Help me understand the draw of RGB lights?

Run&Gun said:
Off the original topic, but on this one, one of my friends uses his audio guy to buy him time. "Waiting on audio..."
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I might have once or twice used the sound of a plane or truck as an excuse to pause the interview so that I can reframe. My Sound Op never catching on and being puzzled as to why I did what I did. mwuh ha ha ha. :evil:
 
morgan_moore said:
Last week I did a pop vid of a 'slushy' tune - I tried to get some skypanels (and a programmer) as it would have been cool for the light to slowly move through the verses, and hit a different key in the Chorii - here you have both RGB and a requirement to program it.

We filmed an upeat track at the same location. For that I went my usual route of having a grip wildly wave a board in front of a hot light to create a strobe effect
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Ahh yes. practical lighting effects are always entertaining! I did a bunch of low budg music videos in 2009 ish, the maverick 5D days (which all look soft and mushy now in retrospect) and resorted to many of those sorts of things. And in reference to this discussion, had to spec a few flavors of red and yellow gel the day of the shoot as the director had dreamed up that color scheme the morning of. A number of instances where I waggled my fingers in front of a leko to get an undulating effect. Threw the kitchen sink at the setup seen various times including 1:27 where one guy was wildly panning a head from one of the stalls, I was panning a leko with a skinny strip of front light back and forth and someone else was firing the bulb in the background (I had hoped to use a dimmer with switch, but the switch didn't work, so I had them half-plug the stinger in and just nudge it back and forth to get the light to flash on and off--good thing it didn't arc and burn their fingers! Music videos...)

https://vimeo.com/25005682
 
One of the things I like most about the current crop of RGB LED is the ability to control 'em from my phone. Getting spoiled with the Litepanels Gemini and the Digital Sputnik DS1s. Going bluetooth to adjust intensity and color from behind the camera is luxurious!

I have 3 of the Geminis and they get a ton of use. The practical effects modes are pretty cool. Near infinitely customizable.

https://www.adorama.com/lpg21spusa.html
 
traviswears said:
One of the things I like most about the current crop of RGB LED is the ability to control 'em from my phone. Getting spoiled with the Litepanels Gemini and the Digital Sputnik DS1s. Going bluetooth to adjust intensity and color from behind the camera is luxurious!
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It is indeed...and it reminds me of just how far ahead of its time the Zylight IS3 was. I wrote this on another forum in April 2010:

"As a unit, the ability to dial in intensity and color temp, including mired shift (plus/minus green) means you can quickly and easily match any source or mixed sources without time-consuming gelling. That's the obvious part. After I'd had the unit a while I thought it would be good to try the remote control, and that's where things got interesting. It's a tiny handheld unit about the size of an extended camcorder battery that you clip to your belt.

I generally use the IS3 as a fill/eye light so I have it positioned fairly close to camera. On a recent shoot we had 5 actors giving their testimony in a courtroom set, and we block-shot the setups as we moved around the room. Each time a new actor came in, I was able to dial in the exact amount of fill required for the individual, right from the camera. The dark-complexioned gent needed more, the pale-skinned gal needed less--and I cranked the color temp down a few hundred degrees to warm up her skin tones. All of this in a matter of seconds, and again, right from the monitor. No calling out instructions to the gaffer, waiting for gel, bringing the light down to make an adjustment and send it back up again etc. The actors never even knew it was happening. It's like the advantage of being on a dimmer board but even faster."

In retrospect, truly amazing that I experienced much of that functionality over 8 years ago. It's faster to dial in color on a phone and the apps are obviously more customizable, but there is a lot to be said about being able to reach down and trim the intensity without having to look away from the monitor.

Just got the bluetooth module for the Gemini and looking forward to trying it out. One thing that I am not thrilled about it is PC-only for firmware updates.
 
morgan_moore said:
So in summary we agree that RGB, flicker, programmable dimming and the like have an application in cinematography?
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I'm sure we all do agree. The question is what percentage of the time those aspects are helpful, and that depends much on one's typical shooting arena and lighting style. For someone who shoots primarily corporate/doc style b-roll and interviews and rarely deviates from white light, that may be of limited use against the cost/weight.
 
+1 to what both Travis & Charles have said here. For those of us working in the corp / doc style world, some times with little to no other crew, the size / weight, ease of transport & of course cost, all factor into my purchase decisions. But also that functionality - of being able to dial in color / intensity & saturation on the phone app without leaving the camera & while the client ok's the look, has made certain types of shoots simpler.
 
CharlesPapert said:
It is indeed...and it reminds me of just how far ahead of its time the Zylight IS3 was.
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I still remember the first gig I was on - with a colleague who'd just purchased those Zylight Z90's... probably around that same time period. While their output was tiny & they weren't maybe ready for prime time, it certainly made an impression on me that perhaps a change was a comin'.
 
CharlesPapert said:
I'm sure we all do agree. The question is what percentage of the time those aspects are helpful, and that depends much on one's typical shooting arena and lighting style. For someone who shoots primarily corporate/doc style b-roll and interviews and rarely deviates from white light, that may be of limited use against the cost/weight.
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Yes applicable to cinematography :) - Im not convinced for corporate although I do sometimes - use 'blue for science' (a bit 1995!) and also a tungsten scratch in interviews (also a bit 1995?) - neither off the kelvin scale though.
 
CharlesPapert said:
Just got the bluetooth module for the Gemini and looking forward to trying it out. One thing that I am not thrilled about it is PC-only for firmware updates.
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Going by the thread for the GB on REDUser, the BT modules have been extremely slow getting out to customers.

Charles, are you referring to updating the firmware on the Gemini itself? You can update from a Mac via a USB thumb drive. Or are you trying to say you'd like to be able to update the Gemini's firmware via the app and BT module? That would be cool.
 
paulears said:
As a theatre lighting person, you've missed one vital part. "party' gel - is a term I've never heard before. We use gel. No idea where the 'party' bit comes from. Rosco and Lee are the two big firms who make hundreds of different colours. Vital stuff for theatre. BUT - the cost of the gel, the cost of the time to cut it and fit it, and the lifespan before not burns out and lightens is considerable. We could have a show come in and spend three hours fitting it, with a considerable cost to the incoming show. The designers spend ages pre-choosing colours only to find they are not quite right.
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On a long running show I worked on we swapped out the par and mr16 strip lights that lit the cyc for LED units. They were brighter, used less power and eliminated the use of almost a full dimmer rack, and a lot of power cable. We were swapping gels on the old units monthly, and repairing mr16 sockets weekly.
 
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