Studio on a Shoestring

[Mark H]

Don't know, never bought photo hotlights. I do know that the worklights can be used outdoors, indoors, banged around, and tossed in a corner and not be much worse for wear.

Check out these as examples:
http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/w...91&R=200309791

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/w...85&R=200309785

Either way, you won't have to worry about your models freezing!

[AeisLugh]

Either way, you won't have to worry about your models freezing!

LoL, no kidding, those will kick out some heat.

[Kino]

Don't know, never bought photo hotlights. I do know that the worklights can be used outdoors, indoors, banged around, and tossed in a corner and not be much worse for wear.

Check out these as examples:
http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/w...91&R=200309791

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/w...85&R=200309785

The nice thing about these lights are that they are quartz halogen and quite inexpensive. When I started trying to use serious hot lights in the 1970's, a set of Lowel Lights would set you back a cool $2K USD and did little more than these units. Not only were the fixtures expensive, the replacement bulbs were upwards of $40 USD and very short lived.

Now, with the proliferation of all manner of quartz halogen lamps on desks and in use in general illumination, the price of replacment lamps has really plummeted, making it cheap to buy replacement bulbs and even fixtures.

The biggest drawbacks to QH lights are the heat and the current drain. It is much easier to set a house on fire with a small QH light that draws 1200 watts than a 300 watt incandescent bulb; you had better familiarize yourself with identifying fuse and breaker boxes and judging wiring capacity in older buildings or you could find yourself in trouble.

As for budget saving tips: A pop rivet gun, tin cans, small cabinet hinges, tin snips, a drill, and flat black paint can make barn doors. Shirt collar "stiffening" fabric (at any fabric store) is heat resistant and can be use in place of "toughspun" diffusion you buy from vendors like Tiffen and Lee at a fraction of the cost. Build a wooden frame and clip it to the frame with pony clips or even wooden clothes pins; use your noggin, put it a good distance from the light itself and check it occasionally, because it is fire RESISTANT not fire proof. Use PVC to make large, stand-up light panels of diffusion. Do the same with flat black cloth, because subtracting light is just as important as adding it sometimes. Make "cookies" (kookaloris) out of tree branches, bits of grillework and whatever you can find to cast shadows on people to break up uniform light.

I'll post more budget-friendly tips if I get a few moments...