1000w/800w too powerfull?

Hi Columbo:

Wow, I thought I had heard of most brands and models of lighting and then you come along ;-) Have never even heard of either of these lights or brands so I cannot really say if they are a good value for you.

Generally, if a light is built well, works well and is reliable, it's a good one. I would speak to someone who has actually used these lights, (if you can find anyone who has?) before purchasing.

Best,

Dan
 
The best "first" light is a 650ish fresnell. As you are in UK, check out altman.
 
1000 W is by no means overkill. If anything- it could be too little. Though, if you're running on a standard 15 amp household circuit, you won't be able to fit a more powerful light.
 
You have to expose the camera for that kind of lighting, correct. I mean, I run a 500w and I'm getting zebra's all over and the actor is washed out. Here's a confession, for my last short I never went over a 25w!
 

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I've only been above 500w once - and that was 750w in order to completely bow out a scene. Saturday I'm shooting with two 2000w Moles, several 250w, and a couple 500w. I dont like that much light, but I need the 2ks so the rest have to be powerful to catchup. I dont even want to plug in my 5k Mole. (Not that I would even know where I can safely plug it in.

The 1k and 800 will certainly have uses, but I wouldnt want those to be my only lights. I am more than happy lighting my interiors with my 250s w/ 16x16 softboxes.

-GageFX
 
Cheers!

Cheers!

Interesting mixed responses.

Found out the Iadi Fills lamp down to 200w (using "k type" lamps) and the Redheads can definitely take 650w.

And then ND filters / scrims / gels to tame the light further if needed.

I'd like to add something like the kit Dan recommended (Chimera Softbox / 150w Arri Fresnels) when funds permit:
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=67571

I think UK home electric circuits are a bit different to the US, commonly running at 32 - 100 amps and above (I hope).

5k mole... haha I'm scared even thinking about that.

Anyway, thanks fellas :dankk2:
 
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Columbo said:
Been offered this lighting kit (for £250, about $450US) I'm thinking this might be overkill for mainly filming indoors in medium to small rooms?

Iadi Fill Light 1000w x2
Tre-d TD Beam 800w x2

Chris
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At first I was going to give my stock "it depends" answer contingent on many factors. But having reread your equipment list, I understand you are saying the sources are: 1000 + 1000 + 800 + 800 = 3600 watts. My, that will certainly make your small/medium room toasty! I'm sure everyone can easily find you home this winter - the one with all the birds on the rooftop <wink>

If you had a fast shutter speed, lots of diffusion and generating soft light via reflectors, probably two lights would meet most of your needs. I suppose if you were doing chroma-keying (green-screen), four lights would be nice - the normal key and fill, with two on the greenscreen. But if this is the kind of small English room I'm envisioning, you'd still be going overboard with 3,600 watts.

BTW, my chroma-keying studio is about 15-20 feet with a 9 foot ceiling and I've got an abundance of light with around 3,000 watts - some think I'm way overboard, but since I don't use any hard lights (three umbrellas and one softbox), I'm happy with the setup.

Regards, Michael
 
Good point - as long as you're careful with the color temp and the dimmer doesn't introduce noise/strobing, it certainly adds flexibility.

Good luck, Michael
 
I think its crazy that people would say 500W+ is a lot .... you can always dim or throw in lower wattage bulbs. If you're in a larger area (say a studio, or warehouse), then your lights may be quite far from the subject -- inverse square law applies! A 500W light 15m from your subject will be 9x dimmer than a 500W light 5m from your subject. Thats 3.2 stops! And yes, that means a 5000W light about 17m away from your subject will be about as bright as a 500W light at 5m.

There WILL be situations where you'll want more light. I think the people who love their small light lits (150/300/500W lights) mostly do intimate recording, such as interviews, smallish rooms, etc ..... which is fine. But it's easy to put in smaller bulbs or dim if you'd prefer the flexibility of some bigger lamps.

In addition to my main kit (a bunch of high quality 800W ish lamps), I actually have 5KW of "work lamps" (1KW and 500W on stands), which I picked up for very little money, they sit around just for the odd occasions where I need more light, and have been brilliant for lighting up large spaces, flooding walls to create giant soft lights, etc.
 
