Best 2 Light Kit Under $1000?

Hi guys, here's the situation - I need to purchase a set of two lights with stands for work assignments. Not sure if I need continuous lights or not. They would be used to shoot portraits in an office settings. Occasionally, we may shoot videos with them. Is there a set of lights that you can recommend that fit my broad and general criteria, cost under $1000 (if they cost around $750 that would be even better so I can purchase a backdrop too), would last and would give me pretty good results for portraits?

I'm leaning toward continuous lighting because I'm not very knowledgeable with flash usage and would rather not have to spend too much time figuring out how to use them. I have an assignment coming up and won't have time to learn flash photography in the time frame so I'd rather worry about other things. I borrowed a set of two continuous light a while back and shots some portraits with them. Got pretty good results. It did get hot in the space, so I know that they are not the optimal option because of the heat but still ... maybe there's an option that I don't know about and would still work for me?

I'd greatly appreciate it if you could help me narrow down a set of lights so I can order them and get that off my to do list.

If it were me, Id go with one the Elinchrom D-Lite Kits. Not only would that get you into the Elinchrom line of products we are def top of the line, it also COMES with all the wireless triggering you need AND the kits range from $780 to $850, putting them right in your price range.

For Example: LINK

Personally however, I would sell the reflectors and umbrellas they come with and use that money to fund an Elinchrom softbox like this one: LINK

OP... how serious are you about the video lighting needs? the elincrhom set linked above is not gonna work for video. they will be great for photos, but like you said, you would be looking at continuous lights for video. however, everything i have always read is that you DONT want continuous lights for portraits. way too much heat pumped out by continuous lights, and you subjects will get hot, annoyed, etc. oh, and if it were me i'd go with the elinchroms also... you're probably better off buying separate continuous lights for video.

That's the tricky part - I only have a budget for one set of lights and I must be able to do both video and photo with them. I am aware of the heat issue but I'll have to deal with it. There's no perfect solution for what I'm trying to do... but it is what it is. So it'll have to be continuous lighting. Maybe I'll buy a fan or something.

I'm not going to name specific models/brands here as I don't want to be responsible for people damaging their strobes or themselves but it is possible to dramatically increase the output of your modelling lamp to make it more useful for video.

The idea is to use G6.35 bulbs more commonly used in projectors and disco lights, which are a very high wattage but burn out very quickly. A few high end lights here in the UK use these as standard and others can be adapted using something like this. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk …&ssPageName=STR​K:MEWAX:IT

I wouldn't use the ultra high-powered ones as modelling lights on still shoots as there's just no need, but having a box of them handy to swap with your existing modelling lights when you want to shoot a bit of video is a quick & easy way to get reasonably good continous lighting that you can use a lot of your existing modifiers for. Be aware that a lot of modifiers (the elinchrom rotalux range for example) are designed for flash only and don't do well with heat. Many strobes will also have issues with running a wattage this high. It's a case of do your own research and use at your own risk.

Oh and just to tantalise you, the 150w halogen in your average entry-level strobe produces about 2,000 lumens. A 650w GX6.35 can produce 20,000 lumens

don't know if you saw this other discussion on continuous lights....
https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=921884

~mike