Lastolite Hilite lighting set up

mjcombe

mjcombe

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Michael
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Hi,

I am dipping my toes into portraiture as I keep getting requests from people to do some shoots.

Now, I am familiar with my 5D MKII as I've been doing landscape shots for long enough, but I'm on a steep learning curve with lighting etc for portraits.

I've purchased a 6x7' lastolite hilite (as I got a good deal on it) with train. I have been considering this lighting set up:

Genesis MK II

In all the hilite video's it shows that the light in the actual hilite is permanently on. I realise the lighting set that I am looking at are flash but can they be switched on all the time?

Hope this makes sense, trying to make head or tail of this!

Thanks,

Michael
 
Last edited:
mjcombe said:
Hi,

I am dipping my toes into portraiture as I keep getting requests from people to do some shoots.

Now, I am familiar with my 5D MKII as I've been doing landscape shots for long enough, but I'm on a steep learning curve with lighting etc for portraits.

I've purchased a 6x7' lastolite hilite (as I got a good deal on it) with train. I have been considering this lighting set up:

Genesis MK II

In all the hilite video's it shows that the light in the actual hilite is permanently on. I realise the lighting set that I am looking at are flash but can they be switched on all the time?

Hope this makes sense, trying to make head or tail of this!

Thanks,

Michael
Click to expand...

What you are seeing is the modelling lights, these are bulbs placed at the centre of the flash unit and they are used to give you an impression of what the flash will look like albeit at lower power. When you trigger the flash unit the modelling bulbs turn off momentarily.

Your 5D and the lastolite set-up will be a great combo also consider getting one of the bottle top black covers so you can do low key shots too.

On the lighting side of things I think you really need two lights for the lastolite alone to get an even light. then at least 1 if not two for the front! I would be a little wary of the fact that all but the lowest priced gear in the elemental range is always sold out or on back order.....:thinking:

there are plenty of alternative manufacturers of flash equipment in the same price region as the elemental gear. just shop around I would say..:thumbs:

Hope this helps a bit.
 
Fantastic, thanks for the pointers, that makes perfect sense!

I think the reason I was leaning towartds the Elemental kit is that they are fan cooled and I haven't seen others in the same price range that offer this, but I may be wrong - at least I've got plenty time to do some research with all the snow about!

Michael
 
Get three Lencarta Smartflash heads in a kit. That'll get you well underway and may be all you need :thumbs:

If you're starting out, avoid using the train for pure white. It's very hard to light it properly at the best of times and you'll likely end up frustrated and disappointed with endless post processing to patch things up. Stick to head and shoulders and three-quarter length max until you've got the hang of it all.
 
onform said:
I would be a little wary of the fact that all but the lowest priced gear in the elemental range is always sold out or on back order.....:thinking:
Click to expand...

In that case he should also be wary of Lencarta as they go out of stock as well. :thinking: Sorry, but that's a daft statement as they both get their stock from abroad and therefore there can be delivery problems for both of them.

I've got both the Genesis and Trinity lights and they work great. I do get a little sick of the Elemental bashing on here sometimes...usually by people with Lencarta lights :nono: It's bad form but nuff said, don't want this turning into an arguement.


mjcombe said:
Fantastic, thanks for the pointers, that makes perfect sense!

I think the reason I was leaning towartds the Elemental kit is that they are fan cooled and I haven't seen others in the same price range that offer this, but I may be wrong - at least I've got plenty time to do some research with all the snow about!

Michael
Click to expand...

I can vouch for the Elemental lights which are good from my own experience and although I've never used the Lencarta lights they do get good reviews here. As you say, do lots of research into all the brands and make an educated choice based on what you require.

As for the Hilite, I can do it fine with just one light in it and although I use two for the subject, I could just as easily use one light on the subject. :)
 
Apologies mjcombe for the thread hijack here !

I have been looking at these (the Lastolite Highlites ) as I really like the idea of one big light source to mimic a window, but with one, or if needs be 2 speedlights, so using it as the only light source for very soft portraiture lighting.
Portability and limited amount of equipment are big factors for me.
Am I way off track or is there something much better suited to my needs ?
 
Would a big square softbox do this? The Highlite is basically a ruddy great softbox anyway lol
 
stevewestern said:
Apologies mjcombe for the thread hijack here !

I have been looking at these (the Lastolite Highlites ) as I really like the idea of one big light source to mimic a window, but with one, or if needs be 2 speedlights, so using it as the only light source for very soft portraiture lighting.
Portability and limited amount of equipment are big factors for me.
Am I way off track or is there something much better suited to my needs ?
Click to expand...

You want one of these - Lastolite MegaLite http://www.warehouseexpress.com/search/Default.aspx?q=lastolite megalite

Looks like a medium sized HiLite on wheels to me ;)
 
Looks like just the thing !
I do have a fairly big (76cm2) softbox, but one of these would be ideal - Thanks !
 
gman said:
In that case he should also be wary of Lencarta as they go out of stock as well. :thinking: Sorry, but that's a daft statement as they both get their stock from abroad and therefore there can be delivery problems for both of them.

I've got both the Genesis and Trinity lights and they work great. I do get a little sick of the Elemental bashing on here sometimes...usually by people with Lencarta lights :nono: It's bad form but nuff said, don't want this turning into an arguement.


I can vouch for the Elemental lights which are good from my own experience and although I've never used the Lencarta lights they do get good reviews here. As you say, do lots of research into all the brands and make an educated choice based on what you require.

As for the Hilite, I can do it fine with just one light in it and although I use two for the subject, I could just as easily use one light on the subject. :)
Click to expand...

Just another voice on Elemental. As they're local to me I've picked up in person whenever I've dealt with them and they certainly weren't short of stock. No problems with the gear either, they've worked well for me so far.
 
The Hi-Lite is basically just a large softbox, configured so that all the light comes out of the front and so that the front is evenly lit.

Some people believe that they can be lit well enough with just one light, but the only 2 ways that one light can be used is to either
1. Have one side overexposed, which aggravates the inherent problem of flare and edge degradation
2 have one side underexposed and to deal with that problem in PP, which is a messy and time consuming way of dealing with a problem that should be avoided in the first place - so, you need 2 lights to do it well.

One way of cutting down on costs is to use hotshoe flashes in the Hi-Lite. Hotshoe flashes don't have the modelling lamps that you mentioned in your post but they don't matter when used for this. They also have limited power and recycle slowly, but it's do-able and well worth considering if you already have a couple - but it's not a good idea to buy the expensive dedicated ones just for this purpose, you'd be better off buying studio flashes because they're better and cheaper.

How many lights you need at the front depends on the type of shots you want to produce and on your style, if you want totally flat lighting then 2 lights is best, if you want to be more creative then you can manage fine with one, most of the time.
 
Well, hilite is here, lights should arrive in the next day or two.

I've opted for the Genesis II set up which I feel will give me enough to get to grips with for starters without breaking the bank.

Thanks to gman for the review he has done on this kit, that's what made my mind up along with I couldn't find anything else with the same spec for the same price.

Thanks again,

Michael
 
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