Cheap Studio lighting? Maybe...

Hi -

I was browsing the articles at Lonestardigital.com and came across an article titled "Cheap Studio Lighting!" My work rarely takes place in a studio, and when it does I usually rent a studio for the occasion. However, especially recently, I've had the itch to set up a home studio but balk at the high prices of "proper" studio lighting..

If I'm going to get the best, then I'll most likely get the best performance. However, if I'm going to try and save money and go with one of the cheaper packages I wonder how much difference a cheaper package will make compared to what this guy thought up?

http://www.lonestardigital.com/affordable_lighting.htm

Take a look, it's a very short article but it blew me away with the simpleness of his idea in a continious lighting mode.. I know from experience with these sort of lights, that if you shop around for the good ones you can get varying intensity models, or better yet connect them all to the same electrical source with a inexpensive dimmer switch, or even several dimmer switches (these lights are halogen, so you can use a dimmer with them unlike flourescent), and all of a sudden you have 3000-5000 watt studio lighting system..

Pros - Lot's of light for cheap

• Easy and cheap to add intensity controls
• Portable
• Cheap replacement bubs, or whole lights for that matter
• Continuious lightiing

Cons - White balance set up? Possibly difficult to get right?

• Heat, these kind of lamps throw off some heat
• Unprofessional "look", however they can be "dressed up" if you care
• Unknowns..

Have any of you tried this type of light, and if so what were your results?

What do you think, will it work, work poorly, work great???

Personally I'm pretty intrigued, but would like some input before going ahead with this.. After a few calls I found some higher quality units with built in intensity controls, each head unit being 500 watts at max output, and the total cost was under $180 for four tall (can be let down to waist high) double head units, and four floor stand type 500 each single units. In my mind I compare this to the Bee system at $493 for two strobe umbrella reflector type lights and I can't help but feel I'd get better results with the cheaper lighting, especially if combined with some soft boxes..

Looking forward to any input and advice..

BKKSW

I would not be too quick to dismiss the cost efficiency, and convenience of using inexpensive banks of flourescent lighting. I have been recommending this to many of those beginners I have instructed in Basic Studio techniques.

With the E-10/20, it is very easy to obtain excellent color balance. You must remember though, to set your shutter speed no faster than 1/30th of a second, as flourescent lights cycle on and off at 1/60th of a second, thus a shutter duration of 1/30 being needed to ensure that the light is captured in its 'on' cycle, rather than the 'off' cycle.

Color effects are easy, with inexpensive ROSCO gels being available. I keep a permanent glamour setup in one corner wherein I use a 4ft by 5ft wall of glass blocks with a large light bank behind them. This wall of light sits almost 90 degrees to the subject and provides a huge amount of wrap-around light. The effect can be easily controlled by moving the light wall closer to, or father away from the camera. In other words, closer to the camera means that there is more light wall in-front on the subject, making for a very soft light with huge wrap around. Moving the wall further away from the camera means that there is less wrap effect and more noticeable shadows on the subject. The setup is completed with the background of choice and fill reflectors opposite (and out of camera view) the light wall.

Just another possibility for those on a budget (aren't we all!)

Cheers: Reg

This is timely...I'm considering getting a couple more Alien Bee's to join the White Lightning unit I've had for over 10 years--and it's still working fine, thank you. Continuous lighting has certain advantages, although I work about the heat (I live in Texas...it gets hot enough here). I also work about the bright lights causing subjects to squint.

It certainly is a thought though for lighting on a budget.

BooRadley

Mr Reg R Coulter said:

You must remember though, to set your shutter speed no
faster than 1/30th of a second, as flourescent lights cycle on and
off at 1/60th of a second, thus a shutter duration of 1/30 being
needed to ensure that the light is captured in its 'on' cycle,
rather than the 'off' cycle.

Click to expand...

I have not found this to be true with the "electronic" or flicker free type of ballast but have not tried with the magnetic so that may be true for them.

Ed Oliver

This is exactly my "studio" setup... It works wonderfully for me, except maybe for the fact they get quite hot... But it's easily fixed by turning them off while setting up the shot.

I took some self-portraits, using just one light, one bulb turned on.

Here is an example:



And Another:



And one of my friend:



I haven't played nearly enough with this setup yet, but I am planning to.

