Basic lighting kit for portraits

Markus Albertz · Jan 30, 2023

Good Day,

I'm looking for a basic, nevertheless good quality, and affordable lighting kit (two lamps and stands) for portraits. Mostly indoors, various cameras, mostly black & white, but perhaps also some color.
I poked around at B and H but found the options and price ranges a bit overwhelming.

Any suggestions? Perhaps there are pre-existing threads that someone can point me to?

Many thanks in advance.

Pieter12 · Jan 30, 2023

Markus Albertz said:
Good Day,

I'm looking for a basic, nevertheless good quality, and affordable lighting kit (two lamps and stands) for portraits. Mostly indoors, various cameras, mostly black & white, but perhaps also some color.
I poked around at B and H but found the options and price ranges a bit overwhelming.

Any suggestions? Perhaps there are pre-existing threads that someone can point me to?

Many thanks in advance.

You only need one light and maybe a reflector board to make portraits, so that should lower the cost somewhat.

koraks · Jan 31, 2023

Pieter12 said:
You only need one light and maybe a reflector board to make portraits

You could even make portraits with zero lights. Or three. Or ten. YMMV. Classic 1930s style 'loop lighting' portraits often used 3; a fill, a key and a kicker. There's so many ways to do this.

Markus Albertz said:
Any suggestions?

My 2cts: stick with a kit for which accessories (esp. modifiers) are easy to be found. There's a couple of mounting systems for stuff like snoots, grids, barndoors etc. If you come across kits, see what kind of accessories are already included. Saves you some time hunting down additional gear. On the other hand, you can do a lot with a roll of cinefoil and some gaffer's tape.

Figure out what kind of power you need. If wet plate is going to be part of the mix, you just can't have enough power. If you shoot 8x10, that tends to be power-hungry as well. With 35mm and medium format I've always made do with two 600Ws heads and have rarely found myself in need for more. For 4x5 it's already a different story and for 8x10 I'm seriously underpowered most of the time. Also consider if you want to deal with a system with separate heads and power packs, or integrated strobes that directly plug into an outlet. I prefer the latter, but higher-powered systems are often of the former type.

Determine how important 'fancy' features like variable model lights are. Entry-level kits tend to have model lights that are only on or off and don't follow the intensity of the strobe setting. For me, that's perfectly fine, but some really like to have more of a WYSIWYG capability. Same for stuff like triggers; some kits come with built-in wireless trigger functionality, others (most, AFAIK) are used with accessory/external triggers that can be picked up separately.

Of course there's also the matter of continuous vs. strobe. The advent of high-power LEDs has changed the landscape considerably and many photographers opt for continuous at present. I always preferred strobes, but continuous can be more intuitive to set up. Of course, if you also envision doing video, continuous has the edge in that you can use the same kit as for stills.

Don_ih · Jan 31, 2023

koraks said:
If you shoot 8x10, that tends to be power-hungry as well.

Why? Film speed being the same, the aperture is the same, the shutter speed is the same. Format size has no impact on those things, and those things are what determine exposure based on the amount of light.

koraks · Jan 31, 2023

Don Heisz said:
the aperture is the same

In general, it isn't.

Don_ih · Jan 31, 2023

koraks said:
In general, it isn't.

In particular, aperture is a ratio and is the same.

koraks · Jan 31, 2023

Don, I get what you're saying, but consider this: the portrait you might shoot on 35mm at f/5.6 using an 85mm lens, would you shoot it also at f/5.6 with, say, a 450mm lens on 8x10?

Don_ih · Jan 31, 2023

koraks said:
Don, I get what you're saying, but consider this: the portrait you might shoot on 35mm at f/5.6 using an 85mm lens, would you shoot it also at f/5.6 with, say, a 450mm lens on 8x10?

You need to include a shutter speed in that. If the shutter speed is 1/1000, then you can stop down to f16 and still take the photo without much worry. Since an 8x10 will be on a tripod, you can lower the shutter speed to 1/10 without much worry.

