Here's a peek at what I've been working on...

[Jim Brennan]

Matt's around, and he is still making those flos. Try and PM him

[bena]

i sent him a pm, but have not heard anything... Does not seem like his website has been updated either.

[Luis Caffesse]

Hey Matt, any updates on the lights?
Let us know when you get a chance.
Thanks.

[Icarus2005]

Looking good so far, but I agree with many of Walters and Barry's comments.

MOST IMPORTANT things for a guy like me when buying a fixture I'll on set a lot are as follows:

1. lightweight
2. dimmable or switchable. I will NEVER buy a flo that doesn't offer one of those options.
3. durable
4. cost

you'll note that cost is least important, as I believe quality is more important.

dimmable or switchable like the Diva or 4-banks are key, it's just too much trouble to have a light that doesn't do one or the other, because there are too many cases when you can't back off the light and need to dim it or turn off a bulb or two. SPEED is critical on set. If I need to spend extra time chasing down ND and placing it on a light then by the end of a shoot I will have lost a LOT of time that would have more paid for itself if I had purchased the light that dims or is switchable.

on micro sets it may not be a big deal, but when there are twenty people standing around waiting on a relight, it can kill you.

BTW: Don't kill yourself with a 5 year warranty. Make your prototype and beta test it and first run with only a 1yr warrenty. Provide longer warrenty of housing if you wish, but giving that type warranty on ballast will do you in. The most important features are ballast and bulbs, not the housing, otherwise established companies like kino would have made better housings years ago if it made practical business sense.

[Icarus2005]

P.S.

if you do manage to make a light a good as the kino 4-bank for less money I will be one of you customers - seriously

I'd be glad to beta test for you as well

[bena]

I think Matt ate too much turkey and fell into a comma at the keyboard :')

I converted a $10 shop light from Home Depot with some shiny alum tape and used the high 93 cri bulbs. Looks pretty good. Now I need to work on some mounting issues and stand issues.

Its using 2 48in bulbs. I should whip out the old light meter and see how much she be putting out, hmm that sounds sexual... he he.

B

[MattinSTL]

Hey everybody, it's been a busy summer. My lighting ideas were never intended to generate significant profit and so I couldn't devote the time to it that I wanted to... and the comments about slow suppliers wasn't just excuses... that really happens on every bit I order.

I have been selling these to individuals that PM me. I got burned out on the idea of promoting the lights on the forums because I think many people want more then I can offer at a really low price. It was just about 6 weeks ago that I started paying more attention to the inquiries on the lights and just a couple weeks ago that I started making more then a couple at a time. Once I get settled in on a design that I really like I'll put up a website dedicated to explaining them in more detail. As it is right now I've just been selling my current design for the lowest price I can. I consider this to be somewhat of a beta thing anyway... and I'll repair any possible issues with the lights for as long as I'm around. Repairs are free if there's an issue in a reasonable amount of time (like say 2 years) and I'll repair it for about the cost of a bulb after that. (about $20). I think these lights will last forever. I don't anticipate any problems with 'em. I've been using my own set all summer with no problems... and I actually started selling these to individuals probably 3 months ago or more. The first guy to buy a pair just bought a third one last month.

I've got seven more done as of later today, but I have to see who I owe them to first. I'm pretty sure 5 of them are spoken for. Within the next 4 weeks or so I'll get a lot more aggressive on this project and I'll probably be able to handle a significant demand. I've purposely kept behind the scenes because when somebody decides they want one they want it NOW and it's not like I'm making anything on these. I don't consider $40 or so to be profit... and if you figure in the tools and everything else I've bought just to make 'em I'm not even clearing that. I'm not doing it for the money... and I'd like to have several dozen beta tests going. If everybody says they love their lights in a year I'll find a way to really mass produce something.

Summer is for making money... winter is for making projects. The colder it gets the more lighting posts you'll see from me.

[bena]

Good to hear from ya Matt!

Would it be easier on you to make this available as a DIY kit? I have no issues assembling this thing on my own if you sell the parts with instructions.

I know what your going through, I used to build real arcade Joysticks for Atari Jaguar owners. First you had to build a quality wood box, and then you had to wire into a controller, then you had to crimp a zillion connectors that ran to each button and then connect them all and test.

I burned out after making 30 or so.

Oh, are you going to make your Mic Blimp available too? I can't seem to find that video on your site anymore.

Thanks
Ben

[aw grasshopper]

I second Ben's comment - glad to hear from you. As you know I am interested in the lights as well. You had suggested that I wait until later in the year so I'll look forward to seeing what you come up with.

Grasshopper

[HorseFilms]

Yeah, I'd still be interested in these lights, too. They look killer.

[MattinSTL]

Thanks for the support guys... I've got a few things I'm kicking around right now. Really I'm trying to figure out how I can make the lightest, most versatile, and cheapest light possible. I started out trying to make a cheap light that did everything, but that was REALLY burning me out.

