Beginner Studio Light Kit

[bensambrook]

Hi all, I'm after a light kit that I can use to take consistent photographs of work (usually brochures and printed materials). I'm currently using a D3200, a makeshift white backdrop made from A2 pieces of paper and natural light. My problem is that as the photos have been taken over a period of time, the lighting is different which can be altered in processing but to minimise this I wanted a basic studio light kit.

A backdrop is essential but I was unsure on what I need, is a tent box better than a backing sheet? The images will be going on my website under my portfolio.

I've seen a few possible options, what recommendations do people have? I've seen this one which look like it fits what I need but I thought I'd ask the people who actually know their stuff! http://www.harrisoncameras.co.uk/pd/Dorr-50W-Mini-Studio-Flash-Kit_371240.htm

 

[Garry Edwards]

That kit is the worst kind of junk, and in fact is seriously overpriced too, for what it is.
For your purpose, this Lencarta twin head kit with 2 softboxes is ideal (I would normally recommend a kit with 1 umbrella and 1 softbox for people photography, but your needs are different). There are of course other products that are just as suitable from other suppliers.

You'll need the softboxes to create controlled, even illumination of your flat subjects without also creating unwanted reflections.

A light cube/light tent will be a waste of money. I strongly recommend that you forget about a backdrop and simply cut the images out in PP, it's a very quick and easy job with simple subjects like yours. The alternative to this is mount the artwork on glass that is then fixed in position a good distance from the backdrop, this though will make both the lighting and the photography itself much more complicated, this will also require twice as much lighting equipment, much more space and a slower rate of production.

 

[Paul-H]

Hi

have a look at some of the low cost studio flash kits available, they are much more usable than a couple of low powered continuous lights, from a photographic point of view these 50w lights are almost worthless as the light emitted is just too low to be of use.

There are quite a few low cost mini studio flashes available for under £40 with outputs in the region of 200-300w accompanied by the vast number of low cost modifiers available Softbox's etc they make quite a useful accessory.

Some say they are no good because they don't take Bowens Attachments, but if you are into low cost units why would you want to use Bowens etc light modifiers, but if for some perverse reason you did, you can get adaptors to enable their use if you must.

Some say they are poor quality rubbish, I have a set I bought over 20 years ago and they are all still going strong and still the original modelling lamps so they cant be that bad, in fact I have had quite a few Bowens units die in the time I have owned these cheap heads and they have been fine, mine are only 100w units but very usable and I have just added a 300w unit of similar value and expect it to last just as long.

Don't be put off by the it must be expensive to be any good brigade, sometimes you buy cheap you buy twice, but not always, some times you buy expensive and get no better as you are just paying for a name not quality.

Your money your choice

Paul

 

[simonbarker]

Some say they are poor quality rubbish, I have a set I bought over 20 years ago and they are all still going strong and still the original modelling lamps so they cant be that bad, in fact I have had quite a few Bowens units die in the time I have owned these cheap heads and they have been fine, mine are only 100w units but very usable and I have just added a 300w unit of similar value and expect it to last just as long.

Leaving aside arguments over fitting etc (I had my fill of that recently) do you really think they're a good idea for someone seeking consistency?

 

[Phil V]

I don't mind banging on about fittings.

I bought some cheap ebay 180Ws heads with a universal fitting. They worked, they were slow to recycle (closer to a speedlight than a decent studio head), but they worked. The softbox that was made to measure falls off, I disassembled one head and put an S fitting on, but it's still not like the real thing, because the light is sat in a reflector. There may be worse electrical and safety issues, but for me, the frustration is enough.

You can pick up half decent heads for less than £100, or for just more than that you can get Lencarta with a decent guarantee, or you can buy 2nd hand, there are loads of options. But the cheap heads with built in reflectors are a PITA to use, and we should consider ourselves helpful for saying so.

