Ikea Regolot China-lamp on stand for $40

S

saaby

Well-known member
I've shot using 'available' light for years, taking the extreme variation in quality that comes along with that. I'm ready to start taking control of my lighting but -- and we've all heard this story before :violin: I've got no budget to help me out here.

Then this morning as I was shooting some photos using my $10 light box, and marveling at the versatility of the versatility of the Chinese Lantern helping me light it up, I suddenly recalled a recent trip to Ikea.

They have this floor lamp, which is essentially a 30" half-Chinese lantern with a stand.

I am wondering if that could be a good start of a cheap light kit. Throw a Y-adaptor and 2 really bright 6500k CFLs inside and call it good?

This would be mostly for talking head kind of stuff. I'm thinking place it slightly to the side of my talent, sand-bag the thing down, and hope for the best. Maybe I could clamp a little desk lamp on the stand as well, if I needed to throw some light elsewhere in the room?

Pros:
  • Cheap
  • Comes with stand
  • Creamy soft light

Cons:
  • Not durable
  • CFL is not /ideal/ light soruce, but it's not bad.
  • Not very controllable.


What do you think? If not this, and you were starting with...let's say...$100 budget, what would you do? Light stands and nylon china balls? Absolutely nothing and keep saving for something better?
 
you'd probably do better to make a soft box yourself and tape some china balls to the ceiling for in interview. CFL's plus Y adapters are a godsend for using practicals as sources though.
 
So...

...I didn't end up with that arc-lamp.

I did pick up 2 Ikea "Not" lamps, and some china balls to set atop them.

It's a crazy little setup, but I think it just might work. More details forthcoming...in maybe a week or so, after I've had time to actually /work/ with this setup.
 
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