about lighting equipment

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poiytr

New member
Hey guys,

I am wondering what would be the best lighting equipment I could buy for documentaries, short films and advertising commercials/music videos.

The best, with, at the lowest cost possible, in mind (to get started).

I have backround in lighting, mostly in still photography though, so I am not so familiar with video and cinema lights, I dont dare relate them. I would appreciate if people with experience could recommend me a few; I guess the minimum I would need to get my projects done.

I would like to know some good lights for interiors and backrounds, or just interviews of a person.

Thanks a lot,
Manuel Pifano
manuel_pifano@yahoo.com
www.sinrollo.net
 
Give us an idea as to your budget and physical space that you want to work in. There are so many lighting solutions and varying different levels of quality and price that your question is just a little to amorphous to really respond to.
 
IMO Lights in order from least useful to most

Microlights / Worklights - these include your Home depot specials through lowel broads etc. Good for short distance / limmited space and wide coverage. I would not consider lighting an entire set with these kind of lights.

Flo's - Good for cool/soft/flat lighting. If your going to have an interviwee under lights for quite a while these have definite advantages. Draw back are short carry and hard to control, and as mentioned flat lighting, it is hard to get good contor with these lights.

Openface/Par - More controlable then flos, longer carry. draw backs are the heat and wide spread of the light. Work great in softboxes.

Fresnels - the best all around light for motion picture. Even lighting with controlabale drop off. Can be used to spot or flood, easy to gel/scrim/screen flag etc. These are the industry standard for good reason.

Dedo and other projection - speical use lights, awsome when you need them, but very expensive.

I'm sure people will throw all kinds of other lights in, this is just what comes to mind.

But again as I say this over and over, it is more how you control the light then the instrument you use. You obviously need to know the instruments and what they are capabale of, but more importantly is how to paint the scene with your lights to further the story being told.

Lighting is more art then science
 
Gopher is totally right when he says light control is key. If you get stuck using work lights, find a way to build a set of barn doors for them. Use foamcore boards as flags. Do what you have to do to get the light to do what you want it to do.
 
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