <b>built-in sensor,</b> allowing the

flash to 'see' the flash from another head and fire in perfect

synch. On some models this can be switched off if required.<p>

All flash units need to be synchronised to fire when the shutter is

open. The manufacturers supply PC cords that run between the flash

and the camera, most flash units have a standard jack socket, which

is simple and reliable, but some have their own, very special

fitting, for example Bron, Elinchrom and Strobex each have their own

unique fitting. The Bron and Strobex ones are generally reliable.

But whatever the fitting, I strongly advise you to get a radio

transmitter set to trigger your flashes - much more reliable and no

danger of damaging your camera if the trigger voltage of the flash

is too high! The leading brands are Pocket Wizard and Pulsar, but

cheapo ones are now available at far lower prices and most people

seem to find them perfectly O.K. for normal home use.<p>

Another factor is colour shift. Basically, flash heads are supposed

to produce 'photographic daylight' colour, usually at around 5,500

deg.K The better makes hold this colour accuracy regardless of the

power setting, but some of the cheaper makes don't, and the colour

can change (usually to a warmer colour) as the power is reduced.

<p>Another factor that may or may not be important to you is

<b>flash duration</b> - the length of time that the flash actually

fires for, and which determines the length of the exposure.<bra>Now,

with on-camera flashguns the duration largely depends on the power

setting (because on-camera flashguns produce a full-power flash but

switch it off early when less power is needed) but studio flash

works in a different way. Many studio flash lights have a longer

flash duration when less than full power is used. With some makes

of generator/pack flashes you can have a choice of slow or fast

heads.<bra>Whether flash duration matters or not depends on the type

of shots you want to produce ? with still life photography it

doesn't usually matter, although it <i>can</i> be important for

shots involving steam, pouring liquids or splashes. <br>For portrait

photography just about any flash duration will be fine, for fashion

photography or for the type of shot below, where fast movement can be involved, a long duration can

cause subject blur, which may or may not be what you

want..<br><center><img src="http://www.compho.org/snooker.jpg" /></center><p>

<p><b>Which make and why?</b><br>No, I'm not going to

recommend any particular manufacturer, instead let's just recap on

the things that <b>should</b> be important to you.<br>

1. A wide range of adjustment<br>

2. Stepless adjustment<br>

3. The ability to change reflectors<br>

4. The availability of a wide range of well-designed light modifiers

(e.g. softboxes, honeycomb grills, spotlight accessories) (check the

fitting - some cheap makes take the same fitting as expensive pro

equipment so they can use top quality accessories)<br>

5. Easy to adjust<br>

6. Build quality<br>

7.Adequate power<p>

Right, that's ruled out all of the 'auction specials' that I've

personally seen. Now the things that <i>might</i> be important to

you<p>

8. High power<br>

9. Consistent colour, especially at lower power settings<br>

10. Fast recycling<br>

11. Short flash duration<br>

12. The ability to control the flash units from your computer<br>

13. Weight and portability<br>

14. Will it stand up to 'all day every day' use?<br>

15. Will you be able to hire in extra units if needed?<p>Generally,

with lights as with everything else you get what you pay for - but

although it's a false economy to get something that is less than

suitable there's little point in spending hard earned money on top

quality pro equipment if you don't need it. <br>And, as you can see

from the list above, different people have different needs anyway.

 

 

 

 

I love it!

 

Thank you so very much for taking the time to write out all of this very helpful information. I'm always trying to make heads or tails of all the variety.

 

I know you do not wish in anyway to promote nor detract from any particular brand, but I would love to hear your thoughts on Speedotron Browns, with respect to occasional portraiture and mostly still life/ product photography.

 

Thank you so much again.

 

C Painter

Clifton,

 

The first flash I bought was a Speedotron Brown Line 1600ws. That was 26 years ago. I used it for a couple of years in my commercial studio and then moved on to Speedotron Black Line 2400ws and 4800ws packs. In the past 3 years I've added 3 800ws Black line packs for small digital portrait location jobs.

 

The Brown line packs are a good start provided you are aware of a few disadvantages compared to the Black line packs and many other higher priced brands.

 

These Brown line disadvantages are:

 

1. The ready light does not indicate a full 100% charge when it first comes on. You need to wait an additional few seconds otherwise your exposures will be inconsistent. This can be a problem when you're in a hurry, shooting portraits or people for example. The Black line packs are at 100% when the ready light comes on.

 

2. Recycle times on the Brown line packs are slower. Again this is more of an issue when shooting people than when shooting still-lifes or products.

 

3. There is no variator dial or dial down ability with the Brown lines. You can't bracket exposures by changing the power at the strobe. Blackline packs allow 1/3 stop changes for a range of 3 stops below full power. This is a feature that's convenient for fine-tuning exposure and especially for bracketing shots withut changing f-stop and depth of field.

 

4. During still-life shooting you might want to multi-pop the flash to build a greater exposure in order to use a tighter f-stop or to do split diffusion. Brown line packs can overheat if you flash them too quickly.

 

5. Brown line packs have large vents for cooling which can allow moisture, dirt and dust inside. Black line packs are sealed.

 

6. If you do buy Brownlines, buy the larger universal heads which have removable reflectors and can accept softbox speedrings. Avoid the smaller 400ws heads with fixed reflectors.

