Best DIY large light?

R

Revsta

Well-known member
Anyone here build a really high output light for key lighting with heavy diffusion? Going for the large soft source look, but I've only had experience with this technique with a really close 4 bank kino or a 10k--neither of which I own.
 
Fluorescent is probably what you want if you want to do DIY. CFLs in a large array are the simplest as it doesn't require a ballast. The ballast is built in to those bulbs. Otherwise its a question of building the right enclosure, picking the right ballast and the right bulbs. That can take a while, especially on the enclosure but its been done before and there have been many postings on this site about it including my original postings here which were around my DIY efforts.
 
I bought a box (20 tubes) of Osram 954 55Watt lamps, and made a massive array from cheap Chinese ballasts. It's about 4.5K of light (tungsten equivalent), and cost around $300 to make. It's huge and ugly though!
 
pmark23 said:
I bought a box (20 tubes) of Osram 954 55Watt lamps, and made a massive array from cheap Chinese ballasts. It's about 4.5K of light (tungsten equivalent), and cost around $300 to make. It's huge and ugly though!
Click to expand...

Pics?
 
I looked for the original post, but couldn't find any -- too busy filming!

Design was simple: Twenty single-piece 4-ft fluoro ballast units (the skinny stamped-metal type that holds the lamp and ballast) screwed together on a piece of plywood. Took an hour or two to build.

I experimented with separating the lamps and putting a foil reflector behind them, but the difference was insignificant from having all the lamps crammed together.
 
hexRig.jpg


Here is a rig that Roger Deakins had built and he posted the pic at http://www.deakinsonline.com/forum2/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=255&p=3623#p3623 He says:
"This was a light I had made which consists of 5 concentric hexagonal aluminum strips holding 200 odd 75 watt household bulbs. The largest hexagon is 15' across and the smallest 3' 6" across. It was controlled by a dimmer system and a skirt of ultrabounce acts as a cut as well as an interior reflector."
 
David G. Smith said:
hexRig.jpg


Here is a rig that Roger Deakins had built and he posted the pic at http://www.deakinsonline.com/forum2/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=255&p=3623#p3623 He says:
"This was a light I had made which consists of 5 concentric hexagonal aluminum strips holding 200 odd 75 watt household bulbs. The largest hexagon is 15' across and the smallest 3' 6" across. It was controlled by a dimmer system and a skirt of ultrabounce acts as a cut as well as an interior reflector."
Click to expand...

That's incredible. Maybe I can build something to a smaller scale...
 
David G. Smith said:
hexRig.jpg


Here is a rig that Roger Deakins had built and he posted the pic at http://www.deakinsonline.com/forum2/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=255&p=3623#p3623 He says:
"This was a light I had made which consists of 5 concentric hexagonal aluminum strips holding 200 odd 75 watt household bulbs. The largest hexagon is 15' across and the smallest 3' 6" across. It was controlled by a dimmer system and a skirt of ultrabounce acts as a cut as well as an interior reflector."
Click to expand...


This is even sexy... liking it very much
 
Chinobox said:
This is even sexy... liking it very much
Click to expand...

My thoughts exactly!. I asked him about the color issue with the regular bulbs and he said that warm look was what he was going for. I think that he used it in the new Cohen Bro's flick "Serious Man". It was used for the interiors of a Synagogue and was hung about 30' up.
 
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