Hi all,

I need to get some lighting equipment for interviews, but not sure which ones to get.

It's for indoor use in workshops and auto garages and needs to be easily transportable

I was thinking of:

1 x 300w

2 x red heads (not sure how many watts though)

Can someone advise please?

Thanks

My opinion:

Get a nice softbox:

Lowel Rifa eXchange 66 (http://www.lowel.com/rifa/rifa66.html)

Get a small fresnel:

Mole-Richardson | Betweenie 300W Fresnel Light | 3131 | B&H (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/167277-REG/Mole_Richardson_3131_Betweenie_300W_Fresnel_Light.html)

And learn to do some flagging, and bouncing. For a basic one person interview, this is a good start. If you find you want to really get into doing more professional work there are many more advanced options.

I would say don't buy a single piece of equipment until you've done some further research on how to best light for interviews. There are some excellent video tutorials you can buy from Bill Holshevnikoff Chimera | DVD: Lighting Interviews, Volume 2 | 7226 | B&H Photo (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/446056-REG/Chimera_7226_DVD_Lighting_Interviews_Volume.html)

Most will tell you the same thing, you need a controllable softlight, and 2 controllable hard lights. By control, I mean limiting the spill. The extra's are usually the reflectors, boom arms, stands, sandbags, cords, scrims, gels, and gobos that allow you to further refine the images.

Don't concern yourself too much over the brand name of the gear, but know that the good stuff costs more than the junk.

You may want to get Doug Jensen's DVD on the subject (http://www.vortexmedia.com/DVD_ILDVD.html). He tells you exactly what to get (though some of it has been discontinued) and how to use it.

I second the suggestion of watching the Vortex Media tape by Doug Jensen. While there are a lot of different ways to skin this cat, he gave one with product suggestions (that you can modify with other similar products) that will have you doing a pretty decent job right out of the chute. You can learn the other ways to skin tha cat, but his tape was, for me, a revelation.

Thanks everyone.

Have ordered the DVD and should get it early next week.

btw...I managed to more or less duplicate Doug's $1,500 kit with a couple of product substitutions for under half that off E-Bay and buying similar products that were unbranded.

Chris post theese items u cop on ebay!Awesome thread this.....