 

7. Brownline packs use 150 watt model lamps which are too dim for anything other than a darkened studio.

 

Still, Brown line packs are a good value to start with but there are many newer designs and brands with more features available on the market today.

There are two other advantages to hot lights that I can think of:

<ul>

<li>

They don't require any sync cables, slaves, radio triggers, or other method of synchronizing the light output with the camera shutter.

<li>

They can be metered with any ambient light meter, including a camera's built-in light meter. On the other side, the most efficient way to meter flash is by using a handheld incident flash meter, though with a digital camera, it is sometimes feasible to get proper exposure through repeated trial and error.

</ul>

Despite these small additional advantages to hot lights, I agree wholeheartedly that flash is far and away much more suitable for people pictures. For the same money, using the same film speed, flash allows much more flexibility in getting a small aperture while using an exposure time that will prevent motion blur when photographing a person. And it's cooler and more pleasant to work with.

Richard,

 

Thanks for that, you're right of course. I'd overlooked the synch issues, probably because I use radio triggers and had forgotten about the inconvenience and unreliability of PC cords.

 

As for metering you're right about that too, although of course camera metering is reflective and not always too accurate because of this - I would still use a hand held meter with continuous lighting if I felt that metering was needed. Personally, I use a meter if I'm using a DSLR untethered or testing on (expensive) polaroids but as most of my work involves tethered cameras I prefer to get my info from what I see on the computer - just try to get an accurate meter reading when you're photographing ice cream against a white background :-)

Gary,

 

You're a gentleman and a scholar, and that's rare enough these days to be greatly appreciated.

 

Again, thank you very much.

 

If there is ever anything I might do for you, do not hesitate to ask.

 

C Painter

Great piece Garry! I loved your comments about the "hotlights". Untill a few years ago, they sold these home pole lamps called "torchlights". This turned into quite an ironic joke, as they were responsible for "torching" many people's homes!

 

 

All they were was an unshielded 250 or 500 watt quartz bulb, pointed upwards at the ceiling for bounce light. When a breeze would blow a curtain or piece of drapery near them, the results was an instant inferno.

 

 

Not to mention the amperage 2 or 3 500 watt quartz bulbs draw! You better have real good wiring in your home or studio if you do go the "shop light" route.

A very cheap alternative to a radio trigger is a cheap (and low power) hotshoe flash with a couple of layers of unexposed but developed slide film taped over the lens. This lets out enough infrared to trigger the strobes (and not fry the hotshoe flash) but greatly attenuates the visible light.

Thank You Gary for composing & writing this article.

 

As an interesting note, with the acceptance & use of digital equipment, I find that opens up opportunities for lighting that was, at times, quite difficult when using film for capture.

 

I was with Monte Zucker for a week, last November, and he seems to have switched from strobes to fluorescent lighting for portraiture.

 

Thanks again for your time spent getting this information together. I always enjoy your professional photography wisdom!

 

Have a terrific 2006!

Garry, Garry, Garry.

 

Maybe I'll remember next time.

Trent,

 

I agree that a hotshoe flash works well when filtered in this way - but less than ideal for some types of shots because of the flash recharge time, a radio trigger recharges even more quickly than my studio flash.

 

Bill,

 

Yes, Garry it is - I'm Welsh! Not to worry, more people miss-spell it than spell it...

 

I agree, digital makes creative lighting much easier for people who previously used small film cameras. For pros, the difference is that we now charge for digital capture instead of charging for polaroids :-)

Hey Gary.. very educational article. Thank you for sharing this! Any suggestions with the Canon 580EX II Flash unit/s used with the Canon STE2? I am thinking of buying 1 unit, and I would like to go wireless. Are there any cheaper means? I looked at the strobist.. but I would like to hear thoughts of people here. Thank you for your attention!

Time to update this article I think, as things have moved on since it was written...<p>

<b>Fluorescent lights</b> have changed quite a lot (or at least some of them have) and much better lights are now available from cheap suppliers, with much more power and (limited) adjustment, usually achieved by switching off one or more of the lamps in the light fitting.<br>But there's much more to light than quantity, and quality is at least as important.<br>

 

The quality indices of a fluorescent light is its CRI (Colour rendition index). Daylight and tungsten lights have a CRI of 100, fluorescents should have a CRI of not less than 90. Many of the Ebay and other cheap sellers don't seem to worry about this and either don't publish the CRI or supply lights that have a very low CRI. If the CRI is less than 90 some colours will simply be recorded wrongly - sometimes very wrongly - and, in practical terms, nothing can be done about it.<br>

 

It's also worth mentioning that lights that can't be fitted with modifiers are still of very limited use even if the power and colour are OK<p>

 

<b>'Ebay special' flash heads</b>

<br>Again, things are starting to improve. There's still an awful lot of rubbish out there, cheap Chinese copies of real lights that are unreliable, have inadequate power, inconsistent colour temperature and variable power between flashes - but some Chinese factories now have excellent quality control and have introduced innovative designs. It's still a very good idea to buy cautiously and to avoid the cheap and cheerful makes (and especially from sellers who sell all manner of items other than lighting) but I no longer feel able to write off all cheap imports as rubbish.<p>

 

Finally, my apologies that most of the photos have gone from this article. It happened when I changed my server. The original photo.net article is still visible, although hard to find. It's at http://www.photo.net/learn/studio/lighting2/index.html and still includes the photos, which are hosted on PN