this a decent $500 light kit? fluorescent light bank

G

gutterball321

Well-known member
I am looking to upgrade my 3 point light kit which is currently one of those cheap $100 3 softbox light kits with 4 fluorescent bulbs in each light. i like the look of the lights but the bulbs fall apart and taking these lights down for travel is too time consuming.

I was looking at fluorescent light banks since they would be good for interviews and I could travel with them without bulbs breaking. Does this look like a good kit: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...0HMD3_KIT_FL_110HM3_3_Point_Lighting_Kit.html

I am willing to try LED or another light kit anyone recommends but for under $650 I don't know if ill find something better than that? If i get a light bank kit is there a proper way to diffuse them?
 
not if i just move the fill farther away... and a lot of what i do is 2 lights lighting a white backdrop and 1 light lighting the subject. Or 2 lights only at 45 degree angles lighting a person in front of a wall where i want everything even
 
David Jimerson said:
You don't have any hard light in that kit, and it's difficult to make soft light hard.
Click to expand...

Good point. I love daylight balanced lights and have wondered what people with these LED and Fluorescent light kits do for things like cookies/backgrounds and stuff that need hard light.

I do have 2 small 300w tungsten lights with barndoors and blue gels I can use to add a pattern of light to the background wall if needed.

So would you guys recommend a different kit than this? Or adding a certain hard light to go with it?

Here are the main types of things I light for:
-talking head interviews (sometimes with a blue or white backdrop, sometimes in someones house where they have to be close to the wall so hard lights create bad shadows on the wall behind them)
-Some presentations where i need a constant light that doesnt get hot or take a lot of power since the speaker can go on for over an hour. I usually will point a fluorescent ligtht at the ceiling to add some ambient light to the room.
-some b-roll where i just need to add ambient light to the whole room since i dont know how to light close ups of hands working on lab products without creating shadows.
-video blogs where people are talking to the camera from just their office and i want to add soft light to them without adding harsh shadows to the wall behind them
 
My suggestion.... Would be to spend a little coin on learning!

David who commented above, has an inexpensive lighting guide which would provide you with invaluable training on the subject.

Spend the money on a proper lighting package once you know what to do with it.
 
gutterball321 said:
Good point. I love daylight balanced lights and have wondered what people with these LED and Fluorescent light kits do for things like cookies/backgrounds and stuff that need hard light.

I do have 2 small 300w tungsten lights with barndoors and blue gels I can use to add a pattern of light to the background wall if needed.
Click to expand...

Cookie cutters and shapes against the background are only very small part of why you want hard light. Hard light and soft light are your primary lighting brushes. They give you different textures and feels to what you light. You want to be able to use both.
 
I purchased a 6-bank version of this to complement my KinoFlo Diva lights from time to time: http://www.amazon.com/LimoStudio-Li...spell&keywords=florescent+video+lights+4+bank

It's very cheap, but its all metal and it works. Something to note, the original bulbs were terrible color-wise, so I purchased some Kino tubes ($22 each) and they match 100% with the Divas. I've never broken a Kino-brand bulb, can't say the same about the others. Also, paint the mirrored barn doors black. For the price, I think they're a great deal and with free shipping to boot. A 4 or 6-bank (quite bright!) matched with a 2-bank would be a nice little starter kit bundled with a hard light or two. The lights are fairly soft from the get go, but a nice 4x4 is helpful to soften it up a bit more to taste, or hang a roll of diffusion from a C-stand arm

That being said, the KinoFlo kit I purchased 5 years ago for almost $2,000 has paid for itself again and again on nearly every shoot. Nice equipment is worth the money, but sometimes cheap gives you an idea of what you like to work with.
 
I used to have a kit like that a few years ago as a supplement to a tungsten kit before LEDs were affordable/acceptable quality. It depends a bit on your needs, but I'd think a set of LEDs would be more versatile. Personally I've been using YN-600 bicolor and daylight panels the most and put them in inexpensive umbrella softboxes. You could basically get a YN-600 3 light kit for the same price but they have remote control dimming and color temp adjustment, can be hard-ish or diffused, can use an AC adapter or battery power, wont have broken bulbs, and are only about 1/4 the size and weight of those fluorescents. They are good for simplistic, fast lighting setups, or as a supplement to my tungsten kit, but they still have their limitations. For documentary or corporate work without a lot of time or crew those LEDs can be a lifesaver since bicolor comes in very handy in un-scouted locations and saves time on fluorescent bulb changes, and remote dimming and color temp is very handy if I don't have a gaffer, but if you are doing more than basic talking heads and small scenes, you'll likely need quite a bit more, especially a larger light and additional grip equipment and lighting modifiers.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top