Cheap lighting starter kit - Any advice?

wippers

wippers

Suspended / Banned
Messages
2,534
Name
Gareth
Edit My Images
Yes
Hi all - I've not done much with lighting yet apart from a few basic sessions during a recent night school college course. I'm currently doing a new website for work and wanted to do some product photography for the site. I only have about £150 to spend on lighting etc and have seen this on Ebay. Are these any good (I know they're cheap and cheerful), or can anyone recommend an alternative? I'd love to buy some decent lighting kit but budget won't allow at the moment so have to do it on the cheap.
Most of our products are small enough to fit within an 800mm light box.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/3-Light-Photo-Lighting-Studio-Side-Top-80cm-Tent-1L2S-/120448169320?pt=UK_Photography_StudioEquipment_RL&hash=item1c0b453568

OR

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Flash-Kit-540w-Photography-Lighting-Studio-Strobe-Light-/180528872151?pt=UK_Photography_StudioEquipment_RL&hash=item2a085bfad7

Thanks
Gareth
 
Last edited:
what is your budget so we can help with an alternative.
 
Your first link is for continuous lights, cheap and cheerful but I see that they have a standard E27 fitting, which means that you'll be able to get replacement bulbs anywhere.

2 things though...

They'll be fine for lighting a light tent, but light tents are extremely limited for product photography and those lights won't do anything else well.

And because they're cheap lamps, it's very unlikely that the Color Rendition Index will be high, which means that not all colours will be reproduced accurately, e.g. reds will look orange, yellows will look almost white etc.

Please see post 87 in this thread for an opinion of the lights in your second link
 
Cheers for the info Garry. Hmmm, now I want one of the Elemental Genesis MKII Twin Head Kits @ £350!! (actually now £329.00 on their site)
Might have to look at budget and invest for the future. Do you think these would be suitable for product photography if I got hold of some white thin pvc sheet or similar as a background? Is the light harsh or diffused?
I'm a total beginner to lighting so bear with my ignorance.
 
Last edited:
wippers said:
Cheers for the info Garry. Hmmm, now I want one of the Elemental Genesis MKII Twin Head Kits @ £350!! (actually now £329.00 on their site)
Might have to look at budget and invest for the future. Do you think these would be suitable for product photography if I got hold of some white thin pvc sheet or similar as a background? Is the light harsh or diffused?
I'm a total beginner to lighting so bear with my ignorance.
Click to expand...

I don't comment on lights sold by Elemental. Take a look at the Lencarta SmartFlash with one softbox & 1 umbrella, which should be back in stock tomorrow.
 
Wippers, what kind of photography are you doing?

Never rush into something no matter how excited you are about it, always take a step back and think clearly.

You may not need two lights, so go for one something like a Smartflash or Elite Pro from Lencarta, they are very well made and take Bowens S-fit light shapers, so you will always be able to get your hands on them anywhere as you and your skills need them.
 
wippers said:
Cheers for the info Garry. Hmmm, now I want one of the Elemental Genesis MKII Twin Head Kits @ £350!! (actually now £329.00 on their site)
Click to expand...

When you include an octangonal softbox (instead of an umbrella) and include postage it puts the price up to the £350 mark.

Personally, after doing a lot of research I decided that there was no way I was going to touch anything from Ebay. I'd stick to the known and reviewed brands.


An excellent saying:

The23rdman said:
You may also have learnt the lesson of buy cheap, buy twice. :)
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
I'm definitely warming to the idea of getting a better quality set-up. I think I'll stay away from the Ebay cheapies.
I like the idea of having a small starter kit with both the umbrella and the softbox which I can add to as I go.
This is only going to be used for product photography initially (is it suitable for this?). I have done a few candid portaits recently and would like to do more studio type portaiture so my thoughts are that either the Lencart Smartflash starter kit or the Elemental Genesis starter kit. Does this sound like the way to go?
 
I'd say so, Elemental and Lencarta appear to provide the best value for money for starting off and I believe both brands do an 18 month warranty also which is good for piece of mind over the Ebay stuff.

Best thing is to do some searches on both brands, see what everyone has to say and then I'd call them both and have a chat with them and see how you feel. It's not like you are buying a £20 memory card after all and it's important you start off on the right footing.

We are moving house and upsizing and I'm intending to setup a small studio because it will compliment my wife's business so having good quality and reliable kit is a must, but I don't believe that the top brands are necessary for my level - although they will be good you are probably paying a premium for the label.

