Which budget lighting kit is the best?

B

brandonanthony1

Well-known member
Hey all. I have a shoot coming up next week, and have been summoned to find a quick-and-easy lighting kit. My budget is around $200 or less. Right now, from what research I've been doing, it appears that the following kits are the best for the price:

http://www.amazon.com/Lighting-Chromakey-Flourescent-lightstand-9004S-3/dp/B003Y31CAC/ref=cm_rdp_product

and

http://www.amazon.com/ePhoto-Lighting-Portrait-Carrying-Fluorescent/dp/B002SCGY5S/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Does anybody on here have any experience with these two? looks like the #1 complaint is set up/take-down time, which I can get around. Does anybody have any other recommendations on similar kits? I've been doing some searching, but haven't had much luck.

Also, I would rent if I had the time. Unfortunately there are no places nearby which rent lights, or else I would be doing that.
 
If you have a shoot coming up quick, and your budget is only $200... rent. Do not buy. You'll get so much more bang for your buck. Plus, these lights are cheap garbage. That's why they cost so little.
 
What are you shooting? Do you need softboxes? Hard lights can always be diffused, are are quick to set up, and cheaper usually.
 
1 - Softboxes with multiple CFLs are a pain to set up and tear down. Dimming by separate switches is nice though.
2 - Single CFL softboxes are faster, but the 45 watt setups you posted aren't going to throw a lot of light. I've to one that's 75 watts and I wish it were brighter. I've upgraded to 85 watts. Coollights.biz even has 100watt CFLs
3 - Build quality will be crap, but if that's you budget then that's your budget. Get as much light as you can, treat them kindly, bring a wrench, and don't be surprised if they fall apart in your hands after 6 months.
4 - Get spare bulbs.

Good luck!
 
I should add that I have some cheap ebay softboxes and they are falling apart. I've had them for about a year now and have used them on about 15 small productions. Overall decent value though, and they can always be repaired if you can sow.
 
"I cannot rent locally whatsoever."

That is a tough spot to be in. After 3 years of making films I am finally THINKING about buying lights. $75 a day for a 3 light Arri kit is such a deal. In my neck of the woods $200 a day will rent you a pretty decent package of lights and grip gear.
 
brandonanthony1 said:
Hey all. I have a shoot coming up next week, and have been summoned to find a quick-and-easy lighting kit. My budget is around $200 or less. Right now, from what research I've been doing, it appears that the following kits are the best for the price:

http://www.amazon.com/Lighting-Chromakey-Flourescent-lightstand-9004S-3/dp/B003Y31CAC/ref=cm_rdp_product

and

http://www.amazon.com/ePhoto-Lighting-Portrait-Carrying-Fluorescent/dp/B002SCGY5S/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Does anybody on here have any experience with these two? looks like the #1 complaint is set up/take-down time, which I can get around. Does anybody have any other recommendations on similar kits? I've been doing some searching, but haven't had much luck.

Also, I would rent if I had the time. Unfortunately there are no places nearby which rent lights, or else I would be doing that.
Click to expand...

I bought something like this recently. Fortunately for me, I have real light stands from my still photo equipment, because the supplied stands are... uh... flimsy... at best. I bought them to allow me to have something that will take a Fluorescent bulb and so I can experiment with different wattages and so I essentially bought them for the fixture... and oh yeah, I could use them for shooting as well.

The Wife has commandiered one for her gilding project... she needed a lot of light, and the one 4x45W with softbox served the purpose...

As for the light output... due to lack of time, I've not measured the output of any of the setups, but they feel a 'little light' on power...

My recommendation would be to buy the lights if you want to have something available for learning/experimenting, and then buy on ebay some real 'light stands', 'c-stands' etc. The light output may be ok for your 'interview' setups, but having a stand and light fall over, especially on the subject... well that's just not cool...

As for 'ease of use'... When the Wife was weekly active with wedding photography we would typically not break the softboxes all the way down. We would leave the softboxes fully expanded, and just use the fact that our van/truck would hold all the equipment. I'd recommend that for these softboxes, as they are not all that 'easy' to setup and take down. And seem 'flimsy' as well...

This is compared to a Photoflex softbox, that has struts that can be used for years... And for which I'm thinking about making a bracket for the light fixtures, and not use the original ones at all...

In a word, I view them as a DIY 'starter kit' for things I don't want to deal with...
 
They have a Lowel DV Creator kit that's incredibly cheap to rent... and that's not a bad kit for an interview.

Even better, the Rifa plus the Omni kit.
 
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