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Photography Question 

Michael Warnock
 

Britek studio lighting kit


Greetings, I am a new member and would like some feedback on any studio lighting equipment you would recommend for a beginner shooting still life and portraiture with digital.

I would like to know how much power should be adequate for such photography while allowing for growth in the future. I would rather spand a bit more now and hopefully not outgrow the equipment I purchase too soon as past experience has taught me that my learning curve tends to be exponential rather than linear, if you know what I mean.

Thank you all,
Mike Warnock.


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April 03, 2005

 

Mark Feldstein
  Howdy Mike. Yep, in many instances, experience is the best teacher and you're right to purchase lighting that you won't soon outgrow. Which lighting you get depends first on whether you need portable, as in battery packs for location work where there's no power or studio pack systems that are portable but require an electrical outlet.

It also depends on what your plans are for future work. If you're going to stay with say portraiture, you can get by with lower power units, not less I would say, than in the 500-800 watt second range. If you intend to go with large format equipment and shoot products with a view camera, the more horsepower you have the better, and for that I recommend lighting in the 1500-2000 watt sec. range per pack that can be ratio'd to deliver variations per lamp head. You don't need to buy all the heads at once either. From my own experience, nothing is more frustrating than needing to work at f16 when your lights will only deliver f8 or f11. At that point, you need to go to multiple pops and that can be a real pain.

Also, you probably want a system that will accept a wide range of light modifiers like reflectors, snoots, gobos, scrims, softboxes, attachment rings (either singly or multiples) and umbrellas. Again, you don't need them all at once, but for the future having that capability is a real asset. Here are a few suggestions to look at, either in new equipment (if you can handle the bucks) or good clean used gear. BTW, some manufacturers offer some very swell deals for financing on new equipment and a number of incentives.

For location work and portraiture, I use a couple of Quantum T-2's with Turbo battery packs, or Vivitar 285HV units. The T-2's have a guide number of about 160 and 200 W/s. We also use Bowens monolights alot. They require AC power, but they're excellent and very portable. B&H sells them, frequently in sets with things like free stands which are also quite good. I believe the Bowens are available in 500, 800, 1000 and 1500 W/S range units, and those can be powered down as necessary. I use them with Chimera softboxes or strip boxes quite a bit. They also work extremely well when slaved off something like Pocket Wizards.

Norman packs are well made, as are Speedotron black or brown line, and their lamp heads with UV coated tubes are sweet. If you want top shelf... Broncolor (yikes). Elinchrom also makes nice units although I hear stories that they're not extremely durable for portability outside the studio. I keep hearing about people buying White Lightening but not usually pros. If you use them professionally, I'd stick with a manufactuer that's been around for a number of years, like the ones I mentioned.

As for Britek...well, suffice it to say that you get what you pay for. I don't think that's what you're looking for. And, if you decide to go the used route, I'd stick with a dealer, B&H, Keh., etc., or a private party that you know while avoiding E-bay for this type of gear unless you can test it all yourself first.

That's my .25 worth. Take it errr..light ;>) Mark


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April 04, 2005

 

Michael Warnock
  Thanks so much for your responce Mark. Sounds like I have a lot more homework to do.

Cheers,
Mike.


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April 04, 2005

 

Mark Feldstein
  My pleasure. Yeah, it's a portable lighting jungle out there. ;>) Choose wisely, you'll never regret it and the quality of your work will be better for it.
Mark


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April 04, 2005

 

Jerry M. Pennington
  I use Britek lights and get good results from them, but, as Mark F. pointed out, you get what you pay for. They were good starter lights for me, but I feel I have outgrown them. Alien Bees makes some good lights at reasonable prices. They are very well made and have some nice features. You can see them at www.alienbees.com

Jerry


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April 06, 2005

 
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