Smith-Victor Thrifty Basic Light Kit Review

Ratings: Ease of Use, Performance: 24/25, Look & Feel: 23/25, Features & Software 23/25, How much I enjoy 24/25
Total: 94/100

Lighting a subject for photography can be tough but with digital cameras you can often compensate for bad lighting using the camera controls or even after shooting image editing with a software program. But with good lighting when you're taking the shot you will have less to do afterwards and the easiest way to do this is with studio lights.

Direct lighting or indirect lighting using umbrellas and constant on lights allows for proper lighting of subjects so you can see before you click what you're getting for an image. Using a flash is nice but for portraits and objects in product photography you don't always want to use a flash. With direct lighting you can control exactly what amount of light hits your subject and can control other portions of the image such as white balance and contrast before you spend time with image editing.

Studio lighting does not have to mean thousands of dollars on expensive flash equipment or huge wattage lights that burn a hole in your energy bill even after you spend the money to purchase them. A good inexpensive, or Thrifty, way to light a subject for a portrait or product shot is with the Smith-Victor Thrifty Basic Light Kit.

The kit comes complete with everything you need to start your own home studio lighting; two telescoping Raven RS8 8 foot aluminum light stands, two 10 inch aluminum reflectors, 2 socket and cord sets, 2 UM-6 umbrella mounts, 2 white umbrellas, 2 250 watt 3200K Photoflood lamps and an imaging guide. You can quickly and easily assemble the stands for use with or without the umbrellas.