The Greatest Low Budget Lighting Item Ever!

David G. Smith

David G. Smith

Steak Knife Member
Do not ever tell me that prayers do not come true!

I find myself in more and more situations that could be described as "guerilla filmmaking" shoots and I have been trying to come up with exciting lighting designs on very low budgets. I have come across on of the most exciting items for low budget film or video lighting that I have seen in a while. Check out this website!

http://www.naturallighting.com/order/store.php?crn=651&rn=3268&action=show_detail

I love this, a 5500K, 125w compact fluro that uses a medium base (regular screw in bulb).

Ok, why am I creaming my jeans over a 125 watt compact fluro? Well, this CF bulb has the light output equivilance of a 500 watt incandescant lamp. That's right, 500 watts! (well actually, if you do the math, it rates at about 544 watts output). because it is only a 125 watt bulb it only pulls about 1.04 amps, as compared to the 4.1 amps an incandescant lamp pulls. What does this mean for the low budget lighting kit? Well, using this light, you can have the equivilance of aprox. 9,000 watts of light off of a standard 20 amp circuit, as compared to a little over 2,000 watts using incandescants. Think what that can do for your next night exterior shot!

Also, because it is a 5500K light, getting a blue color does not involve the usual comprimises needed to get this color. (Gelling the light, which greatly cuts light output, or using HMIs, which cost a great deal) This also means that matching daylight is much easier. If you need a little daylight fill, bring out these lights.
I love this bulb and plan on buying quit a few of them. Of course, they are quite expensive, at about $76 a bulb, but because of there long life and low energy usage, I think they will be well worth it.

When you call this company, ask for Larry!
 
I would suggest this as an alternative... $29.

69_big.jpg


CLICK HERE... pick any wattage or combination of wattages.

If it were me... I'd consider ordering more bulbs of lower wattage/output and then work out a design where you can simply switch bulbs in and out for total output control of the fixture. As a basic approach you could get a zip strip (surge protector) and then use plug adapters that the bulbs screw into... then just plug as many bulbs as you need into the zip strip.

The only challenge in all of this is good control of the direction and wash of the light... that's what I'm working on right now. SV makes photoflood reflectors that you could house one of the larger bulbs in... but I'm more intrigued by the possibility of putting several bulbs, on independent switches, in something more along the lines of a very large stainless steel mixing bowl.

BlueMax bulbs seem to be "good enough"... but I'm even more interested in SunWave bulbs... which are slightly higher CRI, at 93... and slightly better kelvin, at 5550k.

CLICK HERE... then scroll ALL the way down.
 
Great Links, Thanks.

The one thing I like about the 125 is that it is the highest output medium base CF I have seen. I use a lot of china ball type lights and this CF will be great for that. Try putting a 500 watt incandescent into one of those fixtures! Get set up and be prepared to get lots of B-roll of the Fire Department at work!


Again, cool links. Thanks.
 
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I purchased a few of the 5500K 91 CRI bulbs

http://www.naturallighting.com/order/store.php?crn=565&rn=2311&action=show_detail

These are really great lights. Another idea for you.. instead of purchasing one giant bulb you can get two smaller bulbs and then use a "Y" adapter to put two of them in one fixture (or a china ball, etc). Usually the best price/watt ratio is with the medium sized bulb.

Y adapter

http://cinemasupplies.stores.yahoo.net/memafeadea.html

The flo lights are definately getting better all the time.
 
Great links. I purchased a very similar 125W compact fluorescent a couple of weeks ago from a place called teksupply.com. It's 93 CRI but a bit cool (6400k). However, it was also less than half the price of the one above.

I am looking for a bowl type fixture or some way to control the light, though. Let us know if you make any progress in these areas, MattinSTL.
 
Everdene said:
Great links. I purchased a very similar 125W compact fluorescent a couple of weeks ago from a place called teksupply.com. It's 93 CRI but a bit cool (6400k). However, it was also less than half the price of the one above.

I am looking for a bowl type fixture or some way to control the light, though. Let us know if you make any progress in these areas, MattinSTL.
Click to expand...

Very cool link.

