Elinchrom Minilite Kit?

[Yeoer]

Hi

I've been offered a Elinchrom Minilite Kit and have been told to make the guy an offer for it. It all looks in good condition.

What would be a fair price for the kit?

It is this kit although this is not the actual unit.

Also if anyone else has this kit could you post some samples of what it can do. I am thinking of using it for product shots and also the odd portrait.

Thanks

[TMR Design]

The build and quality is right up there with other Elinchrom products. The problem is that thy are low wattage continuous (hot) lights.

Lights like this would work well for product work or head shots at very close range. I believe you can use 250W halogen bulbs but that won't get you all the much in the way of fast shutter speeds or small apertures.

Also, keep in mind that once you place a modifier with any level of diffusion on it you're going to lose some light. As with any continuous light setup, it will require that you shoot at high(er) ISO's and probably won't get much more than about f/4 at 1/60s.

If you can get them dirt cheap it might not be too bad but if you plan on learning about lighting and shooting more than tight head shots or product work then I wouldn't recommend them.

[Yeoer]

Thanks for the reply.

When you say higher ISO what are you kind of thinking ISO400?

Also would i be able to use the stands etc if i wished to upgrade to a better model later on.

[TMR Design]

Thanks for the reply.

When you say higher ISO what are you kind of thinking ISO400?

If it's product work then obviously you're not concerned about shutter speed but you are absolutely concerned about depth of field and you'll be working at close range so if you want to be shooting at f/11 or smaller you may have to crank the ISO to 1600 or more depending on the modifiers used, distance from the product and effect desired. I don't think you can count on a maximum ISO of 400.

[Yeoer]

Hum quite restricting then... thanks for that, gives me something to think about...

[Rudi]

Hot lights are not the best solution for still photography...