puredrifting
Major Contributor
http://www.fjwestcott.com/flex-1-x-1-daylight-bundle
I am very intrigued by this concept. I am getting ready for a trip to Morocco to film for a couple of weeks, will be shooting interviews and am bringing my four light travel kit, but the kit with stands still weighs around 60lbs. Add in all of the other gear I must transport and I end up with three cases for a total of about 200lbs and my small Rock & Roller cart. It works, I have hauled this all over the world and recently shot a Showtime doc with it. I use two 12x12 LED panels, a 6x6" LED and an Arri 300 fresnel. The idea of two or three of these Flex light panels combined with a smaller, lighter LED point source for throwing background patterns is very appealing, I could go from close to 60 lb lighting case probably down to about a 15-20 lb lighting case for travel. It is too late for this trip, but I will have some shoots up in Canada later this Summer and for travel, knocking 40lbs off of the gear I have to haul through airports and on an off rental car shuttles is very appealing.
Challenge
For my key source, right now I use a home welded steel speed ring on one of the 12x12 LED panels with one of my small (24" x 36") Chimeras. I can't think of an easy way to mount one of these Westcott Flex lights to the speed ring so that would relegate me to bringing another stand and hanging some diffusion or grid cloth for my key and I would lose the directionality the Chimer gives me and the corresponding ability to control spill. Trying to think of a way to solve this. I recently took delivery of one of these http://www.photographyandcinema.com/products/d-fuse-softbox?ref=cheesycam new smaller softboxes and so far, it's genius and I think I could mount it to one of the panels as a soft fill source. But I don't know if it would be large and soft enough to serve as my key source? If so, I could travel with two of them and the two panels for key and fill, total weight would be a almost nothing, just a few pounds. But smaller source equals harder light and I really like the light quality from the small Chimera, I've used it for more than a decade. Any other thoughts on how to turn one Flex into a soft, controllable key source without bringing big and heavy stuff? I have the Mattews reverse folding light stands, they work for travel but are a bit flimsy.
DIY?
The other option would be that rather than spending $1,400.00 for two of these, which is quite grossly overpriced IMHO, I could simply make two of them myself, this looks quite do-able https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlMtakaa7u8 I made my own two Kino Diva 200s years ago when they Divas came out, same circumstances, I loved the Divas but at close to 2k for two kits, I made my own pair with better ballasts although they aren't dimmable and are heavier, for about $250.00 ea. saving $1,500.00 and I have used them for almost a decade all over the works with great success. For a $1,500.00 savings, I have lived with the compromises for quite a while and they work great for regular interviews or lighting green screen or white limbo BGs. Opinions on DIYing my own for a tenth of the cost instead of paying Westcott $1,400.00?
I am very intrigued by this concept. I am getting ready for a trip to Morocco to film for a couple of weeks, will be shooting interviews and am bringing my four light travel kit, but the kit with stands still weighs around 60lbs. Add in all of the other gear I must transport and I end up with three cases for a total of about 200lbs and my small Rock & Roller cart. It works, I have hauled this all over the world and recently shot a Showtime doc with it. I use two 12x12 LED panels, a 6x6" LED and an Arri 300 fresnel. The idea of two or three of these Flex light panels combined with a smaller, lighter LED point source for throwing background patterns is very appealing, I could go from close to 60 lb lighting case probably down to about a 15-20 lb lighting case for travel. It is too late for this trip, but I will have some shoots up in Canada later this Summer and for travel, knocking 40lbs off of the gear I have to haul through airports and on an off rental car shuttles is very appealing.
Challenge
For my key source, right now I use a home welded steel speed ring on one of the 12x12 LED panels with one of my small (24" x 36") Chimeras. I can't think of an easy way to mount one of these Westcott Flex lights to the speed ring so that would relegate me to bringing another stand and hanging some diffusion or grid cloth for my key and I would lose the directionality the Chimer gives me and the corresponding ability to control spill. Trying to think of a way to solve this. I recently took delivery of one of these http://www.photographyandcinema.com/products/d-fuse-softbox?ref=cheesycam new smaller softboxes and so far, it's genius and I think I could mount it to one of the panels as a soft fill source. But I don't know if it would be large and soft enough to serve as my key source? If so, I could travel with two of them and the two panels for key and fill, total weight would be a almost nothing, just a few pounds. But smaller source equals harder light and I really like the light quality from the small Chimera, I've used it for more than a decade. Any other thoughts on how to turn one Flex into a soft, controllable key source without bringing big and heavy stuff? I have the Mattews reverse folding light stands, they work for travel but are a bit flimsy.
DIY?
The other option would be that rather than spending $1,400.00 for two of these, which is quite grossly overpriced IMHO, I could simply make two of them myself, this looks quite do-able https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlMtakaa7u8 I made my own two Kino Diva 200s years ago when they Divas came out, same circumstances, I loved the Divas but at close to 2k for two kits, I made my own pair with better ballasts although they aren't dimmable and are heavier, for about $250.00 ea. saving $1,500.00 and I have used them for almost a decade all over the works with great success. For a $1,500.00 savings, I have lived with the compromises for quite a while and they work great for regular interviews or lighting green screen or white limbo BGs. Opinions on DIYing my own for a tenth of the cost instead of paying Westcott $1,400.00?