One thing about these bad boys having a medium base is that switching out and punching up practicals is now much easier! Also, CTO has less of a filter facter than comparable CTB. I would much rather warm up one of these lights than try to cool down a tungsten lamp.
 
Besides having the 125w, 93CRI, 6400k standard base lamp for $35, this farm supply company also has a 200w, 91CRI, 5,500k mogul base lamp for $110 (that's a lot of light). I haven't tried the big one yet. I'm still working on setting up a fixture for the 125w and will probably just get another one of those. In my tests it has looked great.

I understand your excitement, David. These lamps are going to give us a lot more power for low budget lighting.

http://www.teksupply.com/webapp/wcs...&langId=-1&division=TekSupply&productId=65625
 
Everdene said:
Besides having the 125w, 93CRI, 6400k standard base lamp for $35, this farm supply company also has a 200w, 91CRI, 5,500k mogul base lamp for $110 (that's a lot of light). I haven't tried the big one yet. I'm still working on setting up a fixture for the 125w and will probably just get another one of those. In my tests it has looked great.

I understand your excitement, David. These lamps are going to give us a lot more power for low budget lighting.

http://www.teksupply.com/webapp/wcs...&langId=-1&division=TekSupply&productId=65625
Click to expand...

I've seen quite a few of these types of CFs with mogul bases and looking to hook some of them up. However, mogul base fixtures seem to be more expensive to get (according to the hardware stores around here anyway). I am going to hang with the medium base units for now. I am going to order some of the 125w bulbs from TekSupply this weekend. Thanks for the hook up.
 
David... please... PLEASE report back on that bulb as soon as you get it! So many of these threads fade away before the necessary REPORT... "Sounds great... I'll try that..."

*thread dies*

"Aaarrrrrggghhh WHAT HAPPENED!?"

So please let us know what you find... honestly my prediction is that this thing is gonna' be so bright that you'll have to pop it in a Chimera or something to even halfway control it. While the price is SO right... I mean c'mon... that is dirt cheap for that much punch... I think it's gonna' be really hard to control it, and I expect you to be very surprised at just how much output you'll be dealing with. I think it's gonna' be total overkill. That's why I suggest using several small bulbs and making them independently switchable.

I'm even thinking of doing a 5 bulb fixture with 15w bulbs! In my own house, with 13w compact flos... I can shoot at an F5.6 in a small room while keying myself with just (2) 13w compact flos... this is a small room, and no silk, and white walls... but still... 2 x 13w can provide key at F5.6. Since it's likely that you (and I) need more distance then softbox key you will probably want more output then that... but that's why I say for a 5 bulb fixture I'm leaning towards 15 or 20w compact flos which can be switched in and out.

That 125w bulb is gonna' be Mr. Sun. Mark my words on that prediction. You'll have to box it and punch it through a silk.

The other thing is that if you commit to another color temp, especially a non-standard one like 6400k... you will have to gel that light or the other lights on set... or else use it in a situation where you desire the cooler shift. I've mixed daylight and tungsten... like daylight key and tungsten BG... so you could always key with this and bounce the fill... but I'm just sayin'... if it was 5500-5600k that would be better. At 125w and 6400k I think you're going to have too much of an almost good thing... BUT I will be happy to be wrong about this... that's why I said please report back... and if possible pics and/or video!
 
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I made a 6 lamp "softbox" fixture with the 23w bulbs (they are supposedly about 125w incandescent equavalent) and it is painfully bright without any diffusion material. It is a real beast. Basically you are looking at a 750W soft bank/ ghetto kino for around $100. The whole thing is constructed out of foamcore and black duct tape. I bought a 3" baby plate and smacked it on the back so that I could put it on a C stand. Oh yeah, I also used a lot of hot glue :)

I'm working on a new version that uses coroplast, which I think would make it a lot nicer, but still super-cheap and light.


I think I ended up with the 23w bulbs because I found them to be just about the best price/lumen ratio. The footage with the bulbs looks great and the color seems to be dead on. I made the fixture so that I could switch half of them off. Its almost overkill since you can just reach in and unscrew them, as they don't get hot enough to worry about. I should be getting a 400W HMI in a few days here, so I can see how it stacks up against that :)

As you would expect, these bulbs work very well in a china ball or a cheapo clamp light.
 
