DIY studio - what lighbulbs?

Hello all, I am thinking of setting up a small studio in my garage, but I don't have the money to go out and purchase studio lighting equipment, so I thought that I'd make my own.

I can rig up light fittings on adjustable stands and off the ceiling, all at a reasonable cost, but since I hear that studio lights are stable in their colour temperature and I assume, a very high CRI, this brings me to the question:

What kind/brand, model, strength are the light bulbs that are used in your studio lights?. With these, I can rig up my fittings and use studio light bulbs for my budget home studio.

By the way, some of you may have already done something like this, any tips on what’s required, do's and don'ts?

Thanks
--
Cheers
macue

...you can color balance for whatever light source you choose.

Thats why a lot of people going your route use Halogen worklamps...because they can!

d

macue said:

Hello all, I am thinking of setting up a small studio in my garage,
but I don't have the money to go out and purchase studio lighting
equipment, so I thought that I'd make my own.

I can rig up light fittings on adjustable stands and off the
ceiling, all at a reasonable cost, but since I hear that studio
lights are stable in their colour temperature and I assume, a very
high CRI, this brings me to the question:

What kind/brand, model, strength are the light bulbs that are used
in your studio lights?. With these, I can rig up my fittings and
use studio light bulbs for my budget home studio.

By the way, some of you may have already done something like this,
any tips on what’s required, do's and don'ts?

Thanks
--
Cheers
macue

Click to expand...

David A. Melges said:

...you can color balance for whatever light source you choose.

Thats why a lot of people going your route use Halogen
worklamps...because they can!

d

Click to expand...

OK, I see. Thanks David.

So what power rating should the lamp then be. 100w, 250w, 500w, 1000w?

--
Cheers
macue

macue said:

David A. Melges said:

...you can color balance for whatever light source you choose.

Thats why a lot of people going your route use Halogen
worklamps...because they can!

Click to expand...

So what power rating should the lamp then be. 100w, 250w, 500w, 1000w?

Click to expand...

Hi. I've only photographed inanimate objects which don't mind intense light. I use two 500W halogen floodlights. As mentioned since you can adjust whitebalance on most camera's it isn't a problem. Although I would recommend having all lights the same color temp.

Since the available light has an impact on shutter speed, and therefore aperture, and therefore depth of field the amount of light will depend on what you want to do. Doing macro work I used plenty of light to get as much depth of field as possible. Also, I shine the lights through some lace material (close to the object) to create a soft light.

I'd recommend buying one or two 500W (or maybe 250W) lights and seeing what effect you get. You can probably return then for a different power, depending on where you buy them from. As I mentioned though, if shooting people the constant lighting may become very hot and uncomfortable on their eyes. Even doing macro work I would turn the lights off when repositioning the object and camera to let things cool down.

What about Tungsten lighting for your garage studio. Like yourself, I plan on setting up a small studio in my house. Not too long ago, I met a professional portrait photographer who told me he'd give me some pointers on how to do this. He told me he found tungsten lighting the best to work with.

macue said:

Hello all, I am thinking of setting up a small studio in my garage,
but I don't have the money to go out and purchase studio lighting
equipment, so I thought that I'd make my own.

I can rig up light fittings on adjustable stands and off the
ceiling, all at a reasonable cost, but since I hear that studio
lights are stable in their colour temperature and I assume, a very
high CRI, this brings me to the question:

What kind/brand, model, strength are the light bulbs that are used
in your studio lights?. With these, I can rig up my fittings and
use studio light bulbs for my budget home studio.

By the way, some of you may have already done something like this,
any tips on what’s required, do's and don'ts?

Thanks
--
Cheers
macue

Click to expand...

SteveZ said:

What about Tungsten lighting for your garage studio. Like yourself,
I plan on setting up a small studio in my house. Not too long ago,
I met a professional portrait photographer who told me he'd give me
some pointers on how to do this. He told me he found tungsten
lighting the best to work with.

Click to expand...

Hi Steve, this is what I've learned so far. quality of Light is rated on light bulbs as CRI (Color Rendering index) 0 to 100, where 100 is best. What this means is that not all light sources emit an even amount of the light spectrum,( ie. some light sources might have gaps in the red or green spectrum and thus these colours look wierd or inaccurate), thus if the CRI is low say 90, some even > 95.

have a look at the link, it explains it a bit better
http://www.cybertheater.com/Tech_Reports/Envir_Light/envir_light.html

I don't know what hallogen work lamps are like with their CRI though I can't imagine them being very high. The better Tungsten lights seem to have a CRI of arround 80, and Fluorencent tubes can have a CRI anywhere from 60 to > 95.

I found this guys http://www.cdaust.com.au/SERVICES/BROCH/DeSisti/DeLux_CDDataSheet.pdf , who just happen to be near my house and carry Photographic lights and spares, ( see towards the bottom of the PDF), they have

"OSR-SL5556 Compact fluorescent lamp STUDIO-LINE 55W/56, CRI >
95 (5.600° K Daylight - High Color Rendering index)"

I'll go and have a look at this and see if I can use it in my Studio to be, otherwise they have many others to choose from.

--
Cheers
macue

Buy 1000 watt fixtures. Use lower watt bulbs (500+). You will avoid overheating the fixtures and extend the bulb life. Watch out for puting 3 1000 watt fixtures or more on a 2 amp line.

