Hard light diy anyone?

soren k jensen

soren k jensen

Well-known member
I cannot find any diy articles on hard light/key light via search. Lots about china lamps and homebuilt flo's, and I'll do both. And try out some led stuff. But nothing on good, hard lighting (focusing, not work lamps, not sealed halogen).

Any recommendations? Thanks, soren
 
so you dont mean hard light only, because that would just be your standard parcan or halogen work light or whatever... you mean a DIY open face or fresnel light that is focusable from flood to spot?
 
exactly, I haven't seen anything on the net or dvxuser on focusing lights. maybe it's better worth one's while to go bargain hunting, but it's fun to build stuff :thumbsup:
 
well, how a lowel DP works, is the bulb is placed in the middle with a cone reflector around it, then to spot or flood, you simply twist a knob on the back and it moves the bulb in or out of the cone reflector more or less. this is an open faced light. fresnels work the same way essentially, but they use a fresnel lens on the front of the fixture, which is supposed to focus the light more.

i think if you were to make your own focusable light, go with an open face unit, because of materials... then again, i havent made one so im not 100% sure on that.
 
B&H has some of arri's replacement parts, including the fresnel lenses.
all you'd need to do is make a fixture for it.
im sure it'd be easy if people can do 35mm adapters.

if i have some spare cash after pimping my letus35, ill try and build one and maybe even take the time to write a diy article! oh, the possibilities.
 
I too.. would be very interested in this info. I would love to find a way to get HMI type results from something.. or atleast a 650. I"m down for the research. I figure pretty much everything could be had at Lowe's or the local tech hobby store
 
Just checked prices at B&H.
It'll be $13 for a 3.5" fresnel lens designed for 300 watt lights, or a 6" lens designed for 650w lights for $32.

I figure you can easily make a shell with a standard light fixture inside, be it a halogen or tungsten source, then add a focusing system (some sort of sliding mechanism for the light source and reflector, unless you want to get all fancy with a geared system) for about $30.

add some cooling vents (some drilling or folding of the metal), maybe even a small fan (rip one outta an old computer power supply), and we should be able to get ourselves some nice fresnels for $45-$65.

sure as hell beats paying the $300 arri charges.

any ideas on what light fixture to use? so many "standards".

btw. planning on ordering a lens from b&h today.
 
Hej Søren

There is a market tendency that niche professional film and video equipment is very highly priced compared to (often) the same stuff made for other industries. Take lighting equipment for one, if you look at the systems usually designed for clubs, discoteques etc. you'll get dimmers, fresnels HMI' s etc. for less than half the price of the Arri or Altman stuff - even cheaper sometimes, taking into consideration that a Fresnel lamp is built and assembeled by several different optic glass components, hence its ability to focus - you could try making it yourself, men prøv hellere nedestående link ;)

http://www.showsystems.dk/under_sider/lysb_teater_foelgespot.htm
 
J,

That does look like a great buy. Would it work mounted upright? And what type of hardware would you need? With barn doors and alll that, for 200 bucks this would be all I'd really need to go along with my kinos.
 
J -

I guess you're right :) I just noticed that Søren is in Denmark, and being a fellow countryman, I've researched the market pretty thoroughly here and there aren't a lot of budget options.

Plus the altman you linked to, needs a 30-50 dollar lamp to go with it.

And ordering from the US will leave us with up to 140 % on import toll
 
J -

I guess you're right :) I just noticed that Søren is in Denmark, and being a fellow countryman, I've researched the market pretty thoroughly here and there aren't a lot of budget options.

Plus the altman you linked to, needs a 30-50 dollar lamp to go with it.

And ordering from the US will leave us with up to 140 % on import toll so we're **** out of luck on that one :(
 
yea, i was thinking i could get a 300w out the door for $50 with lamp. and a 650w out the door for $80 with lamp
 
Well.. keep everyone posted. I've also found that you rarely need anything larger than a 650.. and if you are outside doing daylight stuff, then a large reflector will give you a good key anyway.


Has anyone ever messed with that Lowell backpack kit that's like 800. It's a small compact ENG/Interview set.. Something pack I think it's called.. Seems like a nice compact kit.
 
I used to be in a band, and of course everyone wanted to have a bad-ass light show, but we were oh so poor....

Now I don't have any pictures (and I still have no clue how you guys get them on here anyway), but we still needed lights, right? But how?

What we did get left-over coffee cans, spray painted them black, then cut a small hole in the bottom. Now through this hole you can either attach your standard ace hardware scoop light (we just cut the cords and taped them up again once we put the wires in), or you can actually mount a normal ceramic light fixture on the inside of the can and put whatever wattage bulb in that you wanted.

Now, you can't focus per se w/ this system, but if you use the scoop light/wires through the back of the can technique, you can just pull up/down the wires and the bulb will slide up or down the can.

We'd use tin foil to help keep it in place.

If you mount a ceramic fixture, just have various size coffee cans - as they get smaller, the bulb gets closer to the front.

Throw on a difusser and BAM! You're ready to rock . And if you mess up the first time, big deal - it's just a cofffee can! Hope this helps,
John
 
I love this forum

I love this forum

lol: I get to remember my days in punk music too. There is a lot of similarity between film guerillas and other gorillas. Thanks for the innovative and beautiful ideas:thumbsup:
 
No problem guys - trust me I love the DYI stuff...

But still no really usefull matte box thread....

Hmmm - what would Johnny Rotten do.... Yell and scream. That gives me an idea...

John
 
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