Is this Ebay lighting Kit worth it?

All of that for half the cost of a decent on camera flash. What could possibly go wrong.....?

[Lots of threads here on similar looking kit. A few people are happy with them. A few have had fires.]
 
Save up for something a little better than the Ebay stuff.. There are better options for not that much more..
 
Hi,

My future son in law asked me to buy one of these kits for him, pay on your credit card and I will pay you back. :D

Needless to say he never did and he has given up hopes of becoming a great portrait photographer, so I ended up with them.

Surprisingly for the price they all work fine and for the amount of studio work I do have proved to be OK.

They are not the best built bit of kit I have ever seen but it does the job.

As a bonus so far they have not exploded set the place on fire electrocuted the cat or caused any other problems. :eek:
 
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I got one, use it (sometimes) does what it says on the tin. Limited to upgrade options - NONE, great buget kit to dip your toe in the water.

Phil.
 
I have that kit, surprisingly good for the money, I have carried the lights about in my top box a fair few times, set them up in pubs/hotels and they are still going strong..

when I have some money will I upgrade? yes but these are great way to get into studio lights IMO and a little bit further.
 
I have 2 of those, and while the build quality isn't great, for the price they're not bad, and are great for experimenting and learning with. No they're not on the same level as more expensive flashes, and not as reliable I'm sure, but they're certainly not as bad as people make out.

If you have more money then by all means buy a better kit, but on a budget they're hard to beat!

This was taken with one of these heads through the supplied softbox, and I'm more than happy with the light I got!


Tattoo by dubbleyu, on Flickr
 
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Yeah they are a good starter set, I've got them and never run into problems, when you say generator, are you talking pull start Honda or a carry around inverter pack?
Just bear in mind that if your wanting to run these off anything other than the mains you will need something with a pure sine wave output and enough oomph to keep up.
 
These kits are fine. Though for not much more money you can get a couple of lencarta smart flash and stands and buy a couple of cheap softboxes.

I have the neewer eBay lights same as your link. Had them for a year and I use them as a backup these days. I did manage to break one of them.... my fault though, I had a reflective/grid and gel on one and left the modeling light on, it overheated while being used by a trigger happy tog friend of mine... it didn't catch fire though, just went "pop" lol.

Oh... you'll have to improvise to get anything to attach to them like other softboxes etc..
 
I brought this exact kit from abating 18 months ago. No issues at all. As everyone says, it's basic and limiting, but what you get for your money is a great way to get into studio lighting.
 
Personally I'd save up for a better studio package or buy one decent flash head to start off.I bought the Bowens 400/400 package and am still just using one head at the moment so I can learn everything I can do with this before adding the other light.The kit above comes with a good few modifiers which might end up with you keep swapping them round and not mastering one of them.My kit came with brollies and going to learn what I can do with them personally before I even think about getting anymore modifiers.
 
Trev Rich said:
Also looking to get a generator to run it out doors?
Any advice greatly appreciated...
Click to expand...

Running studio lights on a generator (as in like the ones that power burger vans etc) is not recommended.

Honda do an inverter generator which will set you back a grand or more, but the best bet if you have that kind of money to splash, is to get something like a Bowens kit with a travel pack, which would come in at a similar overall price IMHO.
 
i cant comment on the product itself- however a while back i did have endless issues when i purchased a camera grip from the same seller...... initially the item never arrived, so a claim was made, then after they eventually managed to find a tracking number (they couldnt before) i ended up recieving a small box with a few stones in i continued with the claim and they won with ebay as they'd provided a tracking number however i was shorted about £40 and was left far from happy- although they say uk seller, most parts from there come from abroad do some research on ukpartsdeal and you'l see some horrid scenarios of what theyve been up to in the past- id personally be very wary of them!!
 
Simon photo said:
Yeah they are a good starter set, I've got them and never run into problems, when you say generator, are you talking pull start Honda or a carry around inverter pack?
Just bear in mind that if your wanting to run these off anything other than the mains you will need something with a pure sine wave output and enough oomph to keep up.
Click to expand...

Not sure really... will need advice on that too!
But I want to be able to light subjects outdoors.....:help:
 
tezmed said:
i cant comment on the product itself- however a while back i did have endless issues when i purchased a camera grip from the same seller...... initially the item never arrived, so a claim was made, then after they eventually managed to find a tracking number (they couldnt before) i ended up recieving a small box with a few stones in i continued with the claim and they won with ebay as they'd provided a tracking number however i was shorted about £40 and was left far from happy- although they say uk seller, most parts from there come from abroad do some research on ukpartsdeal and you'l see some horrid scenarios of what theyve been up to in the past- id personally be very wary of them!!
Click to expand...

Cheers. Was more looking at the kind of kits rather than buying that specific item but thanks for the heads up!!! :thumbs:
 
I have had these lights for about 2 years with no problems, BROUGHT SPARE BULBS ON EBAY and you can buy extra bits universal that fit fine, I brought them thinking they would do while i saved up but or untill they go pop but there still going strong and they have been used alot, when they go belly up i might think of buying something pricier but they work as i want them to and there making me money so ui cant fault them.
 
The cheapest option that I have found if you want to have a dabble with outdoor location flash is a Calumet Genesis 300B head at £179.99 plus the the associated battery pack at £149.99 It's decent kit & can overpower the sun in the UK as long as it's not blazing midday summer sun
http://www.calumetphoto.co.uk/eng/product/calumet_genesis_300b_flash_head/cf0507
http://www.calumetphoto.co.uk/eng/product/calumet_genesis_300_powerport_power_pack/cf0508
At £330 complete it's cheaper than buying a generator that might b****r up your flash unit.
 
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