Softboxs

Hi all, can you give me some advice please, i am going down that lane where i think i need some softboxs just for a home studio. I have seen some on Amazon for £95 they are continuos lighting kit the power is 5500k 135w 50x70 the reviews sound ok, but when i click on a photography web site i can see you can pay up to £400 for one with alot more power, they say bigger the softbox the better. Would these softboxs on Amazon be any good for my home studio, i know if you buy cheap you buy again.

Regards Dave

Hi Dave

Without teaching you to suck eggs, continuos lighting will give off a lot of heat. LED Light panels are a way around this problem but they are not cheap. Westcott spiderlite's are very good but again, not cheap, or you could go down the DIY route if you don't need your lights to be portable, you can get some great plans for DIY lighting doing a Google search.

Good lighting equipment does not have to cost the earth, it's more about knowing how to use what you have effectively.

If you can do without modeling lights, you can get some great results with off camera flash and the numerous lighting modifiers available on the web. http://www.phottixstore.com/store/studio-accessories.html very good quality kit for the price on par with westcott for a fraction of the price.

If you are new to lighting I would recommend reading Sculpting With Light by Allison Earnest one of the best book in my opinion easy to read and understand and a very good foundation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fujyu-h6-no&feature=g-all-u

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9O7V2yj5hc