My DIY lighting setup

[James_Cori]

Before you see this information elsewhere here are the brands and type of bulbs/tubes I am using for my own photo/film setup:


Sylvania Daylight Extra (Twist type) Fluorescents
Uses 23 Watts and produces over 100+ watts.
Product Description:
Part #: 29417
DULUX EL 23W Mini Twist compact fluorescent lamp DAYLIGHT 3500K Color Temperature, 82 CRI
Cost in my area: $9 each
Available at Lowe's.


Lithonia Lighting 4 Foot, 4 Light Square Basket Wraparound:
Part #: 987212
Labeled as "Better" at Home Depot.
UPC Code: 8423118374
SB 4 32 120 1/4 GESB
P/N: U544112
Note: Bought a cheap three pin (Hot, Neutral, Ground) extension cord and cut it in half to wire the ballast. Cost $3 bucks.
Cost in my area: $ 49.00
Available at Home Depot.



48" GE Sunshine F32 Tubes:
32 watts
CRI 86 and 5000 Kelvin
Cost in my area: Under $3 for two
Available at Lowe's.


12" Clamp Light:
This is a shop light reflector that has a clamp on the end and an aluminum reflector.
Cost in my area: $8-$10
Available almost everywhere including Walmart.


Note: You can use a thin white nylon clothe to soften the light over the reflectors since they do not generate much heat.


Hope this helps and look for photos of my light setup and DIY PVC backdrop setups.

The most common question I get about the setup is if there are any flickering, noise, color difference, or green tints while filming? No I have not noticed any color, flickering difference. The ballast does produce a light hum but I can not pickup the noise while filming.




Hope this helps, James Cori

 

[Christopher Barry]

Hope this helps and look for photos of my light setup and DIY PVC backdrop setups.

James, thanks for the info, I will try and research equivalent products here in 240v Australia in the coming weeks.

I don't understand what you are saying in the quote above and where to find the photos of your lights? Thanks.

 

[James_Cori]

Photos will appear soon. Just a note about the fluorescent tubes, they are T8 type tubes.

JC

 

[GenJerDan]

Will fluorescents work in series? (If you can't find equivalent 240's, a pair of 120's...)

I've done it with incandescents here. Got a Klieg baby spot and no 220 bulbs for it, so I just put another 120 bulb in series with it... )

 

[Christopher Barry]

If you are asking me GenJerDan, I am no sparky, sorry. I just spent 2 hours today in a massive hardware store only to learn I need to go to a more specialised industrial lighting supplier in my area to find the items described above. I did however, pick up a few 12v 8w fluo's that connect to the car lighter or clip to a 12v battery, so adds to my assorted fluo's I am acquiring.

I would be interested to learn the answer to your question.

 

[TeamJoeDawn]

Video, baby!! Got any video from this setup?

J

 

[James_Cori]

At the time of my post I should have had enough time to upload some pics or video. I'll look through some of my tapes to see what I have or I'll take some quick shots to post this weekend.

 

[khmuse]

Incandescent loads behave like a nearly perfectly resistive load so as long as the Wattage is identical, series will in fact divide the Voltage proportionately. Fluorescents will not and operating them in series may lead to an over Voltage condition on one or the other during the startup phase, this can be destructive and dangerous. The simplest solution would be to use an appropriately sized auto or isolation transformer.

 

[GenJerDan]

Ah, well.