Studio flash lighting choice ..

Volusian

Volusian

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Will hopefully be decking my new 2 room studio (15ft x 35ft per room) out very soon and wondered what was a good recommendation for reliable flash lighting ...

will have around £500-600 max available per roon on flash lighting ..

Would you say this is sufficient to buy 2 heads per room ?

Looking for heads around 400w as a minimum ..

Are there any good deals around for full kits including light boxes / brollies etc ?

I do have a new set of Interfit EXD-200 lights but not too sure about the quality of interfit .. spoke to their repair department once and they didnt seem too professional in their response to my questions .. :suspect:

Any advice welcome .. :)
 
2 heads per room?
That depends on so many things, mainly on the type of photography you want to do, how creative you want the lighting to be, whether or not you want to light the background as well as the subject...

In other words, you need to give a lot more info before anyone can give you useful answers.
 
Was only going to start with 2 lights per room due to funds .. as soon as things take off a little i can invest in another pair per room if needed ..

Lights will be mounted on wall mounted Manfrotto 098b boom arms ..

The studio complex is going to be multi use ... 5 rooms total. One of the rooms will be for signs and graphics etc as im also a signwriter. Funds from this side of the business will help purchase extra kit for the photo studio side as i go along ..
 
THE-BIG-MAN-SAYS said:
Have a look at these...some people on here have them...I hope to get some soon...and they review well...
STEVIER
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The Quantum lights look interesting enough .. but what about reliability and after sales service ?? .. Poland is a long way from me .. :thinking:
 
*removed*

If you really feel that you need more power there are also 600 Ws heads available, but I very much doubt whether you will need more than 300Ws. BTW, it doesn't follow that 400's will give you 1/3 stop more power, the actual flash energy depends on far more than the amount of energy stored in the capacitors.

Is there a special reason why you want to mount the flash heads on boom arms? They are far less versatile than stands.
 
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Wall mounted boom arms are great & I had two in my last little studio, but only because it was little and I needed to maximise on clear floor space. You are indicating that initially set-up money is tight, well one good wall boom = 2 reasonable medium stands (one with wheels) and a back-light stand. Also I don't know what the intended use of the studio(s) is but a lighting budget total of £500-600 per room seems inadequate for anything of a good standard - does that total include reflectors/softboxes/'brollies...?

Paul
 
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Garry Edwards said:
Is there a special reason why you want to mount the flash heads on boom arms? They are far less versatile than stands.
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Much prefer booms ... i tried stands for several years when i was mobile going to customers houses and they were a nightmare .. easily knocked over. Have tried booms and ceiling scissor mounts and they are much preferred by me ..

paul williams said:
Wall mounted boom arms are great & I had two in my last little studio, but only because it was little and I needed to maximise on clear floor space. You are indicating that initially set-up money is tight, well one good wall boom = 2 reasonable medium stands (one with wheels) and a back-light stand. Also I don't know what the intended use of the studio(s) is but a lighting budget total of £500-600 per room seems inadequate for anything of a good standard - does that total include reflectors/softboxes/'brollies...?

Paul
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Was hoping to buy a ready make lighting kit of decent quality with all items included but thats looking more unlikely the more i look into it .. As Garry says i should get away with 300-400 max ..

I did a college diploma course last year and the college had bowens esprit 500w lights ceiling scissor mounted and they were brilliant ... and we never used them anywhere near full power and always got top results. What i do want though is a good after sales service from a lighting manufacturer .. i have had dealing with Interfit and their after sales service was pretty poor i thought ..
 
Volusian said:
Much prefer booms ... i tried stands for several years when i was mobile going to customers houses and they were a nightmare .. easily knocked over. Have tried booms and ceiling scissor mounts and they are much preferred by me .. ..
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Well, flimsy sands can be a nightmare. But good ones, especially if you put a set of wheels on them and a set of weights, are very unlikely to get knocked over. The weights make them stable and the wheels mean that if someone pushes against them they move instead of toppling. The problem with boom arms is that the restrict positioning, which limites creativity.



I did a college diploma course last year and the college had bowens esprit 500w lights ceiling scissor mounted and they were brilliant ... and we never used them anywhere near full power and always got top results. What i do want though is a good after sales service from a lighting manufacturer .. i have had dealing with Interfit and their after sales service was pretty poor i thought ..
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'Scissor mounted' lighting may be a problem for you. Firstly you need a minimum of 14' in height, secondly they will cost far more than the budget for your lights. Thirdly, although they're safe, quick and easy to set up, it's difficult to get the lights to stay exactly where you put them - not a problem if you're just using softboxes or umbrellas, much more of a problem with more creative tools.
 
I agree that a top rail and pantograph system would be the 'best' option if money allowed, but you'd need to budget the best part of £1k as a minimum for that. In truth a well kitted out studio would have all three wall/ceiling/stands - but its just about the economics of the start-up costs and the need to balance reliability and the best 'bang for your bucks' as it were.

Stands being knocked over - sand bags to lower the centre of gravity and casters to allow the stand to move rather than topple.

Lighting kits are an economical way to get a 'basic' set-up but they usually don't come with snoots, reflector grids, beauty dishes...so the cost of those may need to be added - but in many cases it will be cheaper to buy a two/three head kit than individual heads. It really all depends on what you aim the studio(s) to be used for - however there are generally loads of secondhand lighting accessories to be had.

Paul
 
ooh I've turned into an echo :lol:

personally I prefer sand bags to attached metal weights as they offer better versatility - Garry, need to suggest these as a product line, be great with the Lencarta logo :D

Paul
 
if you are opening a studio (especially to the public) you need to
1. Be in control - dont let people run about and be all over the place, its not that sort of space
2. Risk assess the things in the studio, and minimise the risks
3. Don't forget the purpose of the studio (what's the point in a controlled lighting environment, where you hand over your control by limiting the lighting positions)

You need to get a balance, there may not be an ideal answer. personally I would do what is right creatively, and then make sure I enforced point 1, and had a very hard look at point 2
 
Why not just kit one room out to a higher standard first and then do the other as funds become available?

Andy
 
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