When to buy new gear?

I started buying lighting equipment in 2018. My first big lighting purchase was the brand new Aputure 120dii. 120 watts of raw daylight balanced point source power! I was in heaven. I could dim the light, it had some effects, it could take different accessories and it was enough for the work I was doing at the time. The work I was doing was videography - lighting mostly interviews and small product shots.

As things progressed I wanted more power and options, so in late 2020 I purchased a slightly bigger, bi colour unit, the Aputure 300x. I had also started to see more and more people using mat lights so I also purchased two FalconEyes RX18TD's. This felt like a nice, well rounded kit for the still primarily videography I was doing at the time.

Up to this point the capital expense had been very manageable. Buying a small light every couple of years is definitely in the realm of possibility for most people without having to finance the purchase. I was very cautious of what to buy and tried my best to not get carried away.

In early 2021 I started realising that I wasn't happy with the direction I was heading in videography. I felt like it was a very saturated market and it was hard to provide obvious value to a client without being super self promotional. I had built up a steady stream of work but had fallen in love with the lighting part of the job. I loved setting up a beautiful interview, however editing and client revisions had quickly beomce the bane of my existence.

I decided I wanted to do more lighting. I had a chunk of cash tucked away and I was able to purchase an Aputure 600D and an Aputure Nova P300C. These became the core of my kit. I also very quickly added hardware, stands and smaller lights. I was at a crossroads and I felt like I was staring down the barrel of spending a lot of money on equipment.

Around this time I reached out to another Australian gaffer, Andrew Lock, to ask his opinion on what he thought I should do. I explained to him that I wanted to transition away from videography work to primarily lighting and he very kindly responded to my email with great advice.

He said that early in his career he had spent the best part of three years doing unpaid work. From music videos to short films, he had done whatever it took to get his name out there. So that's what I decided I would do. This juggle was a challenge but, more importantly, it was fun! I was able to juggle enough paid work as a videographer and enough free work to get my name out there. I still do free work, if there's an idea or concept I like the idea of I'm happy to donate my time and equipment to achieving it. It is very rewarding to be reminded why I got into lighting. Something as simple as a fresnel in the right place to catch a cheekbone is enough.

Andrew also said, which I still remind myself today; don't buy gear for work you don't have. I'm always impressed at the simplicty of this advice. It can be easy to think if you have the gear, you'll get the work! He suggested building up a kit of good value options, which at the time was the Aputure 600 series. I took his advice and it has been quite fruitful. I still have some of the Aputure 600 series kicking around in my van and they have been workhorses for me.

I also realised in the process of building up my lighting kit what a great time it is to be in lighting! 20 years ago, as older gaffers have explained to me. the capital costs of building out a van were immense. The challenges of power distribution, hot lights and minimal remote control options made it a completely different world to the one I have entered.

I have been very lucky to have purchased the right lights at the right time. A lot of this can be attributed to patience. Buying a brand new, first gen product is risky. Over the past 5 years, brands like Aputure and Nanlite have been releasing not just iterative revisions but entirely new product lines seemingly every 6 months. This makes it very difficult to see what's going to be popular on set and where to spend your money. It also makes it difficult to get a return on your investment. Lights are the next big thing for 6 months before they are old news.

You have to know what work you do and are wanting to do. Be realistic about your clients. Do they want an M90 on most jobs? If not, don't buy one. If someone really wants one, rent one! Build up your professional network in this way. Sometimes renting a light for a job is the smart option. Another thing to remember is that the lighting scenarios don't often change. For location work, I find myself quite often lighting through a window, then carrying that source inside the room with a soft source inside the room. The M18 I bought three years ago still is enough as a window basher in this scenario. Yes, dimming it isn't that quick - same goes for changing its colour temp.

As more powerful lights get better low end dimming, there is an argument to buy the biggest light you can afford and just dim it! I think this makes perfect sense, to an extent. It mostly comes down to size. Yes, you can dim the light, but it may take up too much space on set. Maybe it's loud, even when you dim it. There's always a trade off. The other thing to consider is that when lights weren't easily dimmable, you had to know what size lamp you needed for the job. Would a 575 be enough? Or a 1.2? Do we need a 4K? This is why it's useful to build a mental map of what fixtures are useful in different scenarious. Knowing what to use without having to put it up, see if it works, take it down and change it saves precious time on set.

It's now 2025 and I've sunk significant capital into my business. I feel comfortable in the approach I take to new purchases and am still just as cautious as I was 7 years ago!

To summarise my approach:

1. Know your clients. If you don't have regular clients yet, look for value.

2. Don't get caugh up in new lighting announcements. Yes, new tech is always cool - but what will it do for you?

3. Make a list of priorities on a new lamp - does it have to be waterproof? Does it need CRMX? Do you need full colour? I've bought products where I've compromised on my list of priorites because it was the best availble at the time. 6 months later a new product is announced which ticks all my boxes. Don't get frustrated, be patient.

4. Remember that your current lights have been doing the job just fine. Do you need a new light? Or do you want a new light?

5. Don't be afraid to rent to try new options.

6. Hardware is forever.

7. Sometimes you will have to pay for quality. Buy once, cry once!

I think LED technology is still in a transitional stage. Key players are still innovating and I'm not sure where things are going. I look forward to the next few years and can't wait to see what they come up with! Whether or not it's right for me or right for you is a totally different question.