Let There Be Light!

So with the camera situation (somewhat) set, it was time to start thinking about light.  What's making this shoot challenging is that I have never seen the site before.  That means I don't know how much light is coming in and how much control I will have overall.  I asked the band members to find a place that was relatively dark so we could control the lights as much as possible.  They also said that they have some of their own lights that they are going to bring along but I didn't want to rely on that alone since, once again, I didn't know what I would be getting.

This left me searching for a basic light kit that would fit into my budget.  I knew I would not be getting anything professional grade so my main goal was to find a cheap kit that would at least last through the shoot.  I was also hoping for a 3 light kit that had either soft boxes or umbrellas included.  Since I didn't know the size of the room we were shooting in, I was also hoping to find a fluorescent set since they are pretty cost efficient and don't get hot, which would be beneficial if the room were on the smaller side.

Most of the kits on B&H's site were great, but not within my budget.  I know that they would last for a long time and be of high quality, but now is not the time for those.  After much searching, I came upon a set being sold on Amazon.com.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003Y31CAC

It was a 3 light set from ePhoto consisting of three heads, stands and soft boxes.  It also came with a carrying case and an umbrella.  All this for the ridiculously low price of $169!  At first I was pretty skeptical about the quality, but I figured it was pretty low risk at that price.  Most of the reviews of the kit seemed to give the impression that you'll get what you pay for.  A few people reported that the soft boxes were exceptionally difficult to put together so I wasn't sure how that would go or if it would prove to be too much.

The kit arrived very well packed.  Each bulb was in it's own small box packed with styrofoam.  The stands definitely had a very cheap feel to them.  I was even a little concerned that they would tip over with the soft boxes attached.  When I was setting up the first stand, a part of the plastic immediately broke off from one of the latches.

Piece missing from bottom of bracket

I was worried when it came time to assemble the soft boxes but in the end it turned out to be very easy.  The first one took me a few extra minutes to figure out the best order to put the parts together in, but it was still far from difficult.  It's just a matter of putting the long "sticks" into the corner holders.  They hold the soft box in the proper form by maintaing tension.  It does worry me that these sticks may at some point snap because they do seem to be under a lot of tension when in place.

The inside of the light box

The tension stick in place being held by velcro 

Fold the velcro back over the tip of the stick to hold it in place

Switches on the back.  Also offers a removable fuse.
The hole in the center is for the umbrella.

The light heads hold four florescent bulbs.  The back of the head has two switches so you can turn the bulbs on two at a time or all four at once.  In a standard three point lighting setup, you would have one light at full power (key) and then another light at half the power (fill).  These lights should allow you to set that up with the two banks of lights.  There is also another layer inside the softbox which helps to further soften the light.  I'm assuming you could remove this if you didn't need it in place.  It would be nice to have different cloths in different colors to change the light temperature.

The stands do extend fairly high if you want a nice hair light on your subject.  Despite my initial fears, the stands don't seem to want to tip over, even when fully extended.

Just about fully extended

So far I've been pleased with what I've seen so far.  Some of the test shots I've taken so far have wielded pleasing results and the big question will be whether or not it'll survive being lugged around and a long days use.  To supplement these lights I'm also packing my trusty shop lights.  I also have a few different colored gels to apply to these for as extra accent lights.

Time will tell if this setup is going to work or not.  If it does, then this was a screaming deal.  If not...then I should have known better than going so cheap.  Hopefully this will go down as one of my brighter ideas! (I know...I'm so clever!)