Lighting for a DSLR? Need suggestions on what to buy!

[Calaedw]

I'm new to the DSLR camera world and had some questions about lighting (just bought a t2i w/ the 18-55mm kit lens and a 50mm 1.8). I'm planning on shooting shorts or other creative works, mainly indoors in apartment, house, and gym-size spaces, and possibly outside in rainy/gray areas (Seattle).

Should I buy a full light kit or start building my own and buy 1 or 2 at a time? I have a little bit of experience lighting through film/video classes but don't know where I should go in terms of buying them.

I'd like to take the most economical approach and wouldn't mind building my collection slowly as long as it won't make my footage terrible.

[Bif]

Do a search on B&H's website for Smith-Victor A100 and A120 lighting units. I use the A100's (10" reflector) with bright white 100W equiv CFL's for soft lighting and with 60-100W tungsten for more specular (harder) lighting. These are very sturdy units that will last a long time but do require fairly sturdy light stands.

On B&H's site you will see cheaper SV units and some cheap kits. Look long and hard at the images, the lighting units are essentially "clamp" type design adapted to fit on light stands. The gear in many of the kits is extremely flimsy, difficult to lock in position, and impossible to use with umbrellas even if supplied.

Recommended minimum quality stand:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/253065-REG/Impact_LS_13HAB_Air_Cushioned_Heavy_Duty.html

Smith Victor A100:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/48735-REG/Smith_Victor_401018_A100_Ultra_Cool_10.html

I'd start out building a kit with the above for starters. This "short" was shot with one A100 with CFL for most of the scenes:

http://www.vimeo.com/1262033

[Gillvane]

I suggest sticking with daylight balanced lights. You never have to worry about putting a gel on them because some daylight is coming in through a window, and even moonlight can go to blue if you white balance to tungsten lights.

Cheap florscents that are daylight balanced, the kind you can buy at your local hardware store with some clip on work lights, work just fine for indoor low lighting set ups.

If you need hard light instead of soft light, I like these because they come with dichroic daylight filters:


http://cgi.ebay.com/800W-Red-Head-Continuous-Light-Dichroic-Filter-Dimmer-/320612787192?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4aa602e3f8

The thing about tungsten lights is they draw a lot more power than florescents so you can blow a circuit with a bunch of them, plus they get hot. The plus is they are hard light, and you can make hard shadows on a wall in the background and stuff like that, which the soft lights just wont' do.

For soft lights, anything like this works pretty good:

http://cgi.ebay.com/2000W-VIDEO-PHOTO-STUDIO-LIGHTING-SOFTBOX-LIGHT-CASE-US-/390258667778?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5add3ab102

[Calaedw]

Thanks guys.

Any idea for a cheap stand that could support that light with the dichroic filters?

[Gillvane]

Thanks guys.

Any idea for a cheap stand that could support that light with the dichroic filters?

Besides ebay, I've ordered from both Image West and Cowboy Studios with satisfactory results. Fast shipping, sent me what I ordered, price was decent, etc.

http://www.cowboystudio.com/

http://www.imagewest.tv/servlet/StoreFront

[BLP88]

Hey I got an CN-126 126-LED Video Light from ebay for $50 with free shipping. It attached to the top of my T2i and is VERY BRIGHT. You can adjust the brightness also on the light which is great

[Calaedw]

Any suggestions for a cheap hairlight? Maybe something more compact than a softbox? I feel like I won't have enough space with those 3 lights.

[Gillvane]

Any suggestions for a cheap hairlight? Maybe something more compact than a softbox? I feel like I won't have enough space with those 3 lights.

Be careful using these lights in a small space. These are meant for studio work, i.e. large spaces. If you use these lights in a small space, like a typical bedroom, what can easily happen is the light bounces off the walls and ceiling, until you get just a flat high key look no matter what you do.

Something like this with a daylight balanced florescent bulb from Wal Mart can do the trick in a small space:

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=work+light&hl=en&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENUS379&prmd=ivs&resnum=1&biw=1024&bih=613&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=13443184571660587699&sa=X&ei=4yzWTIa1MYWKlwfX4OGcCQ&ved=0CHQQ8gIwAA#

[autumnautist]

see cheesycam blog, the guys has some led lights review

[Gillvane]

see cheesycam blog, the guys has some led lights review

These are very cool:
http://cgi.ebay.com/3000W-LED-3-Light-Video-Studio-Light-Kit-Dimmable-/250694259252?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a5e8ad234

But not quite as cheap as flos.

[zachmonky]

A few Totas and Omnis can never do you wrong ;)

[Calaedw]

Anyone know if tubetape lights are any good? I'm looking at the $200 or $300 kits http://www.tubetape.net/servlet/the-373/ql1000/Detail

[Bif]

Halogen's are HOT, heavy current drain, extremely harsh specular lights that will literally teach you NOTHING about lighting. Someone well versed in lighting could make them work in some situations but I stand by my original advice.

