Good beginner studio light kit

I would like to play around with studio lights but I'm not sure what

to get and I don't want to sink a truckload of money into anything

major yet. Maybe $200 to $300. Is that unrealistic?

 

Any suggestions on brands to get or to stay away from? What exactly

should I be looking for, i.e. how many lights, reflectors vs.

softboxs, etc.

 

I want something for a small studio that would also work in low

production out door shots.

 

I've picked up a few books today that I'm going to read that I hope

will help give me an idea. But I've always received good advice from

the pros here so I look forward to hearing what you have to say!

 

Thanks in advance!

 

The best value of all is a Honeywell Strobonar 52-a, 51-a, 200, 202 or 204. These are discontinued, but they pop up on ebay every month. They have ac modeling lights, 40 or 80ws. I bought all 3 of these for $58.00 total for 3! They recycle in ten seconds. They even include the slave unit and stand mount!

Check the archives.<p>

There's an article on choosing <a href="http://www.photo.net/learn/studiolighting/">studio lights</a> that's currently showing on the main page, and threads on

<a href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=005LW4">How much light needed</a>, <a href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=005D3k">Hotlights or Flash</a>, <a href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=003n7V">Lights for digital</a>, and many threads like this one on <a href="http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=000Ecu ">What studio lighting to buy?</a>.<p>

The first things you'll have to identify is WHAT you'll be shooting for a subject, and WHAT you'll be using to capture it (film speed and aperture). Then it gets interesting...

The cheapest way 1st would be strobe and if your doing people I suggest it. But for

$300.00 is not much money. 1st what are you shooting. If its Product or Still life

$3000.00 should be a starting point. If its people then it will mach cheaper. If product

I use Speedotron black lines. You can get used heads and pack from Helix in chicago

that are refrebed by speedotron mostly beause Helix owns speedotron and the are in

the same building. You can get 3 102 heads and 2400w pack with tubes molding

ligth used for around $1000.00. or there is white lightings or allein bees both of

those units are made at the same company and can be hocked to a battery for

location work. You can get a good set for around $500.00 and if your shooting with

film you can multi pop product shots. If your using a 35mm digital most likely the

chip we pick the info up on product shots. If its people you shot. Then they will do

the job. Do a google search for these products because I dont have a web address.

 

Now for accessorys softboxes go for about 200.00 and up. But I would tell you to use

a calumet light panel system. they start as low as 30.00 and go up.

www.calumetphoto.com they have may options, calumet also sell good light stands

cheap staring around 30.00 for mini compacts. All strbe heads come with reflectors.

I would start with the 7'' you can always upgrade later. If you need a scrim here is a

good tip, Go to a hardware store a buy a roll of window screen its cheap and does the

same thing cut them up into smaller sizes to fit over the heads. Clip the screen on

with clothes pins. If you paint the clothes pins black that helps.

 

Believe me it works I have been doing it for 12 years as a product photographer.

If you need grip stands you can build them out of wood cheap and effective.

I will mostly be shooting people. I wish I had 3g to buy that stuff...I'll keep a look out on ebay for what's been suggested, maybe I can snag myself a good deal.

I use two Smith Victor Q60 quartz hotlights (600 watts a piece) with umbrellas, and a Smith Victor A50 (250 watts), and they are more than adequate for portrait shots. All of the above used cost me around $150 (plus another $40 for the umbrellas). I have several other 500 and 600 watt lights that I keep around for larger lighting jobs.

 

Depends if you like working with hotlights or not (I do - I shoot b&w so tungsten isn't a factor), but a quick scan of B&H and eBay shows some good value Smith Victor kits between 1250 and 1500 watts. All are well within your budget.

Watch ebay for a good price on one of Novatron's "fun kits" - 240ws (I think) power pack, two strobes, stands, umbrellas, and a light meter in a case. These can be had for under $300 and would be OK to tinker with, but don't expand well.

