What Light Would Work For Me?

[vince]

I have now purchased a bunch of CFL's but to my surprise it is still not enough light, I still have aperture 1.8 while wide open with some gain. I'm using three 80 watts CFL's, and 8 40 watts CFL's and only 6-8 foot removed from the interview scene. I have five lights stands, using two 1 to 4 light adapters. This soft light (5500 K) even after doubling and tripling the number of watts is needing very close proximity to give adequate results (in the dark!). The reflectors are necessary and adding a diffuser cuts out too much light. Anyone have any suggestions how to increase the light output?

[kosulin]

Instead of diffuser you might need barndoors. An issue with cheap CFL is buzz which they can produce, and low CRI. Light bulbs with CRI>92 are usually not cheap.

[vince]

My cfl's are all photo quality and indeed not cheap. I expected that using egg crates might improve the light intensity but my light meter did not confirm this. I'm not using the diffusers. If 500 watts in CFL's (equivalent to 2000 watts tungsten) is not enough, what is?

[kosulin]

Grids do reduce the light amount while making it more directional. This is for granted. As I understand it, their primary use is not to increase the subject illumination, but to eliminate unwanted background illumination. I am not a studio guru though.

[Dleo]

I've been playing around with those flourescent bulbs from homedepot, and wow they have ones that are 6500 k Real nice light.

Check them out not hot at all, at least not nearly as hot.

dleo

[kosulin]

By the way, Home Depot now sells Philips T8 tubes with CRI of 96 (online you can find CRI98, but 96 is not bad).

[Mechwariorx]

Hey guys, I've been having some trouble picking out a lighting kit, I am planning on using it to light a few shorts I'm working on, nothing to big. I'm looking to spend around $400, but I can go up to around $600.

I've been looking at getting the kit below, but I'd like to know if anybody else has a better suggestion.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...x_3_Light.html

Instead of looking at a new budget kit, should I be looking at used kit? Like a Lowel DV Creator 1 or DV Creator 44? It might run me a little more than $600 but I think it would be worth it in the long run.

Thanks!

Mech

[cyphronix]

Hey Mech,

If you plan on working short films I would recommend you getting something like this.

http://www.eoslightingllc.com/tungstenkits/900/

I don't have this kit, and I can't vouch for it but they are simple fresnels rather than the soft lights you want to buy. These lights will be easier to control via the barn doors and can be made into soft light either by using diffusion, or by just placing the included umbrella and bouncing the light. The soft lights you want to buy might produce to much light.

Hope this helped.

[Mechwariorx]

Awesome, thanks for the tip!

I'm starting to like the idea of getting a used Lowel DV Creator kit. Not only are most of the lights controllable, but also the kits have everything I need and then some. Since I don't have much hands on experience with lighting I'd like to learn all I can, and a Lowel kit seems to have everything I need to do that.

[Erik Bien]

As the owner of a DV Creator 44 kit (scored second-hand but unopened and unused on ebay for just under $1K), I have no problem recommending it to someone looking for a reasonably complete, portable tungsten package. I added a second gel frame and umbrella (so I can use either on the Tota and the Omni at the same time) as well as a Tota-Clamp, Tota-Mount and a cheap Mafer clamp to give me more mounting options, plus some more gels (more colors, different grades of diffusion). Everything still fits (barely!) in the case.

I think if I had it to do over again I might try to go for one with a bigger softbox like the Creator 55 kit (500W Rifa) or maybe just add a 1KW Rifa to what I already have (that 250W Rifa 44 is too small and wimpy for much more than a tight shot).

[Mechwariorx]

Thanks! Glad to know that I've been on the right track.

I think I'll end up getting a used DV Creator 1 kit and adding the 1k Rifa later on when I get some extra money. Thanks for all your help guys!

[yippieguy]

on a somewhat related note...

I snagged a 20-or-so white LED "puck" for $4 the other night.. just to test....it's very blue/purple-looking and looks quite cold. (kinda how those new LED Christmas lights look.. yuck)

I've also seen this sort of sized thing online as "mic-light" which is a doughnut (donut) shaped thing that pops over your camera's microphone.

I think it'd be useful for a horror flick maybe, but not neeeeeearly enough light output over a broad enough space to effectively light a scene at all. MAYBE for a little front fill on a close-up or something; mixed with daylight or other lights.. just not as sole source of light. no way. no how.

