$800-$1000 to spend on lighting gear

Another quick question just to see if I am understanding lighting. I'm using a T2I, but for this example lets call it a 7D since they are so similar on the video side. From the Great Camera shootout it shows that the 7D has a latitude of being exposed ranging from -5.5 stops to +5.4 as seen here at 21:30 http://www.zacuto.com/the-great-camera-shootout-2011/episode-one

Now some say that latitude is a little generous and so even if I say the latitude is more like -4.5 to +4.4 I should be good. To measure this wouldn't I take the base exposure in foot candles and divide/multiply that to get my lower/max points for exposure to make sure I don't over and underexpose and get those nasty highlights?
 
ReelFilmGeek said:
Another quick question just to see if I am understanding lighting. I'm using a T2I, but for this example lets call it a 7D since they are so similar on the video side. From the Great Camera shootout it shows that the 7D has a latitude of being exposed ranging from -5.5 stops to +5.4 as seen here at 21:30 http://www.zacuto.com/the-great-camera-shootout-2011/episode-one

Now some say that latitude is a little generous and so even if I say the latitude is more like -4.5 to +4.4 I should be good. To measure this wouldn't I take the base exposure in foot candles and divide/multiply that to get my lower/max points for exposure to make sure I don't over and underexpose and get those nasty highlights?
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That is correct. Once you know where you want your key to be, you can then calculate where you want you highlights and shadow points to be and adjust the lighting accordingly. As a caveat, final exposure decisions should be made based on the camera that you have and the exposure tools that they have like scopes, histograms and the like. I have a T2i also, and I've used the internal meter like a spot meter to see the exposure differences between parts of the scene. This is displayed in fractions of a stop, over or under. That is kind of handy.
 
I would normally clip them to the barndoors, which I would image that you could get them for the lights. I would recommend getting barn doors. You can use any kind of gel in those frames, but I have mostly used devices like that for diffusion.
 
Okay just wanted to make sure, I haven't gelled many lights before and wanted to make sure that the gels would be fine clipped on to the barn doors. And yes i know I have to get specific gels that can withstand the heat. Thanks guys, hopping on ordering the kit soon as i get paid for a wedding I filmed.
 
ReelFilmGeek said:
Now that is what I call a post David! Thank you very much because that was what I needed to help me decide and learn a little more about lighting!

Also ggrantly, I probably cant afford the 2 fresnel tungstens and a flo because I have to factor in light stands for the lights as well. I am actually looking at cool lights kit with the one 650 and two 300. It doesn't have a powerful 1k but it is three lights that would give me a little more versatility. Plus it would save me a little money buying that kit since its bundled together and It comes with scrims, stands, and even a case (which I will need). No softbox but I can always bounce light for now if I have to. It might be a good starting point, but I'm still looking in to lights.
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+1 To everything David has said! You'll get so much farther on a set if you know the mechanics behind what you're doing.

I'd say if you get that kit with the two 300s and the 650 is will get you pretty far, and you can shore up any weaknesses later. I started out with an old ARRI combo kit (2 150s, a 300, and 2 650s), as well as an assortment of gels and diffusion (spun is my favorite!), and it was a good while before I truly wanted for anything else in my own kit (I'd rent if I needed bigger).

As for light meters, I used to use mine all the time on film, but anymore I only use it to help me keep contrast ratios consistent between lighting setups. That said, I'd never leave home without it if I'm Gaffing or DPing a project. :)
 
I think LED is the future I'm in the same boat, have about 1200 to spend on lights. Getting 3 LED BI-COLOR 2 at 700 Watts http://www.ephotoinc.com/700-led-dimmable-bi-color-32005600k-lig70032005600.html
and 1 Massive LED from iKan http://www.tubetape.net/servlet/the-742/iKan-IB508-|-/Detail

I've been doing my research and this is the best bang for your buck. I know there's a green spike but a little color gels on set or fix it in post, or manually dial in your white balance worth it. The kino Flo's are waaaaay over priced and the LED's from what I've heard are just as powerful and more efficient. I think LED is the future. No more setting up softboxes! lol

Would like to hear other people's thoughts though. I also have a 3 point lighting kit all 1 k's with barn doors and soft boxes. I think this will be a sweet ad!
 
i wouldnt choose bicolor lights unless you can really justify the need. like youre going to use them in ways were you wouldnt have easy access to gel them.

ive used them a few times and i do own some small bi-color on camera LEDs and certainly YES, having the ability to tweak is nice. and the ones with the display are neato. so in theory you can quickly tweak all your lights to specific temps. but id have to wonder how accurate spec is from unit to unit in the budget chinese LED fixtures...

be that the case or not. in my opinion variable color temp is NOT worth the cost of HALF the potential power.
the way most (if not all) current bi color lights work is HALF the bulbs are one temp and HALF are the other. so at either end, youre only using half of the available LEDs.

personally, i'd rather have more power for my money and just gel them traditionally.
 