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Coollights.biz

Coollights.biz

Hi all,

My name is Richard Andrewski. Just checking in to let you know I have published a video on DIY Fluorescent Lighting and will be offering many hard-to-find items soon to support the designs and ideas shown in the video. This 89 minute DVD video and idea have been in development since early 2005. There will be kits and discrete parts including mirrored reflectors, 55w biax bulbs, great inexpensive electronic ballasts for the 55w bulbs, 250w CFL bulbs (yes 250w! and 300w too perhaps), sockets, clips, wire, sheet metal and cast aluminum fixture boxes, barn door kits and inexpensive telescoping lighting stands in black (not yellow like the halogen work light stand we have all come to know). All these ideas and how to implement them are shown in the video but the kits and parts will offer a quicker, more convenient route to getting what you need from one source rather than 20 sources.

An idea from the video: How about a small fixture that uses a cast aluminum box, a 30w CFL and barn doors and is even dimmable? I used several of these as my primary lights while producing the video and show you how to make them from salvaging parts from your halogen worklights and adding really professional barndoors to them. They are small but super controllable. You can see a picture of this fixture on the cover of my video on my website and some of the other designs too (and a 3 minute excerpt of the video).

I'll also be offering special fixtures to use these monster 200w and 250w (mogul base) CFL bulbs with softbox hoods or chinese lanterns and will be offering the bulbs themselves in 3200K (which you cannot find anywhere else today). The 55 watt biax bulbs will be on the site in 3200K very soon for reasonable prices. Question: Just out of curiosity, which would be more important to you 3200K or 5500K color temperatures in these larger bulbs?

My reasoning in offering 3200K first was that I think the 5000 / 5500's are quite common now in many different forms but not the 3200's so that is why I was thinking of offering that first. Keep a look out at www.coollights.biz for some really neat developments in DIY fluorescent lighting for film and video.
 
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Dude, that video is so cool... Honestly. You have a Kevin Spacey/Kip Dynamite thing going on there... Awesome!

I think you have great ideas there, especially the 200W softbox. That was very intriguing. Good luck!
 
That video looks like it might be pretty useful, and probably something I would be willing to buy. Do you have a list of the fixtures the video shows how to build? That type of info would be the kind of thing I would be interested in before making a purchase.

Thanks for the info!
 
tigeba said:
I made a 6 lamp "softbox" fixture with the 23w bulbs (they are supposedly about 125w incandescent equavalent) and it is painfully bright without any diffusion material.
Click to expand...

Okay so that's 138w of output which you can space over a wider area then say, 1 single 200w bulb... aside from a single softbox at 1 setting... I'm having trouble comprehending the lust for the 125-200w single flo bulbs? Why don't you guys build the same fixture and use several bulbs on independent switches? Or if you really hate electronics THAT bad then just screw in as many bulbs as you want ON and forget the switches all together?

None of this stuff is rocket science... it just comes down to how functional the final product will be and how CONTROLLABLE it will be... which is why I just don't understand a single 200w source?

The cheapest 55w compact flo tubes at 3200k are Desisti brand... $16.95... they also make a 5500k tube... same price. Since Desisti is a lighting fixture company and not a tube manufacturer, you can feel free to just get GE Cinema 32 or 55 (sometimes called ShowBiz) 55w biax tubes... same tube, same price. I still like Kino's tubes better, but I've used these and they are decent.

The best way to educate yourself (at least somewhat) on what is available is to go to B&H and click "lighting"... "fluorescent"... "lamps".

Any lamp you see with a standard, medium base, sometimes called an E26 base... will fit the standard edison sockets that you have all through your home. As previously stated BlueMax has edison base compact flo bulbs in high CRI and virtually any wattage and output you could want. All you have to do if you want to canniballize a flood fixture from Home Depot is buy a socket for $2 and wire white to white and black to black... done. If you can drill a hole and turn a screwdriver then you should be okay.

