Need a replacement kit for interviews - suggestions (on the cheap?)

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dishan

Well-known member
Since the lights in my studio aren't very portable, I've been using a lowel travel case with 2 lights (a TOTA and OMNI), complete with stands and umbrellas/reflectors when I do on-location interviews.

Here's my problem- the kit isn't mine. I've been borrowing it for months from someone who doesn't use it very often. But every now and then they need it back, and I'm embarassed to keep asking to borrow it again (no matter how much he says he doesn't really mind).
So I'm thinking- what is the best way to go about this? Should I just scour ebay for another Tota and Omni, and rebuild the very basic kit that I've been getting by with? Or is there a better option? I don't know much about popular trends in lighting, I just know what I was given to use and have gotten by with it. But I'm not stuck with that setup, if someone has a better suggestion I'm all ears!

Budget is definitely an issue here, but I'm scared of buying garbage that will fall apart when I show up for the shoot. What's a good cost effective kit that won't be a major expense?
 
Let me start by asking... What is your total budget for lights/stands/electric/accessories?

And, what are your space restrictions when transporting your gear, cargo van, car trunk, back seat?
 
David W. Jones said:
Let me start by asking... What is your total budget for lights/stands/electric/accessories?

And, what are your space restrictions when transporting your gear, cargo van, car trunk, back seat?
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Thanks for the reply David-
I haven't really come up with a number for my budget, I just want to reasonably replace the simple kit I had been borrowing. Unless there is something better for around the same ballpark price- I'm guessing the Omni and Tota are each between $100-$200 used on ebay, so the kit was maybe worth $350-400?

As far as travelling with gear- I have a set of tungsten lights that are usually set up in my office as a studio, and I used to take them down and carry them around in my trunk for interviews. But there are a PITA to transport, set up and take down! The lowel kit was much more compact and easy to travel with, and all fit in a single hard case with a shoulder strap. After carrying that around for so long, I can't go back to shlepping the big bulky setup around.
 
My ultra-simple interview lighting kit consists of Lowell gear as well - a RIFA 55, Pro-Light, three stands, some gels (CTB) and diffusion, and a couple of 5-in-1 collapsible reflectors. I've used that for everything from our church's announcements to Secretaries of Defense. Occasionally I'll toss in a 2nd Pro-Light for the background.

If you're comfortable with the Lowel kit, you can scarcely do better (brandwise) for the money. The incandescents are easy to carry around in a small bag and give a lot of punch for their size.
 
mcbob said:
My ultra-simple interview lighting kit consists of Lowell gear as well - a RIFA 55, Pro-Light, three stands, some gels (CTB) and diffusion, and a couple of 5-in-1 collapsible reflectors. I've used that for everything from our church's announcements to Secretaries of Defense. Occasionally I'll toss in a 2nd Pro-Light for the background.

If you're comfortable with the Lowel kit, you can scarcely do better (brandwise) for the money. The incandescents are easy to carry around in a small bag and give a lot of punch for their size.
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Gotcha. So I'm cool with Lowel. Not sure if the Tota and Omni are the best for these situations. I hear a lot of love for the RIFA lights (don't know much about them aside from hearing the name a lot), and I've seen the pro-lights on ebay- they seem pretty affordable. I wonder if that would be a better setup with more control than the Tota/omni combo?

Can you share some examples of how you set up that gear?
 
this may sound silly. but for quick, indoor (no windows) head and shoulders shoots where i have full control of the lighting. i have this TINY ikan kit consisting of two iLED 312s and a iLED120 that does a surprisingly good job. going up from there. i have 3 lowel 250watt prolights (on dimmers) that do nicely. moving up from there, id look into small arri or kinoflo kits. but at that point youre easily into the $2k-$3k level and it may be more cost effective for you to rent.
 
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haha, wgzn- that DOES sound crazy.
I actually have quite a few on-camera LED panels because I have a friend who works for a company that sells them. Gave me a bunch of prototypes they couldn't sell.

I've used them for fill or documentary shoots, but I've never imagined using them as primary lights for a subject. They just don't seem bright enough to do much with- can you share some examples of your setup?
The three pro lights seem like a viable option I suppose. Definitely not in the budget for arri or kinoflos.
 
I cut my teeth with Lowell lights and I think going that route, with used lights, would be fine.

I have put together a low cost light weight kit with some alternative lights that may be of interest.

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?291600-The-quot-pocket-650-quot&highlight=

You can put a good handful of Pocket 650s, light weight stands, umbrellas, stingers, power strips, dimmers, and other accessories in a modest sized gear bag and take them almost anywhere with no problem.
 
