HI. From working many tradeshows and retail floors I have come up with what I think is a good package of lighting for shooters like I see here. I would also like to say that you people really are great and it is an honor to be here. I would also like to thank Chris for this site. In case you have never met him.. he is a really great guy.
Anyhow at the Showbiz show in LA this year so many people asked me what they should buy I came up with this setup to get going. It does not cost a whole lot.. will serve you for many many years and is very effective without any left over equipment.

1. Chimera has a kit - Item 8000-(Finally) a 24x32 bank, 40degree grids, 500 watt light, Avenger 10ft 8 stand and a nice carry bag. The kit sells it for around $550 -599 if you email me I can help you find dealers local to you if you wish. I think this kit is better than other kits since the bank is made to a higher standard in America and the mogul Socket light has the ring built in so you don't have to mess the 3 screw connector fiasco some other companies use. The Chimera Mogul Socket light also has a tension screw to keep the bank from spinning horizonal to vertical when you don't want it to. The only silly thing on this kit at the moment is the cord from the light is too short so you will need and exstention cord. Not the end of the world, but you should know the good and the ugly... YES?

2. You get a Bogen or I prefer Avenger convertable boom. I like the A475B.
You now have a second stand you can use as a stand or a boom. It is an awesome product.

3 Hook yourself up with a fresnel of some kind.. An Arri 650 or a Mole, Pepper.

4. Get one more decent stand.. don't buy cheap crappy stands get a Bogen 3333 or an Avenger, Pic or something that won't fall apart in a year. I am not big on air stands unless you are using a real heavy light.

You get yourself a Chimera Frame panel kit or a Flexfill or a Lastolight reflector, Maybe even a bounce board from an art supply store and a mounting arm from Bogen or Matthews. Or whoever you prefer.

Then you can:
Take the Bank light or the Fresnel and put it on the boom to get it where you want it. You have the other stands for your reflector and left over light. You can light your subject with the bank light and the reflector and use the fresnel as a hair light or with or without gels light the background. The Lighttool Grids in the Chimera kit will help you light the background seperatly or just keep the light on your subject for a dark background.

As you progress and play with your lights you may want to get another fresnel or Chimera.

I really don't think you can go wrong with this type of kit.
If I can help any of you with lighting or a dealer just let me know.
Peace my friends.

Sounds interesting. I'm currently not gonna buy a kit, but I was
wondering if such a kit would work here in Europe with our
230v 50hz power grid....

You can use most Professional light sources in any voltage provided you change the bulbs to the source voltage you will be using. For the Chimera Kit 8000 and an Arri light this is no problem.

There's always Photoflex or Wescott.

www.photoflex.com. A fair bit cheaper and just as serviceable.

I emailed someone at Arri the other day as I am in 230/240 volt 50hz land too. He said that all the Arri fixtures apart from the 150w fresnel can run 220/240V with the right lamp and plug adapter. You have to order a special version of the 150w if you want 220/240v support as it has a different lamp holder.

Cheers
Aaron

As far as Westcott.. As far as I know they do not make a kit.
As far as Photoflex... having worked for them I can tell you that the Chimera product is superior in Quality and durablilty. That is why rental houses and most professionals insist on Chimera Products. They ask for our products by name. And just for you information the Chimera kit is cheaper in most markets and comes with a carry bag and 40 degree grids.
Remember you get what you pay for.

I built up my own rig rather than buy a kit. I use the heavier bogen/manfrotto stands and I paired Totas with photoflex softboxes.

Richard I can't find any Bogen 3333 on their website, is this an old model?

Hello my friend.

You know I was not sure but I had just picked up a Bogen catalog and it is still listed in there. The Bogen 3333 is a 9 foot stand. There is a Bogen 3336 that is 11 feet high.. I only suggest that stand because it is a pretty good value and constructed fairly well. I would look on a dealer website or call one to see if they carry it.
Send an email to my buddy Marc Schotland and ask him the deal.

marc.schotland@bogenphoto.com
Tell him Richard from Chimera sent you.
Contact me if I can help
Peace and long life.

So cool to see that Chimera is now offering attractively-priced kits. Nice!

For softboxes, I have a Lowel RIFA LC-88 (32x32") and a RIFA LC-55 (21X21").
http://www.lowel.com/download/ls-rifa.pdf This combination allows me to light most any size room, setup or interview. The beauty of the RIFA system is that they are very easy to set up and they do setup up quickly. A big plus is that you can change to a lower or higher wattage bulb as needed, depending upon the size of the space you are in. I keep a small tupperware box inside my light kits, which contain all the bulbs I need of various wattage. When I am done with the light, I take the bulb out of the fixture and store it safely in the TupperWare box. This significantly prolongs the life of your bulbs by safely protecting them during travel, rather than subjecting the bulb to a lot of vibration by keeping it in the fixture which may move around in the light kit.

