While setting up a photo studio for product photography, I often read advice that suggests that one needs extremely strong light sources (1–10 kw total) if shooting without flashlights.
I fully understand why the homogenity and distribution of light is critical, but where is the relevance of the absolute light output? After all, my objects don´t move and I use a tripod, so I could compensate low light with a long shutter. Is there a difference between four softboxes at 50w (i.e. 50w consumption = 200w lightbulb) and four softboxes at 200w that cannot be compensated with slow shutter speed?