lencarta +/-

<p>hallo;<br>

I'm trying to start with a little "home" studio again ( nude/characters/still-life/product); nothing serious yet; as most of my work is based on outside/available & reflectors & sometimes some speed-lights; i don't want to spend a lot of money, I'm looking for a "portable" solution (no on location setup yet ), living and working in kind of a loft i have got some space that should be sufficient ( 4x6m): but I don't want the equipment to be stationary;<br>

recently i read something about lencarta, visited their HP, and their sets seem to be what i was searching for, they praise themselves with numerous reviews of magazines i usually don't read and stories of photographers i don't know, besides all the happy customer-stories; but the specs look quite good though;<br>

is anyone of you using this brand or components of it; or do you know some pro & contra ?</p>

<p>thanks very much for any contribution</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Good questions, and before I try to answer let me make it clear that I'm not impartial, because not only do I use their products but I'm also their photographer and techie.<br>

Lencarta sells direct to customers (not via distributors), places a very high value on good customer support and relies on customer recommendations, a very similar business model to Paul C Buff in The States. Selling direct keeps prices down and customer recommendations keep costs down.<br>

If you're unsure about the customer recommendations you can always click on the customer links and check for yourself.<br>

I understand what you're saying about photographers you don't know - for example I'm not exactly famous and the people who do know me tend to be advertising agencies and commercial clients because of the kind of work I do - but are you saying that you don't know <a href="../photodb/user?user_id=416299">Marc Gouguenheim?</a><br>

As for the magazine reviews, IMO some magazine reviews should be taken with a very large pinch of salt. Lencarta only allows its products to be reviewed by mags that have a good reputation for integrity, that's why the small number of reviews that have been carried out can be trusted.<br>

Being cautious is good, personally I think that everyone should carry out careful checks before parting with cash - but in the case of Lencarta it's pretty easy to make the checks and check the references.</p>

<p>thanks for your quick reply; I have to admit that I didn't know mr. gouguenheim by name; now that i reviewed his "official" portfolio I think to remember some of his pictures from Malaysia; I'm coming from another direction (cg) mostly producing high quality textures, backplanes and hdr-footage ( seitz ) for some companies and productions i worked with/for;<br>

being fond of cg; this is my first attempt to enter other fields of photography than just the "virtual"-studio environment or "dead" places, trying to set up a professional workflow step by step; indeed I owned some alienbees but they do not sell to european customers any more, so i was searching for an equivalent; because my skills don't suffice to invest thousands of € in the gear of some german or swiss companies; and I even don't know if I'll really end up with studio photography;<br>

so you have to be the gentleman from the "instruction" videos ? <br>

the problem is/was that i usually don't get magazines from the UK; as we have plenty of "continental" and US ones; I just heard of lencarta when I read through a mag. a friend of mine brought from the UK to have some reading for the flight; so I checked the site and was quite excited but also insecure as i didn't find that much on the www;<br>

I wouldn't want to end up with some " chinese" copy of brand x giving you inconsistent K° or power, or burning down your whole set at the end;<br>

so thank you for answering my post; I think this quick response of a featured pro makes me feel a lot more comfortable and I'll place my order the next days;<br>

best regards nj</p>