Home Lighting Kits
78

SP Studio

System’s

Two-Light

Excalibur Kit

$420 street
www.bkaphoto.com
800-250-8394
Excalibur monolights are the Cadillacs
of SP Studio Systems’ many strobe
lights. They’re well-built, with user-inter-
changeable flashtubes, standard house-
hold modeling-light bulbs, and optical
slaves. Best thing? Excalibur studio kits
are amazingly inexpensive. For less than
$425, you get two 160-Ws Excaliburs,
reflectors, two umbrellas, carrying case,
sync cord, and two air cushioned light-
stands. Neither the flashtubes nor the
60-watt modeling lights are blazingly
bright, but for many applications, espe-
cially for digital portraiture, they’re more
than adequate.
✚It’s no secret that P
OP
P
HOTO
editors are partial to
monolights. Most of the
product photos you see
here were lit with
Elinchrom Style mono-
lights. Recent articles here
about home studios have
stressed monolights, as
well. Unlike studio strobes
that require bulky external
power packs, monolights
have all their electronics,
including transformer, in
the light’s housing. The
benefits are fewer cables to
snare you, no power packs
to trip over, fewer electron-
ics to spook portrait sub-
jects, and generally less
expensive and more trans-
portable kits.
▲
Dyna-LiteUNIJR-PS1 Kit$1,000 streetwww.dynalite.com800-722-6638
You usually get more power
and more accessories for
your money with a kit than
purchasing items individually.
For the most shooting flexibility,
check out systems that are
also battery-operated. Dyna-
Lite’s UNIJR-PS1 kit, for exam-
ple, provides a 400-watt-sec-
ond, 3.5-pound monolight, plus
a Jackrabbit battery pack for location
shooting, cables, charger, and a reflec-
tor. Its Uni400 monolight features a
four-stop power range, 1.4-sec recycle
times, a built-in optical slave, and user-
replaceable flashtubes. The Jackrabbit
will power 75 full pops before requiring
recharging. Best thing? With proper
cables, the Jackrabbit will power your
hot-shoe flash and digital SLR, too!
770-947-9796
Do you need power pops
to light distant subjects or
allow smaller apertures?
The Paterson Interfit two-
monolight kit offers a
bright 2000 watt-sec-
onds (i.e., two 1000-Ws
heads), with reflectors,
umbrellas, 8-foot
lightstands, and a
sync cord, all for under $1,000. With
steplessly variable output (from full to
1
⁄
32
power), a bright 250-watt quartz-
halogen modeling light, and built-in opti-
cal and infrared slaves (the infrared
requires an optional transmitter), this is
an unusually complete and powerful kit.
AdoramaFlash- point II620 Kit$240 streetwww.adorama.com800-223-2500
This single-light kit is a very attractive
entry-level buy for newbies wanting to get
serious about portraiture. The 620 is a
solidly built, fan-cooled 300-Ws mono-
light with a built-in carrying handle, pro-
portional halogen modeling light, stepless
output from full to
1
⁄
8
power, and a user-
replaceable flashtube. While the kit has
no case, its 10-foot air-cushioned light-
stand and 45-inch white umbrella (with
removable black cover) are both better
quality than you’d expect for the price.
OK, SO DON’T GET A KIT: SUNPAK PLATINUM LINE
Do you already own
lightstands and umbrel-
las? Fuhgetabout kits.
Some of the best monolight-only
buys we’ve seen belong to
Sunpak’s Platinum line, ranging
in power from 150 to 1000
watt-seconds. The amply
powered, 300-Ws unit, for
example, sells for about
$180. With rugged con-
struction, 3.5-sec recycle
times, variable output from full to 1⁄8
power, user-replaceable flashtubes, and
a built-in optical slave, Sunpak’s
Platinum line of monolights may attract
professional as well as amateur
buyers.
Paterson Interfit PRO 1000-watt Two-Head Kit$980 street
www.patersonphotographic.com
★
BEST
BUY
LIGHTING KITS: PRO-LIKE LI GHTS AT AFFORDABLE PRICES
$
GEAR GUIDE CONTINUED ON PAGE 81
>

GEAR GUIDE 2005

REALLY INTO IT!
PP12.GEARGUIDE(3).lo 10/18/04 1:01 PM Page 6