Here's a peek at what I've been working on...

Right now everything is one bulb... the reason it appeared that one tube went out when I was facing my truck was because I bent down and pulled the plug on the light that was up high... watch again and you see me bend down and then the truck gets dimmer.

I'm definitely planning on some more complex lights with 2-4 tubes later this year. The reason I got caught up in the 1-tube lights is because they're dirt cheap and I think many people who can afford a 4 light kit from me won't be worried about saving $200 off a Kino Diva 400. Just getting ANY lights is the first step that most DV-shooters hesititate to take. I'm encouraging that first step... One thing is for certain... I'll make more complex lights for myself because I like using my own lights... I've built my own speakers and even furniture... that coffey table on my floor was built 10 years ago. I guess I just get some crazy satisfaction out of using my own stuff.

I'm going to have some way-trick cables for sale on the forums pretty soon too... mainly for mixer bags. I don't want to talk any more about that here because it's OT... but it fits in with my paragraph above. When I paid $122 for a set of four custom cables from Trew I was less then thrilled with what came... and that did it. So now add cables to the list. If you've got a mixer bag and you don't have cables yet... you might want to wait. You'll **** when you see what I'm doing for that. It's 200% overkill. Of course you've seen how "fast" I am on getting to things... but it'll be different this time... uh, really.

Oh and 4 tubes? Yes. 4 footers? No! I had 6 four-footers and I didn't like them... and I'm only saying it so kindly because somebody I know on these forums bought them and I don't want to sound like a jerk to her... but I sold 'em DIRT cheap because I didn't like the size... and she knew that so I hope we're cool. I already told her I'd either give her one of these or let her trade those back in to me on a new set. Once you have 4' fixtures you'll understand why you don't want 4' fixtures. In my opinion they're good for lighting a green-screen only.
 
These sound awesome and I am looking forward to them. I applaud your effort to make something yourself. It is very rewarding to me as well.
 
Matt,
Have you put any serious consideration into marketing these things? On the last couple of shoots I've been on, we've had situations where our Kinos were not rugged enough for what we needed them to do, so we had to take all kinds of insane safety measures that ate up our time and our budget.
Also, where in St. Louis are you based? I used to shoot in STL myself. PM me if you wouldn't mind. I love to talk to you about these things.
 
I think this project is on hold indefinately. Last I heard Matt was pretty much over it. I could be wrong though. Matt?
 
cool thead for what it was worth... good idea and practical. wouldn't mind picking one up. don't know if matt still into it though.
 
I think Matt's still making more, afterall I'm getting a pair today. And from talking to him, it certainly doesn't seem like he's over it. He LOVES making these things and it looks like it shows. Just PM him and see what he'll do for ya.
-Ryan
 
I could probably get serious about these again... I'll start another batch of shells on Monday.

Part of the problem is that these are very low to no profit for me (if you count all the tools I bought to make these then I haven't cleared a dime yet) and this is yet another one of my wacky ideas where I just want to "share myself" with the members. I can't really explain it any better then that. I never started this idea for profit... it was more about trying to sell the same stuff that I make for myself... and clear just enough to make it worth it.

I've sold most of these at $159 w/o a tube... and I'm going to check my sources and see if I can get the price any lower then that, but even at that sale price... factoring in my time and costs... I'd need to hear a little more enthusiasm from the people who bought fixtures. Since I'm not really making any cash on this idea I need something to maintain my own interest. I've made enough lights for myself... which was the original goal... and I can make variations for myself... but it's hard to stay excited about these lights when I see the same pattern for each buyer. I get about a dozen PM's from somebody who really wants one or two lights... then I send them one... and usually I never hear from them again.

At THIS price I haven't been able to offer a barndoor solution yet... but I'm working on that... and maybe the next batch of shells will address that need... but more then anything, what I need to maintain interest in this is to know that the people who bought these are happy with them. I don't want to sell a bunch of lights to members... only to progressively lower my reputation on the forum.

I explained this very clearly to Hybrid... that having my buyer be 100% happy with the purchase is the most important thing to me.

Early on I had one guy buy a pair of these (last spring)... and I kept asking him how he liked them and got no reply... finally he sent me an email asking for a third light. I said "I was afraid you weren't happy with them"... he said "don't be paranoid... the lights are great"... and then he bought another one. Well about 6 weeks after that he sent me an email to say how some guy on a shoot says "wow man where'd you get the home-made lights!" as if to insult him... and he felt the need to relay that to me.

