Excellent/Versitile Low Budget Light Kit!

Daniel_Runyon

Daniel_Runyon

Well-known member
I am very pleased with todays purchase! I have tested it and it is great!

- 2 WZT1500 Cooper Lighting WORKZONE By Regent 1500 Watt Worklights/ $72 Each!!! They are selectable between 250/500/750/1000/1250/1500 Watts! I got these at Lowes, as Home Depot only had 1000 Watts selectable between 500/1000. The stands raise to over 7 feet in height, and come with spare bulbs. These ROCK!

- 2 PQ72 Regent 500 Watt floor or table top lights with little built in stands w/handles and adjustable angles........$9.97 Each!

- 1 Woods dark green Yard Master Landscape Cord 40ft stinger (easily concealable) $6.96
- 2 plain old orange 50ft stinger for behind camera to big lights
$4.83

Then over to Super Wal-Mart for........

- 2 Mainstays Home Garment Racks w/ friction bars adjustable 38 to 69 inches high x 36 to 66 inches wide $18.68 each. These are PERFECT for hanging diffusing materials on to be placed in front of the worklights.

- 2 frosted shower curtain liners $2.33 each.
- 2 white twin size bedsheets $2.96 each
- 1 box set w/ 2 Charlie Chaplin and 2 Buster Keaton movies(The Kid & Tillies Punctured Romance/ The General & Steamboat Bill Jr.) $5.50!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!(O.K. Not lighting, but what a deal, huh)
- 2 sets of shower curtain rings .92 each

Grand Total(excluding the DVD set!) $228.34!

I have set it up  and tested it with people today and am VERY pleased with the results. I would like to supplement it at some point with some more focusable lights, like a couple of fesnels, but this will 100% do for a WIDE variety of uses until I get the ol' cards paid down! The selectable worklights did way better than I thought and there was no visable filament paterns on anything. I can crank these up and throw on the ND filter and open up nicely! Then, with no concern for correction gels, I just give a little tweak to the ever so handy color temp scene file setting and the chroma level and phase and I am the next Zsigmond. I would HIGHLY recommend forgeting the trip to Home Depot, as LOWES has got the low budget video maker market CORNERED with these 1500w selectables! I would like to also add, to anyone who hasn't tried lighting yet, once you start lighting you can notice a more signifigent difference in scene file adjustments...all is beginning to make more sense! I am so thrilled with the DVX I could **** a Nike factory. ;D

Also, it has become apparent that most of the people in my movies shall perspire.
 
Re: Excellent/Versitile Low Budget Light Kit!

cool.. you got any pics of your new setup :)
 
Re: Excellent/Versitile Low Budget Light Kit!

Have you noticed a different color temperature as you select different wattages? I know when I've used work lights, the 250w setting was yellower than the 500w. It made skin tones look very different. I guess doing an new white balance would fix that, right?
 
Re: Excellent/Versitile Low Budget Light Kit!

[quote author=magicdavek link=board=lighting;num=1078716699;start=0#3 date=03/08/04 at 20:14:18]Have you noticed a different color temperature as you select different wattages? I know when I've used work lights, the 250w setting was yellower than the 500w. It made skin tones look very different. I guess doing an new white balance would fix that, right?[/quote]

I think I know the lights he's talking about. There are two heads--each with 250w and 500w bulbs. There is no dimmer, but you can switch the individual bulbs on and off in any combination. So the only shift in color temp would be from any differences between the 250w and 500w bulbs. The one thing I would add is a wire mesh screen for safety in case a bulb blows.

Barry S.
 
Re: Excellent/Versitile Low Budget Light Kit!

"Also, it has become apparent that most of the people in my movies shall perspire. "
LOL, maybe you can pitch to your prospective actors the chance to lose weight while working in one of your films.
or maybe you will have to request a makeup person that has extensive knowledge of Panama Jack.
 
Re: Excellent/Versitile Low Budget Light Kit!

..thats one of the many reasons i went with a florescent kit when i built one, but the hard light from the halogens is really great and nice for alot of stuff, too. just hard to deal with the heat is all.
 
Re: Excellent/Versitile Low Budget Light Kit!

iamloser,

Do you mix your fluorescents with your halogen (with a gel)?
 
Re: Excellent/Versitile Low Budget Light Kit!

Hey loser, would you be willing to post your lighting kit? I've basically been arriving at the same conclusion, that flou's is the way to go's. If you have the brand and models of the fixtures you bought, it would be great as well. I'd like to cross check it with what I'm looking at at the Home Depot and Lowe's out here.

I also bought a couplt of the smaller 'hand-held' flourescent lights for interviews that really work great when mixed with tons of indoor light.
 
Re: Excellent/Versitile Low Budget Light Kit!

..heres a link that explains how the light kit was built- ive swithed to cinebuddies 56k flouros on the link he posted in the thread to make my life easier though. the kit is basically nice magnetic ballast(for no flicker or hum + full power startup on some) 4 t12 4' bulb fixtures mounted to light or other stands however you wnat to mount them. and you can put a switch onto 2 of the bulbs like the sundance winner did, so that you can shut of 2 of the 4 lights in a fixture if you want to cut the light in half. you can build as many fixtuers as you like, at about 70.00 per fixture including bulbs..but not the fixture stand cost. you could go cheaper and do it for as little as about 20-25 per fixture buyt then youll deal with your junky ballast.
.. i mix whatever lights i wnat to..theres nothing wrong with mixing hard and soft light, or color temps.. it can really add alot to an image, and keep it from looking to bland. it just needs to be done right is all.
 
Re: Excellent/Versitile Low Budget Light Kit!

After reading post after post after post of great information and insight, I keep wondering where "iamloser" got his handle from... now I see why - yeah, where's the link. Just kidding - not about the link though.

All the best,
Dale

PS - where's the link?

Somebody mention something about a link?
 
Re: Excellent/Versitile Low Budget Light Kit!

er.. sorry erbout that. heres that there linker for thee der posted stuffs..

http://www.dvxuser.com/cgi-bin/DVX/YaBB.cgi?board=lighting;action=display;num=1075028876

i basically summed it up in the above post though. its just 4 bank t12 fixtures with magnetic ballasts wired with a siwth to 2 of the bulbs, and 56k flouo bulbs in them. you can mount them to whatever stand you want with some hardware and intuition. since they are really cool flouros, you can make whatever light controls you needs out of cardboard , or painted flat black sheet metal, or whatever..tinfoil...your mamas knit sweater.. old milk cartons.. you get the idea-- just dont make them out of gasoline soaked items. if you wanted cause they are not near hot enough to start fires,, you can grab the bulbs if you want after theyve been on for an hour.
 
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