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LED may very well be the future, but in my opinion the future is not the now, and LED technology has just started to improve itself, but that cutting edge technology threshold is still expensive at the moment. With that being said, I do own a few of the cheaper LED lights which I find both lacking, and at the same time useful. Could you light an entire scene with LED light? Sure you could, I have. They are not usually my first choice, but sometimes they just make sense. One of the issues with the cheaper LED lights is the color rendering capabilities of these lights are a bit lacking. And while you can alter their color output using gels, it's never going to have a tungsten's CRI. The other issue with the cheaper Bi-Color LED lights is their actual color temp at each end of the spectrum, and spikes and valleys along the way. Many of the lights I have tested have been closer to 8500K at the daylight end and 3450K at the other. So dialing in a perfect color temp may be hard without other gear.

If I were putting together a first lighting kit on a budget I might do something like this...

4 25' Stingers-High quality extension cords
2 Power Strips-High Quality 1.5 amp
1 Harbor Freight Router Controller
1 650w Fresnel w/barn doors/scrim set
1 4x55w Biax Fluorescent w/daylight & studio tube sets w/case for extra set, w/grid, 1/8 minus green gel
1 1000LED Bi-Color light w/ 1/4 minus green & opal frost gels
3 Used Matthews Beefy Baby stands or similar
1 used C-Stand w/arm & grip head
1 5in1 collapsable reflector
1 24x36 flag
4 small pony clamps
12 C-47-closepin

This would give you a solid starting point and 3 different lighting instrument types to build upon.
 
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That is a great starter list David. I also have to second the idea about LEDs. Yeah, they may be the future, but that ain't now. It seems that the LED lights that are worth getting are just so very expensive right now. You can pick up great used hot lights very inexpensively right now and while there may be "Better" stuff that comes down the pike in the years to come, but that does not mean that your regular lights stop working, or become obsolete. I lot of it also comes down to your personal aesthetic and the way you want your lighting to look. I like the way that tungsten lighting looks. I love the beautiful soft light a tungsten light off of a bounce source gives. Other folks may like different things and use different tools. That is cool.
 
I like the way that tungsten lighting looks. I love the beautiful soft light a tungsten light off of a bounce source gives. Other folks may like different things and use different tools. That is cool.
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i do to, thats for certain. but for someone like me who does primarily corporate type work. priorities can be a little different.

the places where LEDs truly shine (pun intended) are lack of heat and small footprint. when im shooting some human resources manager for 2 hours at a time in a small conference room. traditional hot lights would historically be slowly baking everyone in the room. LEDs make the whole thing so much simpler and less oppressive to the person in front of the camera. and when you have some middle-manager who doesnt really want to be on camera in the first place. anything you can do to make them more comfortable, makes your day a better place...

here is a screenshot of an interview i shot at BP recently on a GH2 (w olympus 45mm). key and fill are two ikan id1000 dimmable daylight LEDs. hairlight is ikans little iled120 CTO gelled. and the background is a lowel 200w prolight (on a dimmer with a blackwrap "pattern"). is it as beautiful as it could be? nope. but it looks good, the client was happy and the lady went back to her work without needing a shower ; )

Sequence 1.jpg
 
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I'm now kind of kicking myself for buying the little LED panels I bought a month ago. I know they'll be used in multiple avenues down the road - but I'm thinking I should have spent the money on a basic fresnel or flo kit for starters.

Ah well - those two books - Film Lighting, and the Set Lighting Technicians Handbook are now in my shopping cart on Amazon.ca

Thanks for sharing guys!
 
So I got my light kit from Cool Lights today but after turning the light on and letting it sit a little bit I heard a pop and the lens had a crack in it. Now my question is does this crack in the lens effect the light, I don't notice anything but the crack is a little upsetting since i only had the light for like 5 minutes. I also need to figure out were to place scrims.

EDIT: Cool Lights is sending a replacement lens so that's good, really glad they got back to me so fast.
 
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Sorry to hear of your issue. I saw its already being taken care of. No telling what may have happened, perhaps there was already a stress crack in the lens which might have worsened during shipping. Scrims go in the accessory holder behind the barndoors.
 
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Cool Lights said:
Sorry to hear of your issue. I saw its already being taken care of. No telling what may have happened, perhaps their was already a stress crack in the lens which might have worsened during shipping. Scrims go in the accessory holder behind the barndoors.
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Okay thats what I thought, didnt want to mess with anything after the crack in the bulb. Thank you for handling the issue and the fast response., other than that the lights looks pretty good, can't wait to start using them.
 
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