Dusty Negative · Jan 31, 2023

Markus Albertz said:
Good Day,

I'm looking for a basic, nevertheless good quality, and affordable lighting kit (two lamps and stands) for portraits. Mostly indoors, various cameras, mostly black & white, but perhaps also some color.
I poked around at B and H but found the options and price ranges a bit overwhelming.

Any suggestions? Perhaps there are pre-existing threads that someone can point me to?

Many thanks in advance.

Lighting is a big topic. Continuous? Strobe? Will you use radio control, or can you live with a synch cable? Then, of course there are modifiers.

NONETHELESS, why not start here: https://strobist.blogspot.com/ for the (perhaps) most affordable solution along with **great** education, or:

https://www.thephotographeracademy....-Power-of-Lighting-D-Lite-One-from-Elinchrom/ for another great series of educational videos plus a (gear) foray into studio lighting.

Markus Albertz · Jan 31, 2023

Dusty Negative said:
Lighting is a big topic. Continuous? Strobe? Will you use radio control, or can you live with a synch cable? Then, of course there are modifiers.

NONETHELESS, why not start here: https://strobist.blogspot.com/ for the (perhaps) most affordable solution along with **great** education, or:

https://www.thephotographeracademy....-Power-of-Lighting-D-Lite-One-from-Elinchrom/ for another great series of educational videos plus a (gear) foray into studio lighting.

I should have mentioned that I'd prefer continuous lights, I don't need all the bells and whistles (can do without remote control), and am using a variety of cameras from 35mm to 8x10 / 11x14 large format. Something really basic would do. Heck, I'd use something from the 30s...

gone · Jan 31, 2023

Wouldn't subject movement mean needing a higher shutter speed than 1/10? DOF will be very small on a LF camera. That would mean stopping down more, which would mean needing a higher shutter speed due to that. I have trouble getting everything necessary for a portrait in focus even on 35mm. Things look pretty off if the subject's head is turned even a little bit using something like an 85 1.8 lens wide open.

koraks · Jan 31, 2023

Don Heisz said:
You need to include a shutter speed in that. If the shutter speed is 1/1000, then you can stop down to f16 and still take the photo without much worry. Since an 8x10 will be on a tripod, you can lower the shutter speed to 1/10 without much worry.

Don, what are you trying to accomplish here? My statement was simple: large formats such as 8x10 in my experience require more light to get the job done than smaller formats. I mentioned it because it is a relevant consideration for Markus to choose lighting equipment. Have you shot 8x10 and e.g. 35mm side by side in the same studio? Yes? Then you recognize what I'm saying. No? Then give it some thought, because I didn't just make stuff up.

Don_ih · Jan 31, 2023

momus said:
DOF will be very small on a LF camera.

DOF is the same no matter what format. It's a function of aperture, focal length, and distance to subject, not size of projection.

koraks said:
Don, what are you trying to accomplish here?

You said that an aperture (for example f8) in small format is not the same as that aperture (f8) in large format. What you likely meant is that, in practice, one will tend to stop down the lens on a large format camera more that one would a small or medium format camera. Well, of course a stopped down lens needs more light (or more time) than an open lens.

JerseyDoug · Jan 31, 2023

Don Heisz said:
DOF is the same no matter what format. It's a function of aperture, focal length, and distance to subject, not size of projection.

You said that an aperture (for example f8) in small format is not the same as that aperture (f8) in large format. What you likely meant is that, in practice, one will tend to stop down the lens on a large format camera more that one would a small or medium format camera. Well, of course a stopped down lens needs more light (or more time) than an open lens.

DOF is very much a function of format. Yes, DOF is a function of aperture, focal length and distance to the subject but for the same angle of view, i.e., the same coverage of the subject, the LF focal length is much longer, Hence substantially less DOF.

I'm pretty sure you meant aperture ratio. The actual aperture, i.e., the diameter of the lens opening, is larger for the same aperture ratio as the focal length increases. (Aperture ratio, e.g., f/8, is the ratio of the diameter of the aperture divided by the focal length.)

Marcelo Paniagua · Jan 31, 2023

If you prefer continous lighting perhaps something like this?

