Cheap Studio Lights

[sneeks]

Received a email from ebuyer this morning advertising this studio light set for only £39.99. Any good for use with portrait photography or best avoided?

http://www.ebuyer.com/337598-light-kit-2-13m-light-kit-1

 

[koi]

No idea if it's any good or not but showing as out of stock now

 

[DanFreemanPhoto]

To give you an idea of quality, the price for JUST the replacement tubes in our flash heads at work cost £189 EACH!

So for that sort of money I would suspect it's utter s**t.

Just saying.....

 

[DaveDreads]

£40 quid for 1000w lights, that's one hell of a good price, maybe a little too good imo.

I've never heard of that make but to give you an idea of prices of lighting kits,
my Bowens 500s cost £1200, that's 3 500w heads, 3 reflectors, 3 tripod/stands, 2 brollies, 1 soft box.
But they're daylight balanced flash heads, not continuous lights like the ones in the link.

Edit : Just noticed it says 125w output, which is quite low for portraits.

 

[DanFreemanPhoto]

They must be s**t, just thinking about it, an average price light stand is about £40 ffs!

I wouldn't go near it to be honest, it's like saying.....is this brand new car for £400 any good? If it's that cheap, it'll be for a reason.

 

[DaveDreads]

Yep in this game, money = quality most of the time.

 

[Chapppers11]

Why not just try it?

£40 is worth a pop.

 

[dunganick]

I bet they overheat in 2 mins and switch themselves off. My work has had a set of these for a few years and they are shocking. They also cast such a yellow you can't adjust it out well.

As Dan says they are about as good as £40 will get you.

 

[sneeks]

Thanks everyone, I had already decided to not buy and for now will use my flash until I can fund a good set of lights.

 

[Jay_A]

Not sure if it's of interest, but I use a lastolite ezybox and honeycomb mesh that gives a more direct light. Great quality stuff and provide a good light source with my canon 430ii speed light.

 

[sneeks]

Thanks for the info, I'll look into that as it may be a option to consider.

 

[MaLicE]

These aren't flashes... They are just a lamp with a soft box on the end...