Westcott TD3 Spiderlite as a portable alternative for photography outside.

Westcott Spiderlite

We are looking for portable strobes to help in our digital photography of Mayan archaeology in Central America. At PMA 2006 trade show in Orlando Thomas Waltz, president of the F.J. Westcott Co. showed me the portable aspect of his new Spiderlite line of lighting.

At present we have the Westcott TD5 Spiderlites, since the extra light power of five lights is helpful in the studio. Out on location it is understandable that your battery lasts longer on less power, so the portable units have three lamps per unit.

We don’t yet have the portable TD3 Spiderlites, but they definitely look like they should be considered when you are shopping for portable strobe lights. The fixtures also work with tungsten and fluorescent lamps.

Personally I prefer actual lights rather than flash or strobe; I prefer to see my actual results before I shoot. I know, yes, strobes have modeling lights, but these are not the same strength (or the same effects) as the actual strobes.

I occasionally forget that these lights are called Spiderlite and write them Spiderlights. But I guess the idea is that they are light to carry. This aspect is helpful when out in remote areas.

Westcott Spiderlite TD3: Portable strobe lighting system

Westcott Spiderlite TD3 fluorescent for digital studio photography lighting

FLAAR has the Westcott Spiderlite TD5 fluorescent lighting, at our main studio in Guatemala, Central America.

The Westcott Spiderlite TD3 system is at BGSU in the College of Technology, for students of digital photography. This is not a portable set, but for a traditional studio.

Presently we (FLAAR) have only the fluorescent lighting (the fluorescent lamps). But the Westcott Spiderlite TD5 system will also allow using halogen lamps.

FLAAR has also experienced that fluorescent lighting is ideal for photographing plants and flowers, in greenhouses. So we would recommend that botanists consider using fluorescent lighting for photographing specimens in their botanical gardens.

Most recently updated Feb 5, 2008.
First posted Feb. 27, 2006.

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