I think for under $100 ($29.99 each of the big worklights at Wal-Mart, $19.99 for the little ones), it's a great alternative... Who cares if they look cheap, it's the results that matter!
At least until I can afford some REAL lights... hee hee heee

-Julia

Boo -

The brightness can be controlled by the intensity controls, and along with that the heat. Any sort of continous lighting I've ever used is very bright and very hot, this is were strobes are nicer to use.. There are a lot of pro's and cons on strobes vs. continious, but I've never seen a decent strobe set up for under $200.00 like we can do with this work lights..

BKKSW

BooRadley said:

This is timely...I'm considering getting a couple more Alien Bee's
to join the White Lightning unit I've had for over 10 years--and
it's still working fine, thank you. Continuous lighting has
certain advantages, although I work about the heat (I live in
Texas...it gets hot enough here). I also work about the bright
lights causing subjects to squint.

It certainly is a thought though for lighting on a budget.

BooRadley

Click to expand...

Julia -

Thanks for the input and the samples.. I especially like the b&W shot of the complete face, I'm assuming that's the self portrait of you? If so, very pretty! Have you experience with other continious lighting sources? I have and they're all hot and bright (if you keep them "turned up", but I wonder how they compare to the worklights your using?

Any trouble with white balance?

Take care

BKKSW

Julia Sage said:

This is exactly my "studio" setup... It works wonderfully for me,
except maybe for the fact they get quite hot... But it's easily
fixed by turning them off while setting up the shot.

I took some self-portraits, using just one light, one bulb turned on.

Click to expand...

I started with worklights before I got my Photoflex lights. I first got a set of the yellow rectangle lenses lights. I then found Sears Craftsman round lens lights. The round lens provides better light flooding and they are just nicer. I have a non-photo friend who though they were professional photo lights and not work lights - not that I really think they could pass for them.

I cant find the lights I have on the Sears website, but here is a picture and a link to a similar light.



http://www.sears.com/sr/product/summary/productsummary.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@2076671518.1017891668@@@@&BV_EngineID=cccladcekkllglmcehgcemgdffmdfin.0&vertical=SEARS&bidsite=&pid=03483982000

The lights I have are similar, but they are a sinle light on a stand, and it has 2 bulbs inside the fixture. A 300w and a 500w. The switch is a 3-way switch that will a) give the 300w half power, b) full 300w power, and c) 500w bulb only. This gives all the light 3 power magnitudes - pretty useful.

I dont remember my white balance setting - it's been a while, but it isnt too hard to find it. Should take less than 10 minutes to take a picture at each setting and figure out the best one.

(BTW, after using strobes, I dont even want to look at hot lights again. I used to think I'd never use strobes.)

Hope this helps,

GageFX

BKKSW said:

Hi -

I was browsing the articles at Lonestardigital.com and came across
an article titled "Cheap Studio Lighting!" My work rarely takes
place in a studio, and when it does I usually rent a studio for the
occasion. However, especially recently, I've had the itch to set
up a home studio but balk at the high prices of "proper" studio
lighting..

If I'm going to get the best, then I'll most likely get the best
performance. However, if I'm going to try and save money and go
with one of the cheaper packages I wonder how much difference a
cheaper package will make compared to what this guy thought up?

http://www.lonestardigital.com/affordable_lighting.htm

Take a look, it's a very short article but it blew me away with the
simpleness of his idea in a continious lighting mode.. I know from
experience with these sort of lights, that if you shop around for
the good ones you can get varying intensity models, or better yet
connect them all to the same electrical source with a inexpensive
dimmer switch, or even several dimmer switches (these lights are
halogen, so you can use a dimmer with them unlike flourescent), and
all of a sudden you have 3000-5000 watt studio lighting system..

Pros - Lot's of light for cheap

• Easy and cheap to add intensity controls
• Portable
• Cheap replacement bubs, or whole lights for that matter
• Continuious lightiing

Cons - White balance set up? Possibly difficult to get right?

• Heat, these kind of lamps throw off some heat
• Unprofessional "look", however they can be "dressed up" if you care
• Unknowns..

Have any of you tried this type of light, and if so what were your
results?

What do you think, will it work, work poorly, work great???

