Cheapo studio lighting kit

[Tonster]

In case anyone's interested I've been looking around for a home flash lighting kit, something light, cheap and n00b friendly.

I came across this 2 head lighting kit for a mere £120 which is a bargain in this arena. Yes you get what you pay for, and what I want is something to mess about with that if I want to replace with 'proper' kit later on I won't feel too aggrieved at having spent a chunk of the mortgage on.

Also will get the PhotoSEL backdrop holding plus black and white cloths.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/PhotoSEL-BS-103 ... B002JCE7KQ
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002HFKJWK
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002HS4XKQ

Total cost around £270 for a complete home studio kit. Just thought I'd share the wealth in case anyone else was interested in this sort of thing

[Klors]

Ooh, let me know how they shape up mate, if you would. I've often looked at bits and bobs but was never confident I knew what I needed enough to actually splash the sort of cash I was seeing stuff for.

[Cacker]

Have been thinking along these lines too (getting some cheapo lighting).

I've been meaning to take my daughters folio photographs instead of being charged multiple apendages for some head & shoulder shots. With the kit I can update the shots and variety whenever without extra charge

I don't think i'll be going for black and white backdrops though, might go for the tie dyed blue muslin (DAYSUN, $29.99).

[Cacker]

Lighting rig has arrived and for home use I'd say it's pretty good for the £108. The softbox housing produced a few swear words putting it together but once I worked out what to do, it was okay. Bulbs are huge and at 85w it was alot brighter than I expected, which is silly, because it's purpose is to be bright and light up things, so stupid me.

The stands are aluminium and quite solid. All the components pack into a supplied carrier bag and each bulb comes in it's own polystyrene packaging, which is worth keeping when packing away back into the bag.

Didn't get the BS-103 as it was out of stock, so went for the BS-105 @ £68.

Just waiting for the backdrop to arrive and then shall do some failphotographs.

[Tonster]

First parcel of mine has arrived this morning, don't know which piece yet. Waiting for it all to arrive and then I'll proceed to break it. BS-103 was indeed out of stock but I wrote to them to ask if/when they were restocking and they replied within the hour saying they were just waiting for Amazon to put the stock into their system, so 1-2 days. So I waited for that before ordering it all.

I hope to be coralling family members and passing drunks into modelling for me over the weekend

Also made the plunge and finally shelled out for 3 hoods for my lenses, extortionately expensive for what they are.

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[edit]Just unpacked what turned out to be the BS-103 backdrop stand. Suddenly realised just how big 3 metres really is in a medium sized house What I I hadn't appreciated is that the width is not adjustable which is a pain. Not adjustable that is until I drill several more holes in it! I think I'll also buy some metal poles I can cut to shorter lengths.

The bag is decent... and huge! Should be able to fit all the lighting kit in there perhaps. And me.

[Cacker]

Hah ! the BS-104 is adjustable ... 3m, 2.5m, 2m, or 1.5m. Yes, by golly, 3m is just stupidly long. I had the urge to take a run up and do a frosby flop.

The bag is huge, i managed to get the family in there too which is a bonus.

The backdrop arrived today too, blue tyedyed, looks great.

All in all, bloody good value for the moneh.