First off, let's not turn this into a strobe vs. continuous thread. If you want to talk about your strobe lighting setup is there are plenty of other threads for that. 

That being said, I ordered the Paterson Interfit 1000 watt halogen to use as my main and I have a 45" Westcott silver umbrella to soften the light. The light power is fully adjustable which is sort of uncommon for high-power continuous lighting, it's also fan-cooled so hopefully it won't get ungodly hot. These are really nice new features and I think I'm going to really like this.

My fill light is a Lowell Tota (750w bulb) and a smaller (30") umbrella. Since the Tota is not adjustable, I'll need to use distance in order to get the right amount of fill light on the model. If anyone knows of a way to use a cheap dimmer on a Tota I'd love to hear it!

I needed to get a more powerful main than the 750w Tota because I've had to shoot at ISO 300 or greater to get a fast shutter speed. I like a pretty shallow depth of field so I use a wide aperture most of time, but having 2 or more powerful lights will allow me to shoot some stuff closed down a bit if desired.

I'll let you all know what I think of the new light once I've had a chance to test it on a shoot.

-TMH

Interesting ...
I just use Chimera hot lights with 'egg crates' for my studio work.

Sometimes I use halogen lights for model shooting ... but I just can do it when it's winter cold or in a room with a good air conditioner (I live in Brazil and it's hot here) because this kind of light generates a lot of heat.

You also may pay attention to the power lines of the place your going to shot to check the voltage and if it allows the use of these kind of lights (they're power hungry).

If you forget the negative characteristics, you'll notice that these kind of light is very nice to work with you you can get some great results with harsh shadows and so on.

Yours,

Charles

I use all sorts of low power lights.... One thing you can do is use a tripod when using very slow shutter speeds.  I'm talking about 1/30- 1/2 second range. If your camera does well, shoot at higher iso. I shoot at 400-1600 all the time ( Canon 5D ), and have had images run full bleed in magazines with no visible grain. The images are alittle softer, but thats part of my style most of the time.

I guess what I am saying is, you can do alot with very little. Very little.
In my portfolio, there is an image of model Sara. It was shot with a 85mm f1.2 lens, at F2, 500th of a second, and ISO 400. The lights were an experiment. Hope depot shop light fixtures that cost 6 bucks each and each as a spiral fluroescent light bulb in it. The lights are just out of frame, and are hard ( wanted the specular highlights of the oil ). I guess what I am really saying is, you can do alot with little.

Your power lights and umbrullas will be nice. I used to shoot all the time with a big huge reflector and one 1000 wt hot light. With digital, and the ability to correct color temp of the lights without filters or special film, it is a great thing!

Chip

You can get some really great shots with hot lights.  That is not to be argued.

You just have to be a bit more carefull as after all, they are HOT.

I've seen a number of shots on the web taken with nothing but hot lights and a skilled lighter can do as well or better with hot lights than with flash.

Good luck and post some images when it comes in.

Mark