Cost effective and extremely portable solution for lighting walls of a cave, anyone?

M

Malcolm Wright

Well-known member
Hi all!

I'm going to be looking for some crystal caves soon during the shoot of my documentary. If we find them, I want to be able to show case the beauty of them as best I can, keeping in mind the following constraints:

- the lighting kit must be EXTREMELY portable as we are already worrying about the amount of weight we have to carry without the lighting consideration

- I can't afford to spend thousands of dollars on this :(

I don't need to be able to light up the whole cave, but rather am interested in a way to adequately light small sections of the walls.

Any and all suggestions are welcome and appreciated!

Many thanks,
Malcolm
 
Side light and back light will bring out the texture of the walls and backlight will bring out the translucency of the crystals. You can rent a battery belt, and use a light meant for on camera use, something like an Anton Bauer light or Frezzi light. The use of a "Vidled" or "Lite panel" brand light would work nicely. If you want to show off depth and wide shots, you will want to get several, self contained/battery powered lights and hide them behind stalactites and stalagmites around the cave.
 
How about some battery powered fluorescent worklights. As long as you use all the same thing, you should be able to white balance okay. Perhaps your home depot has some you can just run down, get one to test and see if you like the results. They are usually very inexpensive.
 
miracom said:
How about some battery powered fluorescent worklights. As long as you use all the same thing, you should be able to white balance okay. Perhaps your home depot has some you can just run down, get one to test and see if you like the results. They are usually very inexpensive.
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Thanks for the responses everyone!
So far, I'm liking your tack best Miracom: sounds cheap and dirty which is really all I can afford at this stage.

One concern: since these fluoros will be running off batteries, wouldn't they be out of phase with each other making it impossible to synchronize the shutter in a way to eliminate flicker? Or is there no flicker with fluoros powered from direct current?

So, if I were to go cheap with say six or seven fluoro worklights for stashing behind stalagtites, how much would one more powerful light cost me, like a vidled with power supply? It would be nice to have something more powerful to use as a key for closer shots.

Thanks!

M.
 
You won't get too much punch from those portable fluoros. You need something with a bit more throw. LED lights have a great deal of punch.
 
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Hey Malcolm,
you are faced with a trade-off between:
cost vs. weight (portability) vs. light-output

We made a portable fluorescent light that uses a 70W daylight bulb with a high CRI tube, and that is powered by a high capacity lithium polymer battery via an inverter. Works GREAT!!! Runs 2.5 hours...oh, and it's dimmable too, down to about 20%. No flickering that would bother video. 75W flo will equal about a 300W incandecent. But it isn't light (~7lbs?), and not very cheap.
http://vidled.com/70Wc.jpg

VIDLED LEDs (or other LEDs) would work well, and we are coming out with a new LED product that might be of interest to you: it's lightweight, inexpensive, and very portable.

Although caves are not easy to light (they really require a LOT of light) our VIDLED LEDs have been used in the past for exactly this purpose.

Cheers
 
Malcolm Wright said:
Thanks for the responses everyone!
So far, I'm liking your tack best Miracom: sounds cheap and dirty which is really all I can afford at this stage.

One concern: since these fluoros will be running off batteries, wouldn't they be out of phase with each other making it impossible to synchronize the shutter in a way to eliminate flicker? Or is there no flicker with fluoros powered from direct current?

M.
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No flicker with DC... You may just need to try some out to see if it works for you. It may very well be strong enough.
 
Don't forget to bring a silver/white reflector also. You can 1.5x the power of whatever light you bring... plus add another angle of fill at basically zero cost.

Also (and don't bite my head off for this since I don't know how deep you're going in the cave) if there is any "access" to sunlight... even if it's a HUNDRED FEET away... a silver reflector shooting direct sunlight can light a pretty big area surprisingly well.

Last spring I was doing a doco in 3rd world culture and we used a photoflex to light some interiors through open windows or doors... at one point I was using the reflector to light a scene that was 30'+ away.
 
MattinSTL said:
Don't forget to bring a silver/white reflector also. You can 1.5x the power of whatever light you bring... plus add another angle of fill at basically zero cost.

Also (and don't bite my head off for this since I don't know how deep you're going in the cave) if there is any "access" to sunlight... even if it's a HUNDRED FEET away... a silver reflector shooting direct sunlight can light a pretty big area surprisingly well.

Last spring I was doing a doco in 3rd world culture and we used a photoflex to light some interiors through open windows or doors... at one point I was using the reflector to light a scene that was 30'+ away.
Click to expand...

Hey!

Great advice!
I have a reflector and plan to bring it: it folds up nicely and most importantly, is very light. For the weight vs yield, the reflector is a must-have for this trip and after reading your words I'm considering getting another one.

I don't know how deep I'll be going into the cave because I haven't even found it yet - but there is a good chance the crystal formations will be in light's reach of the entrance so it might be a good idea for me to have a reflector for the sun light, and another one to bounce one of my lights off.

Thanks everyone else, too: I look into your light weight Vidleds, Vidled :)

I'm inclined to think Miracom is right: the fluoros will make the difference between no depth to the formations in wide shots, and that small amount of light necessary to seperate the planes. I don't expect them to be dazzling: I'm not looking for optimal lighting, but rather just enough to bring out some features in the wide shots.

Wish me luck! We've got to find the caves, then climb to them with all the gear... before we can even get started!

M.
 
Good Luck! No question about it, a reflector would be a great tool to have along but I'm not sure about the effectiveness across several hundred feet though particularly with the potential for a winding path through the cave.
 
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