:)
 
Graham - Can you just clarify please (sorry for the ignorance) that this kit you have has a continous light for setting up and then two flash when triggered from a romote flash. I assume you have a sender that sits on the camera hotshoe?

Gareth
 
That's exactly what it is and you can have the 150w modelling lamp on full power, half power, dimmed, switched off etc etc.

You get a 16 channel trigger and receiver with it. The trigger goes on your hotshoe (can be plugged in as well). The receiver is AC powered and connects through the main power cable for the light. You simply plug it into the back of the light. Both lights have a sensor on top which detects flashes, so the other light which doesn't have a receiver will fire automatically when it senses the first strobe going off. Basically, all you have are two (very long) power cables and that's it. (you are also provided with sync cables as a backup).

The camera automatically detected the trigger on the hotshoe and nothing else was needed, it just started working! :)
 
Last edited:
Ive just brought the elemental genesis mk11 3 head kit and its awesome ........

Andy
 
gareth - I have the "cheap" ebay kit... and it works fine for me. A lot of people will say "buy cheap - buy twice" or that it doesn't cut the mustard.... quite frankly I think a lot of people are gear snobs. Fine - if you are a professional and have bags of cash to spend on kit - go for it. If you only have £150-200 this is all you are going to get for your money. You can either save longer and buy semi-pro or pro kit, or you can get the cheaper alternative. I have the cheaper alternative, it works for me and I like it. When I can afford to upgrade I will, until then..... I will continue to use this kit and produce result that I am happy with.
 
mgdaviso said:
gareth - I have the "cheap" ebay kit... and it works fine for me. A lot of people will say "buy cheap - buy twice" or that it doesn't cut the mustard.... quite frankly I think a lot of people are gear snobs. Fine - if you are a professional and have bags of cash to spend on kit - go for it. If you only have £150-200 this is all you are going to get for your money. You can either save longer and buy semi-pro or pro kit, or you can get the cheaper alternative. I have the cheaper alternative, it works for me and I like it. When I can afford to upgrade I will, until then..... I will continue to use this kit and produce result that I am happy with.
Click to expand...

I do agree that more expensive doesn't necessarily mean better but I believe if you have a budget of say £200 then wouldn't it make more sense to get a starter kit from either Lencarta or Elemental who offer an 18 month warranty? Aftersales is just as important to me as the quality of the product (hence why I avoid PC World like the plague) because even the best products can fail.

Also, I have noticed that the Ebay kits with 180w lights recharge in 2.5secs at full power - that's quite a bit longer than 1sec of the brand makes.

Hmmm, I see that some Ebay sellers say 2.5secs and others say 1sec yet it's an identical light head! lol
 
at the end of the day, you buy what you can afford after researching it... I didn't have a clue and got the ebay kit, I'm quite happy with it. I suppose if you are not that bothered about the recycle time, then if would be suitable. You have to know what you want to use it for ultimately really and then make an informed decision. Horses for courses.
 
I can advise on the flash setup because I have owned these. It is basically the same cheap and cheerful setup that lots of ebay sellers sell. It is also the same as Stable Imaging sell.

Basically you get 3 lights that are built down to a price. This is not necessarily a serious fault as we all have a budget and these are close to your budget.

I would avoid continuous lighting, it gets the place VERY hot and your models will not thank you!!

The flash setup is ok. The lights will not take standard fitments BUT they do come with all the usual light modifiers such as soft boxes, barn doors and a snoot. This is incredible value but it is the kind of thing that you will quickly grow out of. This is not a major problem as you can probably sell it again on here or elsewhere in 6 months time for £150.

I had a few problems with the lights with build quality but swapped them out for replacements (getting mine from www.stableimaging.co.uk). Things like power switches coming out etc.

Once you get your lights and are happy with them watch out for colour inconsistencies especially if you try to fire them too quickly after they have just gone. Again this is not a major issue but you need to watch for it.

It is the law of diminishing returns, to get 50% better will cost you 100-150% more. If this is what you budget buys then go ahead!
 
gman said:
Hmmm, I see that some Ebay sellers say 2.5secs and others say 1sec yet it's an identical light head! lol
Click to expand...

Lie, damned lies and statistics :lol:

These lights do take much longer to recharge and it varies on the power BUT if you are taking leisurely portraits or still life shots it does not matter if it takes 0.5 second or 5 seconds.

See my last post about shooting too quickly again with these lights.

I have had some great results with them before going up market :thumbs:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top