Looking to make a first purchase on film lighting equipment with a 1200 dollar budget

H

HansSteinert

Well-known member
Hey guys, I'm looking to spend about 1200 dollars on a fundamental and versatile lighting kit for low budget short films and interviews. I would like to have (relatively) good results both indoor and outdoor. I understand 1200 isn't a lot considering all the stylistic options that are available, but I figured it would be enough to get my foot in the door as a college filmmaker. If there ever comes a time where I need something very specific, I would rent it... but right now I'm looking to purchase the fundamentals and I'm hoping it will be good enough to build upon in the future rather than having to start over.

I'm going to be shooting primarily on a DSLR. I don't mind buying used, either.

Any suggestions? If I'm being too vague, let me know and I'll be more specific with my needs.
 
I'm in college like yourself, and I bought my first kit in the spring. It was a used Lowel 3 Omni kit (three 500W lights), and came with umbrellas, stands, and C47s. A couple spare bulbs and gel kit finished it for my needs. I bought it for interviews and student films, and so far I've found it to be very useful. At the very least, you can use it to learn lighting, and see how different setups and gels affect the image.

From what I know, Lowel is the cheapest of decent quality lights. The kit I bought went through two owners, and it still works fantastically.

Any of the Lowel kits on B&H would work for you, around your budget is this one in particular: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/285928-REG/Lowel_DV_902LBZ_DV_Creator_44_Kit.html

It would be really nice to have a softbox light, but those tend to add $300-$400 on the Lowel kits, and it's possible to get close to the same diffused look with an umbrella.

Whatever you end up getting, beyond the lights/barndoors/stands/case, make sure you factor in costs of a gel kit, extra bulbs, stingers, and work gloves.
 
The Lowel lights certainly do have a good reputation. I personally am looking at getting some used fresnels. I have seen quite a few shows lit with just 150, 300, and 650 watt fresnels. They are awesome and pretty versatile.

I am not sure what the prices are on them though....
 
phudsontx said:
Buy used Mole Richardson, Arr, LTM or Desisti in that order you will not be sorry.
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Do this, and then buy a bunch of different sized china balls and rip stop nylon to skirt them and keep them from spilling everywhere. Of course you'll need sockets as well and a bunch of household globes to put in em. A dimmer or two wouldn't hurt as well.

If you do end up going this route, you'll have this gear pretty much until the end of time.
 
I just got a bunch of Moles on ebay. I made sure to buy from sellers in my city so I could pick them up, because the larger ones, like a 2k Jr with stand are really expensive to ship.
 
This question seems to get posted once a week, doing a search or scroll would give you plenty of answers.

Not one reply for daylight/flo's? Mercy, if I were starting over now... with an interview kit no less... I'd go all flo's with maybe a 300 & 600 fresnel. The heat, weight and power draw are too nice to bypass.
 
Michael Carter said:
This question seems to get posted once a week, doing a search or scroll would give you plenty of answers.

Not one reply for daylight/flo's? Mercy, if I were starting over now... with an interview kit no less... I'd go all flo's with maybe a 300 & 600 fresnel. The heat, weight and power draw are too nice to bypass.
Click to expand...

Yeah but what do you get for 1200...maybe 1 4x4 kino? Sure
there are other options, but you get what you pay for. The tungsten lights will never go out of style and an industry standard tungsten package can be had for under 1200.
 
RyanT said:
Yeah but what do you get for 1200...maybe 1 4x4 kino? Sure
there are other options, but you get what you pay for. The tungsten lights will never go out of style and an industry standard tungsten package can be had for under 1200.
Click to expand...

Check out Cool Lights for a lot more than one 4x4 Kino in great quality. I've got several Chinese biax flo's in dual and quad that are nice, heavy duty lights with steel bodies. For $1200, I could get a twin & quad biax and a couple fresnels, easy, with cash to spare. Tungsten may never go out of "style", but for utilitarian interview stuff... I think they already have. LED's, Flos, stuff like Richard's HID's, even the 85-100 watt big flo tubes in a softbox or lantern... blows tungsten away for most purposes. Heat, weight, color temp, and amps are utilitarian improvements (and heat is a big deal with clients or subjects). Throw in that it's very nice looking light (if you get the hang of it) and you've covered about all the bases.

Look at the hoops people jump through to get tungsten in a softbox configuration. Look at the cost of a softbox that will take that heat. A quad biax with a sheet of diffusion is already there - a big soft rectangle of light. I rarely bring out a tungsten light any more. When I do it's usually a little 300 watt fresnel. (Not like I'm gonna sell my big pile of hot lights, they're great for artsy, pretty stuff, night interiors you want warm, etc..)
 
LED lights sound very appealing. Is there any loss in color/quality compared to other hotter alternatives?
 
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