Bowens Gemini 500/500 kit or 750/750 kit

Paul Tomlinson

Paul Tomlinson

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Paul Tomlinson
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I am looking at buying a Bowens Gemini studio setup but not sure on which one to buy, i think the 750/750 kit would be the better.

Please give me some advice:thumbs:
 
where are you using it?
 
And what type of photography do you plan to use it for?
 
in peoples living rooms for portraiture??
 
Yes in peoples living rooms, taking pic of family portraits and that kind of thing, all types of portraits aswell as low key lighting, also i want to take photos of people at work IE; shops, workshops that stuff as well
 
I think what i will do is buy the 750 setup and be done with, i thought someone could give a bit of advice on both of the setups.
 
Hi Paul, it is likely that someone would have one or the other rather than both and the questions are to try to find out more about what you are trying to do with it.

If you are going to be working in small spaces (living rooms/offices) then you might find the 750's overpowered. I have 500's and have never yet needed them all at full power - now, if I could get a barn or something where I could really get them set up far enough away from the subjects it might be different. I got mine from Warehouse Express and I seem to remember that they advised, for the size of the room I would mostly be working in, getting the size smaller than 500's (250's?) and now I know why .
 
hi paul, i have the d lite 4. these are 400's, and i am yet to get to full power, i only use them at home or in relatively small spaces. not looked at the price difference, but 3 250's would offer more opportunities than the 2 500 or 750. when you get a full studio, then im sure you could use them and expand on them, keep them as your portable set or sell em and buy something to suit.

750 is overpowered for the average living room etc.. 200/250 should work fine as should the 500
 
Kerioak said:
Hi Paul, it is likely that someone would have one or the other rather than both and the questions are to try to find out more about what you are trying to do with it.

If you are going to be working in small spaces (living rooms/offices) then you might find the 750's overpowered. I have 500's and have never yet needed them all at full power - now, if I could get a barn or something where I could really get them set up far enough away from the subjects it might be different. I got mine from Warehouse Express and I seem to remember that they advised, for the size of the room I would mostly be working in, getting the size smaller than 500's (250's?) and now I know why .
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply, Can you turn the power down on these lights
 
yes, i think there is a dial on the sides that allow adjustment.
 
It's difficult to give useful advice when you've provided very little info, my guess is that that's why you haven't got the answers you hoped for.

Yes, you can adjust the power - but can you adjust it enough? The power can be reduced steplessly to 1/32nd of maximum, but as others have said that may not be enough to allow you to use the 500's in a small space, let alone the 750's. You'd probably be better with 250's max.

Conversely, the 750's may not produce enough power in a large space!

So, my suggestion is that you get the 250's for your home use, and the add a 1000 (or more) if you find that you need it later.
 
Garry Edwards said:
It's difficult to give useful advice when you've provided very little info, my guess is that that's why you haven't got the answers you hoped for.

Yes, you can adjust the power - but can you adjust it enough? The power can be reduced steplessly to 1/32nd of maximum, but as others have said that may not be enough to allow you to use the 500's in a small space, let alone the 750's. You'd probably be better with 250's max.

Conversely, the 750's may not produce enough power in a large space!

So, my suggestion is that you get the 250's for your home use, and the add a 1000 (or more) if you find that you need it later.
Click to expand...

Very good answer :)

At college we used the 500/500 and I would say if your planning on taking them into peoples houses get something smaller and less powerful. Not everyone's living room is the size of a studio.
 
If all you want is to have a portable kit, especially indoors, then I would be using speedlights with an ST-E2 or pocket wizard.

If you need more power then that, then I would go at least to the 500, cause the size and weight difference is not that much between the 500 and 250.

Actullly what I would do personally is get a couple of used Esprit IIs and add an Inovotronix Explorer XT. Total cost was about £550, which is half what you would pay for the Bowens new with travel pack. Plus you can run all sorts of things from the XT that you can't from the travel pack.
 
Thank you all very much for the information i am asking about, you all seem to know what i was trying to say about what i was useing the lights for. I used the speedlights last night to produce some low key lighting and i had some good results, i think as well i am trying to run before i can walk although i have done photography some years ago, then it was all B&W.

I will look at the 250s but i will also find out how far the 500s turn down to, Thanks again for the information given, there must be some teaching videos out there that show you this type of stuff.
 
The amount of power you need is not really a simple thing. You will need more power shooting through a sunlight reflector with the supersoft attachment vs a shoot through umbrella (asuming your light is at the same distance). Also moving the light closer to your subject increases the effective amount of power of the light. Doing more reaserch and understanding what quality of light you need will go a long way towards helping you decide how many Ws you will need.
 
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