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I once made a 16mm short using a maglite for all the lighting in everything but the final scene, but generally I have to agree: other than creating shadows in specific areas I've rarely felt I wanted less light when making a movie, and you can always use dimmers, gels or less powerful bulbs... but I've often wanted more light.

As someone else mentioned, the main downside (other than actors melting) is that you can't run many big lights on a household mains supply, so if you want to use a lot you'll need to hire a generator to power them. I've normally been limited more by how much power is available than how many lights I have or can rent or borrow.
 
UK Power is 230-240V, rather than 110V, so you can run double the Wattage for the same Amperage...

A 13A plug would give you 13x240 = 3120W ... really not a bad amount of power. Three redheads in a single plug socket very comfortably ... (even tho it feels wrong to do it ;)

Those 13A sockets will usually be on a 30A ring, so that gives you 7.2kw max. You need a serious generator (~10kw) to come close to that.
 
Hey epicedium thanks for the electrics lesson.

Just tested all four lights (3600W) at the same time from one room, they work fine.

The circuit box says 60A -- yay for living in the UK.

Oh and the 800w/1000w doesn't seem like overkill at all, produced some nice looking test shots.... but a 150w and 300w would round the kit off nicely.


epicedium said:
UK Power is 230-240V, rather than 110V, so you can run double the Wattage for the same Amperage...

A 13A plug would give you 13x240 = 3120W ... really not a bad amount of power. Three redheads in a single plug socket very comfortably ... (even tho it feels wrong to do it ;)

Those 13A sockets will usually be on a 30A ring, so that gives you 7.2kw max. You need a serious generator (~10kw) to come close to that.
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I'll go with the stock "it depends" answer also. I almost always bounce or diffuse my key lights, which makes a 1000 watt light a good size. If you're lighting outdoors, or at night adding blue gel, you're going to probably wish you had more. There are infinite possibilities, and think that for a starter kit, with the most versatility, I'd get fresnels rather than open-face lights. I rarely use open face lights unless they are lighting a chimera, or being bounced. As you progress, you're going to want to control the light more, and that is more difficult with open face lights.

If I were to recommend a 4 light starter package, it would include a soft source, like a 1k open face with a soft box, or a kino diva, or lowell caselight. Two 650 fresnels, and a 300 watt fresnel. I would also recommend a c stand or two, a few sandbags, and dimmers for all of the fixtures. I know, that's a bit more than what you're talking about, but with the right tools you can do a lot more.
 
I'm quite experienced with lighting, and my 2 cents is this, better to have more light, than not enough.....You can always scrim the fixtures down it they are too bright, but what if its just not bright enough, and your aperture is ripped all the way open??? Making a wish doesn't seem to work....Also, what do you plan on doing? It ifs for ambient light, the brighter the better! In order to create that soft shadowless ambience, you need to really run that light through several hoops that severly cut its strength down. Suddenly a 2k isn't so bright anymore! Big lights arn't always needed, but as an owner of a few 2k's and DP on some pretty big interior shoots....I have to say that I look foreward to the day that I'll be able to say "Could you move that 10k a few feet the right please!"
 
You're not kidding... just received a load of gels (CTB, frosts etc.) -- some of these knock off serious amounts of light. I see what you mean about the 10k lights lol

cardmaverick said:
I'm quite experienced with lighting, and my 2 cents is this, better to have more light, than not enough.....You can always scrim the fixtures down it they are too bright, but what if its just not bright enough, and your aperture is ripped all the way open??? Making a wish doesn't seem to work....Also, what do you plan on doing? It ifs for ambient light, the brighter the better! In order to create that soft shadowless ambience, you need to really run that light through several hoops that severly cut its strength down. Suddenly a 2k isn't so bright anymore! Big lights arn't always needed, but as an owner of a few 2k's and DP on some pretty big interior shoots....I have to say that I look foreward to the day that I'll be able to say "Could you move that 10k a few feet the right please!"
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