Personally I'm pretty intrigued, but would like some input before
going ahead with this.. After a few calls I found some higher
quality units with built in intensity controls, each head unit
being 500 watts at max output, and the total cost was under $180
for four tall (can be let down to waist high) double head units,
and four floor stand type 500 each single units. In my mind I
compare this to the Bee system at $493 for two strobe umbrella
reflector type lights and I can't help but feel I'd get better
results with the cheaper lighting, especially if combined with some
soft boxes..

Looking forward to any input and advice..

BKKSW

Click to expand...

Gagefx -

Thanks for your input.. Were you entirely dissatisfied with these lights, or did you just want to move up to something "cooler?" Portrait work isn't my thing, with the exception of environmental portraits which fit into my line of work and normally these are taken outdoors or with natural lighting, but I would still enjoy having studio capabilties to "play with" for family members, product pics, etc..

BKKSW

gagefx said:

I cant find the lights I have on the Sears website, but here is a
picture and a link to a similar light.



http://www.sears.com/sr/product/summary/productsummary.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@2076671518.1017891668@@@@&BV_EngineID=cccladcekkllglmcehgcemgdffmdfin.0&vertical=SEARS&bidsite=&pid=03483982000

The lights I have are similar, but they are a sinle light on a
stand, and it has 2 bulbs inside the fixture. A 300w and a 500w.
The switch is a 3-way switch that will a) give the 300w half power,
b) full 300w power, and c) 500w bulb only. This gives all the light
3 power magnitudes - pretty useful.

I dont remember my white balance setting - it's been a while, but
it isnt too hard to find it. Should take less than 10 minutes to
take a picture at each setting and figure out the best one.

(BTW, after using strobes, I dont even want to look at hot lights
again. I used to think I'd never use strobes.)

Hope this helps,

GageFX

BKKSW said:

Hi -

I was browsing the articles at Lonestardigital.com and came across
an article titled "Cheap Studio Lighting!" My work rarely takes
place in a studio, and when it does I usually rent a studio for the
occasion. However, especially recently, I've had the itch to set
up a home studio but balk at the high prices of "proper" studio
lighting..

If I'm going to get the best, then I'll most likely get the best
performance. However, if I'm going to try and save money and go
with one of the cheaper packages I wonder how much difference a
cheaper package will make compared to what this guy thought up?

http://www.lonestardigital.com/affordable_lighting.htm

Take a look, it's a very short article but it blew me away with the
simpleness of his idea in a continious lighting mode.. I know from
experience with these sort of lights, that if you shop around for
the good ones you can get varying intensity models, or better yet
connect them all to the same electrical source with a inexpensive
dimmer switch, or even several dimmer switches (these lights are
halogen, so you can use a dimmer with them unlike flourescent), and
all of a sudden you have 3000-5000 watt studio lighting system..

Pros - Lot's of light for cheap

• Easy and cheap to add intensity controls
• Portable
• Cheap replacement bubs, or whole lights for that matter
• Continuious lightiing

Cons - White balance set up? Possibly difficult to get right?

• Heat, these kind of lamps throw off some heat
• Unprofessional "look", however they can be "dressed up" if you care
• Unknowns..

Have any of you tried this type of light, and if so what were your
results?

What do you think, will it work, work poorly, work great???

Personally I'm pretty intrigued, but would like some input before
going ahead with this.. After a few calls I found some higher
quality units with built in intensity controls, each head unit
being 500 watts at max output, and the total cost was under $180
for four tall (can be let down to waist high) double head units,
and four floor stand type 500 each single units. In my mind I
compare this to the Bee system at $493 for two strobe umbrella
reflector type lights and I can't help but feel I'd get better
results with the cheaper lighting, especially if combined with some
soft boxes..

Looking forward to any input and advice..

BKKSW

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

When I bought my first digital camera (an Oly D600L) I went out and got 6 sets of these lights. While they will work, the problems I found were:

I needed at least 6 lights to really get enough light to do what I wanted to do (again, with a D600, you might not need as much light with an e 20), which meant that my pictures would end up with multiple shadows.

each light needs an outlet, they use too much power to plug them all into a power strip.

They cast a really noticeable yellow cast, which can be fixed in photoshop or white balance
They are very hot, and they can heat up a good sized room in no time.

but the worst problem I had is just that the light is very uneven, and they tended to cast very bright lines due to the bends and folds in the reflectors. Ideally, you would want to get the kind of lights that have frosted glass (I think they are called painters lights), otherwise, the bright streaks of light are a real problem.

