# Dirt Cheap Lighting - A Buyer's Guide



## Browncoat

As a semi-pro photographer, I think a lot of people stay away from lighting gear for a variety of reasons:

Expensive
Confusing
Takes up a lot of room
It's much easier to simply step outside and take photos in natural light. But what happens when the sun goes down? How about when the weather is bad and you're stuck inside? Sometimes space limitations can't be improved, however, having lighting equipment doesn't mean that you have to have a spare bedroom or basement either. As for the confusing part...it can be. It's difficult to make an informed decision on what to buy because most of us fear spending a lot of hard earned cash on something, only to figure out later on that it isn't what we needed.

I've compiled a few different lighting kits here that will get the job done on the cheap. The key word here is *cheap*. If you're looking for middle of the road equipment, you won't find it here. Most of this stuff is imported and made available through Amazon. If you want to experiment with lighting and want to fund it by digging through your couch cushions, read on:

*Clark Howard Kit - $150*
In case you don't know, Clark Howard is a syndicated radio talk show host, and is the cheapest person alive. This kit features the bare essentials. A 16 year old kid working at a grocery store can afford this stuff.

Yongnuo YN-560 speedlight - It is what it is, gang. No bells and whistles here, just dirt cheap and reliable.
CowboyStudio stand/umbrella/bracket kit - Don't sneeze on this thing, or it will blow over.
CowboyStudio NPT-04 wireless trigger - Bam! Welcome to the 21st century.
43" 5-in-1 reflector - I own this thing. It's fragile, but it gets the job done. Take care of it, and it will last!​
*Weekend Warrior Kit - $ 300*
If you have a bit more $$$ burning a hole in your pocket and want a better setup, take a look here.

Yongnuo YN-560 speedlight (x2) - Having two flashes opens up a lot more options to you.
Opteka LS1000 10' light stands - These are much more sturdy than the budget stands. You might have to sneeze twice.
ePhoto brackets (x2) - Our fancy new stands will need these to hold the umbrellas.
ePhoto 40" shoot-thru umbrella (x2) - El Cheapo umbrellas for you Mary Poppins wanna-bes.
CowboyStudio 24" softbox - This will give you something new to play with.
CowboyStudio NPT-04 wireless trigger - Same as in the budget kit, only with another receiver for your 2nd flash unit.
43" 5-in-1 reflector - Seriously...buy this thing. It's a helluva deal.​
*Backdrops, Light Tents, and Bulbs*

Honestly, guys...unless you're looking to replicate the pros, you can just go really simple here. A piece of white posterboard goes a long, long way:






There are a TON of light tent/box tutorials on the internet, so I won't get into great detail on those here. They are AWESOME for small product photography (like pens!) and control lighting very well. You can go simple with a cardboard box or get fancy and use PVC pipe, it doesn't matter. The key isn't the size or materials of the box, it's the lighting!

If you're going to use lighting other than photography flash, make sure you are using pure white bulbs (5500K). Every home improvement store carries these bulbs, as does Walmart. They're usually a bit more expensive than a typical incandescent bulb, and can be harder to find in the light bulb aisle. But trust me, they have them. You can use these bulbs with cheap and simple garage/shop clamp lights to great effect.

I'll add a thread about camera settings and general lighting discussion later!


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## Skie_M

Have you had a look at these?

http://www.amazon.com/Photography-P...o-LMS103/dp/B005FHZ2SI/ref=pd_bxgy_421_text_z

Followed your link for the reflector and noticed them for only 50 bucks.


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## farmer

*Cheap studio lighting systems*

My first rodeo with studio lighting for product photography
Was http://www.amazon.ca/CowboyStudio-Photo-Studio-Lighting-Softbox/dp/B0064L8L2I


One of the light stands broke first time getting set up.
The stands will not hold the weight of the light and the soft boxes that came with the kit....

The soft boxes ,   Ok you need three hands to put it together, and its not something that you would ever want to disassemble and re assemble every time you want to photograph a pen.......................

This studio set up is a pain to set up. the soft boxes are big and take up allot of room and they are made so cheap the lights drift down and the light stands break, they are extremely flimsy and could be considered a safety hazard.

They are worthless for doing portraits because it make the subject squint there eyes, Continuous lighting does that...............
This lighting kit and many lighting kits like it make junk look good........

Pens are small guys,  a good LED desk lamp will do everything you guys need or at least it will work on the cheap...

