Is Cowboy Studio lighting equipment a quality investment?

October 28th, 2009 | by admin |

I’m an amateur photographer who’s becoming more interested in learning how to use studio lighting. I’ve been looking around and found some seemingly good packages from Cowboy Studio. It’s extremely affordable and in the pictures looks like pretty solid stuff, i was wondering if anyone’s had past experience with this brand and if they would recommend it or may have some words of caution.

Thanks

I looked at the specs on the lights. They are very low power and very slow to recycle. They have less power than a good hot shoe mount external camera flash.

The old saying that you get what you pay for is very, very true when it comes to studio lighting. You can buy cheap, but you will soon regret it and be spending more on another light set soon.

It is always best to get good quality lighting right from the start. Probably about the best lights on a cost per quality ratio is Alien Bees. Yes, they will cost more than the Cowboy stuff, but you will only be buying once. Also, you can add to the system as time and money permits.

Here are some reviews links on the Cowboys you may want to browse:
http://www.studiolightingreview.com/cowboy-studio.html

Here is the Alien Bees website:
http://www.alienbees.com

steve

  1. 3 Responses to “Is Cowboy Studio lighting equipment a quality investment?”

  2. By Steve P on Oct 28, 2009 | Reply

    I looked at the specs on the lights. They are very low power and very slow to recycle. They have less power than a good hot shoe mount external camera flash.

    The old saying that you get what you pay for is very, very true when it comes to studio lighting. You can buy cheap, but you will soon regret it and be spending more on another light set soon.

    It is always best to get good quality lighting right from the start. Probably about the best lights on a cost per quality ratio is Alien Bees. Yes, they will cost more than the Cowboy stuff, but you will only be buying once. Also, you can add to the system as time and money permits.

    Here are some reviews links on the Cowboys you may want to browse:
    http://www.studiolightingreview.com/cowboy-studio.html

    Here is the Alien Bees website:
    http://www.alienbees.com

    steve
    References :

  3. By MafiaMan on Oct 28, 2009 | Reply

    I would stay away from them. You want a manufactuer that will be in business so you can get replacement parts and support for the strobe if it needs service. Photography equipment isnt cheap but there are so very good value ones out there. Im not saying go out and get Profoto, but like other people have mentioned, Alien Bees are very good value.

    We use a pair of Alienbee B1600s with a variety of light modifiers. Dont forget those too, you will need to control your light so you need appropriate modifiers as well. Take a look at samples from our website, we use them alot.

    -Kenny Moy | Moy Photography
    References :
    http://www.moy-photo.com
    http://www.alienbees.com

  4. By EE dude on Oct 28, 2009 | Reply

    I’ve been to his office before. He’s a nice guy, not the smartest in the world. For strobes he carries stuff like the low end JTL or Fancier, nothing great. As mentioned they will be fairly slow recycle strobes, nothing robust for full-time professional use, but if you shoot a couple of models a month and don’t mind counting to 5 between shots, they aren’t completely worthless. Of course, if you just need a good price on a cheap snoot, or a bag of clamps or a cheap beauty dish, you can’t really go too wrong with that.
    References :

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