As for the bulbs mentioned... ideally what videographers want is 3200k and 5600k... if I can only have one or the other then I want 5600k... I've pulled back from 3200k unless I absolutely KNOW ahead of time that I'll have to mix tungsten sources. Naturally the highest CRI is always a factor too.
 
I love this, a 5500K, 125w compact fluro that uses a medium base (regular screw in bulb).
Click to expand...

Sounds nice, but in the specs:

NaturesSunlight High Ouput Compact Fluorescent. Sunlight simulating, 125 watt self ballasted compact fluorescent, medium base, 120 volt. Color Temperature 5500K, Color Rendering Index 93. Length - 14" (includes socket - 1")

That freakin bulb is 14 INCHES LONG!!! That's a BIG bulb.

-GageFX
 
Whats the noise like the these bulbs? how loud are they? I see they say silent but if u put them 1 inch from your ear do you hear anything?
 
Are these lights that are being discussed in the above threads typically for exterior shots? If so, what is a recommended wattage amount for indoor shots??
 
There's been so much on the instructional side of lighting, but I feel like doing some video segments myself... the wattage of light depends on the size of the area you need to illuminate and the distance you want to throw.

A Kino Diva 400 has the potential for about 11,000 lumens! Divas don't add much to the tubes in reflected power however... so 11,000 is about it. The Diva 200 will be half that, obviously. Large areas and longer distances, like 20'+ from light to subject, means that more wattage can be utilized. Diva lights are usually used for interview lighting... so maybe 10' or so from the subject.

When you put a light in a softbox or otherwise require it to punch through a silk (or other diffusion) then you can up the wattage because you're losing 20-30% or so to the absorption of diffusion material. If you expect a light to THROW through a silk then you can definitely use the highest power flo here because flos don't punch that great already.

But if you want to do a little test for yourself... SURELY you have at least one coiled compact flo bulb in your house! If not they are less then $5 at Home Depot or Lowes! Go get one! Get a 13, 15, or 20w bulb. Take that in a room that can be controllably dark... while you're at Home Depot buy a plug adapter for $2.50... you can screw the bulb into it and then plug it into the end of an extension cord... set up a light stand... gaffer that bulb up on the stand. If you want you can fashion an aluminum foil "enclosure" for this single bulb (or buy two if you want to see double the output)... this way you can also somewhat control the direction and get some basic reflective increase... if you want to spend a couple more dollars and yet keep this test super simple then get one of the $7 aluminum, clamp-on lights... right next to the extension cords. Really that would be best if you either want to return it later or can use it.

So there you are in a totally dark room... now turn on your clamp light w/ 20w compact flo bulb and position it about 6' away from you... just like you would light an interview or actor. On F3-5.6 you will be properly exposed on the light's side... if you want to push the light further back and add a bounce you may need to open more F. Use TWO 20w bulbs and even at F5.6 you will have zebras all down the "hot edge" of your face.

The 125w super-bulb will be great for putting in a fairly large softbox... or crafting something like that... or for throwing a lot of light from a larger distance.

I used to go on and on about this, but the old logic about lighting needs to enter the modern age of video cameras... I hate to pick on somebody, but Art History had a couple scenes in an apartment where the DVX just couldn't control the lighting they were using... it was totally obvious that they had a 300-650w fresnel or something that was ruining the scene with phony light. Everybody goes through the B&H and other lighting catalogs and they see fresnels starting at 150w and going up to 2K+... with many kits being made from 650w fresnels... in MY experience that stuff is overkill in all but the largest interior sets... UNLESS <key point here... UNLESS the light is in a softbox, punching through a silk, or gelled and cookied up.

Set up your DVX with a little $5 20w compact flo bulb... test it for yourself. With lighting you can almost never have too many tools... there are TIMES when that 125w would be useful... I will probably buy one to check it out and to have on hand for those times!... but if you are just starting entering the world of lighting for video and you think you can use that bulb outside of a softbox you're in for a surprise. The reason I would buy it is to enclose it and gel it for moonlight from the top of a 14' stand that's also about 15-20' from the actors.
 
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