LED because of it light spectrum and LED lighting doesn't create allot of heat............. and tungsten bulbs create allot of heat and would be a fire hazard ......
Florescent lighting can be used, but I would suggest using a 18% gray card and doing a custom white balance setting on your camera.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gray_card
PS I only shoot in Raw and manual mode .


Even a strong LED flashlight will work with a piece of white cotton cloth rubber banded in front of the light to soften it.
You would control the light with cotton cloth or toilet paper.
Personally I would also put a small piece of linear polarized film over the light to filter out electromagnetic  polarized waves , but that is just me.

I use professional photographers strobe lighting system 
I have two strobes but I only use one at a time on pens and billiards products.
I prefer my Paul C. Buff - White Lightning X1600 
 And use this one as a back up
Paul C. Buff - AlienBees B1600
with these soft boxes
Paul C. Buff - Foldable Stripboxes
I set this up for mainly photographing pool cues but it works great for smaller subjects like pens and pocket chalkers too.
I use the HD lights stand because they are the most stable , hard to knock over ....
Paul C. Buff - 13-foot Heavy Duty Light Stand
with a Westcott boom
Westcott Complete Boom Arm - 6.5' 6017 B&H Photo Video.

I enjoy photography and I was struggling with my product photography.
At a certain point I got tired of trying all these DIY lighting systems and went with professional gear.
I sale custom made pool cues, some of these cues are collectors and I need professional looking photographs.

One of my lighting systems cost me about 750.00 if I buy the strobe used.
But if I was just trying to photographs pens I would do it on top of a table or desk and use either a EX 580 speedlight  OFF SHOE.
Amazon.com : Canon Speedlite 580EX II Flash for Canon EOS Digital SLR Cameras : On Camera Shoe Mount Flashes : Camera & Photo
Or
Amazon.com : Yongnuo YN-560 II Speedlight Flash for Canon and Nikon. GN58. : On Camera Shoe Mount Flashes : Camera & Photo
With a speedlight soft box http://www.amazon.com/Universal-Col...1439134106&sr=8-46&keywords=580+ex+speedlight


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## Browncoat

Skie_M said:


> Have you had a look at these?
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/Photography-P...o-LMS103/dp/B005FHZ2SI/ref=pd_bxgy_421_text_z



Yep, those are okay also...though I'm not a big fan of continuous lighting. If someone wants to go that route, might as well just grab a few shop lights.

There's always going to be varying degrees of what people are willing to invest in this stuff. Throw in skill level, camera saavy, and the possibilities are almost endless with what kind of setup someone can use. The stuff mentioned in the original post is meant to get someone into off-camera flash on the cheap. Dirt cheap. That equipment is flimsy and what any photographer worth his salt would consider "throwaway gear". If it breaks, just toss it in the trash.

I've run the gamut with photo gear, especially lighting. Everything from shop lights to about a $20,000 setup for pro level portrait work. The Paul C Buff gear was probably my favorite because it's very good kit for not a lot of money...but probably still more that most would be willing to spend just to photograph pens.


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## brownsfn2

I have been thinking about a powerful mono light and ditching my continuous lighting.  Do you think that is the way to go or dual speedlights?  What are the pros/cons?


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## Skie_M

Browncoat said:


> Skie_M said:
> 
> 
> 
> Have you had a look at these?
> 
> Amazon.com : Photography Photo Portrait Studio 600W Day Light Umbrella Continuous Lighting Kit by LimoStudio LMS103 : Photographic Lighting Umbrellas : Camera & Photo
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Yep, those are okay also...though I'm not a big fan of continuous lighting. If someone wants to go that route, might as well just grab a few shop lights.
> 
> There's always going to be varying degrees of what people are willing to invest in this stuff. Throw in skill level, camera saavy, and the possibilities are almost endless with what kind of setup someone can use. The stuff mentioned in the original post is meant to get someone into off-camera flash on the cheap. Dirt cheap. That equipment is flimsy and what any photographer worth his salt would consider "throwaway gear". If it breaks, just toss it in the trash.
> 
> I've run the gamut with photo gear, especially lighting. Everything from shop lights to about a $20,000 setup for pro level portrait work. The Paul C Buff gear was probably my favorite because it's very good kit for not a lot of money...but probably still more that most would be willing to spend just to photograph pens.
Click to expand...


Actually, if you look at those stands .... ONE of them is a continuous light, the other two stands with umbrella are meant to be upgraded with flashes, I think.  