Uncle Eric

I had a look at what the guys at CDAust had, wow, wrong croud, this guys are heavy duty serious and don't carry anything below $1500Aud. The light I was looking at was the wrong type as well.

BUT... after much searching I have finally found that Halogen lights, the Phillips Plus Line Pro 500w type used in Work Lamps have a CRI of 100 and a colour temp of 2900k.

While the lamp is a little cold the CRI is excellent, I guess Work Lamps are ideal for Digital phography.

So, I am going to buy some work lamps on adjustable stands and see if I can use a dimmer on them. If this works with the dimmer, I could not ask for more, if not, I guess I'll just have to leave the dimmer out of the picture.

For the money which is a fraction of Photographic lights I get the same or better quality light.

--
Cheers
macue

macue said:

I had a look at what the guys at CDAust had, wow, wrong croud, this
guys are heavy duty serious and don't carry anything below
$1500Aud. The light I was looking at was the wrong type as well.

BUT... after much searching I have finally found that Halogen
lights, the Phillips Plus Line Pro 500w type used in Work Lamps
have a CRI of 100 and a colour temp of 2900k.

While the lamp is a little cold the CRI is excellent, I guess Work
Lamps are ideal for Digital phography.

So, I am going to buy some work lamps on adjustable stands and see
if I can use a dimmer on them. If this works with the dimmer, I
could not ask for more, if not, I guess I'll just have to leave the
dimmer out of the picture.

Click to expand...

be sure to use sufficiently strong dimmers for the power you use

mario cueva said:

For the money which is a fraction of Photographic lights I get the
same or better quality light.

Click to expand...

not better quality. If it where so every pro photog would use them.

Be careful of fire hazard. And get yourself some worker's gloves. There are other problems with hotlamps. The major one would be skinting. To get the f-stop you need the people in front of the lamp wont tolerate the power. And they will get headaches. This is because while there arre not more lighted then from the sun everything else in your studio is darker and their eyes will try to adjust to try to see something in the darkness that surround the studio. Also if the spot(s) is not diffuse the point of light is too intense to tolerate. If you use a dimmers to set the power the WB will drift and you will need to set it again. Other appliance in your house will also affect the light level. When your fridge motor start the light level will diminish the WB will drift. Studio strobe, wether monolight or pack, use capacitance to regulate/charge before each firing so the power is the same regardless of the state of the electrical line they are connected to.

Another cheap option you did not look at is fluorescent ligthing. Some tube types have a good CRI, better then 90, and you can use them in lighting fixture comonly found everywhere. But be sure to use lighting fixture with modern high end electronic ballast, they are more costly then standard ballast but they eliminate flickers and hum. Paint a 4x4 feet plywood board white, screw 4 set of 4feet fixtures, for a total of 8 tubes, to them and you get instant diffuse lighting. No heat, no point light hard to look at, low electrical consumption and way less firehazard

--
Gaetan J.

Eric Bing said:

Buy 1000 watt fixtures. Use lower watt bulbs (500+). You will
avoid overheating the fixtures and extend the bulb life. Watch out
for puting 3 1000 watt fixtures or more on a 2 amp line.

Click to expand...

I'm sure Eric meant 20 amp instead of 2. Many locations don't have true 20 amp outlets, so you may only be able to run a single 1000w light off of many circuits. You can sometimes overload a circuit for awhile, but eventually it will trip.

Regards,
Bern

All studios should have a fire extinguisher handy & you should be extra careful with hotlights.

Regards,
Bern

Opps - 20 amp

Eric

Bern Caughey said:

Bern Caughey said:

Buy 1000 watt fixtures. Use lower watt bulbs (500+). You will
avoid overheating the fixtures and extend the bulb life. Watch out
for puting 3 1000 watt fixtures or more on a 2 amp line.

Click to expand...

I'm sure Eric meant 20 amp instead of 2. Many locations don't have
true 20 amp outlets, so you may only be able to run a single 1000w
light off of many circuits. You can sometimes overload a circuit
for awhile, but eventually it will trip.

Regards,
Bern

Click to expand...

SteveZ said:

macue said:

Hello all, I am thinking of setting up a small studio in my garage,
but I don't have the money to go out and purchase studio lighting
equipment, so I thought that I'd make my own.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Go to http://www.pictures4fun.com and ask Jeff Black for his setup.
He helped me and I bought lights and the whole nine yards for less than 200.00
Thats lights, stands, seamless paper.....

Allen

http://www.brightentech.com

SteveS76444 said:

SteveS76444 said:

I can rig up light fittings on adjustable stands and off the
ceiling, all at a reasonable cost, but since I hear that studio
lights are stable in their colour temperature and I assume, a very
high CRI, this brings me to the question:

What kind/brand, model, strength are the light bulbs that are used
in your studio lights?. With these, I can rig up my fittings and
use studio light bulbs for my budget home studio.

By the way, some of you may have already done something like this,
any tips on what’s required, do's and don'ts?

Thanks
--
Cheers
macue

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Thanks to all for your helpful replys, in the end I found some 500w halogen Work Lamps on Tripods with Dimmers. They were'nt as cheap as most of the other worklamps I was looking at, but the dimmers worked like a charm.

I tried them last night, I was worried that dimming the lights would change the colour temp, but this was not a problem. Also the camera had to be manually set to Tungsten WB, I don't normally have to touch this settings since my camera's auto WB is ussually really good, but doing this proved to be the trick.

--
Cheers
macue