affordable, flat space lights... maybe LED based?

[skinnyadam]

Looking for some smallish space lights for studio use and haven't been able to find anything - hoping somebody could recommend something. Preferably something a bit more pancake-ish than your traditional space lights. Definitely don't need a full 6k light. I'm wondering if there's any LED based space lights out there?
Any suggestions?

[RyanT]

I don't think affordable and spacelights are going to be two words you'll see together very often.

Chimera makes a pancake lantern that you can attach to a variety of lights. You can get a 20" or 30" lantern from chimera as well...

http://www.chimeralighting.com/Produ...banks/Lanterns

You can also look into gem balls, but they aren't quite flat. As the name suggests it's more like a ball.

Kino also makes the vista beam and para beam. Those are pricey 1k+ for the parabeam, but are probably just what you're looking for.

And finally, they do make a 2k spacelight thats exactly the same as the 6k version, just smaller. You can always clip up the diffusion skirt a little bit to make it more flat.

[Norman99]

What luminosity level are you looking at in terms of lux output ? or perhaps a tungsten wattage equivalent output ?
What do you mean by smallish ?

[dop16mm]

I've seen a commercial High-bay florescent fixture that may fit the bill. It is 2'x4' with 6 t8 tubes and mirror reflectors similar to parabeam. With daylight balanced tubes it could be decent. They are designed as an alternative to the big metal-halide floods that the big box stores use. I'd think it would have a 'tungsten equivalent' output of about 1k. Home depot in the commercial lighting section.

[Michael Carter]

Alzo sells a flo-based pancake that's like $150 or less.

I really like Alzo's HID bulb & ballast combo, about $150 for a daylight fixture that puts out about 600-800 watts of nice daylight (really equivalent to about a 1.2k tungsten with a full CTB), pulls only 150 watts.

I've sketched out some bag-light type fixtures using that (just takes a standard household bulb socket), one of these days I'll get a granny to sew me some from white ripstop.

Cool lights sells a 150 watt HID ballast that uses a smaller (like G13 I think?) 2-pin bulb. Ballast, bulb and socket will run you $400-$500 - that would be better for a fresnel conversion; the Alzo bulb is already a little soft. It's a kick ass little deal, that alzo. I've got one in a 6" fresnel that I just love.

[skinnyadam]

I was looking for a 1k-2k type of light - 6k was just overkill both in size and budget. Grabbed a couple of the alzos pseudo space lights. They're not bad. Very good for the job I need em for and cheap as hell. They don't draw a lot of power and the quality of light is nice and they are pretty much exactly what I needed for this shoot in terms of a slightly shallower size. For this price they are a great buy.

That being said -I would not even think about renting or loaning them out and truth be told I'd be nervous to even take them on multiple locations the metal used is cheap and soft and it feels like you could destroy the ballast/source if you even bumped it with a grip stand. I wish there was an option that fell somewhere between this and a 6k space-light. I'd gladly drop 500+ on something that was more built for the industry. This thing is not. Which is too bad.

If anyone discovers something - let me know as I don't see these lights lasting the year, but in the short term they saved my butt.

[RyanT]

Did you not look at the 2k spacelight? Same as the 6k, just smaller...

http://www.filmandvideolighting.com/mori2ksp72.html

Probably be 750 or so when all is said and done. You've gotta buy the silk targets and skirts, and duvatyne ones as well if you want to skirt it.

[Michael Carter]

Man, if you have ANY DIY abilities, I'd take a serious look at the cool lights CDM ballast/bulb or the Alzo HID ballast & bulb. Both will give you the equivalent of 650 tungsten or so (but with 5000-6000k color). You'd need someone who could sew some ripstop and curtains, and you'd need some basic metalworking (I would think 1" square aluminum tube and some bolts & basic rigging hardware would get you there, or 5/8 tube and baby fittings - there's just a world of grip parts to build stuff out there that wouldn't require welding, just basic cutting). Your amp draw and heat levels would be nice and low with that stuff.

You can cut aluminum tube and metal strips with a $100 chop saw, and those materials are readily available.

Most spacelight bags are cylindrical, but I doubt that's at all necessary; when you think of how the light looks, a rectangular bag (for a tall hanging light) or something like a pancake would be easy to sew and support.

[ZazaCast]

Have you looked into these? I'm thinking of a nice compact LED kit for travel.
http://www.flolight.com/

[skinnyadam]

2K space lights drew a bit more power than I wanted, also a bit long in size, but it really came down to power draw. The alzo lights did the trick just wish they were built for industry use. These look very interesting - apparently they have a 2k model to come. Don't know much about their company, but I guess they demo'd at NAB this year.
http://www.olesenssl.com/Olesen___SSL/products.html