On the other hand, I did get some good shots using them, but I eventually bit the bullet and bought a photoflex starlite system.
Joe

BKKSW said:

Hi -

I was browsing the articles at Lonestardigital.com and came across
an article titled "Cheap Studio Lighting!" My work rarely takes
place in a studio, and when it does I usually rent a studio for the
occasion. However, especially recently, I've had the itch to set
up a home studio but balk at the high prices of "proper" studio
lighting..

If I'm going to get the best, then I'll most likely get the best
performance. However, if I'm going to try and save money and go
with one of the cheaper packages I wonder how much difference a
cheaper package will make compared to what this guy thought up?

http://www.lonestardigital.com/affordable_lighting.htm

Take a look, it's a very short article but it blew me away with the
simpleness of his idea in a continious lighting mode.. I know from
experience with these sort of lights, that if you shop around for
the good ones you can get varying intensity models, or better yet
connect them all to the same electrical source with a inexpensive
dimmer switch, or even several dimmer switches (these lights are
halogen, so you can use a dimmer with them unlike flourescent), and
all of a sudden you have 3000-5000 watt studio lighting system..

Pros - Lot's of light for cheap

• Easy and cheap to add intensity controls
• Portable
• Cheap replacement bubs, or whole lights for that matter
• Continuious lightiing

Cons - White balance set up? Possibly difficult to get right?

• Heat, these kind of lamps throw off some heat
• Unprofessional "look", however they can be "dressed up" if you care
• Unknowns..

Have any of you tried this type of light, and if so what were your
results?

What do you think, will it work, work poorly, work great???

Personally I'm pretty intrigued, but would like some input before
going ahead with this.. After a few calls I found some higher
quality units with built in intensity controls, each head unit
being 500 watts at max output, and the total cost was under $180
for four tall (can be let down to waist high) double head units,
and four floor stand type 500 each single units. In my mind I
compare this to the Bee system at $493 for two strobe umbrella
reflector type lights and I can't help but feel I'd get better
results with the cheaper lighting, especially if combined with some
soft boxes..

Looking forward to any input and advice..

BKKSW

Click to expand...

I needed something that actually works. They are fine to practice with and learn lighting, but not a practical alternative to real lights.

GageFX

BKKSW said:

Gagefx -

Thanks for your input.. Were you entirely dissatisfied with these
lights, or did you just want to move up to something "cooler?"
Portrait work isn't my thing, with the exception of environmental
portraits which fit into my line of work and normally these are
taken outdoors or with natural lighting, but I would still enjoy
having studio capabilties to "play with" for family members,
product pics, etc..

BKKSW

Click to expand...

The same company (I believe) makes similar lights for painting. The selling point is that they offer "true" light so that colors appear as they should! I bought one for use with product images and it works pretty well, though I have not tried portraits.

The lens is frosted on this light, and it gives off a much "smoother" light than the harsh worklights. It has two power settings, and otherwise looks just like the lights mentioned already.

GAD

Here's the info from Home Depots website:



Halogen Painters Light

Model PHL300

Designed specifically for painting and decorating
Special tempered and frosted lens eliminates glare and shadows
Spare 300 Watt premium halogen bulb included
Provides enough light to paint a 20' x 20' room
Dimmer switch reduces light output to 150 Watts for smaller jobs
Light folds down for convenient and compact storage
Unique open-face packaging lets consumer see and touch product
UL and CSA listed for use in dry locations

Manufacturer:
Regent

SKU #:
138574

UPC #:
044427005583

Julia - I do believe you've got some real lights!!!!

Price and packaging don't make them any more real. It's the photographer that makes them real.



Nope, not me, one of my victims.--John HormWildCatNip Photography http://www.wildcatnip.homestead.com

Gad -

Thanks, these would obviously be better than the straight work lights.. I'm still not sure if I'll go this route, but it's getting tempting to try them..

BKKSW

GAD said:

Here's the info from Home Depots website:



Halogen Painters Light

Model PHL300

Designed specifically for painting and decorating
Special tempered and frosted lens eliminates glare and shadows
Spare 300 Watt premium halogen bulb included
Provides enough light to paint a 20' x 20' room
Dimmer switch reduces light output to 150 Watts for smaller jobs
Light folds down for convenient and compact storage
Unique open-face packaging lets consumer see and touch product
UL and CSA listed for use in dry locations

Manufacturer:
Regent

SKU #:
138574

UPC #:
044427005583

Click to expand...

