[JohnBee]

The kits definitely seem to be of the same stock, though interestingly enough... the unit(in your link) has 9 sockets!.. Which is very intriguing as mine only has 5. And I'm wondering if it makes any difference(dispersion perhaps?). Though what I find most interesting, is that the controller only seems to have five switches. And so I'm wondering how that would work(2 lights per etc etc).

Other than that, I'd be curious to see how the 9 light system works over that of the 5, not that I need more light myself, but... it may provide more flexibility.

Also... the backdrop kit from this seller seems very appealing... I don't need more lights, but if I was in the market again, I'd definitely go for that kit rather than just lights.

As for my own experiences, the stands and lights are fully articulated(as expected). Though the stands have a spring system to help with pole drops etc. I don't find them very helpful tbh as they are both short and way to weak to handle the weight of the light assembly.

As for the boxes themselves, they seem well built(thick and double stitched canvas type material). Though I wouldn't exactly claim they are a pain free setup. But then again.. I'm extremely lazy and so that may very from person to person. For the most part, I just stash them away in the corner of my workspace under a black dust cover assembled and ready to go.

So all in all I've been very happy with these. I always wanted continuous lighting with the output to do portrature in my own home, and these do the job nicely. Though I did upgrade the bulbs in my main light since I've had it. It came with 45W bulbs and I upgraded them to 85W bulbs that I picked-up at walmart on special. The replacement bulbs were shock proof and I wanted to get replacements. Though I didn't know they were more powerful than the originals when I got them(I just assumed), so my current setup may be more in the range of 3000w than the 2K it came in(rough guess).

Having said that, I use the light without a tripod most of the time with my primes(f2 - f11) 1/60 to 1/160). Though I haven't tried using any of my zooms with them so I don't know how well they'd perform with those.

Hope this helps.

Thank you, John for the reply. I will check out that ebay seller. I have been looking at these and am not sure how they compare to the brand you have. Do yours tilt? Are they easy to set up and take down?

CowboyStudio Photography Lighting | Studio Equipment | Studio Accessories

Steve Kaeser Backgrounds & Accessories


My apologies to the OP for interupting his thread but perhaps this is info he would like to have as well.

Robin

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Last edited by JohnBee; 04-23-2010 at 11:33 AM.

[rzarbo]

John, once again, thank you for your input. I may end up going with one of the whole studio packages but I have to decide just how much "stuff" I want to deal with. This will be used in my livingroom so it will have to be taken down right after use. Sigh......

What are your thoughts on hair lights? Do you use them? Do you find them useful?

Robin

[JohnBee]

What are your thoughts on hair lights? Do you use them? Do you find them useful? Robin

No problem at all.
Happy to help wherever possible.

The answer to you question is: Yes I do(in fact), but I use reflectors ultimately.

FTR. I have several older continuous lights laying around from my earlier kits and one that I keep using today is flexible barn door tungsten with a snap clamp option. It's quite old(7 yrs) and I purchased it from a video catalog add I think. Anyhow... this is usually what I use to pick-up highlights etc on subjects by clamping it on one of the stands and bouncing it off a reflector.

Incidentally, I use that same light(over my shoulder) for product photography with my soft box to pick-up shadows and detail also. The only down side to it, is that is gets hot enough to seriously burn someone(watch those petals) or start a fire... and so, I would like to replace it with an LED substitute some day.

Hope this helps

[woof]

I was reading this tutorial on how to make an incredibly cheap softbox for product photos the other day, and I was wondering, do you really need flashes? I don't want to have to buy a flash and a trigger and such to be able to take these photos, but I have a pretty strong desk lamp that I think might work at least somewhat as well as the soft box. Does it actually need flash power though? Here's the link to the tutorial I was reading about this.

Strobist: How To: DIY $10 Macro Photo Studio

I've done this. It works great!

Flashes are not necessary.

Try the desklamp. Worse comes to worse, augment that with some daylight balanced tungsten, perhaps in clip on reflectors they sell at contractor supply.


Like this:




Don't forget to white balance.

I bought some of these recently for the basement and they were $3.99 each. I could see attaching them to a tripod or even to the box itself.

woof!

[Ben_Edict]

I have a few boxes here and they all work without flash. I run the biggest one 48x48x48 entirely with 3 x 150w spots which is more than enough to fill the box. Though I also use 4 x 100w depending on my needs. And I run the entire thing off these cheap utility lights(6.00 ea.) and energy saver bulbs



I've never used flash with lightoftboxes and tbh, I don't see the need.
p

This is NOT a SOFTBOX - this is a light tent. A softbox is meant to be mounted in front of the light source.

Ofcourse one can use cpontinous lightswith softwboxes, but it is not cheaper, than adding a few simple flash guns and at the end of the day, the flash will also provide more output.

Tungstens get too hot for most softboxes (or you need to buy a heat resistant modell) and CFLs are not cheap. A few Vivitars, ar, in my personal opnion, much better. And these days simple studio strobes are also very cheap.

Ben

[JohnBee]

This is NOT a SOFTBOX - this is a light tent. A softbox is meant to be mounted in front of the light source.

Hi, I actually made a small typo when I wrote that. My intention was to actually cover both the light AND softbox scenario in one single word(light/softboxes), since the discussion lead us into both solutions.

Having said that... I also noticed the OP referred to a lightbox(or light tent as you stated) as as softbox. However... the link he referrence was a lightbox in this particular case.

Guess it did get a little confusing

[Ben_Edict]

Guess it did get a little confusing

We all did, in the course of this thread...

Ben

[GeneV]

I've gone both ways. For a subject that does not move or sweat, and a camera that does not need to move, I've had good luck using the utility lights with CFL bulbs shot through a sheet or an old white shirt. Otherwise, there is a suitcase full of Vivitar 283s in the closet, none of which cost more than $20-30. (The vari-power modules cost more than the flashes, but you can make substitutes for these), and some radio triggers.

Honestly, if I used this rig more often, I would just buy a used Alien Bee. It is not ultra cheap, but it is also not ultra-pricey, either compared to what you have by the time you cobble all the flashes together.