Studio lights and power

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Yv

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OK, I have been given permission by the boss to sort out a studio set up, portable, for use as a home/small studio kit. This has ot be on a tight budget and whilst I can shop around and find plenty of different kits that fit the bill, I am a bit stumped by how much power output is needed for use in relatively small spaces. In an ideal world I would like to go for a 3 light kit, but suspect two will be the end purchase based on finances. So, my research so far has found lights start at around 150W and go all the way up into the 1000's. My feeling is that 500-600W is enough for my needs, but bearing in mind the use of reflectors and the like, could this be lower, 300's of something? I am not averse to adding to these at a later date, but as an initial basic set up what is everyone else using/recommend please? :shrug:


oops, should have said, the idea is do a bit of portrait, full length and head/shoulders plus some still lifes, pets, that sort of thing. No huge groups or anything.
 
I have 3 D-Lite 2s - and have shot up to a group of 7 at a time, with the Key light shot through a large Octagonal softbox on 2/3 of full power but still giving F8-f11 (depending on distance)

The point of the above ???

They are 200W lights !!!

For a small area anything more than that is a bit of a waste of money IMO

For cheaper accessories, Garry Edwards (on here) promotes the Lencarta kits

HTH

DD
 
:hug: Dave, thats exactly what I needed to hear. The lencarta kits were one of the options I was considering as they are well within budget, get good reviews and will allow for a bit of expenditure on a backdrop, but being a studio newbie, the power was something I was struggling to understand. Thankyou :thumbs:
 
OK, I'm a sucker for punishment so I'll try to answer the Q you've asked so far...
Please make a start by reading my guide to choosing studio lights
Does that help you to decide how much power you need?
Thought not, because there really is no answer, the right answer for you will depend on the type of photography you do, or want to do, or that you may want to do in the future.

If you only want to do portraits, and if you only want to use flat lighting with softboxes and umbrellas and if you're working in a small space, then too much power can be a disadvantage because you'll need to turn your lights right down (which affects the colour temperature of the light with some brands) and you still won't be able to use a large aperture if you want to unless you also use a ND filter on the lens or ND gels over the lights to reduce the effective power. In fact, the one advantage of having ample power is that your flash heads will always be working well within their capacity and will recycle much more quickly.

But portrait lighting isn't just about softboxes and umbrellas - far from it in fact, and as you progress you'll want to use different light shaping tools, to define the shape of the face, to slim the face, to emphasise high cheekbones and so on - and these tools need a lot more power...

And if you go into still life photography you'll want to add a little round 0 to the end of the power output, because of the specialised light shaping tools involved.

Of course, you can increase the effective power of the lights simply by shooting at a higher ISO. Some people think that the reduction in image quality is OK, some don't.

You'll see from my guide is that my cautious recommendation, for most people, most of the time, is 300 Joules of power. I make that recommendation because I believe it's a fair compromise, but it won't be right for every situation and, as Dave points out, it isn't right for him. As far as I know, Dave concentrates on one particular style of photography because that's what his clients want, your own needs may be similar or very different.

I'm hoping that I may have more definitive answers to your other questions - please try to ask easy ones;)
 
You are indeed very fond of punishment Garry but my thanks to you for that anyway. I did indeed read your guide, having found the link in another thread and as you rightly point out, whilst very helpful indeed, doesn't provide the answer I was looking for. On the other and I am quite familiar with Dave's work and that does give me a guide of what I can expect from certain situations, though by no means all of course.

As you also picked up on I think, my fears alternated between having too much power in a confined space, and not enough to play around with. My current lighting is 2 flashguns and a couple of small umbrellas, and one flash is failing [its varies its output at whim, but it is 20yrs old], so as my big birthday is approaching [four-zero], my OH has said I can splash out on studio kit especially as I am getting a lot of enquiries from the karate club for the sort of images Dave does. Hence his reply is incredibly useful. However, you are very much correct that at some point I will want to push things further and experiment with different set ups, effects and so on, and do have access to much larger premises [albeit a good hours drive away] for really pushing the boat out if needs be, but that is further down the line I think.

On the otherhand, I also want portable kit that can be used in someone elses home, maybe outside too at some point.....


phew., I thinks that sort of sums it up, and I think between the two of you, I have the initial answers i need to start narrowing down the options.


I promise to try and make the next questions easier :D Thanks to both of you, you guys are the best :thumbs:
 
:woot:

Now the proud owner of 3 x 200w lencarta heads, stands, softboxes, etc etc, the whole darn kit and caboodle. Everything seems to be working ok and well built enough from the outside. Althoug Garry, if you could ask the nice bods at Lencarta to start including instruction sheets, mainly for putting those damn softboxes together.... :lol:


I tried taking some shots of the dogs, but they are being particularly terrier like and stubborn this evening, so will have to wait until I have a willing model to try things out properly ;)
 
Yv said:
:woot:

Now the proud owner of 3 x 200w lencarta heads, stands, softboxes, etc etc, the whole darn kit and caboodle. Everything seems to be working ok and well built enough from the outside. Althoug Garry, if you could ask the nice bods at Lencarta to start including instruction sheets, mainly for putting those damn softboxes together.... :lol:


I tried taking some shots of the dogs, but they are being particularly terrier like and stubborn this evening, so will have to wait until I have a willing model to try things out properly ;)
Click to expand...


:clap::clap::clap:

Welcome to the unnatural-light club :thumbs:

DD
 
Yv said:
:woot:

Now the proud owner of 3 x 200w lencarta heads, stands, softboxes, etc etc, the whole darn kit and caboodle. Everything seems to be working ok and well built enough from the outside. Althoug Garry, if you could ask the nice bods at Lencarta to start including instruction sheets, mainly for putting those damn softboxes together.... :lol:


I tried taking some shots of the dogs, but they are being particularly terrier like and stubborn this evening, so will have to wait until I have a willing model to try things out properly ;)
Click to expand...

You must have bought the lights via Ebay. The instructions are downloadable from the Ebay listing. It's the bit in the big box on the right near the top, with the bold red line all around the box:lol:

Seriously though, if you have any problems just drop an email or ask on here.
 
Garry Edwards said:
You must have bought the lights via Ebay. The instructions are downloadable from the Ebay listing. It's the bit in the big box on the right near the top, with the bold red line all around the box:lol:

Seriously though, if you have any problems just drop an email or ask on here.
Click to expand...

oh, THAT box ..... :$


:lol: thanks Garry. Brace yerslf for many more questions as days/weeks progress. Oh, and watched some of your videos, very useful indeed :thumbs:
 
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