Joe -

Thanks, this was really constructive. After reading Gad's input do you think the frosted lights would have worked out significantly better?

BKKSW

Shelby & Joe said:

BKKSW said:

Hi -

I was browsing the articles at Lonestardigital.com and came across
an article titled "Cheap Studio Lighting!" My work rarely takes
place in a studio, and when it does I usually rent a studio for the
occasion. However, especially recently, I've had the itch to set
up a home studio but balk at the high prices of "proper" studio
lighting..

If I'm going to get the best, then I'll most likely get the best
performance. However, if I'm going to try and save money and go
with one of the cheaper packages I wonder how much difference a
cheaper package will make compared to what this guy thought up?

http://www.lonestardigital.com/affordable_lighting.htm

Take a look, it's a very short article but it blew me away with the
simpleness of his idea in a continious lighting mode.. I know from
experience with these sort of lights, that if you shop around for
the good ones you can get varying intensity models, or better yet
connect them all to the same electrical source with a inexpensive
dimmer switch, or even several dimmer switches (these lights are
halogen, so you can use a dimmer with them unlike flourescent), and
all of a sudden you have 3000-5000 watt studio lighting system..

Pros - Lot's of light for cheap

• Easy and cheap to add intensity controls
• Portable
• Cheap replacement bubs, or whole lights for that matter
• Continuious lightiing

Cons - White balance set up? Possibly difficult to get right?

• Heat, these kind of lamps throw off some heat
• Unprofessional "look", however they can be "dressed up" if you care
• Unknowns..

Have any of you tried this type of light, and if so what were your
results?

What do you think, will it work, work poorly, work great???

Personally I'm pretty intrigued, but would like some input before
going ahead with this.. After a few calls I found some higher
quality units with built in intensity controls, each head unit
being 500 watts at max output, and the total cost was under $180
for four tall (can be let down to waist high) double head units,
and four floor stand type 500 each single units. In my mind I
compare this to the Bee system at $493 for two strobe umbrella
reflector type lights and I can't help but feel I'd get better
results with the cheaper lighting, especially if combined with some
soft boxes..

Looking forward to any input and advice..

BKKSW

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Hi BKKSW,

I spent years in the field of video using quartz halogen lights and I have the burn scars on one of my palms to prove it... literally. I would urge anyone to be VERY careful selecting that kind of solution no matter what the cost.

There are so many reasons for NOT looking in that direction... not the least of which is how the CCD in your camera works. It has a hard time seeing blue. Quarts lights put out very little blue. So, to compensate, the blue signal must be boosted to the point of possibly increasing noise. (Notice how everyone always talks about blue channel noise?) Most of the 'light' from those bulbs is radiated as heat and what visible spectrum there is falls in the red and yellow range.

First, good LIGHTING is not all LIGHTS. It can be reflected light. So, if you look at your lighting needs over the long haul you will find that you can purchase a single light and a reflector like the PhotoFlex LiteDiscs and begin to build a great lighting system over time. There is nowhere to go with the lights you are considering.

While I believe that strobes are harder for people to learn than continuous lights. I'd much rather see someone by a single good strobe and a set of reflectors than to choose quarts lights not made for photo work.

Having spent months doing research and testing lighting sources, I've come to really appreciate the benefits of high-frequency, full-spectrum flourescent lighting for digital photography. It really works well. No, it isn't as cheap or simple as the solution you are looking at; but, over the long run it provides a very nice growth path.

There are professional lighting systems from Bowens International that I really love. But, if they are beyond your budget, you can find lights that will work beautifully at http://www.fullspectrumsolutions.com . Be sure to look at lights in the 6500K range with nice blue coverage.

I think the 'system' I would choose to start my lighting system would be the new Bowens 9Lite and a 42" White or Silver LiteDisc (or MultiDisc)... and build from there. The 9Lite includes a softbox and is the equivalent of about 1000 watts of incandescent/quartz lighting with a 270W power draw. And... it produces blues to make your camera a LOT happier.

http://www.bowensinternational.com/pages/framesetcontinuous.html

Great lighting requires a LOT of control in three primary areas... The Light Source (Quality, Intensity, placement, reflection); Light Diffusion and Light Blocking. Of these the ONLY characteristics that halogen lights excel in is intensity. In all other ways their liabilities far outweigh their benefits.

