Found a killer light - cheap and effective!

Hi Vidled:

Love your lights, have been meaning to pick up a couple.

I haven't used these for a project yet as I just bought the Kino lamps yesterday. My final test today is to hook up a camera aimed at them, run it into a waveform/vectorscope to check for pulsing or flicker.

My first test was just using the HVX's LCD flipout screen and it looked fine but as we all know, you need to really see what the recorded video signal looks like at various frame rates to be able to judge if these lights are usable in a professional application.

All the best,

Dan
 
Cheers.

A question regarding the Kino Flos: how does light output compare to the one that comes with the light? The one that comes with the light isn't very bright, but for the incredibly low cost I'm convinced I'll be able to use it [with KinoFlo tubes] here and there, especially with a few of them.

Will be looking forward to your flicker tests.
 
Hi:

In my mind, these are accent lights, perfect for putting glow behind an item on a shelf, etc. I would use two or three of them also as a ring light around a lens, I would use them on the visors of cars for night shots. They are only 8 watts so that puts them at about the output of a 30 watt incandescent bulb.

Dan
 
Yeah, for those applications they are WAY COOL! Need to get me some more...

I am not seeing the same light output you are though, and I'm wondering if it hasn't got something to do with the difference between your Kino Flo's and what comes with the light.
When I measure the ACTUAL wattage used by the light, I get about 4W (340mA @ 12.0V); and compared to a full spectrum (AC) 13W tube I have here this "8W" tube is nowhere near as bright.
Hey, not at all complaining here, just offering more info, as I have it...
 
The Kino 5500K tube seems to have more output than the 2900K tube. I would not use the stock lamp, the stock lamp is junque.

Best,

Dan
 
Any stills or anything to show off the effectiveness of the lights? I picked up 5 of them today, sounded like a pretty good deal, thanks for finding this out, Dan! :)
 
Hi Jack:

Sorry, I am a little too busy to do much this week as far as shooting some sample footage. Maybe this weekend? If you bought five of them today, you do the shoot! I wil try to do some night car shots this weekend if I have the time. I am in pre-production all this week for shoots next week with a bunch of big time film directors. Still working on landing an interview with Ridley Scott.

BTW, make sure you get the Kino lamps, the stock ones are pretty lousy. The Kinos are about $20.00 ea. but worth it.

Good luck with them!

Dan
 
Puredrifting,
Thanks for the lead on these little units.
I put some shiny RoscoFlex on the white plastic reflector (you could also use the aluminized tape) and got about 30-40% more out of the light at a distance of 2'.

Also, Home depot has some 8w 3000k "high CRI" lamps for $6.95 each. I'll check it against one of my tungsten halogens to se if there is a green spike, and what they consider "high CRI".
Hope this helps.

Ken
the Screen Skins guy
 
Hi Ken:

I did the same with my GE/Jasco 21" Home Depot Fluoros, it does give them some more punch. Just as a caution, be careful with that aluminized tape, when I applied it, that stuff is really sharp. It cut the crap out of my fingers, just like paper cuts only deeper because of the aluminum edges.

I am in love with these cheapo little lights. By adding the Kino Tru-Match lamps, they really put out a nice quality of light and you know that the color temp is accurate and that the CRI is high. The 3,000K tubes sound interesting but I am curious, what kind of color rendition would Home Depot lamps have? I guess it depends on if you are lighting people of BGs. For people, I would seriously advise the Kino lamps. If you are using them for lighting up nooks or objects, I usually swathe them in gels anyway so who cares about CRI?

BTW, what's a Screen Skin?

Best,

Dan
 
Puredrifting - are there places online that you can link to that would have the light and/or the lamps? Google's turning up nothing for me.
 
I picked up the 12" Amerelle, as well as a 9" GE fixture. I thought the stock bulb on the 12" gave an industrial green that I thought was cool, so I ran some comparison tests. I also had a daylight balanced 9" mini flo on hand. While lacking a true tungsten kino, I found the tests useful:

http://davidcarstens.com/kino_tests.mov
 
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Hi David:

On your tests, you are showing a 9" lamp and light as well as the 12"? Are there two different lights out there, a 9" and a 12"? The ones I bought were 12", I have not seen 9" ones.

Dan
 
Puredrifting,
Screen Skins are framing overlays (16x9, 1:85, 2:35) that fit on the flip out LCD finder on the DVX. Helps you compose for wide screen to be letterboxed in post.
EVS, B&S and Abel Cine carry them.

The replacement lamps I saw at HD were made by GE. I'll test them out this wekend...I'm curious to see what they call "high CRI" also.
Ken
 
puredrifting said:
Hi:

The light is not on the Home Depot website, at least I cannot locate it if it is. When I Google it, no luck, all that comes up is this thread.

As far as the lamps, I bought from FilmTools http://cinemasupplies.stores.yahoo.net/kiflomi9and1.html

These lights are rare, that's why I snapped them up. My Home depot only had about five in stock. Hopefully they will re-order.

Enjoy!

Dan
Click to expand...
Through following a couple of links in earlier posts I got to amazon.com where the lamp is listed as "American Tack 73040 12" Cordless Fluorescent Light" unfortunately the item is listed as "currently not available." :crybaby:

-Steven
 
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