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This looks like a pile of junk - because it is! It's my studio lighting equipment purchased for about fifty bucks, including bulbs!
When I started making dvds, I used some halogen lights I had left over from my real estate and construction days. Trouble is, they tend to run really hot, so you tend to rush the videoing just so you can turn them off.
Then I got some fluorescent tubes which ran nice and cold, gave a good light for videoing, but were a little inconvenient out of the studio.
The crunch came when I was due to conduct a guerilla internet marketing masterclass at the secret World War Two training base, used as a finishing school for spies just before they were dropped by parachute to create havoc in war torn France.
Nowadays it's a very high end hotel, so I didn't really want to carry great long fluorescent tubes through reception, so I decided to solve this problem once and for all.
Being environmentally conscious, we have those low voltage light bulbs fitted around the house and these are really little fluorescent lights. I already had a desk lamp with a flexible neck so, after doing a camera test with that fitted with a low voltage bulb, I knew I was half way there. All I needed now was a couple more lights - preferably floor standing.
So I went to a junk store and got lucky! I found the two tall lights you see in the picture, with my original desk light in the middle.
These second hand lights are about twenty years old, if a day, and would be right at home in a 1970s retro design museum, but I haggled a bit about the price, got it bit off, and took them home. After checking out the wiring for safety, I plugged the whole caboodle in and did a test shoot. Problem solved!
An unexpected bonus, was that they provided a good talking point at the masterclass. This was great, because you always need something to break the ice when attendees are arriving one at a time and you have yet to start the show. Now I can ask them how they like my low cost - retro studio lighting! | 