Can I buy lighting too bright for the DVx????

beno

beno

Well-known member
I am trying to select lighting to use for music videos and other random applications with my european DVX100ae

Some people have told me that the brighter the better?

But today I tried to order 4 800W ARRI redlights from a company and they told me they thought they were too bright and I should go for the 300W sachtler reporter three bulb kit...

can anyone help me?
 
Re: Can I buy lighting too bright for the DVx????

how bright it is really doesnt matter if you have the room to move it back and lower the output to the subject and scene, but you might be hard pressed to work with 800 watt lights in a smaller room. of course thats waht ND filters are for.. you can ND the camera or the lights.. to change the light input or the output.   300 watt lights would be nice for a smaller room .. or when you dont need as strong of scource.. it all depends on what your trying to do.

keep in mindyou can always let less light out of the lights.. or less light into the camera if theres too much.  but  if theres too little you cant do anything  once youve opend iris on the cam. .. at the same tie- more tungsten = more heat and alos more power consumption. les light = cooler and less power.   youve really got to  build a kit that well rounded to handle a variety of situations.. you shouldnt have ALL big lights or all small lights.. unless you only do one lightig that suits using them, or your good at being creative to make them work in a variety of situations..

basic answer..   - it will be too much light in some situations- others it will not..  all depends on what your doing. for an average "home sized room" 800 watts is probably way more than you want to try to work with and control.
 
Re: Can I buy lighting too bright for the DVx????

thank you sir.. that is very helpful
 
Re: Can I buy lighting too bright for the DVx????

I'm no expert (yet) but I would recommend getting a three-light kit with lower wattage, such as two 600's and a 300, and then get at least one 1000w light. I just did some lighting tests last night in a smallish room with the DVX and two 600w lights. The tests looked great, but when viewed on the waveform meter I could see that we were massively underexposed. It wasn't really enough light.
If you had one 1000w light, you could use it for your bright key light in a variety of situations, and use the smaller ones for fill and backlight. You could eliminate the 1000w from your set up in cases where you didn't need that much, and use a 6oow for the key.
 
Re: Can I buy lighting too bright for the DVx????

I found out that you can only power a max of 2 x 600 W lamps from a normal mains current and that I need a generator?????? Is this true...do the 220V lamps in european lights make them brighter than the equivalent Wattage 110V USA ones?
 
the total wattage of your lamp by 120 volts and y

the total wattage of your lamp by 120 volts and y

Divide the wattage by 120 volts and you get the amperage, so 1600 watts (2 eight hundred watt fixtures) is about 13 amps, below the lowest common breaker rating which would be 15 amps. A 600 watt 120 volt lamp is the same as a 220 lamp equivalent.
 
Re: Can I buy lighting too bright for the DVx????

So if I am shooting in a house or an apartment how many lights could I have going at the same time without causing something crazy to happen!? I am speaking of using the house current and not a generator. Given the example above with the 2 600's, a 300, and a 1000 watt if needed. Could you plug more lights in to use if needed? I did have my 1000watt Arri plugged in my den for a while, while I did some tests with the camera and didn't notice any weak current issues but I didn't hook up any more lights.
 
Re: Can I buy lighting too bright for the DVx????

Many household circuit breakers are rated at 15 amps. Some are rated at 20 amps. Do the math in the formula in my previous post and you will see the limits of those ratings. Up to seven outlets can be on one circuit breaker. If you find that when plugging too many lights in you trip a circuit breaker, reset it, and take one of the lights and find an outlet in another room. The idea is to distribute the lights amongst more than one circuit. Usually a kitchen counter is a separate circuit from a living room, which is often separate from a bathroom outlet. It's sometimes a plug it in and see. One indicator that you are close to the limit is that when you plug in a second or third light you'll see the lights that are already on suddenly dim when you apply power to the second or third fixture. I
It's a noticeable hit in the power. That could be an indication that you are close to a circuits limit. If the circuit goes, reset it and move one fixture to another part of the house with an extension cord and try it again.
 
Re: Can I buy lighting too bright for the DVx????

EDIT: Oops, walter beat me to it.

It really depends on how many amps are available in the house or apartment, where the circuits are distributed and the capacity of each circuit.

Electricity is complicated.

I've lived in apartments that have had a single leg 10 amp service, and apartments that have had a 100 amp service over two legs.  I've seen houses with two 30 amp services (fused) and houses with two 100 amp legs.  When you get into three-phase, it gets even more complicated.

The general rule that everyone goes by is that a 1k requires 10 amps budgeted out of your service.  Typically, a 1k isn't endangering anything in terms of it's draw, but when you start adding lights you need to be careful about where the current comes from.  Even if you plug three different lights into three different outlets, you might still be on the same circuit.  In this case, a 1k and 2 600's will cause problems most of the time and you'll find yourself making repeted trips to the breakerbox.

Of course, once you really start loading up on current, you need to start worrying about balancing the legs within the house, as there are a whole different set of issues that come from an unbalanced load.

In general, if you space out your lights within the apartment or house, you'll reduce the potential for mishap.  Bathrooms tend to be on different circuits from kitchens, and bedrooms different from both.  If you're using a small complement of 1k and under lights, you should be able to manage your electrical draw...

but remember, because all the service is behind walls, you have no idea of the true capacity of the system.  This means the liability falls on your head, so be careful.
 
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