Egg Crates and Egg Crates

U

USLatin

Panamaniac
This morning I got my 110 and a 220 from Flo Lights and for each I got the optional egg crates. Later today i stopped by FilmTools to get my expendables and there I saw a little Kino display. I waked up to them to look at the egg crates... see the ones that I got are a tad heavy because they are made of metal... also,they are black all around. The Kino egg crates are covered in some sort of reflective material making them chrome-ish... also they are light as they must be made of plastic. There is also a big price difference, the ones from Flolights are $75 and $85, and apparently the Kino version is somewhere around $30 a piece. So I am wondering if I should return them before I scratch them and get the Kino crates and rigg them somehow.

I like that the ones I have because:
They will last, they are metal, real tough.
Being black they don't reflect light so they narrow the beam better.

I like the Kino ones because:
They are less than half the $
They are lighter
They are reflective so they don't kill so much light.

what color/finish should an egg crate be? or what specific purpose does each color/finish serve?

should I keep the ons I have and paint them white? Is there chrome-type paint?
 
You should honestly ask yourself about the type of shooting you will be doing, what you carry your equipment in(types of cases) and how rough-gentle you are with your equipment.
The kino version of the eggcrates are nice and lite in weight. You must make sure that the Kino and Flolights egg crates are completely interchangeable, and offer a secure fit, rather than making a make-shift attachment or harness of some kind. I know there are weight issues, but you have to consider complete compatability with your lights, versus convenience on this one.
I have seen a couple of grips step on and break in half, a kino eggcrate.
The metal version should stand up to more abuse, especially when it comes to packing and transport. I do not have first hand experience with the flolight, but I have used Kino's for over 3-4 years. You'll have to decide which way to go on this one.

I would also NOT paint your eggcrates white ; this in effect ,will alter their intended purpose of keeping light from spilling on your background. It might not be much, but eggcrates are usually black for this reason. Kino's have the silver "paint" to make there lights give as much punch as possible. That's why the flolights have a very reflective barndoors, to maximize their output. I'd like to use one of these flolights to check them out, using those barndoors sounds like they might cause some interesting reflections, but I guess I need first hand knowledge of them before I buy.
 
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It would seem to me that painting an egg crate any reflective color (white or chrome) would diminish their primary purpose as the light would be scattered and wouldn't be as effective at controlling the spill. If you need more output, walk them in. That is one of the distinct advantages of larger fluorescent sources, you can get them really close and if you use an egg crate, you can still control the spill.
 
Yea... I understand the way that kino's finish and white also would make light go in all directions and black will allow direct light only, but why would you add the silver Kinocrate then? for a weird pattern... they are not egg crates then... they don't serve he purpose anyway... right?

Filmat, I'll recommend getting the 4 bank if you do get these... the 110 is nice and light, easy to hang... I have 40' c-stands and today I had the 110 on the long arm booming (only extended half way) at a 90 degree angle, with the light frying in the end! I did have a heavy 35lbs. sand bag on the stand but it still felt super stable. I will try to go further out next time just to test it... However, for a light hungry camera such as the HVX it might be too weak... the 4 bank might be a better purchase at $200 less than double the price.
Thank you for your replies!
 
Even though the Kino stuff is silver it still controls spill better then you'd expect... those eggcrates are parabolic cross-section. A normal fabric eggcrate is simply blocking light at a 90 degree angle... but the DEPTH of a fabric eggcrate is what gives so much control.

The Kino egg crate is made from the same insert you see in an overhead 2x4 office flo light... in a drop ceiling. If you take that thing out you can even see how it's been cut from a larger piece.

The best source for this material is Scientific Lighting Products<click that.

I've experimented with a crap-ton of this material in all types. One thing that you will find about that eggcrate is that it soaks up light... if you flip it over you'll see that you're actually blocking up to about 60% of the actual light transmission.

There is an ultra thin blade aluminum eggcrate that passes much more (I've used it and I like it)... but you really need to double stack it for an effective light spill control. You won't find any eggcrate that's more then about .5" thick (unless you get big square openings then you can get 1" deep)... The stuff comes in straight blade and parabolic so you can still tweek the results.

The best way to cut it is with a good bandsaw that's got a sharp blade... another option would be a really high tooth-count carbide blade in a table saw... but if you do it like that then finger retention is your own responsibility.

Anyway... roam around that site. You can find the exact product that Kino uses there... plus some better alternatives. For the record... a 2x4 piece of the specular silver that Kino uses costs something like $30-40(ish)... and the aluminum bladed stuff is $50+

Still... if you're into DIY then this could be a really cool source for you.
 
nice site!
I guess I should keep these I'll allway have them since they won't break and then experiment with stuff from this site...
is THIS ONE the one from Kinos or the higher efficiency one like THIS ONE?

I like the 45 degree angle of this one too


GREAT SITE! thanks!
 
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