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Continuous lighting...any good at all?

Bend The LightBend The Light Registered Users Posts: 1,887 Major grins
edited April 9, 2012 in Technique
I have the chance to get a pair of 125watt (625 watt equivalent ??) continuous lights. Stands and softboxes.

I already use 2 studio flash units with brollies, softbox etc. Would a pair of continuous lights be of ANY use to me, as background, or something like that? Any other use? Or just a waste of cash?

They want £50 for a set that goes for about £100 on FleaBay for new. Set hardly used...

Cheers

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    Art ScottArt Scott Registered Users Posts: 8,959 Major grins
    edited April 8, 2012
    They would be of no use to me with my studio gear...different color temps and all could cause a prob in post...and depending on the type of continous lighting they can get quite hot...unless they are cold lights.... or if the softboxes are needed then get them and sell of the other stuff ...
    "Genuine Fractals was, is and will always be the best solution for enlarging digital photos." ....Vincent Versace ... ... COPYRIGHT YOUR WORK ONLINE ... ... My Website

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    Bend The LightBend The Light Registered Users Posts: 1,887 Major grins
    edited April 8, 2012
    Art Scott wrote: »
    They would be of no use to me with my studio gear...different color temps and all could cause a prob in post...and depending on the type of continous lighting they can get quite hot...unless they are cold lights.... or if the softboxes are needed then get them and sell of the other stuff ...

    No, I think I will pass on these. I think they will be hot lights for the price, too.

    I don't need the soft boxes that much...

    Cheers. :)
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    ian408ian408 Administrators Posts: 21,908 moderator
    edited April 8, 2012
    I'd be inclined to pass on the CL too. I much prefer flash. Whether speed lights or studio flash.
    Moderator Journeys/Sports/Big Picture :: Need some help with dgrin?
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    Bend The LightBend The Light Registered Users Posts: 1,887 Major grins
    edited April 8, 2012
    ian408 wrote: »
    I'd be inclined to pass on the CL too. I much prefer flash. Whether speed lights or studio flash.

    Yeah, well we have 2x studio flash, and we also have use of a 430EXII and a 580EX, so we can manage with those for now and try craetive ways of lighting with those. :)

    I've told the seller that I'd not be interested now. :)
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    arodneyarodney Registered Users Posts: 2,005 Major grins
    edited April 9, 2012
    I’ll just add that using hot lights and strobes can be useful in some situations (with or without a gel over either). Sometimes one does need to up the ambient light and use strobe with a longer shutter. Got tungsten flash tube covers for those instances where I want one temp of light...
    Andrew Rodney
    Author "Color Management for Photographers"
    http://www.digitaldog.net/
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    Bend The LightBend The Light Registered Users Posts: 1,887 Major grins
    edited April 9, 2012
    arodney wrote: »
    I’ll just add that using hot lights and strobes can be useful in some situations (with or without a gel over either). Sometimes one does need to up the ambient light and use strobe with a longer shutter. Got tungsten flash tube covers for those instances where I want one temp of light...

    Thanks. Not sure I am at the technical level to make use of this just yet, though.

    Cheers anyway. :)
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    arodneyarodney Registered Users Posts: 2,005 Major grins
    edited April 9, 2012
    Bend The Light wrote: »
    Thanks. Not sure I am at the technical level to make use of this just yet, though.

    Cheers anyway. :)

    Think of the stobe as firing quickly and exposing part of the scene. However, you can alter the shutter speed to capture ambient light too. If you setup the stobe for one exposure, you can also alter the shutter to get an exposure from the light not being emitted by the strobe. Longer shutter (within reason), more exposure from ambient light.

    So say you are working in a large room, too large to fully light with strobe. You can set the strobe and play with shutter to have the other lighting fill in the scene. My point is, having more powerful hot lights aid in this kind of lighting, they are usually far more powerful than the scene ambient lights.

    Also keep in mind that strobes are ‘daylight’ balanced and hot lights are usually tungsten balanced. If you have the white balance set for strobe, the hot lights take on a warm glow which can be nice in some situations. Or you can place tungsten filters on the stobe and use the hot lights so both balance.

    The trick is to think of two sets of exposures in your scene; what the strobe puts out and what the available (contone) light puts out. You control the later via shutter.
    Andrew Rodney
    Author "Color Management for Photographers"
    http://www.digitaldog.net/
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    Bend The LightBend The Light Registered Users Posts: 1,887 Major grins
    edited April 9, 2012
    arodney wrote: »
    Think of the stobe as firing quickly and exporting part of the scene. However, you can alter the shutter speed to capture ambient light too. If you setup the stobe for one exposure, you can also alter the shutter to get an exposure from the light not being emitted by the strobe. Longer shutter (within reason), more exposure from ambient light.

    So say you are working in a large room, too large to fully light with strobe. You can set the strobe and play with shutter to have the other lighting fill in the scene. My point is, having more powerful hot lights aid in this kind of lighting, they are usually far more powerful than the scene ambient lights.

    Also keep in mind that strobes are ‘daylight’ balanced and hot lights are usually tungsten balanced. If you have the white balance set for strobe, the hot lights take on a warm glow which can be nice in some situations. Or you can place tungsten filters on the stobe and use the hot lights so both balance.

    The trick is to think of two sets of exposures in your scene; what the strobe puts out and what the available (contone) light puts out. You control the later via shutter.

    Yes, I get that. i suppose the limitation is the speed of the shutter...too slow and blur ensues. Too quick, and the ambient (or continuous lights) are not exposed for.

    Thanks
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    arodneyarodney Registered Users Posts: 2,005 Major grins
    edited April 9, 2012
    Bend The Light wrote: »
    Yes, I get that. i suppose the limitation is the speed of the shutter...too slow and blur ensues. Too quick, and the ambient (or continuous lights) are not exposed for.

    The strobe will freeze any moving object (within reason) while anything moving from the ambient light part of the exposure will not. You can actually do some pretty cool stuff in that respect.
    Andrew Rodney
    Author "Color Management for Photographers"
    http://www.digitaldog.net/
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    Bend The LightBend The Light Registered Users Posts: 1,887 Major grins
    edited April 9, 2012
    arodney wrote: »
    The strobe will freeze any moving object (within reason) while anything moving from the ambient light part of the exposure will not. You can actually do some pretty cool stuff in that respect.

    Interesting you should say this. This afternoon, completely by accident, I left the camera on Av and shot a photo of Andy. But the shutter speed was 1 second...so the strobes froze his "portrait", but then the ambient lit him when he moved his head. I can see how this ties in with what you say.


    7061778627_509c2239fa_b.jpg
    9-4-2012 Andy double by http://bendthelight.me.uk, on Flickr
    Thanks
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