Help me choose my new lights

J

Jeremy_Sawatzky

Well-known member
Hi fellas, i am preparing to relight my studio where i film guitar lessons - i am looking to upgrade and replace the existing big lights that are mounted to the ceiling.

The lights we are running right now are just run of the mill home depot work lights. We bought these to get started but they definitely have their limitations. Each light x4 has one 300w bulb for a total of 1200w lighting the room. I find this to be Just under what i want. I figure 1500w would be perfect. - (not sure if thats the correct way of saying how much light i need)

I need the light to be smooth without hotspots and even. Glare is an issue on shiny guitars so softboxes and soft lights are preferred.

this is what the space looks like and u can see our existing lights mounted on the ceiling.

310543_10150829325015455_563420454_20870222_1820183446_n.jpg 294343_10150829324740455_563420454_20870221_792392038_n.jpg

I have looked at a few options and wanted opinions on what you guys think will work best. - ALSO if you guys have any other options you think would work better PLEASE tell me.

budget is anywhere from $150 - $400 per light depending on how well they perform, how reliable they are and build construction

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/638599-REG/Impact_QL300_2KII_Qualite_2_Light_Soft_Kit.html
638599.jpg


http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/71640-REG/Arri_536100_Arrisoft_1000_Watt.html
71640.jpg


http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/196566-REG/Altman_SOFT_LITE_JR_Soft_Lite_Jr_Fill_Light.html
196566.jpg


http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/48951-REG/Smith_Victor_401172_Soft_Light_600.html
48951.jpg



What sort of benifits do i get moving from a 140$ smith victor softlight to a $400 arri softlight?

I doubt the quality of the impact kit but its still an option. I either spend a pile now and get decent stuff. Or get mediocre to hold me over till i can afford nice lights

Help me choose!
 
1200 watts of light in a room that size must put a pretty big load on your air conditioning and power bill. Any chance you could consider a fluorescent or LED solution? The initial cost will be higher, but they are intrinsically soft, and the savings in electricity and bulb replacement costs over time would help pay for the difference, depending on how much you use them, of course. They're also much more comfortable to work under. That can be a real factor if your talent includes non-professionals who might feel extra stress from the hot lights.

This may spark controversy, but in a fixed installation like this, the difference between cheap and expensive lights is not likely to be felt as much as if you're using them on location where they must be set up in many different ways and struck frequently. The speed and convenience of setting them up initially isn't much of a factor. You aren't going to be banging them around in a truck or wearing out the moving parts nearly as fast, or subjecting them to lots of other people twisting the knobs off and so forth. As long as the quantity and quality of light is what you need, and the bulbs are easy to change and of a readily available type, you don't have to be overly concerned about the ease of adjustment or the mechanical construction of them, which are largely the features you're paying for when you buy an Arri or other expensive light.

- Greg
 
Greg Smith said:
1200 watts of light in a room that size must put a pretty big load on your air conditioning and power bill. Any chance you could consider a fluorescent or LED solution? The initial cost will be higher, but they are intrinsically soft, and the savings in electricity and bulb replacement costs over time would help pay for the difference, depending on how much you use them, of course. They're also much more comfortable to work under. That can be a real factor if your talent includes non-professionals who might feel extra stress from the hot lights.

This may spark controversy, but in a fixed installation like this, the difference between cheap and expensive lights is not likely to be felt as much as if you're using them on location where they must be set up in many different ways and struck frequently. The speed and convenience of setting them up initially isn't much of a factor. You aren't going to be banging them around in a truck or wearing out the moving parts nearly as fast, or subjecting them to lots of other people twisting the knobs off and so forth. As long as the quantity and quality of light is what you need, and the bulbs are easy to change and of a readily available type, you don't have to be overly concerned about the ease of adjustment or the mechanical construction of them, which are largely the features you're paying for when you buy an Arri or other expensive light.

- Greg
Click to expand...

Fantastic info thanks, that definitely puts my mind at ease about buying some of the cheaper lights. - i have absolutly no knowledge about led or fluorescent lights, would you mind suggesting a few?

Now that i think about it, my subject would most definitely benefit from not such harsh lighting, hes been a teacher for 40 years and never sat in front of a camera. He definitely feels the strain under our current lighting solution.

oh and the lights are used once a week in which case they are on for about 10 straight hours. - i assume an led solution would also lend itself some inherent reliability attributes? ----lol wut?
 
I would also look for fluos, two in front of you (if you are looking for a totally flat lighting). and one as a backlight. Then maybe use a small 150w or 300w fresnell to light the background creatively (you can find good deals in ebay. That way you will create some separation from the you and the background. This will save you some valuable money (on the long run). And the room won't feel like an oven...
 
I too agree with the flo/led solution. If you are filming long lessons you will be much more comfortable.
 
Yea thanks a bunch guys im for sure going with the fluorecsent solution. Alot of light, far less heat and huge energy savings to boot.

These are the kits im trying to decide between. The cost really isnt that bad at all :D

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...IMOC9SB2J_Octacool_9_Fluorescent_2_Light.html

another option

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/672754-REG/Interfit_INT219_Super_Cool_Lite_655.html

this looks really good as well

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/500422-REG/Interfit_INT117_Super_Cool_lite_5_Two.html
 
I'm assuming you want to hang them from the ceiling like with your existing setup -- so buying stands with the kit seems a little wasteful. Also, those octagonal or round-ish softboxes are going to hang pretty low from the ceililng, and I worry that you'll be bumping into them a lot. I think you might get better service out of the "biax" tube models with long fluorescent tubes that run horizontally in front of a fixed, rigid reflector. These have a rectangular face and wouldn't hang down as far.

+1 on the Cool Lights. They have 2, 4 and 6-tube models (55 watts per tube, so that's 110, 220, 330W respectively). For your purpose, I was kind of picturing a few of the 2-tube units mounted like you have your worklights now. The CL-255 is $189 at http://www.coollights.biz/softlight-fixture-series-studio-models-c-25_31.html.

- Greg
 
Those do look like better options. That was my main worry with the big softbox lights was how i was going to mount them and how big they were.

Id be very happy to go with the CL-255 x2 but i worry that just 2 of them is going to be Just under the amount of light i want. And bumping up to the CL-455 is a whole lot more expense to get just a little more light.

perhaps if i ran 2 cl255s on the ceiling and one that i place close to the floor infront of the teacher. that would help get rid of the shadows under his glasses rims and string shadows.

hmmmmmm

Oh and im not terribly informed on what color temperature i want. the bulbs come in at 3200k or 5600k - all i know is that with my current lights i shoot at a white balance of 3000k. I haven't a clue what my current lights are. Anyone want to hazard a guess and what they might be?
 
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Your current lights (if they are hot lights) are all tungsten and therefore in the 3200K range. If you want to go on keeping the original lights for any use, you would get the 3200K bulbs. Otherwise, its probably best to keep hot lights out of such a small room and just go all fluorescent. In that case, stick with 5600K. Most camera sensors these days seem to like daylight range better.
 
Thanks alot for the input Guys we just ordered 2 of the CL-255s to start out. I have a feeling il be making another order soon :D

Thanks again!
 
Jeremy_Sawatzky said:
Thanks alot for the input Guys we just ordered 2 of the CL-255s to start out. I have a feeling il be making another order soon :D

Thanks again!
Click to expand...

Cool beans. It's been kind of neat watching this thread develop, as we talked back and forth and narrowed it down to the best type of light for your needs.

- Greg
 
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