 

[bensambrook]

Thank you for the responses and recommendations. I really like the look of the Lencarta twin head kit with 2 softboxes but I feel this is out of my budget. I've got around £200 and could at an absolute push get together £250. I would also need to get some kind of white sheet/glossy sheet to lay the brochures on to.

 

[Garry Edwards]

Thank you for the responses and recommendations. I really like the look of the Lencarta twin head kit with 2 softboxes but I feel this is out of my budget. I've got around £200 and could at an absolute push get together £250. I would also need to get some kind of white sheet/glossy sheet to lay the brochures on to.

As I said to you, you don't need "some kind of white sheet/glossy sheet to lay the brochures on to" - you need to cut them out in PP

 

[Paul-H]

I don't mind banging on about fittings.

I bought some cheap ebay 180Ws heads with a universal fitting. They worked, they were slow to recycle (closer to a speedlight than a decent studio head), but they worked. The softbox that was made to measure falls off, I disassembled one head and put an S fitting on, but it's still not like the real thing, because the light is sat in a reflector. There may be worse electrical and safety issues, but for me, the frustration is enough.

You can pick up half decent heads for less than £100, or for just more than that you can get Lencarta with a decent guarantee, or you can buy 2nd hand, there are loads of options. But the cheap heads with built in reflectors are a PITA to use, and we should consider ourselves helpful for saying so.

As I said, mine are 100w units bought about 20 years ago and have been consistent and faultless in all those years, maybe I have been lucky but for occasional use and low cost they still offer an option that many find attractive.

Ok some are not very good but the same can be said for some of the better known units as well, I went through quite a few Bowens units and every one went bang, does that make them all rubbish, obviously not but it was enough for me to no longer consider them if I was to have the need for a more powerful option.

For me my cheap small units do everything I want and reliably as well. Which is why I have no issue recommending that the OP tries them, not for one minute suggesting they are all good unlike some people do with the more expensive stuff when not all expensive stuff is good.

Its much easier to say I bought cheap and it was rubbish than it is to say I paid a fortune and it was rubbish, no one will admit that will they.

 

[simonbarker]

As I said, mine are 100w units bought about 20 years ago and have been consistent and faultless in all those years, maybe I have been lucky but for occasional use and low cost they still offer an option that many find attractive.

What heads are you specifically talking about?

Ok some are not very good but the same can be said for some of the better known units as well, I went through quite a few Bowens units and every one went bang, does that make them all rubbish, obviously not but it was enough for me to no longer consider them if I was to have the need for a more powerful option.

I've not heard of anyone else having repeated failures from new Bowens kit despite talk of lower standards on their more recent kit, which heads blew up on you? I suppose a bad batch is possible but that's the exception which proves the rule and not a great argument for defending poor quality from another product.

For me my cheap small units do everything I want and reliably as well. Which is why I have no issue recommending that the OP tries them, not for one minute suggesting they are all good unlike some people do with the more expensive stuff when not all expensive stuff is good.

Stuff breaks, doesn't matter how expensive it is but the salient point is you're less likely to experience that failure as they're better designed and use more expensive parts. In the event they do fail you get a proper warranty replacement from a decent brand and good customer support (or should), I've had no personal dealings with Lencarta support but I'd imagine they were at least as good as the people at The Flash centre, Bowens etc.

You may not especially care about good customer support but for anyone beyond the most basic requirements time is money and that's why they pay extra for it.

Its much easier to say I bought cheap and it was rubbish than it is to say I paid a fortune and it was rubbish, no one will admit that will they.

Care to give any examples? In my experience buying high end guarantees certain standards.

 

[simonbarker]

Thank you for the responses and recommendations. I really like the look of the Lencarta twin head kit with 2 softboxes but I feel this is out of my budget. I've got around £200 and could at an absolute push get together £250. I would also need to get some kind of white sheet/glossy sheet to lay the brochures on to.