It pays to be a bit resourceful when you are traveliing with your light kit on the road.

The RIFA LC-88 will handle a 1000W bulb, but it will also easily handle a 500W or 750W bulb too in case you are in a smaller room. The RIFA LC-66 will handle a 750W bulb, or even a 300W or 500W bulb. I mount the RIFAs on Lowel KS stands and always carry a couple of KP Full-Poles and KPH Half-Poles in my kit, just in case I need to go really high-key or if I need to keep the lights out of the shot (such as in a big room with a lot of architectural detail.)

I also keep an LC-88EC and LC-66EC Egg Crate attachment for each light, in case I want to control spill on the background.

These are not the only two lights I carry, I also use a couple fresnels, open faces and Totas - when needed of course. But when it comes to softboxes, the RIFAs do a fine job and are super-easy and super-quick to set up and tear down.

My suggestion: start by learning how to light with one or two lights. Then, build upon that with more fixtures as your skillset and techniques improve and as your projects become more complex.

http://www.lowel.com/download/lowellbook6_03.pdf
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1879174030/104-8282286-5429562?v=glance#product-details

- don

Chimera 24x32 kit item 8000

Arri or Mole 650

Lowel DP or omni

Boom stand

Reflector

One additional stand.

Super Clamps. articulated arms and grip equipment is really important to have. Try looking at catalogs from Avenger, American and Matthews for that kind of stuff.

I just looked up the 11 ft 3336 stand and it's $57 from B&H.
The 3333 is 9 ft and $47 They both have a weight rating of 11 lbs but they are built with ABS plastic locks and collars.

The 8 ft 3086 is built with cast aluminum collars and locks. Its $52 at B&H. Even though the weight ratings are the same I'd opt for the metal fittings.

Newbie to lighting wants to know why Avenger light stands cost twice as much as Bogen's. It can't be the tipover protection, as both have models with nice footprints, so is it due to better construction or adjustability?

Manfrotto(bogen in the US) make Avenger, they're basically the same stand and depending who you buy fro, aren't really that much different in price. The avenger knobs and collars may be slightly different, but that's about all.

bogen and avenger very similar but very different from each other as far as product quality and range of products.

I like Avenger stuff much better than bogen.

They are all distrubuted by Manfrotto and the whole thing is owned by Vitech in England..

I don't want to argue about something so trivial but many Avenger product even have the same number as their manfrotto cousins.

Items like the super clamps, the reflector holder, grip head and some of the baby stands are identical except for the knobs and name stamp. The clamps and the reflector holder have the same part number.

The head office in Italy is at the same address. Granted Avenger is upscale and goes beyond the Manfrotto line. All one has to do is go on line at www.manfrotto.com to see the obvious similarity. They both share the same web site as well.

This is not heresay, I've actually bought Avenger stuff when I couldn't find the manfrotto equivilent. Avengers grip selection is much more extensive than the manfrotto but the fact remains much of it is the same thing.

Some other company may well own them but the fact remains Gruppo Manfrotto consists of Manfrotto, Avenger Grip and LiteC.

go to www.videogearshop.com

Look under SoftBanks/Softbox lighting for the Chimera kit

$525 is a great deal.

Happy Holidays

A small modification to Richard's list might be to consider a dedo 650 (http://www.dedolight.com/400series.html) in place of the Arri or Mole - not that there is anything wrong with those, just that the dedo is, well, a dedo.

By the way, I had a look at some neat little dedo stands in B&H and found that they were identical to the Manfrotto ones but at twice the price. Not similar, identical. Same castings, same everything, except the 1/4 thread poking out of the spigot.

Best,
Helen

some of the Arri kits are now including a Chimera softbox for the 650 in the kit. i just picked one up and have been quite impressed with the performance.

Helen, or anybody else, could you please articulate the differences between arri fresnels and dedolights, pros and cons of each. I've gone through the search of prior posts and didn't find much.

Let me put it this way.. there is no other light that can do what dedo lights do.

they are like surgical tools..

Optical spots, Iris, Smooth beam spread.. tight spots.. bright and unique..

beyond fresnel..

I love the 650 Dedo too Helen but it is like $600 bucks.. and worth every penny..

I love a woman who knows her dedo..

Plus Dedo Weingart is a very cool guy from Germany..
I would suggest you get a catalog so you can look at Photometric data..

www.videogearshop.com has the Chimera item 8000 for $525 and that is a great deal.

Mole, Arri, LTM all make nice lights

Lowel makes good stuff as well

www.chimeralighting.com has a new quick release speedring coming out soon