Pocket 650's seem kind of cool, but I don't like that bit about them occasionally smoking in that thread! Do you get the same kind of control over the light as the Lowels?
 
dishan said:
Pocket 650's seem kind of cool, but I don't like that bit about them occasionally smoking in that thread! Do you get the same kind of control over the light as the Lowels?
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No, I wouldn't say that a pocket 650 is as controllable as a Lowell Omni or Pro light, as they don't have barndoors. They are easy to snoot with some black wrap though. The Lowell Tota lights have barn doors also, but they do not give the same amount of control as the doors on the Omni or Pro lights. I would not recommend the pocket 650 as the only light to get. They are very handy though and for use with an umbrella they are outstanding. I like to use them for ceiling bounce when I want an even soft ambiance or with a black wrap snoot as a hard kicker, side or back light. I use them with dimmers (Habor Freight Router Controllers; about $20.00), which really helps to control the intensity (Which could be said for all tungsten lights). Dimming does warm up the color temperature but, with small to modest changes in the intensity, the change is not that radical. Besides a little variations in the color of the lights helps to build depth and modeling within a shot, which I like. Of course they can be gelled, just be careful not to get the gel too close to the light (As with any high powered light). As for the smoking, keep the lights clean. I have an issue where the storage space for my lights gets dusty and this can cause them to smoke a little when they are first brought out of storage. That is not a big deal really and I run into it with all of the hot lights that I have, including Fresnels and PAR cans, and not just the open faced lights.

I absolutely do not think that pocket 650 is a total replacement for Lowell lights (Especially the Omni or Pro lights), but they are a very handy, powerful and inexpensive compliment to any portable light kit.

I don't have any experience with the Redhead lights.
 
 
Ugh, you guys are just confusing me with too many options! The pocket 650's sound cool, but as you said yourself, you wouldn't recommend them as my main lights. I'm looking for an affordable compact kit of at least 2 lights that I can easily transport for on-location interviews. Not something that may smoke or be hard to control, or any other potentially embarassing situation that may present itself with just this on location.

The red head kit I found online sounds good, but a bit of internet digging revealed someone saying they are electrically unsound, with poor grounding a possible electricution hazard. *sigh*
 
Go with the Lowell lights you are familiar with, they are good lights.

EDIT: I would buy used. A cursory check on eBay showed quite a few Lowell lights for sale at decent prices.
 
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David G. Smith said:
Go with the Lowell lights you are familiar with, they are good lights.

EDIT: I would buy used. A cursory check on eBay showed quite a few Lowell lights for sale at decent prices.
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Haha, fair enough!

So the Tota and Omni, or some other combination (Rifa, pro light, etc)?
 
dishan said:
So the Tota and Omni, or some other combination (Rifa, pro light, etc)?
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Is it fair to say, "all of the above?" :)

I've owned a lot of Lowel lights over the years. If I were building a three-light interview kit, it would have one Omni plus an umbrella to use as a key, a Rifa (mine is the 55 size) for fill, and a Pro-light for a backlight or background highlights. Plus stands, cords, scrims and maybe 12x12 filter holders for all of them. If you strictly want two lights, I'd drop the Pro-light and keep the Omni, although you could also go the other way if you don't need quite as much power.

To make the kit absolutely minimal in size and weight, you could go with all Pro-lights, but then you'd depend a lot more on bounce and diffusion to get a soft fill source.

I really liked the four Omnis I had; they're extremely versatile, although there are limitations to what you can do with any open-faced light as compared to soft sources, Fresnels and ellipsoidal spots. I'm less enthusiastic about the Tota-light, which certainly can throw out a lot of lumens, but without a whole lot of control except through the use of external diffusion, filtering, flags and such. I would almost never aim a Tota directly at a subject and mostly used them for background lighting or bounced off a ceiling, wall or fabric screen for very general fill lighting.

I'm no big fan of Redheads; the Italian-made Ianiro originals I used were, at best, comparable to but not as good as the Lowel Omni, and the cheap knockoffs I've seen are just, well, cheap, and maybe not all that safe or reliable.

- Greg
 
dishan said:
Hey- any opinions on modified work lights? I tried to do this once but found them to be a pain to transport.

http://frugalphotog.blogspot.com/2012/10/diy-umbrella-mount-hack-for-your.html
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I think that there is just too many used pro lights available for such low prices that the time and effort of putting together stuff like that is just not worth it, to me. I mean, shoot. I just picked up a used Mole-Richardson 200 watt Midget Fresnel for $120.00 ($370.00ish new).
 
can you share some examples of your setup?
The three pro lights seem like a viable option I suppose. Definitely not in the budget for arri or kinoflos.
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yeah. here are a couple of pics:

IMG_0269.jpg
3 lowel pros

536369_370091979740359_1496508127_n.jpg
3pc small ikans

both of these were low budget shoots. 1-man band. nearly-ENG situations. neither is perfect. but if deployed wisely and with a box full of various gels and stands and other grip-age. will definitely get the job done
 
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