    (2) x LimoStudio 86" Tall Studio High Output Umbrella Flash Strobe Light Stand
    (1) x LimoStudio 28" Tall Studio Quality High Output Accent Light Table Top Light Stand
    (3) x LimoStudio Studio Single Head Photo Lighting Fluorescent Light Holder
    (3) x LimoStudio Digital Full Spectrum Light Bulb 45W Photo CFL 6500K, Daylight Balanced, Pure White
    (1) x Convenient Umbrella Carry Case | (1) x Bulb carry bag


In any case, if I were to invest in a setup like this, I'ld probably limit it's portability by beefing up the stands or securing them to a specially made table that is set aside for the purpose of photography alone.  For 50 bucks, this lighting setup looks pretty nice.  Add in a decent quality lightbox with microfiber white sheeting (milk crate covered with microfiber white curtains ... free + 5 bucks) and find a camera.


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## Browncoat

brownsfn2 said:


> I have been thinking about a powerful mono light and ditching my continuous lighting.  Do you think that is the way to go or dual speedlights?  What are the pros/cons?



The biggest con to continuous lighting was always the ridiculous amount of heat they gave off. As in...forget about photographing a candle, these things were *HOT*! That's all in the past now though, with advances in technology. Heat isn't really an issue with pen photography. Unless your pens sweat under pressure!

However, the biggest con with continuous lighting will probably always remain: power. A strobe (flash) will be roughly 6 stops brighter than a comparable continuous light. This means if you're shooting at ISO 100 @ 1/250 and f/5.6 with a single strobe, you'd need several more continuous light units to match that power. There's also actual power usage to consider because continuous lights use a lot more juice.

I'll be up front and admit that I'm biased. I was a photographer first and introduced to off-camera strobes very early in my career. My opinion is that strobes offer much more bang for your buck and are far more versatile. If you're looking to keep things simple and inexpensive, continuous is probably the way to go.


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## Browncoat

Skie_M said:


> Actually, if you look at those stands .... ONE of them is a continuous light, the other two stands with umbrella are meant to be upgraded with flashes, I think.
> 
> (2) x LimoStudio 86" Tall Studio High Output Umbrella Flash Strobe Light Stand
> (1) x LimoStudio 28" Tall Studio Quality High Output Accent Light Table Top Light Stand
> (3) x LimoStudio Studio Single Head Photo Lighting Fluorescent Light Holder
> (3) x LimoStudio Digital Full Spectrum Light Bulb 45W Photo CFL 6500K, Daylight Balanced, Pure White
> (1) x Convenient Umbrella Carry Case | (1) x Bulb carry bag
> 
> 
> In any case, if I were to invest in a setup like this, I'ld probably limit it's portability by beefing up the stands or securing them to a specially made table that is set aside for the purpose of photography alone.  For 50 bucks, this lighting setup looks pretty nice.  Add in a decent quality lightbox with microfiber white sheeting (milk crate covered with microfiber white curtains ... free + 5 bucks) and find a camera.



I'm not sure why those 2 taller stands are labeled as "flash". The heads are what matter, and all 3 of them look like they're made to receive a light bulb:

(3) x LimoStudio Studio Single Head Photo Lighting Fluorescent Light Holder​
Have you settled on a camera yet?


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## Sylvanite

Continuous lighting has its place.  A big advantage is that it's easier to see what your photo will look like when the lighting is constant (even if flashes have modeling lights).  An advantage to strobe light is that you get a lot more lumens at the moment of exposure.  It's a trade-off between the two.  I have several light stands (from Cowboy Studio and others), floods and softboxes, as well as a few monolights (strobes).  For pen photography, they all work.  The original premise of this thread is that you don't have to spend a lot of money to get effective studio lighting for pen photos, and that I agree with.

Regards,
Eric


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## Skie_M

Browncoat said:


> Have you settled on a camera yet?



At the moment, I just don't have any cash to spare for photography work.  I have a work light mounted directly over my lathe with a nice daystar 6500 bulb in it.  I like the way it brings out true colors as though I were working in decent sunlight.  I'm gonna have to figure a way to diffuse the light, though ...  probably build a cheap lightbox as I described.  I can get my hands on a milk crate pretty easy.

I'll just push my lathe back on the table, and put the milk crate box up and shine the light through the top and sides after I have them covered with some microfiber curtains. 

My only real option for camera right now is my Asus tablet...  not the best, but I guess it'll work.

Cocobolo with Turquoise inlay here's an example of a pic I took with the tablet.  No lightbox, same bulb and shop light, and in fact was taken while the blanks were still on the lathe.  Not sure what I can say about picture quality there.


Some day, when I have a few extra hundred bucks to spend and I'm not swamped with special orders and requests from my family and their friends, I might have the time to give more thought and resources to advertising my wares.


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