Help needed, which tabletop light?

[Leroy4bz]

I'm looking to get a 50cm light tent with a pair of tabletop lamps but am confused about wattage needed. There are cheap kits on EBay but they seem too cheap. I found these http://www.smick.co.uk/sonline/continuous-lighting-heads/26cm-continuous-lighting-head.html. Would they be overkill? Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[Garry Edwards]

At the end of the day, wattage doesn't matter much for this application, as you can always use a longer shutter speed to compensate for lack of power.

What does matter is the CRI value of the bulb itself (which isn't included in your link) - it needs to be a miniumum of 90, even with a CRI of 90 you won't get equal and accurate colour rendition of all colours. The ones sold on Ebay typically don't state the CRI and are often around 67, which is hopeless for colour photography, and even when they do state it, it is generally false.

 

[Leroy4bz]

Thanks for your help Garry. I'm still confused but have learned about (Color Rendering Index)