Clamp lights, or something better?

LeoLeo

LeoLeo

Member
I'm feeling super lost about what lighting setup to buy. I want to get a three-light setup for self-taped auditions. I know I can do this cheaply with clamplights, but I'd also like to have something that I can use to shoot 2-4 person narrative scenes with as well (while not blowing my apartment's power). So, ideally something not quite as clumsy as a regular clamp-light, but also I feel like jumping straight into getting a 650w Arri Fresnel (2nd hand, of course!) might be too much. No idea. I'm new, so I've got to do a lot of learning by doing. But it'd be great to have a little versatility from the outset. But there are so many options, and IDK what would be smart for me. Should I get something like this, which would enable me to have 4 brightness settings? Or something like a lowel focusing flood of some kind? I'd like something I can shape a bit (with barn doors/black foil, duvetyne, etc) would be great. And something I could put a softbox on, too, I guess—as that reduces the need for another stand/grip arm for a silk, and will help reduce spill.

I'd love to know what kind of things you guys recommend, and why. Really excited to start playing with stuff.
 
I wouldn't recommend CFL lights, they are way less efficient than you think, pretty bulky, not very versatile, bulbs break easily, etc. The one you linked kinda just looks like a glorified clamp light, not much different from putting a couple socket splitters in a clamp light... I'm guessing your budget is in the <$100 per light range? What color temp do you need? If daylight, get LEDs, if tungsten is ok, used lowel pro-lights and totas are where I started, pretty hard to beat for flexibility, size, and output and color rendition as long as you don't mind hot lights and tungsten white balance.
 
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I will second Rob's request..... What is your budget?

Not just for the lights, but for everything you are going to need like stands, power, control and the like. Do you have a budget of $500, $1500, $3000, or?
 
I'm not really sure on budget. I guess under $1k all-in (lights, stands, modifiers, etc.) would feel good if it was for gear that would grow with me. I like the idea that I can spend literally $100-200 for a complete kit if I get clamp lights, photo flood bulbs, el-cheapo stands, black wrap and shower curtain. But I dislike that that kit would be a little awkward to use, and may end up with a bunch of things in the trash a few months or a year down the line. At the opposite end of the spectrum, I'd feel like an idiot spending $2k on an Arri 3 x fresnel kit, because I'd struggle to find somewhere to store it in my apartment, and I'd be *that guy* who doesn't know WTF he's doing, but has nice/expensive gear.

I hope that all makes sense, and communicates my conundrum a little?
 
I really like the Lowel Pro Lights. They compact, ha can be adjusted from spot to wide, have barn-doors, plus there are a bunch of accessories for them. You can find them new and used on ebay. You could also go for some older, used lights like colortrans or LTM from ebay or craigslist. I've got several of both. I really like my LTMs, better than Arri lights....although replacement parts are getting harder to find for them. You could build out a good light kit for under a grand with used lights.
 
I'd go for something like an aputure light storm panel, then pick one of these smaller lights from this selection. You can put the panel through as large a home made diffusion or bounce as you like, which will give you a great soft key light that wraps nicely around your face. If you nail this, I wouldn't bother with a fill light at all, or just yet. If you think there's too much shadow on the fill side, simply move the set up more front on. The smaller light can be used for backgrounds, backlights, accents etc.

To go against little bobby's suggestion, while tungsten lights are still my favourite type of light and mixing tungsten and daylight happens all the time, a single 650 is going to be a tough gig as your main light, particularly in any daylight environment.

I'd begin with the two lights I suggested - mostly for their daylight colour balance, and low power draw. Then you can look for a dirt cheap used set of lowel lights too if you like.

As far as stands/clamps you can probably get away with some pretty cheap options.

Let us know how you go.
 
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