People always ask, “what’s a good light kit for starters” and I find it a very hard question to answer, because it really depends on what you want to do. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all one case light kit and most of the commercially available light kits I’ve seen offer too many watts and not enough versatility. After years of creating a variety of make-shift kits from his lighting collection for particular shoots, David from Kino-Eye settled on one configuration for when he is “traveling light”. The best approach is to put together a custom kit that meets your personal lighting needs and you can see his kit below
All together the kit draws 1,300 Watts, which in most cases works fine on a single household circuit without tripping a breaker (unless there’s already other high-current devices in use). Here are the components in the kit:
- Kata OC-88 GDC Lighting Case with Insertrolley
- Lowel LC-55 Rifa-EX soft light (lightweight and compact, most often used as a key light, sometimes used as fill with 1/2 CTB or CTB when using window light as key)
- Lowel 40 degree Egg Crate for Rifa (reduces spill)
- Lowel Rifa Balance Bar (helps to center the weight of the Rifa light on the stand, increasing stability)
- Arri 300W Fresnel with barn doors and scrim set (Fresnels offer crisp, easy to control light with the quality of sunlight, used as a back light or kicker)
- Lowel Tota-Light with umbrella (often used as a background light, for overall fill, or as a fill light if needed)
- Flexfill 38″ Silver/White reflector (often used as a fill light bounce attached to a microphone stand)
- Three Avenger A625B Light Stands, these extend to 7.8′ but are a compact 26″ when closed
- Hypoallergenic transparent powder base and make-up pads (for reducing shine on the subject’s face)
- Spare lamps for all three units
- Two extension cords and cube taps
- Electric circuit tester
- Gloves
- Small tool kit including a Leatherman
- Flashlight
- Expendables (gaffer tape, C-47s, black wrap, trick line, and assorted gels and diffusion including half CTB and CTB sized with holes to fit the Rifa light).
This kit has worked out well over the course of over a dozen interviews since it was put together.
The Rifa LC-55 (500W) produces just enough light for most situations, and it’s the right choice for a lightweight and compact kit, however, if I could spare the space and weight, I’d rather be using a Kino Flo Diva-Lite. I’m considering adding to the kit (I still have a little room left in the case) one or two LED lights. These offer the advantage of small size and practical battery operation. I’m considering the Zylight Z90 (total creative control in terms of color and wireless control, however, a tad pricy) and the Lowel Blender (more affordable than the Z90, however, not as versatile as the Zylight). Back in July, I posted acomparison of four LED lights summarizing the results of my research.
Update, July 15, 2010: The Avenger A625B Light Stands are no longer available, a reasonable replacement with a new stacking feature would be the Manfrotto 1051BAC Light Stand, Black – 6.75′ extended and 26″ when closed, not quite as tall as the older stands but for a portable kit, the stacking feature means they will nest more snugly in the case. — David.
Source: Kino Eye
Original Author: David | Kino Eye
- MC