That's a tough budget, it's probably worth getting a cheap shooting table so you've got a dedicated space to work from and having it at table height makes setting up and working easier but as Gary points out the material used doesn't matter as if you want a solid white you'll need to cut out whatever you're shooting (you can't make the surface perfect white in camera without also blowing out your subject).

That budget doesn't give you many options unless buying second hand (there's a Lencarta kit in the classifieds), you don't need much but Gary probably hit the nail on the head with a couple of lights, stands and modifiers to get you started.

 

[Paul-H]

Care to give any examples? In my experience buying high end guarantees certain standards.[/QUOTE]

Over the years I have owned and used 10 Bowens heads from 400D through Mono Bronze, silver and Gold Heads, every single one blew the resistor pack on the power output selector switch, also had a few of the early Elinchromes go pop as well.

Yes they were all repaired under warrantee some more than once but all eventually ended their life at the local tip.

Don't do heavy flash use any more, only small product shots, and have found the small heads to perform faultlessly for the last 20 years, with as I said not even had a modelling lamp go yet.

I suppose next time they will all go bang but hell I have had my moneys worth out of them.

Paul

 

[Garry Edwards]

Care to give any examples? In my experience buying high end guarantees certain standards.

Over the years I have owned and used 10 Bowens heads from 400D through Mono Bronze, silver and Gold Heads, every single one blew the resistor pack on the power output selector switch, also had a few of the early Elinchromes go pop as well.

Yes they were all repaired under warrantee some more than once but all eventually ended their life at the local tip.

Don't do heavy flash use any more, only small product shots, and have found the small heads to perform faultlessly for the last 20 years, with as I said not even had a modelling lamp go yet.

I suppose next time they will all go bang but hell I have had my moneys worth out of them.

Paul[/QUOTE]
Sorry, but that doesn't amount to evidence of anything, not even of bad luck.

The Bowens 400 range is ancient and extremely basic, it's quite possible that whatever caused that particular failure is entirely unrelated to the possible causes of the other failures.
Later products are far more sophisticated, and need to have a stable power supply - is it possible that there was something wrong with your power supply?

I used to know a guy who set up a studio that was entirely equipped with Elinchrom, he was a pretty poor photographer and had very little work, but he bought at least a dozen different Elinchrom heads, that hardly got used at all. But nearly all of them blew up, when this happened they were replaced under warranty and the replacements would blow up too. These were not particuarly modern heads, because this was 15 years ago.

Eventually, the reason for this came to light, an unqualified electrician had made a mistake that resulted in voltage that fluctuated badly. And modern electronic equipment needs a stable voltage. It's very possible that your old cheap lights are more resilient to any conditions that might have caused better heads to fail

 

[Paul-H]

But its ok for you to just spout that the cheap units are rubbish without any documented evidence to prove it.

OK I give up you win, you are obviously the sort who must be right.

Well done you are right I am wrong Happy now.

Goodbye

 

[Garry Edwards]

But its ok for you to just spout that the cheap units are rubbish without any documented evidence to prove it.

OK I give up you win, you are obviously the sort who must be right.

Well done you are right I am wrong Happy now.

Goodbye

I'm only trying to help, there's no reason to take my points personally.

As for not having any documented evidence, in fact I do know a fair amount about studio light heads and have carried out detailed tests on just about every head that has passed through my hands.

 

[mike weeks]

But its ok for you to just spout that the cheap units are rubbish without any documented evidence to prove it.

OK I give up you win, you are obviously the sort who must be right.

Well done you are right I am wrong Happy now.

Goodbye

Firstly Gary was not spouting, he is respected and acknowledged by many that do understand lighting as a bit of an expert, myself included. Nobody would waste their time documenting how poor some of these units are, it is just too obvious to anybody that has used professional lights and I for one would not want to take the risk to life having seen some of them.

To address some of your points such as fitting, pretty damn obvious that without the ability to expand a system you are at a dead end.

These units can only be re-sold to people that know no better.

Mike