lights

[dvtimes]

I am looking for some decent (studio) lights (for a digital camera).

any recomendations. second hand is ok.

[Geezer]

I am looking for some decent (studio) lights (for a digital camera).

any recomendations. second hand is ok.

Flash/stills?

[dvtimes]

stills

[Johnny Kleenexxx]

what's wrong with car headlights ?

[Geezer]

Here (http://www.jessops.com/Store/s34711/0/Studio-Kits/Interfit/EX150-Studio-Kit/details.aspx?&IsSearch=y&pageindex=1&comp=n) is a neat little portable kit and cheap as well.

You can get some decent heads for about £100 but by the time you have got 2 plus brollies/soft boxes you would be better off with a kit.

Here (http://www.jessops.com/Store/s34762/0/Studio-Kits/Interfit/Stellar-300-2-Head-Kit/details.aspx) is another kit.

[Johnny Kleenexxx]

Here (http://www.jessops.com/Store/s34711/0/Studio-Kits/Interfit/EX150-Studio-Kit/details.aspx?&IsSearch=y&pageindex=1&comp=n) is a neat little portable kit and cheap as well.

You can get some decent heads for about £100 but by the time you have got 2 plus brollies/soft boxes you would be better off with a kit.

Here (http://www.jessops.com/Store/s34762/0/Studio-Kits/Interfit/Stellar-300-2-Head-Kit/details.aspx) is another kit.

that looks good for the money

[Geezer]

that looks good for the money

Here (http://www.jessops.com/Store/s8732/1-132-473-262-316/Home/Accessories/Enthusiast-Products/Studio/Studio-Kits/Interfit/3200K-2-Head-Kit/details.aspx) is an even cheaper kit.

Although as its for DVT I think this (http://www.jessops.com/Store/s8126/1-132-294/Home/Accessories/Torches/Maglite/AA-Mini-Maglite-(Royal-Blue)-Presentation-Box/details.aspx) would be a better choice

[dvtimes]

are they jessops own? i was told they are not very good.

[badbee]

Here (http://www.jessops.com/Store/s8732/1-132-473-262-316/Home/Accessories/Enthusiast-Products/Studio/Studio-Kits/Interfit/3200K-2-Head-Kit/details.aspx) is an even cheaper kit.



I've got one of those, they're OK for the money, only problem being that they aren't too robust, but if you just want to leave them set up in a corner, then they're fine for budget gear.

[whiteslime]

I got some portaflash lights and ended up replacing them
after a couple of shoots. Their power is not much better than a battery operated flash head and the modelling lamp of the 336 is pretty useless because its not powerful enough - at
minimum you need enough light for your AF to work.

Shop around on ebay and see if you can get some second hand lights, rather than buying new. Bowens and Interfit are good brands and have lights that dont have the limitations
I mentioned.

[Boobie]

Hensel light system (hensel.de) works really really good here

[gawdi]

Just had a quick look on ebay - not much on there at the moment.... This kit seems to be the best buy...
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Bowens-Gemini-Esprit-500w-500-Watt-2-Head-Kit_W0QQitemZ260116620035QQihZ016QQcategoryZ3860QQ rdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

2 x 500w will do everything u want it too....... theses bowens are very reiliable and, it looks like you can test it all out before you hand over your hard earned cash.....

[New Blue]

Hi Adam.

If you're looking at a camera upgrade too, have a look at this for the price http://www.currys.co.uk/martprd/product/seo/600394

Blue

[DaveKnell]

Just had a quick look on ebay - not much on there at the moment.... This kit seems to be the best buy...
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Bowens-Gemini-Esprit-500w-500-Watt-2-Head-Kit_W0QQitemZ260116620035QQihZ016QQcategoryZ3860QQ rdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

2 x 500w will do everything u want it too

..that's "would have done everything you want to", as some bugger's bought it.

--Dave

[Simon]

Elinchrom for me. Hensel is good, but not many dealers in the UK so spares and accessories can be a bit tricky.

Bowens is damn good stuff. Not the lightest to lug around and not the fastest re-cycle times, but the overall package is very attractive indeed, cause its tough and reliable with long tube life and dealers everwhere. - And crops up on ebay frequently.

BTW Tescos are currently selling a bag in the sports section thats designed to take a golf bag full of clubs on an airline - its got those little wheels at one end and would pretty perfectly fit two heads and few stands and brollies. All for £13 quid.

[SGS]

Been using Bowens since the mid 80s when we had one of the first "hi-Glide" systems installed. :)

[gawdi]

Elinchrom for me. Hensel is good, but not many dealers in the UK so spares and accessories can be a bit tricky.

Bowens is damn good stuff. Not the lightest to lug around and not the fastest re-cycle times, but the overall package is very attractive indeed, cause its tough and reliable with long tube life and dealers everwhere. - And crops up on ebay frequently.

BTW Tescos are currently selling a bag in the sports section thats designed to take a golf bag full of clubs on an airline - its got those little wheels at one end and would pretty perfectly fit two heads and few stands and brollies. All for £13 quid.

I love elinchroms - but find they are prone to overheating with heavy use.... In fact at the last studio we used, their D-Lites just couldn't cope and were fuckered up with heavy use... studio before that, their elinchroms, just kep malfunctioning..........
Not had these probs with bowens - for my own lights I use Interfit Pro which are quite cheap and to date have taken everything I've chucked at them.....
I totally agree with refund about buying cheap lights... it really is a false economy... a good set of lights will last you 10 years

[Simon]

I bet my idea of heavy use would make your eyes water. Even with setup time between sets, we often do 3500 images in a total of four hours. :noway2:

D-lites are a bit flimsy looking and the recycle times are long as well, would not recomend them unless weight is a major issue. We use the 600s models which have fans (which made them useless for stand in movie lights, did not see that one coming!) - we've not had any over heating problems, but do fry the tubes in about 4 months, which never happened with the Bowens. We try to under-run all of the gear, a 600 head run at 300 is under a lot less stress than a 300 at 300. Most photo gear was designed pre digital when, 36 shots in a row was pure craziness, so it just can't cope with a digital work cycle of 360 shots in a row, with no real cooling off periods.

The Elinchrom weren't the big leap in quality or reliabilty we were expecting from Bowens, given all the "swiss quality" PR they plug the enitire time. I still just prefer them to bowens cause of the recycle speed. One thing that also annoys me is that they no longer use the sliders for the power adjustment - now its nasty little bleep buttons. So now rather than being able to poke the slider with a broom or reach behind a light thats in a corner and tweak it just by feel, you now have to stuggle to find the right bleeping button. Such is progress

If you want real quality, theres only two choices, Broncolor or Profoto, both are great, but their dealers don't inspire me, and their product lines are very biased towards huge 3000j packs and heads rather than the 500/1000 mono heads that work for porn.

SGS, you actually used Hi-Glide? Great stuff for getting the lights in more or less the right position, terrible stuff for getting it in exactly the right position, and don't even think about turning a wind machine on or opening a window.