Recomend a Lighting kit

[Guest Lukeo]

Hi,

 

I'm wondering if there's any lighting kits out there that are the best bang for the buck, or any tried and true set ups. (I understand that there is additional stuff like stands, flags, cookies, gels, diffusion materials, scrims etc, i will need, I'm going to see how much of that stuff I can piece together from low budget sources.)

 

I'm looking for the best kit that will give me a focusable hard light, with barndoors, some kind of soft light either Softbox or white Umbrella, not sure what will work best or what is cheaper, and i need another light to put a snoot on for a kicker, eye light, hair light etc. A lot of the work with be lighting small interiors of houses and apartments, and sometimes used outdoors if absolutely needed. not sure if I should get something from Lowell or photoflex.

 

What would you recomend for someone on a budget as well.

 

Luke

[David Sweetman]

What format do you expect to shoot the most?

 

I just picked up 3 2k's, which I'll keep 1k bulbs in, but I can put a 2k bulb in when I need more light. The lights happen to be mole junior solarspots, which are probably bigger than most 2k's because they're designed for studio use, but for the incredible deal I got I can work with the extra size. Plus they already came with a hubbel instead of the studio plug.

 

If you're working on video you could probably get by with a few 650's and a few 1k's. Mole lights will usually tend to be cheaper than Arri, but both are very good.

Edited September 7, 2006 by David Sweetman

[Bob Hayes]

Search the internet for used kits. I think Lowell lights give you the best bang for you buck. A couple of Omni and total light with umbrella can get you filming pretty quickly. On the downside they are pretty hard to use and aren?t very rugged. But you?ll learn your chops well playing with these lights.

[Timur Civan]

if youre on a Real budget, you can check out Rostronics.com they sell britek lights. its ok quality, for very little money. I have 2x 1200W softbanks, and an arri 300. With a bunch a lower power prolites. Looking in to 650w Arris and a 1-2 K arri.

[Thomas Bays]

I suggest getting some black wrap an all purpose pocket knife and if you get a TOTA kit be prepared to fix the stands. The stands don't hold up well.

[Mark Allen]

I'm not sure the price range, but the Dedo Kit is a great option.

 

There have been several shoots that I didn't know what we were going to shoot and had just me and one crew person and I got a dedo kit and a 4x kino and it covered everything we needed.

 

There are budget kino solutions, seen lots written about in the forums here.

[Walter Graff]

I agree with the Lowel recommendation. Look at their Dv kits or buy al la carte over time if you don't have the money. It doesn't take many instruments to do much