 

A better deal might be a low power (again, around 200ws) Speedotron pack with a couple of heads. A low power pack is adequate for basic headshots and such, and everything can move up with you if you decide later to go to a larger power pack. Brownline and blackline are not interchangeable. Both are good quality. Brownline is less expensive, but blackline is more flexible. Brownline is probably all you would ever need for portrait work unless you turn into a tech freak and feel the need for 1/4 stop adjustments. Anyway, I've seen brownline "kits" (closeouts from someone's studio usually) for around $300 on ebay. Just don't buy until I've gotten the one I want. :)

 

There are, of course, other brands around. When I was shooting portraits we used Photogenic gear. However, Speedotron seems to be the most widely available used, and that usually translates into good value for your money. You don't want cheap in the low quality sense, but a reasonable light kit shouldn't have to cost $3K at the entry level. If you're looking for portable (battery powered) gear, check out Norman, Lumedyne, and Metz. All are relatively expensive, but are rugged, professional quality stuff.

 

It's just my opinion, but stay away from hot lights unless you have a well ventilated and cooled area, high capacity electric circuits, and an appreciation for squinty looks from your models.

OMG, I am so completely lost....

 

As I was reading my replies I started feeling like I should of done more homework before I posed my question. So I delved into a few threads I had missed before and did some looking on B&H and I feel like I fell into Oz!

 

Hot lights, strobes, monolights...OH MY!

 

So, I'm going to ramble for a bit, please correct me where I'm wrong and help me understand all of this. I don't think I've met a single pro who wouldn't tell you that understanding lighting is almost more important than owning a camera.

 

Hot lights seem to be a bad idea for portrait photography which is what I will mostly be working in. Someone in a thread mentioned that they are WYSIWYG but I have seen in action strobes with model lights that serve the same purpose. This set up will be in a small studio that would probably not respond well to additional heat caused by continuously running lights. Also, having to use heavy gloves to move them if they've been on, or having to turn them off to wait for them to cool sounds like more of an inconvenience then any positive I've heard.

 

So that leaves flashes....but what's the difference between a strobe or a monolight? There seems to be one, B&H offers two separate categories for them and they both seem to come in kits.

 

I guess that's really where I'm stuck now. Can anybody help with this?

 

Thanks

 

Monolights refer to flash units where the power source is contained within the flash head, as opposed to traditional studio flash where you have a power pack on the floor somewhere and a cord running from the pack to the flash head. Typically the monolights are fired using some kind of slave or wireless setup. Some people find them easier to deal with, but they do tend to be a bit heavier (requiring a beefier, more expensive stand), and you need access to the head to control the power - a possible problem if you have ceiling mounted lights - or even if they're just on a tall lightstand. Mainly the difference is that if you go with a power pack & flash head system like Speedotron or whatever, you're buying into a system instead of a single unit. You can mix and match monolights at will. Not so with pack & head systems, but in the long run the pack & head arrangement is probably less expensive.

 

Modeling lights aren't usually - at least in my experience - quite what I'd call WYSIWYG. They do give a decent approximation of the actual results - close enough to figure out what they'll do when fired anyway. Hot lights are definitely true WYSIWYG (except perhaps for color balance) and certainly more fluid to work with - just fire when ready, but they do get HOT for the models, they tend to make many people squint somewhat, and at a minimum they will constrict the pupils, eliminating those sexy dilated pupils people love on female models. I've also had them overload electric circuits and trip breakers. Do that in a room full of people working on their computers in an office somewhere and I guarantee you will not be popular. :(

 

The big benefit of hot lights of course is cost, especially if you're shooting B&W. If that's the case, you can even experiment with hardware store work lights for practically nothing - just clamp them anywhere convenient and fire away. This arrangement isn't going to look especially professional if you're trying to collect a fee for your work, but it's probably good enough to learn with in B&W.

I have been using a Photoflex Starlite (contiuous lighting) system for a while and it's not too bad, however I am also thinking of sswitching to a flash set up. I do mostly portraits and as has been mentioned here, the starlites are very hot and very bright (though I almost always have the meter in my camera telling me it's too dark). I would have gotten a flash set up initially, but the first digital camera I had had no way to trigger them. IN any case, I have many of the same questions you have as to a good starter kit, but I can't recommend a continuous lighting system after my experiences. It works well, but there are too many drawbacks when shooting portraits