Lighting - cheap / half decent softbox options?

LandyVlad

LandyVlad

Super Poster
I'm looking to get an inexpensive (stress on that part) soft box set up for doing some face to camera videos.

What things do I need to consider? Especially colour tenmperature? What's the best most natural light? 5500K or something else.

I know that a low price is going to have low quality is some areas like wobbly stands etc but I can live with that. The main area of concern is, obviosuly, the light itself.

I've seen these and wonder if they are likely to be any good or whether I should avoid them for any particular reasons?

this CFL one


this LED one


or this one

or this one

I'm in Australia so any links anyone might be kind enough to provide would need to be on the ebay or amazon australian sites please.


Assistance tips advice etc welcome :)
 
You and I have have a different idea of inexpensive ha ha

I have some homemade light kits for my green screen - they were really cheap. Based on the idea of umbrella lights, but with actual umbrellas. I bought some light fixtures at the hardware store, and attached to some dollar store umbrellas that are silver metallic on the inside. I pointed the lights into the umbrellas and the light bounces out pretty well. They work surprisingly well. I use them to light my green screen and control shadows. The green cloth, lights, and umbrellas were under $20 USD total.

For facing the camera I just use a 10 inch ring light on a tripod I bought online at Shopee, a Filipino online shop, it was 600 pesos (about $12 USD). It has 3 colors and a dimmer switch. The best part is the USB power plug so I can even use a battery pack!

Capture.JPG
 
Oh I like cheaper, cheaper is good.
I've never seen rain umbrellas with silver liners.
Ring lights - at least the ones I have seen - tend to show reasonably harsh shadows. Perhaps they were set up wrong?
What distance is your ring light from you when filming? You use those in combination with the umbrella lights, to fill shadows I presume?

Cheap stuff from the Phillipines is good, if you live there. I reckon shipping would be a killer for something like that.

Oh looking at the image you included I need a mount like that for my mobile too. The one I have is too short. Link?
 
Most of the goods on Shopee come from China, it is one of the few places that ship to the Philippines with reasonable rates (amazon is way too expensive to ship here).
Here is a link to one of them, I do not know who I bought mine from. https://shopee.ph/Ring-Light-LED-Ring-Light-W-Tripod-Ring-Fill-Light-Black-i.44256271.2221993227 No idea how much shipping would be to Australia, from China.

The silvered umbrellas are very popular in the PIs. Supposed to reflect the sun, but as an inside color I kind of doubt it. We use them more for sun than rain ha ha
 
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