Do people buy battery powered LEDs because they are lazy?

Eric Coughlin said:
Are you kidding me? That's like $20,000 per tooth. I didn't get anywhere near that amount from the tooth fairy.
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Well I bash some teeth out as teen, (my fault), a fix cost $4g then falls out and cost another $4g, (not to mention actual pain in the chair) if someone did that to me Id sue their sorry ar_se for $50g no problem.

Only a complete fool is not concerned with set safety. Is that you?
 
As far as batteries goes I've made it so that I have four 150W V-locks, five BP-U60 and two NP-F990. These will power lights, monitors and FS7 during the longest days of shooting so I seldom bring a charger.
 
regarding trip hazards:

Buying "real" stingers was one of the best financial outlays I ever made. Not only are they easier to wrap than consumer extension cords but they lay flatter on the floor when you run them. And I think they just make your sets more professional. Not cheap, but I purchased the ones from FilmTools. Such a little thing that makes a big difference.


http://www.filmtools.com/grip-and-electrical/electrical/stingers-and-extension-cords/25st12sjoeco.html


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Eric, my man, that loop-di-lou trip hazard white extension cord needs to be pulled from your kit at once! I don't mean to pick on you for one thing in a single pic, but you were posting about set safety.

Maybe the preference regarding battery use is a generational thing. When some of us came up in the biz there weren't lights that were easily powered off a battery. And back then battery technology wasn't as far along as it is today. So the idea of running everything off batts is counter to what we knew and learned when pups. Back then, in order to power a simple on board camera light you had to wear this big ole' battery belt / suicide bomber thingy. C'mon, Charles. You may be all Hollywood now but I know you also wore one of those back in the day!


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Depends. On longer shoots with multiple interview subjects, it's plugs all the way. Partly because I know it's gonna die at some point, and partly because I want to save the battery for a situation later in the day when I might really need it.

I do a lot of very quick small business profile videos, and those are typical finished well before the batteries have a chance to die. So in that case, I don't see a reason to bother with a plug. It's a tripping hazard with people moving around, especially people who aren't used to have film setups around.

As for the wireless lav...guilty as charged. That one is purely out of laziness. Boom always sounds better to me, but on low budget stuff, I just don't care. Especially if I'm travelling via transit with a backpack. I've never once had wireless be an issue in that scenario. Only time I've ever been bitten by wireless issues is with live events (wedding etc..), and I now try to avoid wireless as much as possible at those.
 
JPNola said:
Eric, my man, that loop-di-lou trip hazard white extension cord needs to be pulled from your kit at once! I don't mean to pick on you for one thing in a single pic, but you were posting about set safety.
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Don't worry, that white extension cord went missing in action a little over a year ago while I was working with a gaffer who was using it. He somehow ended up with it at the end of the shoot, and I haven't seen it or him since. I guess I'd figured maybe he'd use it, but the way you put he likely burned it during a sacrificial ritual. It was one of the first extension cords I bought for video while in college, and I didn't do a proper job of wrapping cords back then.

I still have an orange extension cord or two which probably went through some non-ideal wrapping times as well. Most of my newer cords have since been properly wrapped.

I'd always thought stingers were primarily advantageous for handling large loads of power without overheating or having various electrical issues, while I've never had such issues with consumer cords. I didn't realize they also hung lower to the ground better than consumer extension cords. I guess I'll have to buy some stingers.
 
Don't for the Safe-T-cord or whatever the velcro stuff is called for covering cords on carpets. Great and quicker than taping, usually. Not cheap though. For hard floors there are those monster plastic things or sound blankets, rubber mats, etc.
 
I have a roll of tape, it is about 6" wide and has adhesive on about one inch of each side and none in the center. It was given to me when I saw if for the first time a year or so ago by one of the guys from CBC our public broadcaster. I use it sparingly since I don't know where to buy more but it has been great for dooways and does not gum up your cables. Perhaps others know where to find it.
 
I use v-locks with my Apurture LS-1. It's great not to have cables. I'd love all my lights to be battery powered. The one's that aren't are taped down with this:

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JPNola said:
Maybe the preference regarding battery use is a generational thing. When some of us came up in the biz there weren't lights that were easily powered off a battery. And back then battery technology wasn't as far along as it is today. So the idea of running everything off batts is counter to what we knew and learned when pups. Back then, in order to power a simple on board camera light you had to wear this big ole' battery belt / suicide bomber thingy. C'mon, Charles. You may be all Hollywood now but I know you also wore one of those back in the day!
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View attachment 122348

OK--you asked for it, you got it. Had to go deep into the dusty boxes of "VHS to transfer" but I finally found it. Spring of '88, democratic frontrunner Michael Dukakis visits a college in Western Mass. where I was working for a small production company, They sent me down to cover it and this skinny 22 yr old found himself battling the burly national media with a two-piece 3/4" setup. Me and my assistant (carrying the deck) look completely out of place. I'm the freak in the green t-shirt with the battery belt (yup, very same one as in your picture). This is footage from the local news stations.

 
CharlesPapert said:
View attachment 122348

OK--you asked for it, you got it. Had to go deep into the dusty boxes of "VHS to transfer" but I finally found it. Spring of '88, democratic frontrunner Michael Dukakis visits a college in Western Mass. where I was working for a small production company, They sent me down to cover it and this skinny 22 yr old found himself battling the burly national media with a two-piece 3/4" setup. Me and my assistant (carrying the deck) look completely out of place. I'm the freak in the green t-shirt with the battery belt (yup, very same one as in your picture). This is footage from the local news stations.

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Ha! Did I call it or what? The exact style of belt at that!!

That belt was actually way ahead of it's time- it had the word "Cine" in the name.
 
JPNola said:
Ha! Did I call it or what? The exact style of belt at that!!

That belt was actually way ahead of it's time- it had the word "Cine" in the name.
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Ha, as if you didn't know those belts were in use when news was still shot on film!

Now I'm thinking about vintage batteries of that time--the big cube Frezzi ones with the crinkly black paint...and the all-time most useless design, the BP-90. A 12v battery that was actually 12v (not 14.4v), so as soon as it started to drop voltage you had to swap it out. Terrible idea.
 
ha ha ha. Oh my! Is that a trip down memory lane. Charles - your waist size was similar to my own back then - and those damn battery belts were designed for fella's with just a little more girth. Seeing that thing bounce up and down while you jogged - yeah, been there done that. (I remember crudely adding another hole to cinch the one I wore just a tad bit tighter.)
I don't know about you - JP - but I never ever had an assistant to carry the deck. :violin: That was always strapped on the other shoulder. (much smaller tv market for me.)
And lastly, yeah - BP 90 - ugh. If you got lucky, you got a newer recorder that allowed two of them in the deck...
 
Ok... I will fess up.. yep... from my gear storage room downstair.. still works well, is brought along on some long shoots as a "just in case" and ususally subs for a sandbag on a light stand when needed. Never goes around my good Canadian Beer Belly Eh! Not anymore! But like the folks above ...not a lot of fond memories of my days working sports and news with TK76 crews as a rookie filed producer. Though it was nice to not have to wait for the CP16 mag stripe footage to come out of the soup and somewhat easier to edit than with a Steenbeck. Now that is dating oneself!
 

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To all the young, skinny folk who have BTS footage of themselves hoisting a gimbal above their heads--when 2046 rolls around, may you too be able to laugh with your peers about the olden days! Actually pretty cool that I can still pop a VHS from '88 in and have it play...although I'm pretty sure I'm on the side of lucky, trying to get around to transferring all of this stuff.

OK OK, back to the battery powered LED's and channel tape!
 
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