Please give thoughts on this budget lighting kit!

S

stulanka

Member
http://www.stableimaging.co.uk/studio-lighting/3-x-800w-redhead-continuous-lighting-kit/prod_15.html

I am a cheap-skate who is looking to get away with not having to buy expensive lighting kit:)

There is so much talk of how it can be done, but I'm in two minds.

I've seen some of the other threads about Cool Lights and so on, but in the UK it seems these are hard to get hold of, or they cost upwards of £500.

I need a kit for around £300. Is this possible? My first shoot where a toplight isn't going to be enough is a kitchen cookery shoot. Previously I've worked with 3x redheads, hence the above solution looking attractive, but I'm sure there must be a reason they are so cheap.

I'll also be doing a fair amount of hair and beauty shoots, so buying rather than hiring is probably the way forward.

Can I reasonably get away with one led light panel and a reflector?

And is it possible to get away with these sorts of things or are they woeful?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1400w-Continuous-Soft-Box-Lighting-Studio-Kit-Photography-Softbox-Photo-/150678865410?pt=UK_Photography_Lighting_Kits&hash=item2315290602#ht_4368wt_1114

Thanks for your wisdom.
 
there is a reason they are so cheap.....deep down you know this or you wouldnt be asking.

the redheads are cheaply made and probably electrically unsafe. as i have mentioned on this site several times
these lights are unsafe. they seem to meet no electrical standard known to man.
if you do get them have them checked out by a registered electrician.

re the cfl's you have to ask yourself how 8 x 35 watt lights can add up to 1400 watts.......you cannot change the law of physics....
there is also the prospect of transporting 8 fragile lamps from job to job. and setting them up (they break very easily).


there is no such thing as a good cheap light... you will never regret buying a quality name brand. i have 5 original name brand redheads and most
are over 20 years old they are used constantly and still look and work like new. they were very expensive when i bought them but are
probably the cheapest lights i have ever bought considering how much work they have done.

i also have several coollights flouros and leds and they are great value and would recommend them with no qualms. richards service before and after sale is second to none.
email him and you get a reply on the same day, his lights are well built and not expensive for what you get.

cheers
 
Yeah, what he said.

If you are on a budget,
I bought PAR cans, back than when I was starting my career.
But not with the sealed beam bulbs (there is a replacement insert for the bulbs you use in Fresnells) and a sheet of frost in front of them, - worked pretty well, dirt cheap and solid.

I still have them, after all that years and beating they took.
And I still use them sometimes.


Also consider to buy used pro equipment instead of new hobby stuff.

Frank
 
check out used theatre lighting sites. in melbourne we have www.ccslightsound.com.au they buy and recondition used lights and have some
good deals. ( click on secondhand updates)
there are probably some companies where you are located you could check out.

cheers
 
It's not quite as bad as it appears, and the £195 for 3 means you can spend a little sorting them out. Unlike real redheads with fibreglass or polycarbonate headshells, these are aluminium. If you take them somewhere and they stick a PAT tester on them, they fail. No earth. The cable on the ones I bought was pretty tough and chunky, but had no earth conductor - just plain old 2 core rubber. So first thing to do was reachable it with some 1.5mm H05 TRS to the switch and then high temp silicone to the lamp house, with the earth connected to the metal of the housing, with a nut, bolt and shake proof washer, scraping the pain off to ensure a good connection. Re-assemble and easily passes the test. Cost, around £15. I stuck a couple of bits of heat resistant tubing on the ends inside the hot headshell for comfort. The focus mechanism is also aluminium, but quite thin, so if you turn the focus too far, it bends. It works ok. There is no mesh protection on the front - pretty essential I always find when a bubble pops explosively! My old Ianairo's had glass for this, but it's not too difficult to fabricate a circle of mesh with a closeish weave. DIY stores stock it.

The barndoors are a little soft, and bend too easily - but they rotate and they work. Lamp holders don't look too tough, but mine have been ok - with the contacts bending just a bit to increase the squeeze on the lamp contacts.

The stands are pretty light, but reasonably tough - mine have managed ok.

The softlights are similar to ones I also have - although mine just have a single lamp in each. They have plastic double insulated lamp holders, so don't need earthing - but they're pretty dim and not very effective.

Compared to my genuine ancient Ianairo's, the light output is about the same, and they are lighter than the Ianairo's too - but once the guards and adaptors are stuck on, there's not much difference. The fluorescents were a mistake - just not up t it at all. They light up, that's about it. These are three time brighter, but these lamps really are pretty rubbish for light output - I'd estimate about the same as a 100W tungsten lamp - not much more - so equivalent to perhaps 300-400W of tungsten. I really can't see where they dug 1400W up from.


I'm pleased I bought the set a couple of years ago - they work, they're hugely better than work lights, and they're tough enough if you don't abuse them. The electrical issue is simply because they're not designed for UK standards - with higher voltages. The rest of the world aren't quite so anal about standards as we are - but it's easily fixed - and I'm content with the safety now or I wouldn't use them.
 
the problem is the people who buy these lights are not up to rebuilding them.

they are unsafe and dangerous.

definitely a case of "you get what you pay for" pay crap get crap

if you buy an electrical appliance the very least you should expect is it meets
some sort of elecrical standard. these dont.

cheers
 
Last edited:
ian dart said:
there is a reason they are so cheap.....deep down you know this or you wouldnt be asking.

the redheads are cheaply made and probably electrically unsafe. as i have mentioned on this site several times
these lights are unsafe. they seem to meet no electrical standard known to man.
if you do get them have them checked out by a registered electrician.

re the cfl's you have to ask yourself how 8 x 35 watt lights can add up to 1400 watts.......you cannot change the law of physics....
there is also the prospect of transporting 8 fragile lamps from job to job. and setting them up (they break very easily).


there is no such thing as a good cheap light... you will never regret buying a quality name brand. i have 5 original name brand redheads and most
are over 20 years old they are used constantly and still look and work like new. they were very expensive when i bought them but are
probably the cheapest lights i have ever bought considering how much work they have done.

i also have several coollights flouros and leds and they are great value and would recommend them with no qualms. richards service before and after sale is second to none.
email him and you get a reply on the same day, his lights are well built and not expensive for what you get.

cheers
Click to expand...

i've wanted to say this on many of these threads that pop up, but always decide better of it and delete the whole post.
many people really seem to believe that there's a ton of super cheap high-quality equipment out there and that all film productions just pay way more for the same quality because they all hate money. i don't get it. you want a professional-looking product? Spend a professional's worth of money. There's a reason most of the lights you see on sets cost a thousand or more by themselves... good lights are expensive. crappy lights that look terrible are cheap. budget accordingly.
 
Ok. Got it. That was a genuinely fascinating exercise with some excellent contributions from all. Thank you all, very much for your time. I'm not the sort of person to mess with electronics too much and they sound dodgy. I'll see what I can get for my budget. Perhaps I'll hire or just buy one light at a time and work with reflectors until I can afford a set, but I've heeded your advice and I feel reassured that there's just no cheap solution, aside from second hand maybe.
 
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