Arri 650w kit, coollights led or coollights flos nad tungstens

M

Marduk

Well-known member
hey guys, sorry to start a new thread but i had a new question in my search for a light kit to help in my shooting of music videos. Ive been doing a lot of research and have also been emailing rich back and forth about his lights, which btw is a very helpful person, quick to reply and very knowledgeable. I need to get a light kit or piece together one within two weeks. I'm trying to figure out which route to go but mainly i was looking for your suggestions and recommendations. what would you guys choose? or what would you guys get if you were in my situation? im lookin to spend around 2k. i was thinking either go with this arri kit and get a couple of softboxes.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...9W_650W_Fresnel_Compact_3_Light.html#features

or go with the coollights leds, maybe two led 600 and a led256 because well they're awesome, low power, less heat, very portable but i do need a lot of light so i was thinking maybe go with they're flo's instead like 2 of the cl-455 and then a cl-255 but they are soft lights. i do like soft lights for music videos but i need some hard and need a kit that will give me the most options so i was thinking maybe throw in a couple of tungstens?

any help would be great
thanks
 
This so depends on so many things, Marduk, the big ones being A) How you want your shots to look and B) the space you're shooting in (electrical circuits, ambient light, space for light rigging). Personally, I find kits to be pretty conservative and hard to get exactly what one typically wants, although they often represent good discounted prices. Remember that you can make hard light soft but not the other way around. Remember, too, that gelling cooler eats more light than the other way around, and while matching all your fixtures' color temperatures is handy, if you shoot to match or overpower daylight that could really change your buying plans.

I love my CoolLights LED fixtures and have two CL-455's on my shopping list for interviews and greenscreen, but also an Arri 650 and 150. I still keep my old, cheap Lowel ProLight for kickers and special effects, and even a Lowel Tota for just throwing up the apparent ambient levels up a bit.
 
If you want the flexibility of soft and hard lights. I'd look at a bunch of Hardlight sources. This gives you the flexibility of either being soft or hard dependant on what you put in front of them or what you bounce them off.

If you go the flo route, then your stuck with soft sources.

I had a few kinoflo kits in my arsenal. I was a die hard fan of them but I've since moved on to using dedolights and larger Hard Light sources.

LED's, great idea, I'm just not convinced about their CRI. I've demo'd several units over the past year (apart from coollights) and the cheaper units have a ghastly green colour to them and the horrible multiple spots of light don't do it for me (personally).

If you can afford it, get Dedo's. Re-Sale value (if you have to) are high, the bulbs are very low cost and they are built like a tank.
 
hey thanks for the advice atomik and steadicamsteel,

Atomik - well for the look of the video i was hoping that i would have some options with the lights so that i can change the look around if i wanted to, i dont want to be tied down to one look. for my next video i need some shots that are saturated, that soft look you see like in some hiphop and R&B songs. like that glamour kind of look, dont really know how to describe it. i think it could be done with two softboxes, a backlight and a reflector?

steadicamsteel, atomik, So do you guys think i should go the tungsten route then, i'm not trying to compete with the sun i just need lights for my indoor shots and hopefully when i get a chance to shoot my movie i want some lights that i would be easily able to build upon. Maybe tungsten and flos?

Any more suggestions would ge great
Thanks for the help
 
Marduk said:
hey thanks for the advice atomik and steadicamsteel,
steadicamsteel, atomik, So do you guys think i should go the tungsten route then, i'm not trying to compete with the sun i just need lights for my indoor shots and hopefully when i get a chance to shoot my movie i want some lights that i would be easily able to build upon. Maybe tungsten and flos?

Any more suggestions would ge great
Thanks for the help
Click to expand...

You'll get more bang for your buck if you stay with tungsten (as in more heads, not light output). I've got 2x Arri 1K True Blues (T1), 4x Dedolight DLH4 Heads, 1x 5ft Dedolight Octodome Kit and 3x 575w HMI's.

In hindsight I would rather have had a couple of 1.2K HMI's rather than the 575w units. The good news is the ballasts will power 1.2K Heads so I just need to save up some cash for some 1.2K's.

Anyhoo, all of the above serve me well with a compliment of California Sunbounce units etc etc etc. I use the dedo's more often than the rest of the gear.

I believe Coollights have tungsten Fresnel Units that are very cost effective. They also supply soft boxes to put on the front of them. Never used them so can't comment on the quality of them though.
 
thanks steadicamsteel

I guess i'm going with tungsten. quick question, whats the difference between lets say an arri 1k fresnel and the arri 1k st1 or st2 fresnel?
 
Marduk said:
thanks steadicamsteel
I guess i'm going with tungsten. quick question, whats the difference between lets say an arri 1k fresnel and the arri 1k st1 or st2 fresnel?
Click to expand...

B&H photo website is a good source for specs.
 
Marduk said:
thanks steadicamsteel

I guess i'm going with tungsten. quick question, whats the difference between lets say an arri 1k fresnel and the arri 1k st1 or st2 fresnel?
Click to expand...

The difference between the Arri 1K Fresnel and the newer T1 Fresnel is really just cosmetic and functionality. They both output the same amount of light. The T1 is just a second generation unit compared to it's older brother the 1K.
 
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