Lighting
The Best Lighting Kits You Can Rent for All Budgets
If you’ve followed this blog for any amount of time, you will probably know by now that I love lighting. Over the last couple of years, I’ve shared dozens of lighting diagrams and spent a lot of time deducing how lighting works. While I discuss many of the nuances and technicalities of lighting, I rarely recommend different lighting kits for photographers and videographers. So today, we change that, as I offer a list of my recommendations for lighting kits that we offer as rentals.
Please keep in mind that no lighting kit is perfect for everything. What you might use in a studio photography setting would not necessarily be the same tools you would use at a wedding or with automotive photography. Because of that, I’m recommending a broad use case for all of these lighting kits, and if you want more precise recommendations, be sure to give our customer support team a call.
Additionally, I have broken these lighting recommendations into two categories – photography and videography. From there, I have further broken down these recommendations into three tiers – affordable, mid-range, and high-end. For the affordable category, I’m setting myself a limit of $300 for a one-week rental. For mid-range, we’re looking at $600 for a one-week rental. And for high-end, I’ve given myself a budget of $1,200 for a one-week rental. Now that the basic rules are in place, let’s break down my six recommendations for lighting in photography and videography.
Photography Lighting
I’ve discussed in detail the big difference between photography and videography lighting and how you can mix and match them. But, given the nature of this article, all of the photography recommendations will be strobes, not constant lighting. Be sure to read through the entire article, as some of the video recommendations could also work for photography.
Affordable Lighting Kit – Westcott FJ400 2-Light Location Kit
The choice for an affordable lighting kit was obvious – the Westcott FJ400 2-Light Location kit will get you two battery-powered 400w/s lights, some stands, a couple of softboxes, and a trigger for comfortably under $300 for the week. With this kit, you can do just about anything you’d need for an in-studio or on-location shoot. While the power output of the lighting kit might be a little low for outdoor work, you should be able to get by by finding some shade. But if you’re looking for something with a bit more power (and a higher build quality), let’s look at the midrange kit.
Mid-Range Lighting Kit – Profoto B10X Plus OCF 2-Light Flash Kit
The Profoto B10X Plus 2-light kit gives you everything you’d get from the affordable lighting kit, with a little bit more across the board. For one, you get a little more power with the Profoto B10X, along with some more power in the sense of batteries. Included with the kit are four batteries, a foldable beauty dish, and a silver umbrella to give you a broad range of lighting options. However, this does not include a wireless trigger for your camera, which you’ll want to rent separately (and still be comfortably under the $600 threshold).
High-End Lighting Kit – Profoto Pro-D3 & Parabolix Kit
Here is a forewarning regarding the high-end option for photography: this kit doesn’t include light stands. Still, this kit will give you some of the best lights you can buy, with more power than you could possibly need with the Profoto Pro-D3 1250Ws lights. I’ve talked about these lights before, and I was incredibly impressed. Pairing that with a Parabolix 45in (my favorite modifier ever and something I’ve also written about), you’ve got a lighting kit with incredible versatility for almost anything you’d need to shoot.
Videography Lighting
Video lighting differs quite a bit from photography lighting, as you need consistent lighting to light your scene, as opposed to strobes that will fire at a fraction of a second. Because of this, high-quality video lights will often cost a pretty penny and are generally a bit more bespoke based on what you might need the lights for. But still, I’ve put together three basic setups for video lighting based on the three pricing tiers.
Affordable Lighting Kit – 2x Aputure amaran Lighting Kit
The first kit makes use of the Aputure amaran series of lights, giving you two 300c lights that have an output of 300w in full RGB color. While this kit doesn’t include light stands, it does include a Light Dome light modifier – an excellent modifier for a variety of uses. These lights are incredibly functional, feature-rich, and perfect for those who are looking to get started on a video production on a budget. But what this kit lacks is a little bit of power, so I decided on the mid-range lighting kit with a little more oomph.
Mid-Range Lighting Kit – Aputure LS 600C Lighting Kit
For the mid-range, I’m looking at the Aputure LS 600 series of lights, which effectively double your power output while maintaining RGB lighting. They are also battery-powered, giving you a bit more flexibility when shooting on location. The Light Dome is still paired with this two-light kit—simply because it’s an excellent, affordable lighting modifier. But if you’re looking for that professional lighting kit, let’s look at what we’d be renting with an extended budget.
High-End Lighting Kit – ARRI Skypanel and Fresnel Kit
If you have the budget, our final recommendation is an ARRI Skypanel kit, with an ARRI L7-C added to the list. This would get you a lighting kit used on hundreds of Hollywood productions and among some of the best lighting available for video productions. ARRI has built a legacy in the video industry for this high-quality equipment, and the Skypanels are one of the flagships in their lighting lineup. Pairing the Skypanels with an L7-C gives you a great mix of a high-powered fresnel and the industry’s best LED panels.
Is there any particular brand or kit of lights that you would recommend? Feel free to discuss further in the comments below.
