For all newbies - cheap way to begin your lighting kit

Exactly, the lights are not really powerful, but I screw one CFL lamp, and it seemed pretty decent. Four lamps would double my f-stop, and it might actually look good.

Then again, all the work in putting them toghether everytime, or carrying them (those are kind of big lightbulbs... Might not be worth it. Anyway, you should expect something from me in the next few months about this...
 
As far as buying used lights,
I'm on the lookout for some 1k Mole Richardsons, what dealers have you guys had experience with?
How much should I expect to pay for them?
What to look out for?
 
Aren't Rifa's better to pack/unpack than Chimera for softboxes, anyways?
Why would you buy Chimera over Rifa?
 
taubkin said:
Exactly, the lights are not really powerful, but I screw one CFL lamp, and it seemed pretty decent. Four lamps would double my f-stop, and it might actually look good.

Then again, all the work in putting them toghether everytime, or carrying them (those are kind of big lightbulbs... Might not be worth it. Anyway, you should expect something from me in the next few months about this...
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I just came across something along these lines that look's interesting - Westcott's Spiderlite gangs 5 lights into one fixture which can be used with a softbox - and it can use tungsten or flo globes. Seems like a cool design and reasonably priced ( but I don't know anyone who's using it)...

Here's some specs:
Ability for use with either Tungsten Halogen or Fluorescent Lamps.​
Fluorescent Lamps = 27 watts at 5500 Kelvin (E26 Base)
Halogen Lamps = 150 watts at 3200 Kelvin (E26 Base)
Ability to quickly change not only color temperature, but environmental temperature as well
Three separate controls allow you to run multiple
combinations of lamps together with no shift in color temperature
All Metal Construction
Built-in points for direct attachment of a softbox
(Does not fit Octabank or Stripbank)
Handle attached for quick rotation
Comes standard with 15' - 120 Volt power cord

Basic kit is $364. without bulbs at barndoorlighting.com; similar cost at B&H. More info. at http://www.fjwestcott.com/products/lights/spiderlitetd.htm . Also comes as a softbox kit for $ 529. with (1) Spiderlite TD-5 (1) Tilter bracket (1) 24 "X 32" Silver Soft Box and (1) 10' lightstand
 
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Charli said:
Aren't Rifa's better to pack/unpack than Chimera for softboxes, anyways?
Why would you buy Chimera over Rifa?
Click to expand...
I've got to make a purchase soon and I'm wondering the same thing. As you say, the general consensus seems to be that the Rifa is quicker to set up and knock down; but the Chimera appears to have more flexibility - with the appropriate speedring you can put many, many different kinds of light sources in there. Otherwise, they seem to have similar options for baffles, diffusion, gels - although Chimera lists optional barn doors and I don't see them for the Rifa. One other thing, the Rifa's are square and the Chimera's are rectangular, which also seems more flexible.

Anyone out there who has actually worked with this gear care to comment? I'm just reading specs...
 
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This has been a very interesting thread and I'm almost sold on the Chimera. But what I'd really like, since I only need to do interviews in the near future, is a good, solid interview kit that all fits into one carrying case. I can see that if I get this light and the other recommended types I'll need to carry several items, but maybe that's what you have to do for better lights? Is there a decent Lowel, or other, kit that would be good for indoor interviews? Thanks.
 
Hi Chris:

That's the whole reason I posted the Chimera kit in the first place, as an alternative to the Lowel or Arri kits. If you want an "all-in-one kit" than you would not need this Chimera. The Lowels can be had with a Rifa light and the Arri Softbank kits all come with the same small Chimera.

But the Chimera kit I poisted is $525.00, add a single Lowell Pro Light as a rim/backlight, a 36" Flexfill as a fill source, a few light stands, sandbags, maybe a used C-stand or two and you can come in at under $1,000.00. The Lowel kits with the Rifa or the Softbank kits are all closer to double or triple that price.

So it depends on what you want. I own two of the Arri kits and a Lowel kit myself but I find I use my own small, custom assembled location kit much more than my big, heavy, bulky Arri kits. The Lowel kit I own is not capable of lighting an entire scene on it's own, plus the Lowel stands should be banned by OSHA as a safety hazard. Since I mostly shoot interviews and tabletop, I created my own kit using a Lowel V-Light through a small Chimera as a key source, a 36" Flexfill as a fill source and an Arri 150 Fresenel as a rim/hairlight/BG light. My entire kit fits in a small plastic case along with a good amount gels, difffusion, grip clips, stingers, etc. then I carry my tripod and three Arri kit light stands and two 40" C-stand arms with grip heads in a large tripod tube. My entire grip and lighting kit for location interviews weighs less than an Arri kit, is smaller, lighter and more efficient. I fly with this kit and I even go across the country and shoot alone with just me hauling this plus the camera, monitor and an overnight bag. A Rock and Roller Micro cart hauls the whole shebang and is carry on sized.

