Which cheap light kit to buy?

G

gutterball321

Well-known member
I need to buy a cheap light kit to tide me over for a while. I plan to film some inside interviews, interviews in offices that have lots of windows, as well as some short films. SO pretty much, i need to be ready for all situations.

I am looking at the kits on tubetape.com and want to know between these kits or something similar:

The QL 1000 series
http://www.tubetape.net/servlet/the-59/QL-1000--dsh--2000/Detail

900w Focusable Halogen 3 Light Kit
http://www.tubetape.net/servlet/the-372/ql1000/Detail

Cool Flo - 900 Watt EZ
http://www.tubetape.net/servlet/the-192/Cool-Flo--dsh--900/Detail

MXLIGHT 2600 watt Twin Lamp
http://www.tubetape.net/servlet/the-92/MXLIGHT-2600-watt-Twin/Detail



Is there even a big difference between any of these? If I film interviews with windows in the background and need to match the temperature, can I just throw a blue gel on the lights that dont match?
 
what kind of camera are you using? Is it an older one? Some of these kits seem like they would deliver a blinding amount of light. You might want to check out this older article by Walter Graff, it could prove helpful. Sometimes buying good quality used gear that you can get parts for and get repaired anywhere is a much better plan. Just a suggestion.
http://www.bluesky-web.com/light-kit.htm
 
There's no light kit that will get you ready for any situation at the budget that you're looking at. The hard truth is that you need to be ready to shell out some serious $$$ in order to buy the kind of quality and support gears that will allow you to be that flexible. With that said, if you have no money and you need something now, don't buy a kit. Research individual fixtures to buy depending on your need, and spend as little as possible by buying use. This will help you learn more about what you really need, and not tie you to the limitation of a particular kit. Know that it's basically going to be impossible for you to unload the lights once you're ready to move on to something else, so spend as little as possible now and get ready to transition as soon as possible.

You should probably buy tungsten open face light instead of fluorescence fixtures like many of the links Tungsten are cheaper and there's more flexibility in term of switching between a soft and a hard source (there are various ways to diffuse a hard light but it's impossible to make a soft source into a hard source). It's also very hard to learn how to light properly using just fluorescence because everything tends to come out flat, so pick up some tungsten lights and learn how lights interact with the environment and how to flatteringly light your subject.
 
soo... if i DO buy one of these kits or something similar, the 900w Focusable Halogen 3 Light Kit might be best? They are 300w each so wont be as bright as some of those other kits. I can throw on the softbox to diffuse them and they are focusable.

I have used a lot of arri lights but cant go that expensive. Nothing I am filming has a big budget, a few web videos for friends companies to build my reel and get experience. So it would be nice to get use to setting up interviews with 3 point lighting and trying some green screen stuff. I also do short films for fun and want to do a couple music videos for friends so have to prepare for that as well.
 
not sure, buying multiple things and depending on a light kit I may go up or down a couple hundred if it is clearly worth it. For what I am doing I dont see anything wrong with these kits, reviews and what people have filmed and put on youtube they can produce the quality I am looking for while building my reel.
 
gutterball321 said:
. For what I am doing I dont see anything wrong with these kits,.
Click to expand...


Judging from other Chinese stuff I have seen I would say that it probably has a life expectancy of 2 to 4 shoots.
Hopefully you have lots of liability insurance when the stands collapse or things start going up in smoke.
 
Whatever you do, don't buy the QL1000's. In case you missed this in the description...

"The light heads are fan cooled, which acts as an overheat protection. The fans automatically turn on when the temperature reaches over 200 degrees F..."
 
The 900w kit are basically Britek lights which I first started out using. They're not well built at all and they don't focus well but they're useable. I would get some sandbags for those stands for sure or else they become a safety hazard.
 
I wish many years ago someone told me: You gonna do this for a living! Thus you needs stuff that last.
And then i wish i indeed listened... Cheap stuff only "appears" cheap because your initial out-the-pocket expense is low but when you take under consideration money v. how many times it will be used before breaking down the "cheap" stuff would turn out to be extra ordinary expensive in comparison to the "expensive" pro-gear.
 
okay so what do you guys say I start out with for under $400, or will you just tell me not to light things for the next few months?
 
China balls, sockets, and a bunch of household bulbs. Bounce cards and lots of duvatyne or rip stop nylon for skirting china balls and for negative fill.
 
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