2.6x3M Photography Reflector Lighting Kit Photo Background Muslin Backdrops Softbox Umbrella Light Stand For Photo Studio

koraks · Jan 31, 2023

Don Heisz said:
You said that an aperture (for example f8) in small format is not the same as that aperture (f8) in large format.

I know what I said, and I know what you said. My formulation was ironic, but you took it literally. Can't blame you for that.

Don Heisz said:
What you likely meant is that, in practice, one will tend to stop down the lens on a large format camera more that one would a small or medium format camera.

Yes, thank you for correcting me. That is indeed what I meant. I will try to formulate as accurately as possible in the future.

Again, not sure where you intended to go with this diversion, but I remain with the position that the larger the format, the more light you need.

Markus Albertz said:
I should have mentioned that I'd prefer continuous lights, I don't need all the bells and whistles (can do without remote control), and am using a variety of cameras from 35mm to 8x10 / 11x14 large format. Something really basic would do. Heck, I'd use something from the 30s...

I personally find/found continuous light with larger formats such as 8x10 annoying and just not worth it. With modern LED lights, you have to resort to pretty high-powered (and expensive) setups to get enough light to begin with. With old tungsten / halogen lights, the amount of heat you'll produce gets problematic really fast, not to mention that any wrong movement and you burn your elbow etc. Stuff really gets hot! Count on needing several kilowatts of tungsten light to make a portrait on 8x10 without compromising the heck out of everything.

LED will still take >200W (actual power, not 'tungsten equivalent'!) per head, and that's the very bare minimum. Forget about the cheap entry-level kits with two 60W LED bulbs. Those will get you absolutely nowhere with 4x5, let alone larger. Powerful LED heads are costly, and will have noisy fans running all the time (although strobe heads can have those, too). I honestly would only go for LED if you need to do video.

You'd have to look up prices currently, but I think your best value will still be basic strobe kit with two heads and some modifiers and heads in the 400Ws - 600Ws range, depending on your budget. Kits like these generally come with one or two softboxes, perhaps a set of barndoors, maybe a grid or something and a pair of stands to put the heads on. That's all you need to get started and you can have lots of fun with a setup like that. If shopping for new stuff, check out 'newer' brands like Godox and FalconEyes (although they've been around for decades now, too). They offer nice kits for reasonable money. Check the second hand market as well; some photographers are dumping their strobes because they want to migrate to LED for video purposes.

If you can, see if you can find someone near you with some studio equipment. Doesn't matter if it's high end or entry level, if it's continuous or strobe. Just to get a feeling for what it does and what you might need.

Marcelo Paniagua said:
If you prefer continous lighting perhaps something like this?

2.6x3M Photography Reflector Lighting Kit Photo Background Muslin Backdrops Softbox Umbrella Light Stand For Photo Studio

20W LED bulbs? That's nice if you're shooting digital and can work at ISO 400 and higher all the time. Forget it for film shoots.

blee1996 · Jan 31, 2023

@koraks is correct: if I only do photography, electronic flashes is a more cost effective approach. For example: Godox DP600. And actually that's what I use for photography, in combination with a few Godox shoe-mount speedlights since they all share the same radio control system.

On the other hand I do a bit of both photo and video indoors, thus I use LED COB continuous lights (round head, not the square panel shaped). These all use standard mounts, and easy to find light modifier. If you want something simple, just find the brightest LED lights you can afford (60-300W). If you only need AC power, then they are cheaper too. I stick with Godox and Aputure Amaran for their excellent quality to cost ratio.

The light modifier will be more important, thus the light has to be bright enough. Color accuracy is less important since you do B&W mostly. Large octagons and domes are the best, but they can be too heavy for the cheaper stands that comes with the kit. Of course you can use umbrellas and reflectors which are simple and light, but might not shape the light as well as the light box/panel and domes.

For the lowest cost two light kit, I will recommend two Godox SL-60W with light stand and modifiers. The light is a bit noisy with the fan on, and the stands will be quite flimsy at this price point. But you can get started.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1609875-REG/godox_sl60w_kit_sl_60_2x_led_video.html

I personally use the Godox VL160 with 36" dome and grid for main light, and Godox ML60 with 24" for fill. They are more expensive because they also use rechargeable batteries for outdoor on-location use. And I bought much sturdier light stand plus sand bags.

