Best HMI solution for lighting up 3 people?

G

Gregg

Well-known member
I have some Parabeams but they are not powerful enough outdoors so I guess I need some HMI lights.

I need to light up 3 people at a time. I need their entire bodies lit.

So what would be the best solution?

2 small lights or do you think one 1200w HMI would do it?

What brands do you guys like?
 
Arri is the best in my book. As far as what size HMI, that's next to impossible to say. Firstly, what time of day does this take place? Is this a fill during the day? Is this a key at night? Are you trying to just backlight at sunset and get a [SIZE=-1]silhouette[/SIZE]? How far apart are these people? Are they just standing there or are they moving? People ask these vague questions quite often, "How much light will I need for ___." Without seeing a location, knowing the scene and the details of the shot - any answer you get is going to be pretty much useless.
 
The difference between "2 small lights" and a "1200w HMI" is nothing short of massive. Have you ever seen a 1.2k HMI running? Its a hell of a lot of light, competes with the mid day sun without any problem.

That said Noah is absolutely correct, to answer your question, you need to provide a lot more information about the shot.
 
As far as HMI's, the only ones I have worked with are the CMC PAR's and the Joker bugs, both of which I liked alot.
 
I'm assuming it's day exterior in sunlight. Your best solution is probably a 12x grifflon as a bounce. If not that, then I would use reflectors bouncing through some 4x diffusion frames. If you want to go really inexpensive, make a 8' frame from PVC pipe and clip a white tarp onto it. It has about the same reflective qualities as a griff.
 
Yeah the sun is going to kick it better then most lights... but if you feel like tossing some cash on the rental fire then you could do worse then a Joker Bug 800.
 
MattinSTL said:
Yeah the sun is going to kick it better then most lights... but if you feel like tossing some cash on the rental fire then you could do worse then a Joker Bug 800.
Click to expand...



Ditto...But maybe two...Fill and edge..? Ya never know....
 
It's a 3 shot / wide shot? If it is, forget about HMIs and use the sun. You won't be able to do more than filligh in the shadows with a large bounce for a shot this size and this budget. That's why I'd worry about getting more punch. Maybe a 2.5K PAR and a couple of 1200... You can find very inexpensive models to rent, if you go for magnetic ballasts. To shoot 24p 1/48 shutter it works just as well...

The question is, Will you have the power? Generator, Wall taps?

And finally, do you know where the sun will be?

I'd worry about getting two butterflyes, one 6x6, and one 12x12 with diffusion and gryfolyn, and use them for fill. You can use hard reflectors or mirrors, for more directional lights, like backlights. Using bounced sunlight first is a better idea for smaller budgets. BUT, if you have a cloudy day, then some HMIs can do you wonders...
 
A Joker Bug 800 in a Medium Chimera Lightbank will give you the same output as a 1200 Par in the same Lightbank. Reason being is the "Bug" bare bulb design that uses the Chimera reflective material as its main reflective source. When you use a Par system or any system that has optics, it does not take advantage of this reflective material. The end result is a spotty beam with less output.

Depending on many variables, you could probably do this with 1 or 2 800 Jokers.
 
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