Something with 10" to 12" reflectors that will take standard bulb base so you can use 100W to 150W tungsten or either Photographic CFLs or Bright White (almost the same as Photographic) CFLs.

You will learn more, and perhaps get better results while you learn from something with 10-12" reflectors fitted with "barndoors" in the beginning stages than with anything else. Look for lighting tutorials and lighting articles on the web

These (in the first link) were done with studio "strobe" but there is nothing here that cannot be done with simple 10-12" reflectors and some simple "modifiers" (umbrellas, foamcore board, etc.). Although it is about studio still photographic lighting you are faced with the same concepts in video (and still digital photography). The basic principles of lighting are the same.

http://www.portraitlighting.net/examples.htm

From that same website here is an example of portrait lighting "built" one light at a time, read the description of each light and what it does. I understand we are trying to "light" for video here rather than studio portraiture but often the principles involved apply identically.

http://www.portraitlighting.net/Multilightb.htm

And here is an article that although quite basic is an excellent starting place.

http://www.davisphotographic.com/htm/lighting_home_studio.html

Lighting in video and motion picture of any kind determines much about the film and the greatest challenge of all is to first acquire the ability to really "SEE" light and it's character and effect on whatever you want to portray. For the most part all these halogen kits, workman's lights, and similar are going to do is literally "blast" light out there with little way to control it for a variety of effects.

So get ONE light with a fair size reflector and LEARN it. Then add another like it so you can work with a basic "key" and "fill" setup, then add another for controllable background lighting. And last something lighter weight that will provide just enough illumination for hair lighting and accent lighting.

Research these terms above on the web and familiarize yourself with them.

In the meantime get one 13' air cushioned stand (somewhere around $79 or so, I got a pair for $49.99 each on sale), follow that up with a second when you can. These will support the Smith-Victor A-100 I recommended above, they will support many studio monolights (I often use mine for Alien Bees B800's fitted with 52" umbrellas), and they are lightweight enough to not be a burden carting around.

But above all, do not make a kit lighting purchase until you've learned a bit about lighting and control with something inexpensive and simple. Most of the "lighting kits" you see in these ads come with "inadequate" stands and generally turn out to be more frustrating than anything else (I've been in friends places when they unpacked what they ordered and it is really bad when plain stands will not do their job).

That inexpensive "clamp" light with about an 11" reflector someone recommended is a great way to start if you can secure it to about a 9' stand of some sort.

My advice comes from 23 years of solid photographic studio experience and from the many portrait and lighting seminars I'd attended through the years.

Bruce Foreman

[Gillvane]

I agree with Bif. I've been directing shorts for quite some time, but the last big project I worked on I was director of photography. It was the first time I actually started to "see" the light. It was a very gratifying experience, and for me at least, the only way to get there was to jump in, feet first, put your hands on the lights, and look at the results. Trial and error is actually VERY effective. Put the light here, move it there, turn it off, turn another one on, look in the monitor. Does it look better, worse? Looks good? Ok, shoot it!

[Calaedw]

Thanks guys! I'll take your advice and go with the Victor A100 to start. Does it really matter which brand the stands are? I see a bunch varying in price from $30-80.

Any recommendations as far as bulbs go? Will any 10" barndoor work just fine?

[Bif]

Does the brand matter? Yes and no. Smith Victor, Photogenic, Lowell, Speedotron are some of the brands made by lighting manufacturers well respected in the field. Interfit used to make "junk" monolights so I would not trust their stands.

You want a 13 foot stand, with the legs spread widest for stability the top may only go 11 1/2 feet so you don't want anything shorter. Mine came with 5/8" and 1/4" reversible threaded stud at the top, that can come in handy for some mounted accessories later on.

I would go for air cushioning, I linked you to an Impact air cushioned 13 footer in a previous post in this thread.

$30 light stands will be junk, short, and generally won't work very well. It gets a bit better at the $50-$70 level but most will still be too short. It works like this:

In the '90s the lab chief I worked for ordered a pair of Sunpak Monolites for location work. We had no stands so he hit the catalogs and ordered a pair of at the time $89 lightweight but very sturdy air cushioned stands through base supply. On Christmas Eve I was the only one working and took a call from base suppy, the sergeant on duty had found out light stands could be had for as low as $14.95 and he advised me he was changing the order to those to save the air force some money.

He wouldn't listen to me explaining we would refuse delivery, until I told him if we were foolish enough to use them the first time one tipped over, "his" $14.95 stand would "trash out" a $600 light.

We got the good ones.

The A-100 is a bit of a heavy light, 4lbs, and mounts on a 5/8" stud.

Here's a 13' stand without air cushioning. Just be careful not to loosen the tightener without being ready to let the light down easy. $52.95

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/253066-REG/Impact_LS_13HB_Heavy_Duty_Light_Stand.html

And here's the air cushioned version. $69.95

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/253065-REG/Impact_LS_13HAB_Air_Cushioned_Heavy_Duty.html

Read the specifications and reviews. The ad says 1/4 stud but the specs state 5/8, I think like mine it's reversible and has both. Both stands get good reviews from users.