Lighting Kits and Costs

The comments below are generally not mine but information I have gathered from vairous writings and  postings.  See Lighting Types to learn about the different lighting types. 

Pinnacle Forum links - link 1

    -
Britek - 1400 Watt Dual Power 3 light Kit  - $465
  Dual 600W/300W Complete 3 light Kit - This Light Kit includes Two Dual power 600 Watt / 300 Watt Studio Lights, One 200 Watt focus Control Light with Barndoor, One 24 " X 24 " Pro Softboxe (with case), One 32" White/Black Umbrella, Two 7.5' TrimaxLight Stands, One 4' Backlight Stand, One Barndoor for the Dual Power light, and carry cases.  $465
     
  Here is what I am getting for chroma keying full body shots; 1725 watts JTL 3 Continuous Lights $465.00 and this is a reputable seller.
 
     
 

.....This is a fairly good starter set for not much money Smith Victor $229  They do not get as hot as halogens do (but they're still hot). Throw a small fill light in the mix and your set.

 
     
  The same light set with umbrellas is a better setup  ($304)  (similar Lowell kit for $369) 
     
 

And better yet is the umbrella setup with a small fill light and carrying case like the interview kit  ($688).  The interview kit would is a one time buy and will serve for almost any situation.  It's all about the $ isn't it?  The thrifty kit is excellent and would serve well but will need some additions eventually.  I would get at least the one listed above that is basically the thrifty with the umbrellas and call it a day until I found that I had to have somthing else.  The interview kit would not need any additions except for gels.  What kind of vid do you do primarily Dave.  Are you going to get into corporate video?

S. Noe
     
    .....Start small, buy a Bogen / Manfrotto 3086 stand for $52.   This is a very well made stand for the money and has all aluminum collars (no plastic)It's cheap because B&H buy a boatload of this model.


Buy an DP or Tota and lamp it around 500 watts for starters.  In DV you don't need a lot of light, just quality light. If you're going to bounce the light or use a softbox the Tota is only $110. The DP is more multi purpose and can be lamped from 500 to 1000 watts. The DP can use barndoors and can be focused somewhat.

The light is 147.50 and the barndoors are $58 and a 500 watt bulb is $30, a 1000 watt is$19. that's more than double the Tota. If you need the versatility, fin if your going to put it into a soft box then go Tota


An omni light is $130 plus $57 for barn doors. the Omni can be focused and will take 300 to 500 watts.

My favorite low cost accent is the Lowel pro light. Its a small 250 watt focusing semi spot. It can be used as a hair light a back light or a kicker.  $105 for the light $34 for the barn doors


An umbrellas is less than $30 and all of the lowels have an umbrella mounting slot on. It is a good idea to by a lobo clam to hold the umbrella independantly though ($25)

A reflector is a good fill and can also be used to supliment light in shady areas using natural light. There are many reasonable rigs around $50.

If you really want the very best, go softbox. - www.photoflex.com - for $180 for a box and 75 for a speedring (Tota mounting ring) you can be in business.

Start small
buy a light stand $52
Buy a tota $110
lamp for Tota $18
Umbrella $29
reflector $50.
All the above for $260 - 1 light set



You could add a pro light and another stand, buy a soft box.

Build slowly and buy quality stuff. all of this equipment will be around for years.
     
    .....But by far the most used low-cost (and here low cost is relative) lights are Lowel, which I recommend. Tough as nails, very flexable. A good light kit is a very good investment. I've had a Lowel kit (three tota-lights, case, umbrella, gel frames, stands, screens, half screens and a bunch of adapters for special circumstances like attaching lights to doorways) for more than twenty years. They by far the best equiment investment. I can't tell you how many cameras I've gone through in that time.
Recently, I've added one 100 watt fresnel, one 300 watt fresnel and a softbox to my portable kit.
     
    .....I do not like shop lights unless lighting a chroma background. They are a hazard without the grills and you can't use them with the grills on and get shadowless light. They would be my last choice, but if your on an extremely tight budget you can use them. The clip on work lights would be a better solution in my book.
 
    .....If you really want to get cost effective, you can get a very nice 13' light stand from an eBay dealer (J and L Group)for 49.95.

It's almost identical to the 112.00 Bogen 13' stand.

Instead of umbrellas, you can get very large sheets of foam core, Black, gold, silver, pebbled texture, colored etc. for 5.50 each from filmtools.com

I've seen cheap round reflectors on eBay go for as little as 15.00

As was mentioned before, Lowell Pro's are just about the right size for backlight and kicker lights.

The Lowell V light is another nice cheap light, a decent "Broad" light, mount it and aim at a piece of foam core......... lees than 100.00

Mini Mole fresnels are frequently on eBay and can be picked up for around 100.00

 
   

......Eric - Here's a place you can try for some inexpensive, fairly well designed & built video lights & asseccories. Good gear for studio use but not for the abuse of location work. Good luck.
Jake
http://www.skaeser.com/lighting_accessories.html

 
   

I would look into the "TO GO" kits by Lowel. I got the To Go 97 which has two omnis and a tota. I think I paid just under $800. But there's a cheaper one (I think the 95) that has just two totas. (Maybe you could just buy an extra, a la carte) I'm thrilled with mine. You can look at your options here:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?A=search&Q=&b=61&Submit.x=23&Submit.y=15&shs=to+go&ci=1&ac=

..... I  agree with Beaser on the stands and Lowel pros. One of the few good things Smith Victor makes are the Raven Stands. They are realy good for the money.

