Portable Lighting Solution

L

LCD

Member
Hello,

I'm looking for a 2 or 3 light kit to use mostly for music videos. I need the lights to be portable and durable, since I shoot mostly on location, indoors and outdoors. I've ruled out most inexpensive softbox kits because they won't hold up (i.e. Cowboy Studios), but these types of lights are within my budget. I'd like to spend no more than $350, which I know is a stretch, but I need a viable solution for the time being. On-camera LED lights simply don't give off a professional look for music videos IMO, so I need something a bit more sophisticated.

Any help is GREATLY appreciated.

Thanks,
LCD
 
questions about what kind of gear you need to shoot "music videos" is like asking what kind of knife you need to make "chinese food." what specific chinese dish will you be making? and one knife isnt going to meet every need for that dish...

every music video (heck, even different scenes in a single music video) is going to call for different types of lights. and if you try to shoot a situation with the wrong kind of lights, you're going to do away with that "professional look" pretty quickly.

as far as bang for your buck, id suggest getting a few older "hot lights" like moles or lowels. they'll give you plenty of power for the dollar and you can gel and diffuse and flag to achieve a pretty wide array of results. you can find stuff like that on ebay or old inventory from rental shops pretty regularly. but $350 is a pretty unrealistic expectation for a kit. as even used, a single lowel 250watt pro light (which is about as small or "cheap" as id go if you want to look "professional") is going to be generally about $150-$250 or so with barn doors and a stand. then you still need to factor in gels, clamps, cables, etc...
 
Last edited:
eBay is your friend. You can piece together a Lowel kit for that much easy. I just bought a 2 tota, 1 omni kit with stands gels case etc... pretty much new condition for $350. Great small size for when I don't want to lug my arri kit.
 
Thanks for the responses.... I absolutely understand that there are a variety of different lights for specific applications, and that my $350 budget is laughable, but my main focus is finding something serviceable to use until my workload enables me to make larger purchases. I'll definitely be looking around for some Lowells as an option.

Thanks again.
 
Build the cost of light kit rental (3 light Arri is less than $100 a day with most places letting you pick up on Friday and return on Monday for 1 day rental) into your quote for the music video, that's what I do.

I don't own a single light other than some studio photo lights. I do intend to buy, but rental is so cheap and I don't shoot as a full time gig, so I just haven't done it yet.
 
gonzo_entertainment said:
Build the cost of light kit rental (3 light Arri is less than $100 a day with most places letting you pick up on Friday and return on Monday for 1 day rental) into your quote for the music video, that's what I do.

I don't own a single light other than some studio photo lights. I do intend to buy, but rental is so cheap and I don't shoot as a full time gig, so I just haven't done it yet.
Click to expand...

I really need to start doing that. I guess I'm just so caught up in the idea of ownership vs. rental, since I have some non-paid gigs I still need lights for. I'm definitely about to check around locally for places to rent as well.
 
the thing about rentals for someone new to the game is that (unless they rent for a weekend) there often isnt time to really experiement much. so you wind up just doing what you know (be that good or not so good) over and over, rather than really pushing things.

but like anything else, renting has its up and down sides... and when you dont have the grand or so you need for a basic kit, that $100 rental rolled into an invoice is a HUGE mark on the UP side ; )
 
The more I think about it, the more I'm leaning towards saving up for a better kit... but I NEED SOMETHING in the meantime. What do you think of the following options:

1. Extremely temporary solution 1: http://www.ebay.com/itm/31035779571...X:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1436.l2649#ht_2470wt_1398

2. Extremely temporary solution 2: http://www.ebay.com/itm/27088876520...X:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1436.l2649#ht_2955wt_1165

3. Not quite as temporary solution: http://www.ebay.com/itm/38036681657...X:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1436.l2649#ht_2886wt_1398

Thanks again for everyone's input
 
forget that, you'd be better off just using practicals than those things. if you want a sort of halfway temporary solution for very little money, i advocate the hell out of scoop lights. you can even get some home depot boxes and diffusion paper and make custom softboxes with "barndoors." It's not great but i've done a lot of good work with scoop lights.
 
sonofaresiii said:
forget that, you'd be better off just using practicals than those things. if you want a sort of halfway temporary solution for very little money, i advocate the hell out of scoop lights. you can even get some home depot boxes and diffusion paper and make custom softboxes with "barndoors." It's not great but i've done a lot of good work with scoop lights.
Click to expand...

By "scoop lights" do you mean the clamp style ones like these? http://www.lowes.com/ProductDisplay...gId=10051&cmRelshp=req&rel=nofollow&cId=PDIO1
 
wgzn said:
the thing about rentals for someone new to the game is that (unless they rent for a weekend) there often isnt time to really experiement much. so you wind up just doing what you know (be that good or not so good) over and over, rather than really pushing things.

but like anything else, renting has its up and down sides... and when you dont have the grand or so you need for a basic kit, that $100 rental rolled into an invoice is a HUGE mark on the UP side ; )
Click to expand...

Absolutely. I'd love to own, but I don't want to buy junk, rather rent until I can afford the good stuff.

I wish I was a little more flush at the moment (I'm not because I'm spending everything on a web series pilot) because a 3 X 650 Arri kit (with no case and a couple of the housings a little beat up) just popped up on my local craigslist for $850. If I walked in with 7 $100 bills I bet I could walk out with it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top