Building lights.

W

wastedyouth

New member
I was wondering if anybody had experience with building lights. I am not looking for 2Ks but most lights that could be used for fill or a nice soft source (maybe on the level of a baby 1K?). I recently worked on a set as a 2nd AC for a web series and the Gaffer built a light that was three bulbs (totally forgot the wattage) on a wood block and had a dimmer and they used it as a key for a side light and it would pretty good. They of course flagged it and had diffusion (i believe a standard 250) but it worked and I been meaning to sort of build a light or two for specific uses. I mostly do music videos (mattfarkash.com) and commercials but I am trying to go narrative once my craft gets even better. Budgets are always low these days when youre an aspiring Cinematographer and I just would love to have a light or two to use for shoots. If anyone has experience with building a light, please share!!


Matt
 
wastedyouth said:
I was wondering if anybody had experience with building lights. I am not looking for 2Ks but most lights that could be used for fill or a nice soft source (maybe on the level of a baby 1K?). I recently worked on a set as a 2nd AC for a web series and the Gaffer built a light that was three bulbs (totally forgot the wattage) on a wood block and had a dimmer and they used it as a key for a side light and it would pretty good. They of course flagged it and had diffusion (i believe a standard 250) but it worked and I been meaning to sort of build a light or two for specific uses. I mostly do music videos (mattfarkash.com) and commercials but I am trying to go narrative once my craft gets even better. Budgets are always low these days when youre an aspiring Cinematographer and I just would love to have a light or two to use for shoots. If anyone has experience with building a light, please share!!


Matt
Click to expand...

This question would be better answered by a search of the DIY section, as many projects there deal with building arrays of 'lights' for various purposes.
 
I have built a few speciality lights, but with the price of used professional tungsten lights being so low on places like eBay, it just makes sense to shop for bargains on used lights.
 
This might be a stupid question but could one ever build a kino flo 4 bank??? Ill look on ebay too and see what kind of deals I can find. Thanks!
 
Sure someone could build a unit like that. The question though, is do you have the knowhow? If not there are low cost Diva style Biax lights out there real cheap.
 
David W. Jones said:
Sure someone could build a unit like that. The question though, is do you have the knowhow? If not there are low cost Diva style Biax lights out there real cheap.
Click to expand...

One of the reasons why I bought some cheap lights was so that I could test out other bulbs, and not have to build the fixture myself.
 
my buddy Griffin works for IndyMogul and designed an 800W equivalent fluo light. I have since built 2, and I use umbrellas to make the light incredibly soft. they work wonders for raising ambient room light, having lots of soft key/fill, or greenscreen work. for roughly $80/light that's hard to beat.

Adam
 
If you enjoy DIYing, then why not? but if you don't have the DIY bug and are just thinking about how to save $$$, DIYing can lead to spending even more and frustration.

but yea, if you enjoy it then play around. i've been tinkering with a 100w led chip, here's an early test clip, it's now fully enclosed with barndoors and a fresnel lens. still not quite finished yet though.

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top