Originally Posted by papagmp

Nicht schlecht....

Great setup - only drawback is halogen lamps create a LOT of heat - I've been using the 42 watt compact florescent lamps rated at 2800 lumen and with a color temperature of 6500 kelvin - at 42 watts and with the output of a standard 150 watt incandescent (this is the word you were looking for Tuula) bulb these lamps are 2/3's cooler to operate and last about 10 times longer. They are also available to fit into any screw in fixture.

Color temperature is important so regardless of what system you use, get lamps that have a color temperature of between 5200 kelvin and 7000 kelvin. We used to order special bulbs in Europe when I worked there so I know they are available there as well as in the US and Canada. The chips in all digital cameras have an ideal color temperature - standard incandescent bulbs tend to be around 3000 kelvin - way too yellow - it is near impossible to get accurate color reproduction if the light source is not balanced to what the camera chip (or film) is designed to use. Anyone with extensive darkroom and or PhotoShop experience in the printing world will vouch for this.

I've replaced most of the lights in my house with bulbs in the 5200k to 6500k range and when we shoot video, we just add a few more lights to get the "modeling" we want and away we go.

I still use flash on all my still shots because the amount of light required to get tack-sharp images on stills is still more that I use on video.

I'm also not a believer that an "amateur picture" has to be a bad picture - as stated before in this thread - it's not the cost of the equipment - it's the understanding of what you want and learning how to get it with the tools you have at hand.

One of my favorite exercises in light is to limit myself to only what is at hand (camera, lens, light) then place the subject(s) in a manner that the available light is used to it's optimum.

Experiment with what you have and you might be amazed.