How many Lumens are needed indoors....

[Elazarus]

I am doing product photography for my e-commerce website.

Currently I am using 2 Lonestar CFL 30 Watt 5000K 2600 lumens and I find that at f11 I need the shutter to work at 1/4 to get a decent photo.

How many lumens is a good number to work with so I can get the best balance of DOF (f11 is a bit off and I would prefer f18) and a faster shutter speed?

I was looking at the 55 Watt CFL that has 3600 lumens per bulb and the 85 watt which is 6000 lumens......which is best and which is overkill?

Thank you

Elliot

 

[Peter Berressem]

You may calculate for yourself, considering that for 1 f/stop (or step in shutter speed) you need double the power.

So, for f/16 1/4s it takes 5200 lumen. To gain also a 1 stop shorter s.s. (1/8s) it would take another doubling = about 10400 lumen.
Maybe you'll have to add more sources to achieve this power level....

--
cheers, Peter

Germany