My recommendation is to avoid pre-assembled kits and seemble your own for your unique needs. Kits usually have a lot of crap in them that you never use, yet you wrench your back muscles carrying it all around for years because you bought "the kit".

Best,

Dan
 
puredrifting said:
...My entire kit fits in a small plastic case along with a good amount gels, difffusion, grip clips, stingers, etc. then I carry my tripod and three Arri kit light stands and two 40" C-stand arms with grip heads in a large tripod tube.... A Rock and Roller Micro cart hauls the whole shebang and is carry on sized.
Dan
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Sounds like an amazing system! What are the makes and models of the cases (and/or what sizes) that you use? Do you carry on your light kit and camera bag and just check your tripod bag and personal stuff?
 
Thanks for the follow-up, Dan (Puredrifting). The light bulb went off over my head after reading it and I think I'm sold on this concept now.
Cheers,
Chris
 
Hi Jonathan:

It works and gets the job done. The main case is an electrician/handyman type of two tier yellow plastic box tool box. It's fairly tall, about 24" high x 12" deep by about 20" wide. It is made by a company called Contico and I bought it at Home Depot years ago. Works like dream. It is sturdy enough to stand on to adjust a backlight as a small stepladder and then when I shoot the interview, it serves as a monitor stand for my Sony HD monitor.

The tripod tube is a standard black plastic Nalpak tripod tube. These are those standard black plastic shipping tube for large, real video tripods. Fortunately (or unfortunately?), most of us are using smaller, lighter tripods like the POS Bogen MDve I have for the HVX-200. This means that besides the tripod, I have room for three light stands and two 40" arms with grip heads, the small Chimera, all in this single tripod tube. It's great.

I can use one light stand for the key (small Chimera with the Lowel V-Light), one for the Arri 150 as a hairlight along with one of the 40" arms to arm it out and one for a BG light or with the other 40" arm over the camera as an eye light.

I have been working on this kit for about a year and for straight interviews, it's the hot tip. Unfortunately, I keep getting assigned to do these much bigger and elaborate multi camera shoots and we end up bringing a TON of gear, more than enough to fill my giant pickup truck up with including the bed and the back seat of the crew cab.

But for when I travel or travel alone, this kit has everything I need to shoot effective and good looking interviews in most locations.

Best,

Dan
 
Dan - thanks so much for giving me an excuse to make a trip to Home Depot and Lowe's - there's nothing like being on a mission to the bigbox hardware stores.

Thanks also of course for the details on how you stow your gear. So when you fly, you check the Contico box, tripod case, then carry on your camera, field monitor and overnight bag?
 
Hi Jonathan:

I check the Contico box, the tripod tube and sometimes, when I bring it, a Pelican case holding my 17" Sony HD LCD. Yes, I know, three bags, sometimes it's an extra charge but sometimes, if you are nice, if you are only carrying on one bag, they will let you check three at no additional charge, a lot of depends on your people skills ;-)

I often fly with my sound mixer and he usually can put all of his gear in his suitcase so he can sometimes check the HD monitor as well.

I was at Disneyland today doing a shoot and my trusty Contico was there with us, holding up our HD monitor as we interviewed kids all over the park. Fun stuff.

Dan
 
puredrifting said:
Hi Jonathan:
I was at Disneyland today doing a shoot and my trusty Contico was there with us, holding up our HD monitor as we interviewed kids all over the park.
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Sounds like a tough assignment, but I guess somebody's gotta do it. :-)
 
Ughh, it was. You can have it.

Being at Disneyland on a nice day and enjoying no rides or attractions and dealing with sound issues and wrangling 50-60 kids for interviews = no fun, just work.

Dan
 
Dan,

I have finally realized how important lighting is and am about to start my lighting kit. Thank you for your suggestion about the Chimera, it has solved my question as to what my first light should be.
 
Hi J:

Glad that it was helpful to you. I was really excited to stumble across it at a local shop and just thought,"I bet a lot of beginners would really dig this."

Dan
 
Puredrifting,

Thanks for providing me a different perspective on what pieces to build from. I was initially thinking of going with an Arri Softbank IV, but certainly $$$ is always a consideration.

Now I think I'll start with this light (with 1K bulb) and add some used Arri's as I acquire them. Question - which egg crate would you recommend for this softbox? I can't believe the prices on those things (or the price range), though it's film equipment, so nothing should surprise me!

Thanks.
 
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