help choosing a light

Don't think some CFL softboxes are going to do it for you.

You have to be more specific as to your budget and what kind of scenes you are looking to shoot.
 
Thank you for your response. This is a low budget music video, I can't expend more than 300s. I was hoping that one of these lights will do the job.
 
Well what kind of music video are you shooting, and what style are you going for? I would imagine you would get more use out of the flourescent, but I have never really used a CFL Softbox for video.
 
Mister Stocks said:
Well what kind of music video are you shooting, and what style are you going for? I would imagine you would get more use out of the flourescent, but I have never really used a CFL Softbox for video.
Click to expand...

They throw about 5-8ft. Barely enough room to get the camera out of the way. In fact, when I use my CFLs in a softbox the light is ALWAYS much closer to the talent than I am.
 
miamivideo said:
Ok, at least which of the two would be better ?
Click to expand...

Neither of these light kits would even BEGIN to light a music video unless the talent was seated and not moving. I'm not even going to mention the stands...

These kits are useful for sit down interviews and similar things. If your video has a lot of static shots where the talent isn't moving more than 6ft in any direction, then one of these might work.
 
The spec seems a bit suspect -
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]fourteen daylight balanced compact fluorescent light bulbs, each the equivalent of 150 watts of incandescent light, producing a total output of 2100 watts[/FONT]
Click to expand...
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
A CFL that is the equivalent of 150W tungsten - I've never yet found a CFL that is actually brighter than the one it's claimed to be equivalent to? Each one has up to 7 cfls in it, so isn't the brightest beast in the world, but has some uses if you want soft lighting sources.

The thing we're all trying to work out is the specifics. A pop video - so single artiste, green screened, or a band? One of these in a big space is going to be feeble. One close in bright. Style is critical too. We choose kit to suit the job. This afternoon I'm doing something where pretty well all the light, bar the key is soft - suits the performer. Yesterdays job used very little soft light, and tons of narrow shafts of light and smoke for effect. The products linked to would not have been any use at all for what I was doing yesterday, or today.
[/FONT]
 
What ligh under $400.00 would you guys suggest me. The video is going to be shoot in a restaurant and the look is going to be type of a ghotic look. Again this is a low budget video. Manny thanks for your responses
 
The problem here is that you are asking about "a light". Things as complex as music videos may use half a dozen or a dozen lights of different kinds. Even low budget music videos. There are just some basic tools you need to have in order to do a production. A camera, actors (usually), and light. Depending on this restaurant, and how it looks, you might be able to get away with mostly practicals.

But we need to know:

1. What camera you've got
2. What lens(es)
3. The layout of the restaurant (windows, overhead lighting, table lighting, etc.)

The more we know about the particulars of the shoot, the more helpful we can be.
 
Homunculus said:
ah you're shooting with 7d. you don't need lights then. it has great low light (kidding ...inside joke)
Click to expand...

My head almost exploded, hahaha.

With $400 you can get a kind of balanced all around kit with a few fresnelles, some gels and diffusion, and maybe a few kinos. Maybe an HMI or two instead of fresnelles if you have to light a large space. Depends on the prices at your local rental house I guess and whether you want to be daylight or not.

Personally I would think a bunch of kinos and an HMI with some bounce and diffusion would give you a lot of softlight options and daylight balanced and 1/8 or 1/4 blue on any practicals for splashes of wamth without going full blown orange. I might lose some lights in favor of some grippery depending on what I have available, at minimum a few c-stands and flags.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top