 Michael E. Quintana |
Steve Kaeser Lighting Does anybody have any experience with the Steve Kaeser Cool-Flo Lighting System?? I am considering buying this lighting system & would appreciate any feedback!
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Robert F. Walker |
I to have looked at this web site and am considering a possible purchase, although I too am looking for feedback, comments on the quality of these products. From my latest research, the constant "Cool lighting" may seem to be a good alternitive to the older Hot strobe flash lighting that is harder to control and may not produce consistantly good results.
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Pete H |
Hello Michael, I have never used this product, but I did read the hoopla on the web page. They spoke of "hot spots" when using strobes. The strobes are not the culprit of hot spots, the diffuser is, be it a softbox or umbrella. I'm sure the product works fine. Robert..."may seem to be a good alternitive to the older Hot strobe flash lighting that is harder to control and may not produce consistantly good results." I think you will find the opposite to be true. Consistent control (amoung other factors) ARE the reason pro's use strobes. All the best, Pete
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Michael E. Quintana |
Robert & Pete, I appreciate you both taking the time to offer your point of view!
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Mark Feldstein |
First Michael, these are all hot lights that use a lot of electricity. If you're shooting film, you'll likely notice a color-shift as the lights "burn-in" over time. At least that's what I saw on Steve's primary page there, a 5000 watt set-up. YIKES !!!! The cool flourescents? I think always cause people color shifting problems. They're also made by Britek which manufactuers, well, how do I put this politely, low end equipment with a lot of glitzy, cheaply made accessories and not much else. About all I can say about Britek is they used to make threaded AC slaves that work alright in table lamps when you need fill light for corners of architectural photos. That's about it. When you consider their profit margin and the commission their dealers get (depending on how good they were at negotiating their deal with Britek as a distrubutor) their lighting is awfully awfully cheap. Because it In addition, the phrase "hot lights" refers to continuous incandescent lighting like quartz halogen lights whereas "strobes" have tungsten/ quartz halogen modeling lights in them to help you set your lighting, they only heat up for a second or two when you fire them because strobes aren't firing all the time, unless, of course, you're working in a disco. ;>) We've had a couple of threads on purchasing strobe lighting recently here you ought to check out. And also I recommend that if your budget won't permit buying say two lights, start with one, something along the lines of 750 w.s. actual output to 1000 w.s., and a single modifier like a good softbox and solid light stand. You can always expand your system later. Photoflex http://www.photoflex.com has some new monolights out that seem quite good backed by a reliable company, Calumet and Bowens (my preference) makes good reliable lighting too, sold by dealers like B&H. http://www.bowens.co.uk/catalog/ The portraits in my web site were done with a single Bowens monolight, 1000 w.s, a Chimera 3x4 foot softbox or just a 6' strip bank and a white or black fill fomecore card placed to one side of the subject. Hollar if you need more input.
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Mark |
Hi guys, I saw your post and though I'm more of a videographer, I can comment on the cool-flo light kit as I purchased one just before christmas this year. First, I too was worried about my purchase. There was a tripod leg that was damaged in shipping and they sent a replacement immediately. I couldn't have been happier with their customer service. The lights themselves don't indicate who actually makes them. The softbox is incredibly hard to assemble, especially if you dont know much about them. The support (corner) posts insert into the light head at a 90-degree angle to the bulbs. It's very tough to flex them in there. (Also, no instructions for assembly are provided) I am always worried I'm going to tear the softbox in the process. Otherwise, for the price, they worked EXCELLENT for me. No major studio usage here but I could do some smaller professional work (interview, chromakey, etc). I opted for the 900wt/head model and am very glad I did. I am certain that I would have totally regretted getting the smaller heads. The 3 light kit is basically good for your typical 3-light (key/fill/head) setup. I still had to add several smaller lights to properly backlight my greenscreen. But overall, the softbox lights with diffusers produced a very nice, soft light that has worked great for my video projects so far. Hope this helps, Mark
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John H. Siskin |
Hi Michael and others, Fluorescent lights are not a good light source for photography. When video looks at light it averages the character of the light over time. Still photography captures a fraction of a second, and gives it to you forever. One reason that this is aproblem is that the output of a fluorescent light source varies with the 60 cycle current of U.S. electricity, so if you trake 10 shots at 1/250th oiof a second your color will not be the same in all of them. Strobes do not heat up your shooting area. They stop action, since there duration is about 1/1000th of a second,. More to the point I don’t know of any strobe user who would willingly give them up.
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