Hi Jonathan
I got my Lowell stuff from Prokit in West London.

I'm going to drag this post out of retirement to ask a question about Perrone's suggestion here:

Is there an advantage to using the Rifa (which looks pretty cool since it can do tungsten and flo...I like multi-tasking!) over a Cool Lights portable softbank like this:

CL-455P Cool Lights Portable 4 x 55 watt Softlight - Cool Lights USA

The Cool Lights is a few bucks cheaper for non-dimming version and it's one piece to set up rather than a soft-box. Is there a practical limitation to using this instead of a Rifa-type softbox set up?

The cool-lights solution will be brighter. It will also be heavier and larger to carry. You will need full sized tubes for it (daylight and tungsten balanced).

The RIFA will be fold up to the size of a golf umbrella, it's much lighter, you can add one bulb or up to 6 is as far as I've gone. It can use CFL bulbs you get at Home Depot or Wal-Mart. It will not be as bright. It switches to tungsten with a single bulb.

The Cool Lights fixture has barn doors on it and can be controlled easier than any softbox.

They are both good solutions. I chose the Rifa over a fluo solution because of cost and size. Other people may have different priorities.

Thanks Perrone. I went with the Rifa since it's a tad more portable and available. Also like the fact that I can replace bulbs almost anywhere. Cool Lights showing their dimmable units as out of stock.

Did you order the Exchange head?

Yes, and an egg crate.

I really like the idea of being able to run CF bulbs in their to keep the heat down. Most of the people I interview are healthcare professionals or school kids and they don't like a lot of fuss or hot lights shining their faces.

This is the first piece to my kit, having avoided buying lights for too long. I'm going to add a couple of Pro lights for hair and background, I think.

Excellent! It's a really cool setup. And I am not just saying that because I own one. If it wasn't good I'd say so. But I take that Rifa on ever shoot I do. I got the big one too... the 88. Man is that a nice light.

I know this is an old thread, but for anyone else looking for low cost lighting I just picked up a 3 piece red head kit with stands and diochromatic glass filters (3200k to 5600k)from China off eaby for $400 shipped. Also camewith a padded soft case.

Red head Continuous Light Dichroic Filter Kit Bag GIFT on eBay.ca (item 330369072736 end time 15-Nov-09 16:40:01 EST)

Also there are some nice cheap florescent soft box kits (each head uses 5 5500k CFL's - 200w equal to 1000w) on ebay as well. I have 2 that came with a green screen kit. The whole kit with 10'x20' green screen, stands, etc., was also around $400

The mounts on the softbox heads are not the most surable though. On the other hand the redhead kit looks exactly like how a red head should look. Built very well.

I can't thank you enough for advocating for the Rifa. I think if I had not read this thread it would have fallen under my radar.

Sets up quickly. People badmouth Lowel a fair amount but they really have figured out how to make this very functional. The Exchange head with CFLs is nice.

My only quibble is the stand. It's a little lightweight for such a top-heavy item. It works.... and lightweight can be good when traveling but I can definitely see why some people say to use heavier (C-stands) stands.

Gotta go shoot something!

Thanks again.

bump, i want to read this tomorrow. just so i dont forget.

One thing about this topic confuses me. Are you guys lighting your subjects with just this one light and reflectors?

Not sure which part of this long, convoluted thread you're referring to. The Rifa is a softbox; therefore, no I do not use it by itself. I use it as a key, with another light either directly on the subject or reflected, depending on the situation. I've seen (in the Interview Lighting DVD by Vortex) people use white foam core to reflect the key from the other side of the subject but I've not had such good results with that and, as such, prefer to use another light.

Bob,

What do you use for the other light?

I'm going to jump in here.

You can use a RIFA for a key or a fill. Presently I use a Kino DIVA for a key and a RIFA 44 for a fill or a Dedolight or a Lowel Pro Light. Depends on what lights are required in the shoot and determining which light is best suited for a particular location. You could use a straight up fresnel like an ARRI 150W for a fill.

For a fill you can use almost anything as long as you can control spill and either mute the light by either pulling back the light or dimming it. If you are dimming a tungsten light you may wish to consider one of these dimmers...

Impact | 600 Watt AC Dimmer Control | D600 | B&H Photo Video

...as they are rated up to 600 watts. A caveat though the recepticles in them are only 2 pronged.

Lights are wonderful things to have. Essential. Their usefulness should not be under estimated.

If one does decide to go the fluorescent route in their lighting and you start to look at Kino-Flos, I would suggest the DIVA 400 as a key. Incredibly versatile. Lots use a DIVA 200 for a fill. Kino, in the past couple of years offered up a product called a BarFly. It's obvious use is as a fill light but it's thin profile would allow you to jam it into unusual spaces when creative lighting is required.

One final thing, beware of dimming lights as the color changes with most of them. If white balance is critical with your dimmed light make sure you do your in camera calibration after you have your lights at the levels you want.

I realized shortly after I posted the above that the thread was about "cheap" interview lights. The Dedolights and the Kino DIVA are not what one would call cheap, however, I would still recommend them.