Third Party Lighting Kits

K

KyranFord

Well-known member
Does anyone have any experience with these? IE The ePhoto, FancierStudio, etc. lighting kits from Amazon. I'm on a tight budget and these seem to be decent. Anyone use them?

Thanks.
 
The question I would ask is... Do you really need 3 800w lights?
If I were looking for a first light kit, I would probably be looking at something that would get me closer to my goal without too much hassle.
What is it you intend to do with this kit?
 
David W. Jones said:
The question I would ask is... Do you really need 3 800w lights?
If I were looking for a first light kit, I would probably be looking at something that would get me closer to my goal without too much hassle.
What is it you intend to do with this kit?
Click to expand...
Lighting for films; no studio intended use.

I wouldn't inevitably use all of them at once. I just want something cheap that will still perform well, and I'm in hopes that it might serve me for a while.
 
That is not necessarily a bad kit, to start out with. The first lights I ever bought were a set of three Smith-Victor K60 lights, with stands, that I bought used.

http://www.smithvictor.com/products/detail.asp?prodid=89&id=13&pid=1&s1=Lighting+Kits+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++&s2=Quartz+Kits+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++&nm=K60+KIT

I bought them 20 years ago and have used them on just about everything I have shot since. It is good to have a little kit like you are looking at to always have to fall back on. However, If you are starting to build a light kit, I would check out these articles from Shane Hurlbut, ASC.

http://www.hurlbutvisuals.com/blog/2011/11/05/lighting-basics-going-with-what-is-available/

http://www.hurlbutvisuals.com/blog/2011/11/11/building-the-perfect-key-light/

And Scott Spears article, which has become kind of a low budget lighting standard.

http://www.scottspears.net/Lowbudgetinglighting.htm
 
Rent instead, you'll get better results =)

Buy when you're ready to invest in solid lighting gear and you know exactly what you want. Lighting is an investment. Buying junk will just lead to throwing your money away. When you rent, you can get the right tools for the right look.

Someone tried to tell me that when I first started out, wish I listened to them ^_^
 
David G. Smith said:
That is not necessarily a bad kit, to start out with. The first lights I ever bought were a set of three Smith-Victor K60 lights, with stands, that I bought used.

http://www.smithvictor.com/products...++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++&nm=K60+KIT

I bought them 20 years ago and have used them on just about everything I have shot since. It is good to have a little kit like you are looking at to always have to fall back on. However, If you are starting to build a light kit, I would check out these articles from Shane Hurlbut, ASC.

http://www.hurlbutvisuals.com/blog/2011/11/05/lighting-basics-going-with-what-is-available/

http://www.hurlbutvisuals.com/blog/2011/11/11/building-the-perfect-key-light/

And Scott Spears article, which has become kind of a low budget lighting standard.

http://www.scottspears.net/Lowbudgetinglighting.htm
Click to expand...
So this kit would actually be pretty decent?

Thanks for those links!

Michael Solomon said:
Rent instead, you'll get better results =)

Buy when you're ready to invest in solid lighting gear and you know exactly what you want. Lighting is an investment. Buying junk will just lead to throwing your money away. When you rent, you can get the right tools for the right look.

Someone tried to tell me that when I first started out, wish I listened to them ^_^
Click to expand...
That's the thing though... I can't afford to rent continuously on every single shoot.
 
a 4 point arri kit will usually run ~$80-100 for a weekend rental. That's opposed to paying ~$2400 for one. I'm just saying, asthetically, you will get MUCH better results renting the lights that you can't afford to buy. Rather then doing multiple projects with moderate to sub-par lighting, why not do a few with great lighting? Why not try to raise money from friends/family. Run a financing campaign on kickstarter. The quality of your final product will be determined by how much work you put into it =)

Also ask yourself, if you're interested in solely DP'ing is it worth it to invest tons of money into lighting? Will you usually be working with a grip/gaffer that will supply lights? Are you going to be producing everything yourself or do you plan on working on other people's projects where you will either have a grip/gaff and/or charge a rental fee.

I went the same route with my first couple movies of "what can I buy cheaply" instead of "how can I maximize the money that I do have" and you can definitely tell the difference. Having the right tools not only makes your life easier, but usually drastically improves the aesthetic appeal of your film.
 
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