Complete lighting gear setup help. One for video. One for photography.

Hi All,

My main expertise is in design, and I have a bit of experience being scrappy in photo and video, but certainly I could use some assistance. Most of my clients are based in the natural foods industry and at this point I am trying to piece together a lighting gear collection. Working in both photo and video, I need to acquire different tools for the different use cases. But there are so many options out there today, I can't seem to get a grasp on what brands & models will work best for my needs.

Here are the various situations which I need to take into account:

VIDEO | INDOOR: Product/Food
VIDEO | INDOOR: Medium Wide Shots/Scenes with people
---
PHOTO | INDOOR: Product/Food
PHOTO | INDOOR: Medium Wide Shots/Scenes with people
PHOTO | OUTDOOR: Product/Food
PHOTO | OUTDOOR: Medium Wide Shots/Scenes with people

Without unlimited funds, what's the best I can do here?

Please do lend some help if you can.

Thank you!

Mr. Sparkles wrote in post #18302543
Hi All,

My main expertise is in design, and I have a bit of experience being scrappy in photo and video, but certainly I could use some assistance. Most of my clients are based in the natural foods industry and at this point I am trying to piece together a lighting gear collection. Working in both photo and video, I need to acquire different tools for the different use cases. But there are so many options out there today, I can't seem to get a grasp on what brands & models will work best for my needs.

Here are the various situations which I need to take into account:

VIDEO | INDOOR: Product/Food
VIDEO | INDOOR: Medium Wide Shots/Scenes with people
---
PHOTO | INDOOR: Product/Food
PHOTO | INDOOR: Medium Wide Shots/Scenes with people
PHOTO | OUTDOOR: Product/Food
PHOTO | OUTDOOR: Medium Wide Shots/Scenes with people

Without unlimited funds, what's the best I can do here?

Please do lend some help if you can.

Thank you!

I've recently moved into video from long years doing portraits, including owning a studio.

A couple of years ago, my solution was to purchase some high-power LED video lights in the cylindrical form-format of studio flash so that I could continue to use my studio flash modifiers (umbrellas, soft boxes) in the same fashion as I do with still photography. I still use my studio electronic flash because even "high power" LEDs don't come anywhere close to the momentary power of electronic flash. Also, while today's LED lights are spectrally balanced well enough to pass in video, the results are clearly inferior in still work. So having two set of lights using the same modifiers has worked for me.

However, the Paul C Buff company has developed inexpensive studio flash with high-color quality, high-power LED modeling lights bright enough to serve as video lights--one light serving both purposes well seems ideal. I haven't actually listened to one of them--the quietness of the internal fan would be an issue. But in practical terms, a bit of fan noise is acceptable if it tests as unnoticeable to an audience during dialog.

RDKirk wrote in post #18302586
However, the Paul C Buff company has developed inexpensive studio flash with high-color quality, high-power LED modeling lights bright enough to serve as video lights--one light serving both purposes well seems ideal.

Any idea of what representative exposure (ISO, shutter, aperture) is claimed for the LED output of this Buff product?

[edit]just learned that Buff claims 400W equivalent, 75W LED...pretty bright, especially in view of the previously rather anemic 100W-150W mdelling lights they used to support

Wilt wrote in post #18302588
Any idea of what representative exposure (ISO, shutter, aperture) is claimed for the LED output of this Buff product?

[edit]just learned that Buff claims 400W equivalent, 75W LED...pretty bright, especially in view of the previously rather anemic 100W-150W mdelling lights they used to support

The high-intensity LEDs I'm currently using run 100 real watts and supposedly have a 500 watt lumen equivalence. The particular model I used is no longer available under the same name on Amazon, but I left a lengthy review here that should give others some buypoints to evaluate other models.

With that 500watt equivalent light:

With regard to color accuracy, all LEDs used for photography are single-color blue LEDs that are coated with phosphors to create red and green light, blending to the eye to look white. The quality of the phosphor mix appears to be the difference between lights. A whole lot of the common photo LEDs from China appear to be using a phosphor mix that is deficient in red.

This can't be countered accurately with a red (pink) filter because, as you know, filters don't add color, they subtract the opposite color. But if there isn't much red from the source, you can't add it. With my Canon cameras, I can crank up the red in the White Balance Shift menu, which helps. It's okay for video, but in stills skin tones are noticeably muted.

Do those 400/500 watt LEDs generate a lot of heat?

Left Handed Brisket wrote in post #18304263
Do those 400/500 watt LEDs generate a lot of heat?

They actually consume only about 100 real watts. My 100 watt (500 watt equivalent) LED light measures 120F right on the glass cover of the element after being on for half an hour--warm water.

RDKirk wrote in post #18304365
They actually consume only about 100 real watts. My 100 watt (500 watt equivalent) LED light measures 120F right on the glass cover of the element after being on for half an hour--warm water.

Thanks.

I'm shooting with CFLs at my "real" job, and my guess is that they get warmer than that. I think each bulb is probably 100-120 watt equivelant ... Six bulbs per large softbox. I pull back a corner or two to let air flow through.

Fwiw, for the OP, the boxes we use are PBL from Amazon. No idea if they are still made, they were purchased years ago, long before I started working there. They have held up though. Might make a decent continuous light for video, we use them for production oriented product photography.