[Hunterr]

A 1,000 dollar audio setup
A 1,000 dollar lighting setup
A 1,000 dollar NLE
A 1,000 dollar lens/rig

Well you definately don't need to exagerate. You said you were shooting a puppet show, after exte was under the impression that you needed studio lighting. I also thought you meant legit studio lighting.

And I'll fix that for you.

A 500 dollar audio setup
A 500 dollar lighting setup (Decent)
A 1,000 dollar NLE (FCS is 1200)
A 1,000 dollar lens/rig (Brevis is over that alone, no lenses or rails included)

-Hunter

[kosulin]

If it is for your home studio, then here is solution for $100:
Four Philips CFL tubes (48", 32W, 1860 lumens, 5000K, CRI 98). 7500 lumens total is equal to approx 400W incandescent, and no need for duffusers.
One 4x or two 2x CFL fixtures (48", T8, electronic ballast).
Everything can be found in nearest HomeDepot. Make sure ballast is electronic, CRI is 98, and color temp is 5000K.

[RatInDaHat]

another option to consider is the big silver clamplights. They run about $10 a piece. you can fill as many as you need with 100w equivalent, or higher ccfl's. essentially costing about $15 per 100w of output.

this is a rough estimate, but just an example for you. all stuff sourcable from any local home store. Homedepot, lowes, etc.

[Crosby!]

You could go with something like the below picture which was $32 and yields 100-600 equiv. watts of light. These are very flexible and with some imagination you can rig up softboxes, hidden lights (stick them under or behind things), and add some silver, gold or white art board to make reflectors/barn doors (black would make barn doors, too).

Vary the bulbs size (watts), color temperature (6500, 5500, 3200...), use an extension cord instead of the power-strips for the light for a smaller footprint, $10 clamp reflectors like RatInDaHat mentioned, colored gels, etc. Get some of the plastic fasteners (industrial strength Velcro) to attach the strips/cords to stands, walls or whatever.

I have a $10 UFO light off ebay that runs off 3-AA batteries that works for some things: [ame="http://vimeo.com/745364"]UFO LED LIGHT & Sanyo Xacti HD700 on Vimeo[/ame]



Good luck!

[Erik Bien]

I have no idea if they're any good, but if anyone is looking for an inexpensive fluorescent softbox kit (2 24"x16" softboxes with 125W CFLs, stands and case), this is about the cheapest one I've been able to find. Or for a little more, here's a similar one with a bit more wattage that's bank-selectable.

[RatInDaHat]

that second one is pretty slick actually.

[Crosby!]

I have the second one, from Cowboystudio. Surprised me when I got it as the sockets are ceramic, not plastic like I thought. Not a bad kit.

[RatInDaHat]

for the price, if it works it isn't bad

how noisy are the lights?

[RatInDaHat]

i just decided to drop the 2 bills on the cowboy one. I'll let you all know how i like it.

if it sucks, it was cheap. If it is decent, it was cheap. Looks a little more pro than anything I can cobble together though. At least it should.

-Dusty-

[wrathofdon]

Visorblue, what do you call those plug-in light sockets? I've never seen them before.

[CycleWriter]

Visorblue, what do you call those plug-in light sockets? I've never seen them before.

[Crosby!]

Visorblue, what do you call those plug-in light sockets? I've never seen them before.

Outlet to socket adapters. Those are Leviton brand but others make them. I paid $2 each at Home Depot (lamp parts section). Another source: http://www.nothingbuthardware.com/515570.html

[Crosby!]

i just decided to drop the 2 bills on the cowboy one. I'll let you all know how i like it.

if it sucks, it was cheap. If it is decent, it was cheap. Looks a little more pro than anything I can cobble together though. At least it should.

When you figure what just the bulbs cost ($10-15 each depending on where) the kit's a bargain. I did a PDQ test with the HV30 about 10-12" from the head and turned on all five bulbs. With exception of the switches being turned on and the HV30's own noise, I didn't hear any noise.

One thing I did that you may like, is cut the blister packs the bulbs come in on three sides (two short and one long). The fourth side serves as a hinge. I bought a package of adhesive back 7/8" fastener squares from Walmart, cut some into quarters, and stuck them in the center of the long cut edge. Now I have resealable carry packs for the bulbs.