Strength of lightbulb for continous lighting

Recently I bought a lighting set that came with three 25watt 5500k lightbulb and they are too dim I find. I want to get a replacement but I don't know which one to get, I need suggestions and thanks potn.

calvinjhfeng wrote in post #12427590
Recently I bought a lighting set that came with three 25watt 5500k lightbulb and they are too dim I find. I want to get a replacement but I don't know which one to get, I need suggestions and thanks potn.

I got these:

http://www.amazon.com/​gp/product/B0041OXON6

...but you need to have realistic expectations from these types of bulbs. Two of these on at the same time each about 3 feet from the subject through shoot through umbrellas only measured f/4.0 (or maybe 2.8 can't remember right now) at ISO 100 for me. I've used them bare for some macro stuff; but you need to understand that these are much less powerful than strobes.

I wanted to invest in a second flash gun but due to limited fund I had to explore contineuous lighting.

can you just live with a higher ISO? How dim are we talking? What kind of exposure are you getting with them?

Good lightbulbs are going to be as expensive as a basic studio strobe.

calvinjhfeng wrote in post #12427590
Recently I bought a lighting set that came with three 25watt 5500k lightbulb and they are too dim I find. I want to get a replacement but I don't know which one to get, I need suggestions and thanks potn.

I would ensure that I do not exceed the maximum wattage capacity of your lights...

alzo digital sells 5500K cfl bulbs. i've never been curious enough to try them, but I have seen some DIY'ers out there rig up spiderlite (westcott) imitations with some success. but i think you'd be looking at needing around 20,000 lumens per light (for example, 4 or 5 of alzo's 85w 4800 lumen bulbs) to get acceptable settings for portrait work.

All you gotta do is raise the ISO 2 stops to make a 5000 lumen setup work like 20000 lumen one.

tkbslc wrote in post #12429668
All you gotta do is raise the ISO 2 stops to make a 5000 lumen setup work like 20000 lumen one.

True. If that two stop increase is from 100 to 400, no problem. But if it is from 800 to 3200, that may be an issue.

charro callado wrote in post #12429701
True. If that two stop increase is from 100 to 400, no problem. But if it is from 800 to 3200, that may be an issue.

Agreed, but 3200 is like the light from a table lamp, so I really doubt it could be that bad. I do think many people are afraid to use high ISO, though, and really any of these camera from the last 4-5 years are great at 800-1600.

WHAT are you shooting? For people, 25watt probably won't be enough. For product, they're probably OK. Just set ISO 100 & use a tripod.