China Ball Question
- Thread starter mobiledeli
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Andrew Brinkhaus
Veteran
Yeah, that small dip won't affect the spread or distribution of the light. As for the question about heat in relation to lantern size... I have succesfully put 200W into a 16" paper lantern without problems. Just dont leave them on for prolonged periods of time.
mobiledeli
Well-known member
awesome, also today it somehow fixed itself almost... cause now its not dented! awesome! and i ordered some light stands on ebay today too. its all coming together!
xray
Well-known member
Ikea sells screw in halogen lamps, 150W you can use a dimmer on them. So it looks like a basic household lamp but it is halogen with all the electronics inside. If you use two or three of them in a big China latern you have dimmable long lasting 3200K light. Costs 4,50 Euro. I had two inside the paper Chinalamp for 1 hour without problems.
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I'm looking for one right now along with all my other projects. ;-)
Unless I can find a way to make it adjustable, I may only be able to offer one size. What would be the best size to offer? 24" or 30"? I think 36" is too big and not necessary for most work. What do you all think?
Unless I can find a way to make it adjustable, I may only be able to offer one size. What would be the best size to offer? 24" or 30"? I think 36" is too big and not necessary for most work. What do you all think?
Matt Gottshalk
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Cool Lights said:
24" would be just PERFECT!
Noah
Well-known member
I could do 24", 30" is too big for most of my applications. I shoot mostly in nyc apartments where I don't have that much ceiling height, so 18" is necessary. By the few responses so far, it seems like I'm the loner when it comes to the 18" balls, so I may just have to figure out a diy solution anyway.
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Good feedback. We were thinking big but now I see smaller is better for most people.
Another idea that keeps coming up for me. What would be really neat is if we could figure out how to make it adjustable.
For instance, what about the tube within a tube idea, where the outer hollow tube is larger and U shaped. Then a smaller hollow tube is also U shaped and fits into the larger tube so they can slide in an out like a trombone.
Then comes the issue of how to lock them together when you have the size you want. Perhaps some preset size matching holes that drilled all the way through the two tubes and a cotter pin or some such thing that goes through the two tubes to lock them in place. Anyone with a more elegant idea on lockdown?
Of course, one of those U shaped pieces (the larger one I guess) would have a mogul socket at its base and a 3/8" or 5/8" hollow tube coming out from the bottom of it to attach to a grip head.
In this way, you could cover perhaps 2 to 4 sizes of china balls.
I don't know if that's really doable for a decent price but we can see perhaps. The idea reminds me of something else I've seen somewhere but can't think of what it was.
By the way, we've mostly been finding china balls here in china made out of real silk. Never saw one like this before in the states. I wonder if nylon is better from the standpoint of durability, non-yellowing over time, etc. This silk feels just a little thinner than the nylon I remember on my chinese lanterns back in texas. We may need to order samples of both to see which is better for us to carry for a side by side comparison.
Another idea that keeps coming up for me. What would be really neat is if we could figure out how to make it adjustable.
For instance, what about the tube within a tube idea, where the outer hollow tube is larger and U shaped. Then a smaller hollow tube is also U shaped and fits into the larger tube so they can slide in an out like a trombone.
Then comes the issue of how to lock them together when you have the size you want. Perhaps some preset size matching holes that drilled all the way through the two tubes and a cotter pin or some such thing that goes through the two tubes to lock them in place. Anyone with a more elegant idea on lockdown?
Of course, one of those U shaped pieces (the larger one I guess) would have a mogul socket at its base and a 3/8" or 5/8" hollow tube coming out from the bottom of it to attach to a grip head.
In this way, you could cover perhaps 2 to 4 sizes of china balls.
I don't know if that's really doable for a decent price but we can see perhaps. The idea reminds me of something else I've seen somewhere but can't think of what it was.
By the way, we've mostly been finding china balls here in china made out of real silk. Never saw one like this before in the states. I wonder if nylon is better from the standpoint of durability, non-yellowing over time, etc. This silk feels just a little thinner than the nylon I remember on my chinese lanterns back in texas. We may need to order samples of both to see which is better for us to carry for a side by side comparison.
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Noah said:
Yes but if you use the mogul base you can cover both types of lamp base by using the mogul to e26 adapter which is cheap enough and just screws in. If you only put in the E26 you can't cover both. I'm not aware of an E26 to Mogul adapter.
jonnyh1968
Well-known member
I found that the N-Vision Daylight balanced bulb (from home depot) have a slight green cast to them... so they won't match daylight. The tungsten balanced bulb, however, seemed just fine. btw... yes we broke two as we were setting up out first shot.
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Are you talking about the 5500K or the 6500K? They have four color temps total. I haven't seen a green cast with the 5500K ones I got.
jonnyh1968
Well-known member
hmmm. good question. I guess I didn't see the 4th model. I recall they had three models to choose from. Soft White (tungsten), bright white (4000K ish???), and Daylight (daylight). I'm not sure what the temp is of the daylight ones. i'll research...
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jonnyh1968 said:
Daylight is supposed to be 5500K and comes in the blue package. Then they have a "daylight plus" I think its called which comes in a green package and is 6500K. I never tried the 6500K ones--that color is just too blue I think.