DIY Kino Grabs

[grahamdunn]

Here's a grab from my DIY "Kino." I just bought a couple of cheap overhead Fluoros (that have small reflectors) from Home Depot and popped in a few T8 bulbs in cool white (arctic 6000k temperature). They're positioned vertically and close together (just outside of frame). I have a similar ringlite using tripod mounted circular Fluoros. Let me know what you think... Thanks!
—Graham
http://www.dvxuser6.com/uploaded/21396/1169177827.jpg

[JasonFox]

I like it. What's your iris at and could you post photos of your fixtures, please? (All of them, I'm nosy.) Actually, I want to compare what you've got to my own, which are exceedingly basic. And heavy.

[grahamdunn]

Yes, sure I can post some pictures, it might take me a little time. Looks like I was at f6.8, about four+- feet from the subject, and there is one fixture on either side of her, with two bulbs in each, (32 watts a bulb, so 128 watts total, maybe about 500 watts in comparison to tungsten lights?).

[grahamdunn]

Okay, here are the grabs of my weird ringlite and the two "kinos."
http://www.dvxuser6.com/uploaded/21396/1169182630.jpg
http://www.dvxuser6.com/uploaded/21396/1169182651.jpg
http://www.dvxuser6.com/uploaded/21396/1169182679.jpg

The lights looks all crazy colors because I didn't white balance etc. The ringlite has a warmer light outside than inside, which was a mistake, but it seems to work okay. It's a $30 tripod from Target, a 1/4" bolt through the quick release plate, through a folded over sheet of strap metal from Home Depot (which pinches the ballast of the round fixture I got at Home Depot for $19 and took apart so it's just guts). I'm hoping I can just use the ringlite near the camera, but maybe it will be possible to actually put the camera through the tubes. The taller lights are 4', and are "Red Steel" $21 dollar things from Home Depot. I'm hoping to just mount them on a C stand arm.

[24fps4ever]

hey can more folks upload more "DIY "Kino grabs? I love to see more set ups, I think we can all learn more by posting more lighting grabs

[ian hunter]

love it graham,
any chance of a few close ups of the ring light,
how have you wired it??

ian

[JasonFox]

Well, you're doing pretty much what I'm doing. I've got three 2-bulb fixutures like yours and one fixture where I bolted three fixtures together to make a 6-bulber. It's bright, but weight a ton. I also did a similar ring light, but with only one bulb. My M2 eats up the light, though. May have to forego DOF for the sake of adequate lighting.

Ian - for my ringlight, I just bought the highest-wattage one I could find at Lowe's. Then I unscrewed the reflector from a clamp light and screwed in the ring light. I can attach the clamp to my rods and it works well for a $10 ring light.

[grahamdunn]

Hey Ian—
Hopefully tomorrow I can post some close-ups. Basically I bought a twenty dollar fixture from Home Depot that was an overhead light with a metal base. All I did was unscrew the metal base, leaving the power supply and the two bulbs. I zip tied those to a piece of sheet metal (which was folded like a "u"). This "u" pinched the power supply between the folded sheet metal bolted to the tripod. Hope that makes sense. No rewiring was done, I just basically rigged up a way to bolt it all down. Come to think of it, though, the metal fixture I got rid of might have helped with reflection and directing the light. The output seems pretty okay, though. I'll post some grabs soon hopefully.