 
   

I'll give you a lighting kit I put together for overseas travel when I have to carry everything (baggage, camera and tripod) myself. It's a kit I won't cry about if I have to leave it behind.

Two lights from a local pro video store so cheap they have no brand name but with sockets approprite for the two-prong bulbs used in Lowel Omni-lights.
Three 500 watt bulbs for 120 volt and three 500 watt bulbs for 220 volt (220's unnecessary in USA). Adapter plugs for every known electrical connection (also unnecessary in the USA except 2-prong to 3-prong adapters).
Two small c-clamps and a little pair of vice-grips to clamp the lights on doors, furniture, trees, etc.
One ultra-cheap light stand from, I think, K-Mart.
An adapter so I can attach one of these lights to the camera.
Two pieces of blue gel, two pieces of diffusing gel, one-half roll of the heavy aluminum foil, two wire clothes hangers that can be bent to form gel frames or flags.
A dozen spring-loaded clothes pins to hold the gels to the frames and keep wires out of the shot.
An extension cord;
Duct tape.

 
    ....The 3086 bogen/manfrotto is extremely well priced simply because they buy a boatload. Most of the off brand stands are really not up to the same level of build but that's just my opinion.The 3086 has all aluminum collars, not plastic.
I use foam core and plasticore(corrugated plastic) but that won't collapse down to a 12-14" diameter package. The plasticore is less than $12 for a 4x8' sheet and it's washable.

There are many other light brands and the fresnells are a nice light. they're also 2 to 3 times the cost of the lowel Pro lights. I really like Arri.
     

Here is a listing of different lighting setups that were being voted on :

ARRI Softbank D1  - $1878
ARRI Softbank 4  - $2100+
Cool-Lux Hi-Def Kit
Cool-Lux Hollywood Soft Kit  $2000+
Cool-Lux Mini-Cool
Ianiro Lighting Redhead/Varibeam
Kino Flo Inc. Diva Lite
Lite Panels LED Kits
Lowel Light DV Creator 1   $798
Lowel Light DV Creator 44 $1189
Lowel Light DV Creator 55   $1429
Mole-Richardson Teenie-Weenie Mole
Smith-Victor Corporation K-70 Pro
Smith-Victor Corporation SL 300
Write In Vote
 
Lowel Light DV Creator 1   $699
Lowel DV Creator 1 Tungsten 3 Light Kit - consists of: Pro-Light, Omni-Light, Tota-Light, Barndoors, Umbrella, Tota Frame, Gels, Flag, Light Stands, Bulbs, GO-85 Case - 1500 Total Watts
Lowel Light DV Creator 44 $1189
Lowel DV Creator 44 Tungsten 4 Light Kit - consists of: Rifa-Lite 44, Pro-Light, Omni-Light, Tota-Light, Umbrella, Barndoors, Gel Frames, Gels, Bulbs, Light Stands, TO-83 Case - 1750 Total Watts
   
 
I've been using the Rifa's for a number of years now. I've supplemented my two 750's and one 500 with some Lowell Pro's to create a more versatile lighting kit. Chimera's are the lighting softbox of preference by most professionals on the broadcast and documentary side of things... that goes for everything from DV all the way up to HiDef. Lowell's Rifa's accomplish the same thing as the Chimera's when they are added to an Arri kit. Throw in some dimmers and you are ready for almost anything.

Jim
Signature:
Jim Carswell
Spyhop Productions
 
  Hey Dave,
You really need a mixture of both. Softboxes are great for providing even light... where as Arri's or even Lowell Pro's with barn doors are vital as well. They give you far more control over your lights for when you are doing fill, back lighting or cut lighting. If you don't have barndoors you can always flag a softlight and receive some decent results.

When we are shooting an interview or something similar I will use either a Lowell Rifa 500 or 750 watt key light and use a white bounce card on the other side to provide contrast shadows. I'll then set up three Lowell pro's with barndoors and gels. One overhead for a hair light and then two more coming behind the subject aimed at his/her shoulders and jaw line. My final light is again a Lowell Pro with barndoors and a colored gel shot through a cookie to add a little dimension and depth to the background. All of my lights are on dimmers allowing me to have complete control of how hard I'm hitting the subject. If you go to my website listed below you can see the results of this lighting setup in the two pieces we did for the Today show (Moo Roo Handbags and World Without Pain). I just used the same setup for a shoot we did in Savannah for BBC1. I haven't posted that piece yet... but again the setup worked well.
   
  I've recently purchased a couple of these lights, a 200W and a 300W.
Britek Lights
If you plan on doing some modeling type work the Rostronics lights are economical and work very well.
I also have a Photoflex softbox that I purchased from B&H Photo.
I built a light out using a work light but find I use the professionally made equipment much more. Lighting is definitely an art.