BKKSW said:

Hi -

I was browsing the articles at Lonestardigital.com and came across
an article titled "Cheap Studio Lighting!" My work rarely takes
place in a studio, and when it does I usually rent a studio for the
occasion. However, especially recently, I've had the itch to set
up a home studio but balk at the high prices of "proper" studio
lighting..

If I'm going to get the best, then I'll most likely get the best
performance. However, if I'm going to try and save money and go
with one of the cheaper packages I wonder how much difference a
cheaper package will make compared to what this guy thought up?

http://www.lonestardigital.com/affordable_lighting.htm

Take a look, it's a very short article but it blew me away with the
simpleness of his idea in a continious lighting mode.. I know from
experience with these sort of lights, that if you shop around for
the good ones you can get varying intensity models, or better yet
connect them all to the same electrical source with a inexpensive
dimmer switch, or even several dimmer switches (these lights are
halogen, so you can use a dimmer with them unlike flourescent), and
all of a sudden you have 3000-5000 watt studio lighting system..

Pros - Lot's of light for cheap

• Easy and cheap to add intensity controls
• Portable
• Cheap replacement bubs, or whole lights for that matter
• Continuious lightiing

Cons - White balance set up? Possibly difficult to get right?

• Heat, these kind of lamps throw off some heat
• Unprofessional "look", however they can be "dressed up" if you care
• Unknowns..

Have any of you tried this type of light, and if so what were your
results?

What do you think, will it work, work poorly, work great???

Personally I'm pretty intrigued, but would like some input before
going ahead with this.. After a few calls I found some higher
quality units with built in intensity controls, each head unit
being 500 watts at max output, and the total cost was under $180
for four tall (can be let down to waist high) double head units,
and four floor stand type 500 each single units. In my mind I
compare this to the Bee system at $493 for two strobe umbrella
reflector type lights and I can't help but feel I'd get better
results with the cheaper lighting, especially if combined with some
soft boxes..

Looking forward to any input and advice..

BKKSW

Click to expand...

When you dim incandescent or halogen lights you end up changing the color temperature of the lights across a fairly wide range.

BKKSW said:

Thanks for the input and the samples.. I especially like the b&W
shot of the complete face, I'm assuming that's the self portrait of
you? If so, very pretty! Have you experience with other
continious lighting sources? I have and they're all hot and bright
(if you keep them "turned up", but I wonder how they compare to the
worklights your using?

Any trouble with white balance?

Take care

BKKSW

Julia Sage said:

This is exactly my "studio" setup... It works wonderfully for me,
except maybe for the fact they get quite hot... But it's easily
fixed by turning them off while setting up the shot.

I took some self-portraits, using just one light, one bulb turned on.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Not to be argumentative, (well, maybe, but I guess that's me), there is such a variable as "quality of light". Light QUALITY comes both from the light itself and the ability to modify it. If it was just a matter of getting a big work light, the big commercial pros would merely get big work lights and avoid the Broncolors with thousand dollar softboxes.

Yes, work lights will work, they are not the BEST "quality of light" solution, but they will provide light and a good photographer can utilize this light to create nice photographs.

GageFX

John H said:

Julia - I do believe you've got some real lights!!!!
Price and packaging don't make them any more real. It's the
photographer that makes them real.



Nope, not me, one of my victims.
--
John Horm
WildCatNip Photography
http://www.wildcatnip.homestead.com

Click to expand...

Great post Tom, you said a lot of things I was thinking but didnt have the intelligence to say.

As far as strobes, go, I learned with hot lights - halogens and then Photoflex because I thought I had to see it. The thing was, I never tried strobes so I just didnt understand. I would absolutely suggest strobes to anyone who shoots portraits or and humans where the lights will be close to the subject.

When I first tried strobes, they had a 0% learning curve. The modeling lamp provided all the WYSIWYG that was needed. Learning the ratios took about 3 frames, as I dont use an exposure meter - and I dont think it's necessary.

I would suggest hot lights for product shoots - either Photoflex or the new flourescents.

A strobe and a couple reflectors will work though.

GageFX