lovelylyn Loc: Fort Wayne, IN

I’m in the market for new, lighter weight lighting. I do photos at events. The equipment I have works great but it’s heavy. I have 2 older flashpoint 1500 mono lights and a speed light. I’ve not tried continuous lighting and was wondering how it compared and any recommendations on what would work best. My budget is no more than $200.

CO

I've tried continuous lighting systems. I don't like it because it does nothing to help freeze motion and its power output is usually inadequate. You end up with having to boost the ISO a lot and have longer shutter speeds which often results in motion blur. I have two Paul C. Buff Digibee DB800 strobes. They're very compact. Those are $350 each. The DigiBee DB400 is $310. It's a little more than your budget. The DigiBee strobes have a 400W equivalent LED modeling light. The LED modeling light stays cool which is nice. It will be hard to find strobes or even a speedlight for $200.

Tomfl101 Loc: Mount Airy, MD

Most continuous lighting lacks the power to shoot through soft boxes and umbrellas for event photography. High ISO in today's cameras will help but then you run the risk of available room light contaminating color. Flashpoint/Godex make excellent battery powered strobes which will free you of extension cords but most are above $200. You could try Yougnuo hot shoe type flashes but they may be a bit under powered and run on AA batteries. They start around $69 plus mounting brackets for light modifiers. Spend another $200 and get what you really need!