This is kind of a quest I'm on. I want to make a light for everybody... but if you can afford Kino or Gyoury then you should probably go that route. The conclusion that I came to is that I can offer a good versatile light, but I can't offer one that does everything and sell it for under $250-$300. So what I began working on is a light that will give people what they really need and keep the cost down. My goal is to offer a great little light for $149. I'm 99% sure I can do that... I just haven't had enough time to devote to this.

The lights that I've been showing on here I've been selling really cheap. $199 w/o a tube if the fixture is perfect... and $159 for the "blems". Welding and bending diamond plate is more involved then I thought it would be... plus it creates some issues when it's time to mount everything up to the back. Whatever design I do next will most likely NOT be diamond plate... which will help get the cost down, but I'll still go with 100% aluminum construction because I like that it's strong, light, and vents heat (which is nothing like a normal light, but they do get warm).

I appreciate the interest you guys are showing in these. All the PMs I've had on them is fuelling the fire for me to continue. Please hold off on PMs for now though... all the one's I had are spoken for.

I appologize for posting like a nut on these earlier this year and then dropping off the lighting map... my reputation on DVXuser is super-important to me and I'm hoping that I can really help some of you guys out with your lighting issues. I never would have got this bug if I could have afforded a bunch of Kino's myself. One of my only concerns is that anybody who gets a light from me realizes I'm not trying to produce a "Diva killer"... so if you can afford a Diva 200 then you should probably get it. I've got a guy buying two now who is planning to use them for an NBC special and he's got me shaking in my shoes that these might not be good enough for him!

[MattinSTL]

Crappy video clip from current batch of flos... CLICK HERE

Why am I posting this? I don't know, but there it is if you want to watch it. Outdoor shots were two lights running off cigarrette lighter plug... indoor shots are mostly self-explanatory... 1st is single light boomed... all other shots were auto-exposure except last shot which is shot open with one light only. It looks like I may have a couple extra of this particular design... but I'm waiting for an answer on a guy who told me to hold them. So we'll see. Seven made this batch with 3 still in sales limbo.

By the end of next month I'll be making them 10-20 at a time.

EDIT: I just noticed in that last shot at the very end of the clip it looks like one of the other lights comes on... look closer, that's the reflector... the last shot is one light only with the DVX lens open... I wanted to show how much light just ONE light puts out indoors. The outside shots were unrealistic distances for flos... but that was the point... I hope that most people realize that. It's a basketball court and the light is effective to halfway across it. The light that's high on a stand is about 12' up. Later on I'll post a better video that shows the lights in a typical use. I was jackassing around tonight and this probably wasn't worth posting, but one of the guys buying wanted to see something like this... so I figured I'd mention it here too.

[bena]

The lights look mighty powerful. Good job.

Have you used a light meter to see how much light you are getting off one of these lights, would be nice to know.

Maybe set the meter to asa 400 and test it from say 3ft, maybe there is a standard way to measure this so it could be compared to other lights.

While on the subject, I would be very interested to see how the different quality of reflector affect the meter readings.

Btw, would it be possible to put up a Quicktime version of your Movies, WMV does not work well on Macs..

thanks

[MattinSTL]

With one light only I don't think you're going to be shooting anything beyond an F4.0... in an interview style set with two of them and no gels I'm probably at 4.8... but if I'd plan to be wide open for a lot of stuff depending on distance.

There's a cool Sekonic meter that I've had my eye on for a while now... but I keep spending my extra cash on audio. These lights are powerful for what they are (55w) but I intended for these to be used in smaller shoots where large lights aren't needed. In my own personal experience, which has been mainly controlled interviews with just a few people... big lights were overkill. We wanted the aperature open for DOF anyway... and I got tired of gelling lights down to get what I wanted. That's what led to this stuff.

The point of these is to be small, cheap, location flos for people who didn't think they could afford quality light output. I definitely want to restate that I don't think these will be "giant killers". In the outdoor shot I'm out to stupid ranges for lights of this output and it shows...

When I bought the reflector material I bought several kinds (since I needed to make a minimum order) and I have some ultra-white that I'm curious to try out, but in initial testing it really neutered the output... and when I played with the Kino ParaBeam it became obvious to just stick with an ultra-reflective parabolic. I'll post more pictures later, but the general idea is that the reflector positions the light rather then simply bouncing it forward. When you stand off to one side you still see the reflection of the tube while you can't see the tube itself (soft side dispersion) and when standing directly in front of the light you obviously don't see any reflection on that same part of the reflector... it just looks like a wide/hot center. That's how I think I'm getting away with one tube... and that's why the ParaBeam is touted for newsdesks and stuff like that... it's the parabolic more so then the material itself... and of course I got the highest reflective anodized aluminum available.

[Icarus2005]

Looking good, Matt, those really have some throw.

looked like one was a two bulb unit. are they all two bulb switchable?

any plans on 4 bulb? or 4 footers?