What would I do with $12,000au for a video lighting kit?
Assuming I would have a video bias*, after a visit to the Apurture shop, I would have a powerful main light (a 2 or 300D), a couple of secondary lights (150/120D’s), a few Amarans as spares, a couple of decent RGD Panels, a handfull of mods and stands to put them on…….just.
I would have a key light strong enough to fight off daylight, and several other options capable of changing the colour of walls, add fill, ambience, hair/rim and creative light or evenly cover a decent sized area. For every 100 watts, controlled and focussed, the cost is about $1000, but I would have quality of spread, build, consistency and application.
Taking into account the need for several trips to the car if using this in the field, maybe an assistant and plenty of insurance plus the assumption that the camera rig would be up to the job (Black Magic 4k Studio Plus or Pocket 6k and good glass at a minimum), this becomes a big commitment.
What can I achieve with a budget of say……….$600au*** all up, and a need to get to the location in one trip, but still with some creative freedom when there?
A 2k lift from a sample taken with single Neewer (not at full power) and the Neewer 4’ soft box, slightly inferior to my newer Godox ones. My wife actually disliked the 26” soft box this close saying t was too powerful.
Turning to Neewer, Selens, Godox and the like, I can actually budget for $100 per 100 watts**. This is the reality of necessity, but still, what is the actual difference?
The lights are cheap and feel it. They will likely not survive a decent drop (although some of YN560 flash units have survived several), may simply stop working mid shoot, can blow-over in strong wind, have less consistent light and their power rating measurements may be a little on the “soft” side.
The best light is of course natural, supplied for free and in great qualtity (different spot, different day).
So, lets budget for a more realistic $150-200 per 100w, meaning you have either upgraded the actual unit on paper for more realistic actual output, or simply added depth.
My current kit consists of 2x Neewer SL-60w, 1 Selens 150w (not here yet so a big unknown), 4x 120cm soft boxes, 2 Neewer and 2 better Godox with grids, several brollies and 5-in-1’s, a 660 Bi-colour and 480 RGB panel, a couple of little 200 LED’s and 6x decent stands to put them on. Not counting the stands, the lights came in at $500 for on paper, roughly** 3-400w total (I may aslo add a 30w 10.6” flapjack for versatility). Add to this some K-mart blankets, shower curtains and curtain rods for bounce/flag options and it can still fit in a long bag on a trolley for the stands etc, a backpack for cameras and mics and a separate bag for lights. I live 500m from work, so this is do-able anytime.
A Neewer 60w in a soft box managed to light a single person in a reasonably well lit room with 4 large sky lights at mid day (I still needed a 3 stop ND filter to achieve f1.8 at 1/50th), shooting into a reverse bounce umbrella soft box at 70% and still provided enough grunt for bounce fill. In a darker room, I managed with a 480 panel through a diffuser disc at 35%.
A second light could either double my coverage, or output or add depth if needed. The Selens, assuming it lives up to its on paper promise, will more then double that again (13000 lm vs 4000 lm) and from one place. If it is really good, i.e. is more powerful than the Neewers, but the same quality, I will grab a second for added depth, which seems a steal at $100 for 150w.
My camera (G9) capable of decent 4k 10 bit 422 is now served by similarly decent if not exceptional lights and mods. Balance is retained.
Yes I would like better lights, but the reality is, I do not need them for my work. The end product is not cinema grade, just better than average. I see my self more as a run and gun documentor of school life, than a maker of commercial grade footage. I would need to justify the expense and added work flow considerations.
This is not a cop-out. The reality is, with more to spend, I would likely still fall back on cheaper options like battery operated Amaran 60’s or the new Godox ML’s, simply for convenience. My jobs fall into small and fast interviews, documenting life (both done) or large events, outside of my realistic lightng parameters anyway and often handled by outside operators while I handle stills.
Another advantage is I do not have to insure this kit, just myself. Total loss of this kit would not matter and would possibly not even be fully replaced, just parts once I have a better understanding of my true needs or may even coincide with a reduced or increased need. I might even replace it with a single better light and mod and non light based mods for the rest.
This brings up another advantage, the ability to try a cheap version before commiting to a dearer one. I have already experienced this with flash photography. I tried lots of things and settled on some of the cheaper and easier options as favourites. Ask me before this and I wanted big strobe lights and massive soft boxes, ask me now and I am more than happy, prefer even, reflected umbrellas with cheap strobes.
Where could I be in three years time?
With the dearer option, would everything would be fully functional barring insurance covered drops or theft. I doubt however it would be close to paid for.
The cheap option might be in exactly the same shape, or if not, maybe up to half would be replaced if it failed to keep up or to perform as needed. Even if I added a single better light (Amaran 200D or Godox ML150) and mod, the overall would still come in under $1000 total, or if the work load increases, several Amarans. I have already earned its full value in work generated this year, work that replaced a lot of stills jobs cancelled due to COVID.
Ten years? I doubt it will matter.
Making do is a reality at the moment, but the assumption I am missing out or cutting necessary corners may be erroneous. Just like with my stills kit, cheap but workman like on my non-commercial scale is probably smart, not blindly naive.
*Adding strobes for stills would not take much.
**On paper. I know there will be difference in quality, spread and endurance.
***I do already have stands etc for stills, so this is just video empowerment added to an existing kit.