A three-light kit with some sort of "soft" accessory, softbox or umbrella, would be a nice place to start.

Look here as a starting place to get an idea of what's available.

Jay

Nothing more minimal available than these, but they are very expensive....
You might want to read this review. http://www.sundancemediagroup.com/articles/LitePanel.htm

I like the Lowel Prolight.

A few foam core poster boards (art supply stores) for bounce.

Before spending possibly thousands of dollars on lighting equipment, get a good basic training on the subject:

DV Enlightenment Lighting Course on DVD is very good and not expensive. It teaches you how to light all kinds of situations at the lowest cost possible, and shows you what the different lights look like.

There are products that are incredibly inexpensive, but they don't last long. Whether they are worth the savings depend on what you do.

Man I like those LitePanels! Be just perfect for my application, just a bit too $$ for me right now. I'm suprised LED tech. is not more prevalent, guess it must have to do with color temp. as high output LEDs are pretty common now.

Hi Spot,

The litepanels look good but of course I'd want to be getting a rental on them. They're very expensive.

In these parts, we mark the CTOs and CTBs (and plus and minus greens) with a simple circle for fulls, circle divided in half for halves, circle divided by 4 for quarters, etc. It's quick to write and quick to read. Pretty easy to see in bad light as well because the symbol is simple.

For theatrical colors, you just have to read whatever your wrote but the symbol allows you to quickly separate the correction from the theatricals. Diffusion can often be identified by touch.

I'm sure this labeling system is used throughout the west coast of the US, and probably worldwide. Might be a helpful tidbit for forum readers.

Rob Mack

Good point. I'll mention that to them.