Studio lights for a beginner?

[Mike Dinsdale]

Hi all

Wanted to canvas an opinion please on a good value for money basic studio lighting kit.
Not used studio lighting before, so looking for something easy to get to grips with. Ideally not a bank busting cost, maybe £2-300 as a start and can build on if needs be in the future.

Is the new Interfit EX 150 mkII kit any good?

Cheers

Mike

[Mike Dinsdale]

Tumbleweed......

[chris-p]

Hi Mike, long time no see...

Don't know much about studio lighting kit but it looks a decent setup and the reviews are generally pretty good. How big is the studio as it's not the most powerful rig in the world (but I'm sure it's more than enough!)?

[Mike Dinsdale]

Hi Chris. Been rathe busy but that's life I guess.
Well this will make you laugh. I popped into Jessops today and they had an Interfit EX150 kit set up in the shop. All I can say was it didn't seem very sturdy.
Wobbling about all over the place when extended to any kind of height. Lights looked OK.
I guess you get what you pay for.
Isn the Elinchrom D-Lite 2 kit any good?

[adams1]

Hi Mike, Happy Christmas.

Firstly, I'm certainly no studio light expert but I did purchase the Interfit 150 Mark II kit from Jessops. I bought it in the summer I also bought the camera mounted IR tramsmitter and the wireless trigger (mainly because I was taking the kit abroad and didnt think I'd be able to get any accessories once I'd left the UK).

I've used the lights a few times mainly on family and a few friends and I'm really pleased wih them. I use them in a smallish room and have no concerns regarding power output, I rarely get them past 50% power and normally shoot at 1/60 sec at f8 in manual mode. they recharge very quickly and the kit comes with a very good DVD to show you how to set the whole system up and how best to position lights in the studio. I havent found the stands to be wobbly - my guess is Jessops probaly didnt have the base elgs adjusted correctly. For the money I paid 199 pounds I'm really pleased with them

Hope this helps
Andrew

[wavemachine]

I opted for the EXD200 kit on the advice of a photography shop as the heads are more versatile, you get a carry case with it as well but no DVD.

I am very pleased with it and certainly it feels fairly sturdy for indoor use.

I got it for £290 with a Kenro IR trigger thrown in.

For the money I think it is a really good kit and it will certainly cope with my needs.

[Mike Dinsdale]

Thanks guys, comments appreciated.
JUst to let you know as a side, this website keeps requesting my bank account number from my pc (it's protected so I get a message every time somebody wants it), to the point were it's impractical to come back as 65 requests just to load this page is taking the pee... So if you've used internet banking and then this site, they've now got your account number if you're not blocking it. Not sure why, but just so you know.
Cheers,

Mike