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Lighting gear - completely lost. good starting point for 200€?
  • hey guys,

    I am currently researching my first 3 point lighting kit. I am totally confused by all the options. My idea, 3 clamp lights, 3 led bulbs, 3 light stands but what led bulbs to take? or go cfl? or just buy a good and cheap kit? or some of those cheap limo kinoflos? I want to spent 200€ max and already got two light stands. where to take it from there for a very basic kit?

  • 10 Replies sorted by
  • @TimTomTum What ISO do you want to work at. If its about 800 the AS512S on the deals pages is extra double good.

  • For LED you need only high CRI panels.

    Cheapest way if you do not intend to constantly move and travel is to get fluos kit with softboxes.

  • I cant find the panel @andyharris is talking about. would you link the panel you mean?

    @vitaliy_kiselev do you have sth like that on deals? thanks for the input so far!

  • @TimTomTum Its the 312DS that's the current version. Many nice, I still use it on a regular basis, and I've got a pair of Kinoflo Celeb200's to hand.

  • So would you recommend buying 3 of those 312DS? What's the exact difference between the Fotodiox 312DSs and the Special Edition PV 312DSs?

  • @TimTomTum

    3 312DS lights are not really powerful and are very small.

  • For that amount of money, getting a red head or small fresnel kit is the best piece of gear you can get, IMO. Do not bother with LED unless you can get lights with high CRI.

    We bought a kit of CN576: http://www.personal-view.com/deals/lights-fresnels-led-kits/big-led-panels and they are really useful, but It's not the first thing I would get, for lighting. Great fast to set up fill light. I would not use them as a kicker or key light, unless in a situation where everything else is out of the question logistically / in terms of budget.

    Of course, if you are doing lots of exterior interviews or something like that you might want to consider LEDs anyway but make sure they are high CRI!

  • @RRRR Is there a kit you can personally recommend? It's just the sheer amount of possibilities.

  • Sorry, I've used mainly Arri's blue heads and some generic red heads of no particular brand.. Have a look in the lighting section here for good Fresnel deals. You can get a decent kit of Red heads and stands for well under 200 USD. If you go the cheaper route (look for the cheapest option), you can always save a bit of money to get a good clamp or two for other ways of mounting / setting up the lights. A good addition to any light kit is a couple of clamp spots, like this: https://www.tradelighting.co.uk/media/catalog/product/cache/2/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/B/0/B006PA4KF0.jpg

    Then just add an assortment of halogen or tungsten bulbs between 2800k and neutral 3200k for the spots. They are great as practicals, but can also be used in other ways. Occasionally, they can be found second hand for next to nothing.