Steve Kaeser 7 light fluorescent kit?

[xb70fan]

Does anyone have any experience with the following kit from Steve Kaeser?

http://www.skaeser.com/servlet/the-855/STUDIO-LIGHTING%2C-PHOTOGRAPHY-LIGHTING%2C/Detail

The kit that will only get occasional use - perhaps 6-8 times a year.

--
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

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Fuji X100 / Fuji X-Pro 1 / Nikon V1

 

[Sailor Blue]

For animate subjects continuous lighting needs to be extremely bright to let you use shutter speeds short enough to prevent subject movement blurring your images. It is then so bright that you will have major problems with subjects squinting or tearing. Those are two good reasons why almost all portrait photographers prefer using studio strobes.

The kit you refer to is a very high powered continuous lighting kit and should work for portraiture but you will have the squinting and tearing problem. You can buy a two or three light budget priced high quality studio strobe kit for a bit more money and you will find it easier to work with.

Here is one example of a such a house brand studio strobe kit from B&H.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/429685-REG/Impact_VSD300_3KIII_VSD300_3_Monolight_Portrait.html

You could even buy a lower prices but lower powered kit for less money. The major drawback of this kit is that you would have to use a higher ISO than the base ISO, but then you would have to do the same with the continuous lighting kit and with modern DSLRs that isn't a big problem.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/390686-REG/Impact_EX100A_KI_One_Monolight_Kit.html

At Adorama you can find similar house brand Flashpoint kits. Both B&H and Adorama have excellent reputations for the quality of their house brand lights and for customer relations.

For even better quality budget priced lights look at the AlienBee studio strobes from Paul C. Buff. PCB has the best reputation in the industry for quality budget priced equipment and customer relations.

http://www.paulcbuff.com/

 

[Jack A. Zucker]

For animate subjects continuous lighting needs to be extremely bright to let you use shutter speeds short enough to prevent subject movement blurring your images. It is then so bright that you will have major problems with subjects squinting or tearing. Those are two good reasons why almost all portrait photographers prefer using studio strobes.

Not necessarily. My uncle Monte Zucker and his Protoge Clay Blackmore use(d) flourescent lights in the studio and instead of shooting at F8 or F11, they shoot at 2.8 or 4.0 and a slower shutter speed. This produces a nice, shallow DOF which they felt enhanced their portraits and of course has the advantage of being absolutely what you see is what you get.

 

[Peter Berressem]

....and of course has the advantage of being absolutely what you see is what you get.

Jack, not exactly. You have to e.g. squint your eyes to estimate the lighting ratio. Our normal vision tends to open up the shadows too much. I.e., we see with a very flat gradation curve.

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cheers, Peter
Germany

 

[Quantum Help]

People of product?

The answer matters.

Product (or any other non-living thing) is OK

People -- flash would be better

 

[xb70fan]

People of product?

The answer matters.

Product (or any other non-living thing) is OK

People -- flash would be better

Mostly still life and product. Using a Fuji X-Pro 1 so higher ISO isn't a problem.

My GF will use occasionally to shoot demo videos for her lab students. There are no "faces" in the videos, just her hands demonstrating how the lab equipment gets set up, etc ...

 

[Jack A. Zucker]

....and of course has the advantage of being absolutely what you see is what you get.

Jack, not exactly. You have to e.g. squint your eyes to estimate the lighting ratio. Our normal vision tends to open up the shadows too much. I.e., we see with a very flat gradation curve.

Ok but you know what I mean. As compared to a modeling light...

 

[Jack A. Zucker]

People of product?

The answer matters.

Product (or any other non-living thing) is OK

People -- flash would be better

disagree. Different. Not necessarily better. Ask Clay Blackmore

 

[Sailor Blue]

Let's not start a cat fight over whether or not you can use continuous lighting for portraiture.

As I said, studio strobe are preferred but Jack A. Zucker and others are right, you can use continuous lighting. There are numerous photographers such as well know head shot and portrait photographer Peter Hurley ( http://peterhurley.com/ ) who use continuous lighting.

The trade off is as Jack said, large apertures and slow shutter speeds. With adults you can get by with doing this. Try it with children and you will quickly become a studio strobe convert.

I'm old enough that I have had experience using continuous lighting for portraits and I can tell you that it was always a struggle. Doing portraiture with studio strobes is much easier on both the subject and the photographer.

 

[xb70fan]

Well, I just wanted to know if anyone had any comments on the quality of the Kaeser equipment.

--
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Fuji X100 / Fuji X-Pro 1 / Nikon V1