I subscribe to the theory "if it works, it's right" and speak only from experience (vs knowledge and wisdom). In researching what lights to buy, I found many pros advocating both methods so that was little help. As I am mostly a studio shooter... still life and "artistic" (how presumptuous does that sound?) model shoots. I like shadow and lightplay, to "study" and play with the lighting for a shot, so for me continuous (hot) lights work best. I rarely use flash. My first light was a quartz light but I quickly changed to lights that had standard incandescent bulb sockets for the flexibility they provide. With these I can use temperature controlled photo bulbs (expensive and short life span) for portrait style shooting, or everyday soft/natural light bulbs offering a range of wattage and effect on the image for "artistic" and still life shooting. Depending on need, I have available 2 8" reflectors, with barndoors (which I can cover with translucent material to make a pseudo soft box), and umbrellas. Also one deep 6" light for hair and focused lighting. I use a boom arm for overhead lighting, which can be great. I also break with traditional wisdom and occasionally use dimmer switches to modulate the light's intensity... yes I know it changes the light temperature, but you can set WB to offset that and it gets me the light/shadow I want. This is all cheap stuff from Ebay, the total coming in at a couple hundred dollars. The only negatives are glare for the model (though none have complained and umbrellas can help mitigate that) and sometimes heat... but that's why God created air conditioning. :) Hope this helps.