Purchasing a Lighting Kit...Please Help...

davidlh

davidlh

Active member
After deciding that a lighting kit would be a great addition to my film gear, I searched around for a decent, yet cheap kit. I looked into the Bluline lights but after searching around I've read that they're pretty cheap and flimsy...

I also tried going onto eBay and searching for lights and that's where I reached my problem...what am I supposed to search for?! I'm new to lighting and I'm not even sure what I'm supposed to be getting! Fresnels?

Anyway, I'm going to be shooting, mostly, short comedy videos and would like to purchase a 3 point lighting kit. My budget is around $750-$1000...

Any Suggestions?

Thanks!
 
you can get a lowel 3 light kit for around that price on B&H . Probably best to get totas and omni with umbrellas and barndoors to start. Its a start anyways.

Searching movie light or video light on ebay is a good start or go with brand names like arri or mole richardson .
 
Keeping in mind that every light has a specialty of some kind, it's best to have some some kind of variety and options to choose from in the field. Also keep in mind that good lights never go out of style so if you go a little over budget it can be money well spent that will be productive for years. So keep an eye out for good used lights as you build your arsenel.

I have a few Lowells and have found them finicky and not durable enough so they seldom get used anymore. Totas are damn near evil and the umbrella spreads the light out way too far lighting up everything in the room. I went with an Arri 4x650w fresnel kit 12 years ago and they are still good-as-new versatile workhorses though way out of your budget range.

With a little luck, a 650w Arri fresnel w/ barndoors, a smaller fresnel or basic open face and a cool running flourescent soft box should all be do-able in your budget range. And don't forget stands, a few $10 white bounce cards, a good assortment of diffusion & colored gels, a couple heavy duty extension cords, flags to block light (even cardboard is OK), a $2 bag of clothespins and when you can, get a couple c-stands with arms. Learning to use the available light in a room is also a big help.

I've been very happy with this simple $200 compact fluorescent box and it's the first light I set up.
http://tinyurl.com/yf2mr8z
It just doesn't fold up and travel easily, but if you can just toss it intact into the back of your car or truck it's fantastic.

Good luck.
 
BVX said:
I've been very happy with this simple $200 compact fluorescent box and it's the first light I set up.
http://tinyurl.com/yf2mr8z
It just doesn't fold up and travel easily, but if you can just toss it intact into the back of your car or truck it's fantastic.

Good luck.
Click to expand...

i asked about these in another thread and didn't get much of a response. The one i did get didn't sound real promising. Said the fans were loud. can you attest to that?
 
Those fans are on a different Savage model with quartz-halogen lamps. Mine has the 6 compact fluorescent bulbs and produces no heat -- so no fans, no noise at all.

And for your previous question -- he meant BluLine lights. They look to be a cheap Arri knockoff. They claim to have an "open-face Fresnel" which of course makes no sense.
 
The quality of the light unit is good enough. I don't baby it but I don't abuse it or use it every day either. If you look at the picture you'll see there really isn't all that much to it. The mounting hardware might be the first thing I'd expect to go bad. I didn't buy the stand so can't help you there.
 
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