Fixed lights versus strobes

[onrie]

I know this is probably a controversy with several people but I have the opportunity to purchase a fixed photo kit 3 lights, umbrellas, backdrops and backdrop stands for 200.

Before I buy them I just wanted some opinions on one versus the other for Portraiture.

Thank you,

Andrea

[onrie]

The backdrops are rolls 2 black and one that is blue

[heartseye]

Assuming that you mean hot lights and not strobe.........They generally are not a good choice for portraits. They are way too bright for the subjects comfort, and even then your f/stop/shutter combination is far from ideal. For non living things than can stand the heat they are not too bad at all......but LOTS of non-living things cannot stand the heat either......food, flowers, and more......Cheers, Bob

[00silvergt]

I assume OP means Constant Lighting v. Strobes.
To me...

Heat, models don't like to sit there with a blaring hot lamp in from of their face. Generally, Hot lamps are not brighter than strobes, so if you like to hand hold the camera and use fast shutter speeds...

Or pretty much what bob said...

[onrie]

The lights are AS smith victor lights with umbrellas and stands.
I know I will probably regrete it later but think I am going to go ahead and buy them I can't afford to buy regular strobes right now and they have to be better than the shop lights with flood bulbs that I am currantly using. Plus the backdrop stand with paper and the light stands are worth more then the $200 U.S. that he is asking for them so I could always sell the lights later when I get the ones that I really want.

Andrea

[Songman45]

There is one plus to using constant lighting. You can see the effect and get a feel for how the modifiers are going to change the light. With flash units you don't get that; modeling lights don't throw a true light like the flash. You can play with objects like balls and blocks to get a better feel for how you want to work on placements. A lot of people start with constant light. There are ups and downs to every solution.

[00silvergt]

Originally Posted by Songman45

There is one plus to using constant lighting. You can see the effect and get a feel for how the modifiers are going to change the light. With flash units you don't get that; modeling lights don't throw a true light like the flash. You can play with objects like balls and blocks to get a better feel for how you want to work on placements. A lot of people start with constant light. There are ups and downs to every solution.

Agreed. Because the price difference are so large, most do...OP have you looked into Alien Bees? They have a single flash unit for $279.99 AB800 or you can even get the AB400. I mean instead of using the $200 for something you know you will regret, wait a second or add $80 or so and get a AB800?

[Brooks]

Originally Posted by Songman45

There is one plus to using constant lighting. You can see the effect and get a feel for how the modifiers are going to change the light. With flash units you don't get that; modeling lights don't throw a true light like the flash......

This is a comon misconception and only applies to some inexpensive brands of studio flash.

Often a less expensive brand of studio flash will have an underpowered, dim modeling lamp which is hard to see, or use a household lamp which is so large it blocks and redirects the light from the flash tube.

A proper quartz modeling lamp of 250 watts or more produces a quanitiy of light that is much easier to see and will closely model the light from the flash itself.

[00silvergt]

Originally Posted by Brooks

This is a comon misconception and only applies to some inexpensive brands of studio flash.

Often a less expensive brand of studio flash will have an underpowered, dim modeling lamp which is hard to see, or use a household lamp which is so large it blocks and redirects the light from the flash tube.

A proper quartz modeling lamp of 250 watts or more produces a quanitiy of light that is much easier to see and will closely model the light from the flash itself.

In any case, it is my understanding that a modelling lamp apropos is for seeing how the light will affect the model, highlights and shadows, you would/should still meter the actual flash, right?

[Songman45]

I've seen very expensive flash units with modeling lights that are adjustable along with the flash output. Simply because there are two different lights and two kinds of lights at work (xenon and quarts halogen) one would be amiss to think that "proportinal" modeling lamps are going to replicate the acutal effect of the flash. Metering the flash is a must. This is why I suggested that constant lights were not a bad idea for learning with. WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) applies not to just comptuers but to lights as well. Unfortunatley, a 1/25,000 sec burst from a flash tube is not percievable to the human eye. In short, YES meter the flash.

[00silvergt]

That's what I thought. I think though $200 spent on a constant lighting system as opposed to say a AB800 and build up your kit that way would be the less financial savvy thing to do. After all, that would be $200 you would have to come up with soon, when you realize that what you really wanted was a strobe kit.

[outback]

looking at your lenses in your sig, I see you don't have any fast glass, that will make the hot lights even more dim, and require you to go to high ISO or slow shutter speeds. I would re think getting a strobe over hot lights.
you can do a lot with one cheep strobe and a reflector. Even a hotshoe flash like the sb-600 or sb-800 will probably give you more light then the hot lights.

[nightspirit]

I just got these last week and I love them. Calumet Genesis 200 1-Light Kit - CF0502K - I got the 2 light kit for 339.00. They're nice units for the price. Many may disagree with me, but I think they are comparable in quality to the alien bees. I went with constant lights on my first portrait shoot. unfortunately, I had to shoot almost wide open with a slow shutter speed and ended up with lots of blurry photos. For me the only way to go is strobes.

[00silvergt]

Originally Posted by nightspirit

I just got these last week and I love them. Calumet Genesis 200 1-Light Kit - CF0502K - I got the 2 light kit for 339.00. They're nice units for the price. Many may disagree with me, but I think they are comparable in quality to the alien bees. I went with constant lights on my first portrait shoot. unfortunately, I had to shoot almost wide open with a slow shutter speed and ended up with lots of blurry photos. For me the only way to go is strobes.

Glad that you shared that, for close to the of a cost of one AB800, you can get comparable performance and get an additional strobe to boot along with the stands and the umbrellas. Nice.

[nightspirit]

You're welcome. The only problem I found with them when doing research, was that the protectors that went over the lamps wouldn't fit with the modeling lamps installed. But Calumet has taken care of that problem. We'll be getting another set soon. A friend came over with her baby so we put them to work. Here's one of the results.

[JimFX]

I shoot with "Hot Lights" all the time because I do lots of Corporate video work. I generally would not use SV lights unless I had to because they are just not user friendly. Please notice I did not say I can't use them. You can light with anything when taking photos, heck you could light with a mini flash light if you had to. The problem is that you will spend a lot of time & effort trying to make the lighting "work" for you not against you.

I