Pieter12 · Jan 31, 2023

koraks said:
Don, I get what you're saying, but consider this: the portrait you might shoot on 35mm at f/5.6 using an 85mm lens, would you shoot it also at f/5.6 with, say, a 450mm lens on 8x10?

Good luck finding a 450mm lens that would open to 5.6 for 8x10. They generally are max 8 or less. And not the same depth of field as the 85mm.

eli griggs · Jan 31, 2023

koraks said:
Don, I get what you're saying, but consider this: the portrait you might shoot on 35mm at f/5.6 using an 85mm lens, would you shoot it also at f/5.6 with, say, a 450mm lens on 8x10?

Can you even buy a lens covering 8"x10" image area correctly with a f5.6;
I do no think so.

koraks · Jan 31, 2023

blee1996 said:
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1609875-REG/godox_sl60w_kit_sl_60_2x_led_video.html

I got something like that for a video project I was doing at some point. 2x60W daylight LED head with some softboxes and stands. Very nice for the digital video stuff, especially given the price. But absolutely unusable for large format portrait work. Still life will work OK.

If large format portraiture is part of the requirements set, those 60W LED sets are a waste of money.

TheFlyingCamera · Jan 31, 2023

eli griggs said:
Can you even buy a lens covering 8"x10" image area correctly with a f5.6;
I do no think so.

Yes- there are a few, but they are specialty studio portrait lenses and basically require a dedicated studio portrait camera. For example, I have a Kodak Portrait 405mm f4.5. It fits on my Century Master 8x10 studio portrait camera on a 9" lens board with a BIG Packard #6 shutter behind it. There are some other Cooke studio portrait lenses that can be as big as f3.5, but those are huge and expensive.

eli griggs · Jan 31, 2023

TheFlyingCamera said:
Yes- there are a few, but they are specialty studio portrait lenses and basically require a dedicated studio portrait camera. For example, I have a Kodak Portrait 405mm f4.5. It fits on my Century Master 8x10 studio portrait camera on a 9" lens board with a BIG Packard #6 shutter behind it. There are some other Cooke studio portrait lenses that can be as big as f3.5, but those are huge and expensive.

That's interesting to learn, thank you for the information, as I generally think of that large format as beyond such apatures.

TheFlyingCamera · Jan 31, 2023

Don Heisz said:
Why? Film speed being the same, the aperture is the same, the shutter speed is the same. Format size has no impact on those things, and those things are what determine exposure based on the amount of light.

Part of what determines need for light is bellows extension. If you're doing a tight head shot on 8x10, you're definitely needing additional light to compensate for the bellows extension - at least 1 stop, maybe 1.5. If you go bigger than 8x10, you're into 1:1 macro territory and you need at least 2 extra stops. Plus, your depth of field diminishes as your lenses get longer - f/8 on a 450mm lens has a lot less depth of field than f/8 on a 150mm lens. So combine the need for smaller apertures to get the required depth of field with the bellows extension factor and you easily need 2-3 more stops worth of light. Then, factor in if you are using any light modifiers that cut down on the output reaching the subject, and boom... my 2400 w/s strobes are barely adequate to get me f/16 at full power, which is what I need at a bare minimum for doing portraits on my 14x17.

foc · Jan 31, 2023

Have a look here, hope it helps.

https://www.theschoolofphotography.com/tutorials/portrait-lighting-setups

https://karltayloreducation.com/portrait-lighting-setups-two-light-setup-ideas/

https://petapixel.com/2021/11/05/three-easy-portrait-lighting-setups-for-small-spaces/

https://expertphotography.com/must-know-portrait-lighting-patterns-and-tips/

If you could use a digital camera (I know this is a film forum) but you can learn very quickly how to set up studio lighting and its effects on the subject and the resulting image. Think test polaroids for 2023.

The only way you will learn is to follow the few basic examples and then practice and experiment yourself.

cliveh · Jan 31, 2023

All you need is a window and an A1 sheet of white card.

Basic lighting kit for portraits

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