Purchasing Studio lights for D60, need suggestions.

[jgarn]

I recently bought a D60 and now I need studio lights. I'm actually not sure whether I want strobe or tungsten yet... I'm in the early research phase and I don't really know where to start.

I don't want to buy something I'll just have to upgrade in a year. I need it to be portable, probably at least three lights, with a couple soft boxes, and I need to get a light meter too. I'm a beginner when it comes to studio lighting on 35mm, I don't even know how I'd sync it with the camera.

Any ideas, starting points, recommendations, or tips would be very appreciated! Thanks in advance.

[mskad]

Started my own investigation few weeks ago and I am now heading toward the Alienbees strobes.

http://www.alienbees.com

Do some research on the Internet and read some reviews. Theses strobes seem to be pretty convenient, affordable and more professional than budget kits you can find on eBay.

Just MHO.

Msak

[philgabe]

Alienbees definitely.

[jgarn]

It looks like I'd need a generator to run these on-location, is that correct? Does anyone know how much a good generator costs?

[grobyn]

I use four 750 Bogen monolights and they are awesome and priced right if you buy the kit. Right temperature, never any problems, and take a beating as I use them on location as well.

You don't really need a generator, use a voltage converter and plug it into your car and then a light or two into that. They are used for running TV's and VCR's in campers and don't cost a lot. They used to sell them at Radio Shack, but I have not been there for years.

90% of the time on location I use reflectors, inexpensive and if you know how to use one, they give off good soft light.

[Rudi]

Definitely get strobes. Tungsten lights run hot, and with a reasonable strobe you have modelling light anyway, so you can see where the light is falling before you trip the shutter.

Alien Bees would be my choice if I lived in the US. :) Elinchrom would be my choice if I had an unlimited budget... :D

As for the meter, I can thoroughly recommend the Sekonic L-358 Flash Master! It's an incident/reflective/flash meter that will do everything you ask of it, at a good price. Check out www.sekonic.com for more info.

[andycampbell]

Calumet mono lights are manufactued Bowens,
Yery powerfull, great value.

Be careful with cheap strobes, they are ofton very inconsistant, as much as half a stop.

[jgarn]

Would you consider the Alien Bees to be a 'cheap' strobe?

[reittila]

Happy with Elinchrom
http://www.elinchrom.com/classic.htm

[mjordan]

I found the SP line of Excalibur monolights to be a better deal for the buck. I have the SP 1600, SP 3200 and SP 6400... 160ws, 320ws and 640ws monolights. They also have the battery version in the SP 1600 160ws size.

Mike

[zgdesign]

I just bought the D60 and did over a month of research on studio lighting. Your best bet would definitely be to get strobes rather than hotlights. I purchased a kit consisting of 2 HENSEL 500 watt strobes. Each has a 300watt modeling light which could be used as hotlights themselves. Plus they allow for 1/3 stop increments. They are german built, hight quality, very durable, and the kit is very cheap. It contains 2 stands, 2 umbrellas, 2 lights, 2 reflectors, and a nice carry bag.

[Alan H]

I have Norman 2000, Hensels and Elinchrom... I like the Elinchrom 2400ws Digital 2 the best. You don't need tons of power with the D60, in fact when I am shooting with it I always have my lights on the lowest power settings and I'm usually shooting at F11 to F22. Hensels are cheap, two integra 500 monolights for $1000. They work pretty well, I've had them stop recycling sometimes but if you turn them off and on again they always start working again. Elinchroms are really nice. I usually rate the D60 at 125 rather than 100 ISO.

[gdstaples]

Another excellent choice is to purchase a used set of Dyna-Lite strobes. I just purchased a used 1000WS pack and 4 heads with fans for $1100 USD. They are extremely portable - smaller total size than 4 alien bees. The packs are light weight, reliable and very flexible as far as light control, ratio control etc.

Regards,
Duncan

[Kevin Connery]

There's an article on this at http://www.keradwc.com/articles/studiolights.html that describes the questions you want to have answers for before committing to a decision.

Any recommendation that doesn't take into consideration WHAT and HOW you expect to shoot is suspect. It might give you the right answer, but it'll only happen by chance, as there are both significant and minor differences between brands and models of all lights.