# Affordable (cheap) lighting set up?



## underdog

I'm trying not to spend a lot of money on photo equipment. That may be a mistake, but I've always been under budget constraints.

So I went looking for lamps and bulbs last night. First stop was Walmart. They have these $5 and $10 gooseneck lamps that will only take 40 watt incandescent, or a 13 watt florescent bulb. I'm not sure that's enough for those 5500 Kelvin bulbs... What do you think?

Speaking of which, how do you tell if a bulb is 5500 Kelvin?

I looked in Walmart's bulb section and saw all kinds of florescent bulbs, but the only thing they really show you on the packaging is the wattage and lumens.

I haven't made my way over to Home Depot or Lowes yet.

So my biggest question is how to find a good bulb at one of these big box stores?


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## Jim Burr

I picked up a couple of those reflector shop lamps with the squeeze clamp handle. You can screw any bulb into them and clamp them anywhere!! 5-7 bucks each all over the place. Lowes has the bulbs I use.


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## underdog

And which bulbs would those be? Can you be more specific? I get totally overwhelmed when I look at the selection...:redface:


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## alphageek

underdog said:


> And which bulbs would those be? Can you be more specific? I get totally overwhelmed when I look at the selection...:redface:



Alot of the time, the quick start is to look at the ones marked "daylight".  For example: 42-Watt (200W) Daylight Twist CFL Light Bulb-ESL40TN/D at The Home Depot

If you look, these say 6500K (daylight).  With many cameras, the important thing isn't the exact color temp, but more important that ALL of them are the same color temp.    For some cameras, a specific temperature may work better because of a built in filter for that temperature.   Many of them have a spot for 'custom' which you can setup for a set of lights.

If you do use CFL, make sure that you let them warm up for a good 5 minutes or so because they do take time to get to their full brightness and color.


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## lorbay

underdog said:


> And which bulbs would those be? Can you be more specific? I get totally overwhelmed when I look at the selection...:redface:


 If you look at the base of the lamp or bulb it will have the watts,volts and the Kalvin on it. I just looked at three packages I have on the shelf all different and all have the kalvin on them.

Lin.


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## Mike D

Jim I did a web search for the bulbs that Gerry used in his article on photography  http://content.penturners.org/library/techniques/pen_photography.pdf  and found them on AMAZON.COM 
Amazon.com: 27w 5500K CFL bulbs


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## Nick

*Lamps*

Alfageek is correct in his description. If you pick up 2/3 of those spun Aluminium reflector,clip on attachment,and make a wood stand for each, you can move them around to illuminate your subject to best light it.
I use the Daylight (6500k) CFL (compact fluorescent lamps 13 watt )
Hope this helps
Cheers


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## Jim Burr

Sorry I left that out Jim...the daylight bulbs have a coating on the glass that simulates...think this is correct...NE sunlight at 10:00am.


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## LarryDNJR

What does anyone think of these bulbs?

Shop Utilitech 18-Watt (75W) PAR 38 Medium Base Daylight Indoor LED Flood Light Bulb at Lowes.com

I know they are pricey.

Definitely heavy bulbs. 

I've seen them powered on they are bright.

LarryDNJR


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## wicook

Another option entirely is to get a macro ring light. I just picked up an LED model, the Promaster RL60LED, for about $60. The LEDs can be turned on on one side or both sides. One side gives shadows.


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## MartinPens

Mike D said:


> Jim I did a web search for the bulbs that Gerry used in his article on photography  http://content.penturners.org/library/techniques/pen_photography.pdf  and found them on AMAZON.COM
> Amazon.com: 27w 5500K CFL bulbs



I agree that these bulbs are great. I use them in my Alzo setup, but they can be used with your own configuration. Temperature is important (5500) and the low watts means low to no heat and low energy consumption. The other factor is the settings on your camera. Search Alzo in the photography section or go to their site (AlzoDigital) for information on how to set up your camera.  Have fun!

Sent from my iPad using Forum Runner


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## airborne_r6

LarryDNJR said:


> What does anyone think of these bulbs?
> 
> Shop Utilitech 18-Watt (75W) PAR 38 Medium Base Daylight Indoor LED Flood Light Bulb at Lowes.com
> 
> I know they are pricey.
> 
> Definitely heavy bulbs.
> 
> I've seen them powered on they are bright.
> 
> LarryDNJR



They are no where near bright enough if you plan on putting something in front of them to diffuse the light. The ones listed on Amazon a few posts ago are much brighter and cheaper than those.


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## underdog

I visited HD a few days ago and bought a four pack of these Ecosmart 23-Watt (100W) 5000K Daylight bulbs. At 1600 lumens, I think they may be bright enough if I have two of them. I know they're not 5500K, but they were the brightest daylight bulbs I could find in a four pack.

I also bought two clamp-on reflectors lights.

Now I just need to set up a background, and some diffusers or reflectors of some sort.


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