Can I Make My Own Lights???

S

Sand&Fog

New member
Recently, I've had the need to use a lot of lights for several music video projects I've been working on. However, because of small budgets, I cannot afford to rent the lights I need at the quantity needed as well. I am very curious to know if anyone has information about building your own lights? I see all the time in American Cinematographer gaffers building their own light fixtures/gadgets. How hard is this?
Specifically, I'm trying to figure out how, what I need, and where I can get the materials to make some lights. Ideally I would like to make at least a few 1ks. And if it's even possible, to make something close to a kinoflo(buying fluorescent tubes that are daylight/tungsten balanced and rigging them up)?

Thanks alot guys for any information, resources, or links that can be offered!
 
Check out the Cool Lights magazine, there's several articles about making your own light

http://www.coollights.biz/wordpress/archives/category/cool-lights-video-magazine

You can also PM user Gary Sconce as he's a DIY expert. He's shooting a feature right now using home made kino lights and simple LEDs.

In my experience though, what you save in money you pay for in time (R&D and setup time). Most DIY setup I've seen are pretty large and cumbersome to carry around and set up. It might well be worth it to you to do so if you have the skill.
 
Also keep in mind that, while commercial setups have a high markup, the economy of scale they get from mass producing means that it costs them a lot less to make the same product than it would cost you. So the savings might not be all that great. They do exist, though, and if you're willing to deal with the time issues mentioned above I recommend it. Also important, it's enjoyable to set things up yourself and learn a bit in the process. Being a contractor's son I grew up with that mentality- as well as a shop- and am quite glad for it.
 
If you don't care about the appearance or convenience of your lights then it's pretty easy to do DIY solutions.

Hard tungsten is easiest to tackle by getting regular work-lights and controlling the spill with black-wrap. (save and re-use it)... you'll want a few different sizes and wattage so that you can use the economy "dimmer" (router speed control) from Harbor Freight... when on sale $9.99... on ebay the very same item is sold, ripping people off, as a dimmer for $35... anyway... use that to control the output... dimming too much will make the light redder on cam... hence more then one wattage. 150-250w = $9... 500w = $15... 1K = $20ish (cheap cheap cheap).

If you want fresnels then your best bet to save money is to accept a knock-off model, instead of trying to build them... but if you want daylight fluorescent and don't mind extra size and going to extra trouble to handle the spill... then your job is considerably easier.

For flos, I suggest good bulbs/tubes. These will run you between $18-22 for 55w biax (which I strongly suggest over giant T12 tubes)... then the ballasts vary in how many bulbs you want per circuit... but you can get a decent ballast, Fulham Workhorse, for $20ish each... it doesn't matter if you want to run 4 bulbs on one switch/ballast, or 1 bulb on each switch/ballast... it's about $20ish each. You can't have a switchable fixture without multiple ballasts however (doing it this way)... and this is NOT dimming... so the smartest way to do it is to have some switching for various output.

Finally... I think the Smith Victor Adaptalights are a really good deal for what you get... and they will let you use regular bulbs to complement your worklight/hardlights... or daylight flo CFL to complement your DIY flo-banks (maybe you'll want an 11w daylight in an 8" reflector to pull a face onto it's own layer of light in the shot)...

Anyway... coming from a major experimenter... I always encourage people to try things out. It's a great way to learn about lighting (through the painful process of trial and error)... and a great way to learn why professional lights cost what they do (through a painful process of trial and error).

Overall, in time and money... I'm sure I'd have been better off had I just bought professional lights years ago, instead of always trying to make something better... but working at it has taught me more about lighting a set well then I would have ever learned otherwise.

In my experience most of the people that use only professional regular tools... tend to get the same professional regular shots... which is a double-edged sword... because what I mean by that is I tend to see less creativity in the lighting of shots where people are using the same 6-12 professional lights that they've been using for years... for generic corporate shots, that's what the client will probably expect... but if you're trying to create your own brand of art, it's possible that having unique tools and having to find a unique approach to using those tools will lead to a unique result in the end.

The moral of the story is that sometimes it's good to be the same, and sometimes it's better to be different. If you don't have any money right now I'd say why not try "different" first.
 
If you need cheap lights, go to Home Depot and look at their work lights. Some of those use similar bulbs as a Lowel Tota.

You can also look into Christmas Lights or some of the weird things they have at Ikea. Many found lights will work better than anything you make, as long as they don't have any flicker and create the look you want, you'll be all set.

But honestly for how cheap you can find some Lowel lights on ebay and Craigslist if you look long enough, I don't see any reason to try to build your own lights and risk a fire or injury if something goes wrong.
 
photons are photons ..... physics .... ie light is light (for the most part)

cinematographers build lights not to be more economical but because they are looking for some solution to a problem they are having and there isn't anything on the market that fits their needs .... if the solution works really well they quit their day job and start selling the lights to the others who don't have the time or skill to make their own (jk)

but if you understand the properties of of light and have a firm grasp on what you want for a light .... then yes you can make your own lights ...... will they be a durable, flexible, user friendly, reliable, adjustable, portable, safe, etc ..... that will be for you and your crew to decide .....

but photos are photons ..... and photos are pretty democratic they shine upon every one with or with out money and don't care where they come from
 
Photons are photons, but I still paid $33 for a 2" arri fresnel lens.

Getting light where you want, in the color you want (white is not white), in the quality you want, and the quantity you want... while NOT getting the light where you don't want it... is a pretty tricky situation.

Professional lights are usually pretty good at handling all those requirements at once...

DIY lighting that covers ALL those bases... is hard to come by... either way... good luck.
 
MattinSTL said:
...For flos, I suggest good bulbs/tubes. These will run you between $18-22 for 55w biax (which I strongly suggest over giant T12 tubes)... then the ballasts vary in how many bulbs you want per circuit... but you can get a decent ballast, Fulham Workhorse, for $20ish each... it doesn't matter if you want to run 4 bulbs on one switch/ballast, or 1 bulb on each switch/ballast... it's about $20ish each. You can't have a switchable fixture without multiple ballasts however (doing it this way)... and this is NOT dimming... so the smartest way to do it is to have some switching for various output....
Click to expand...

Thanks Matt. As usual, you're a big help and provide a ton of useful information. I've been reading up on this, but the one part that's daunting for those who've never built a light is the enclosure / fixture for fluorescents. I like the specific recommendations for the ballast. If you, or anyone else, has good recommendations for the rest of the light, say a two-lamp 55W biax setup, I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd find them useful.
 
Video lighting isn't really very different from theatre lighting in terms of design, apart frm the little extras added to video kit. However, production scale is. Theatre style lighting can be picked up second hand on ebay for a lot less than video kit - or the same price, for better quality. It does work the other way too - I work with a theatrical lighting designer who uses Arri Fresnels because he likes the light quality, when Arri are not popular in general terms in UK theatre. I've got a pile of 2K 10" lens Fresnels that were made in the 70s. They have a really big range of adjustment from spot to flood, and are nice and soft. On eBay they rarely fetch more than $40, with a working lamp. I'd much rather buy some of these, paint them up and use those than make my own - which could easily cost more
 
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