Continous Flourscent Lighting

[Rock]

So I have been seeing alot of inexpensive started kits that use flourscent bulbs with umbrella's and stands. Now knowing that a constant light source would be hotter than strobes, it seems like these would be cooler that regular bulbs.

Anybody had any time with them or input? I want to expand my product photography and "get out of the box" (the light box that is) for bigger items but I need a way to light them and thought these might be an economical way to start......

Thanks...

[bullet33912]

In the paying job of being a TV production manager, I use constant light all the time including Flors. I also use them for my still work with umbrellas and soft boxes. I prefer it because I have used it so much. I still do flash work as well, but for soft lighting the Flors can't be beat.

It's really a personal preference.

[HoosierJoe]

I have a test setup of 6 fluorescents on two stands. I used daylight 6500k bulbs from the hardware store. What I found is that they may be good for product photography but not enough light for portrait work. I found that for portraits I either had to bump the iso to 400 or shoot with a very slow shutter speed to get a good f stop of 5.6 or above. Most likely I will use the fluors as accent lighting, or just reuse the bulbs around the house, and go with something else more flexible in the way of a monolight setup.

I found that doing it cheap has a lot of limitations.

[ohtoberich]

I thought the problem with fluorescents is that they're not bright enough when compared to strobes.

[Rock]

Well I have seen some kits with 125 daylight bulbs and 2 stands, umbrellas and lights. So I am wondering if those would work better than the ones you buy at Home Depot or Lowes....

[HoosierJoe]

Well I have seen some kits with 125 daylight bulbs and 2 stands, umbrellas and lights. So I am wondering if those would work better than the ones you buy at Home Depot or Lowes....The other prob I found with this sort of lighting is when you move it close enough to get a decent exposure, it blinds your subject. So, I diffused it a bit and I was back to the same issue, I was shooting portraits at iso 400 to get a shot at 1/60 and f4. Not good for portrait when using and XT but it may be a good setup for product work where you can use slower shutter speeds. I did get soft lighting to be sure. I found it to be a good experiment but I think I'm scrapping it in favor of a stobe setup.