When I'm not making enough for this stuff to be worth it that kind of feedback does not drive my desire to see just how many of these I can talk people into buying. If people think that these are JUST worth the price... and that it's no special deal... well I'll keep making them... but if I'm not actually making people happy then I'm not going to bust my butt to pump these out... 'cause it sure isn't for the cash.
 
You made one mention of an onboard ballast, so I'm guessing these are going to be flicker-free?
 
Zero flicker. The ballast operates around 60kHz. I don't know of a ballast that operates at a higher frequency. Instant on. The ballast is so high frequency in fact that the lamps glow for a while after you shut off the fixture. In a dark room it's pretty cool.

I've made/sold a bunch of these now. For this particular light it's no longer an experiment. I've been using some since last spring and I've never had a problem.

I've had several people PM me about the old 4' Lowe's kino/shoplight contraptions I used to make. I was excited about having a kino alternative and encouraged others to try DIY for themselves. Every time I get one of those PM's I feel I should go back and delete those posts. Those ballasts are not high-frequency even though they may be electronic... and one thing is certain... they aren't high-output. There is a huge difference in ballasts and how they light a tube.

I still have the old 4' fixtures and the output looks gray in comparison... plus the old fixtures are not immune to flickering. It's a random possibility.

This is one time where I think the "search function" is a curse... but at the same time I think it's disrespectful to delete your own thread when a lot of other people put time and effort into posting to that thread. So I leave those old threads go and just explain myself over and over. I'm putting this here now to hopefully save myself some PM's about those old 4' fixtures... which are crap.
 
It will probably take 2 weeks for you to get one now. Depends on how long it takes to run another batch of 20 shells.

Also... I'm very curious to hear what Hybrid has to say since he's the most recent customer.

If he doesn't think they're all that great then I'd prefer to just tell everybody... if he likes them... same deal. I've been selling these almost "in secret" for quite a while now... just because some of the initial requests for every possible feature at a zero profit price made me reluctant to really go for it, but since Hybrid put it out there I want to hear what he REALLY thinks. Why not tell everybody... for better or worse?
 
Just like I told Matt in my email (I guess he posted here before he got it) I LOVE THESE LIGHTS! I just did part of a short film this weekend, 2 LONG days, and his lights were workhorses right out of the box. I think I used at least one in every shot we did. They looked amazing both with daylight and tungsten tubes. I used em for everything, key lights, back lights, laying right on the floor, pretty much everywhere. These are everything he said they would be and MORE! They could easily be sold for 3x the price (and to me they don't look like homemade or budget lighting, they look sexy:)) If you can get Matt to make you some, DO IT! It may take some time to edit this short, but as soon as it's done, I can't wait to show everyone how well these lights performed. Thanks again Matt.
-Ryan
 
Those who PM'ed me about the lights will get first dibs on the new batch. All but 8 are already sold. The new lights have various improvements.

This might be the last batch that is welded... the next lights may use rivets instead. I like the welding because of it's appearance and bombproof construction, but there's a reason why Gyoury uses rivets. Welding costs a lot! Aluminum is hard to weld accurately... so it takes a lot of time and experience.

My cost on these (due to the welding AND various improvements) has gone up... and maintaining my same LOW margin the minimum I can sell these for is $199 w/o tubes. The tubes can be purchased at B&H for $21.50+ ship... My cost is $23 including shipping (larger quantity) and you can get one from me or them.

Shipping/Packaging for 2 lights is $18 to the continental USA via UPS insured. Pictures and video later today or tomorrow (Saturday).

If you previously PM'ed me any time in the past months... this is your chance. You get dibs. The next batch will probably have to go up a little more if they are of the same design. I want to continuously improve the design and add other designs (which I'm working on now) but my previous pricing is totally unrealistic for anything but the most basic light. Everybody who has one of my previous lights wanted a barndoor solution, and a less (if not ZERO) reflective shell. The new fixtures are brushed aluminum and incorporate the barndoor system that I talked about earlier in this thread.

Ryan... I seriously appreciate your input! YOU are the reason that this next batch of lights is available. The profit is so low that I won't keep doing this unless there are people like yourself who are excited about the lights. I'm doing this for fun... 'cause there 'aint much money... so if there 'aint much fun... I'm not doing it.
 
Matt, you're a DIY fiend! :) Last we PM'd I thought you were going to get me pics of some XLR cables you were working on as well, but never heard back.

Now I've tripped across this thread & see you're doing lights as well!? Wowza. Cool stuff.

I JUST won an E-Bay auction for the following kit from Amvona: http://www.amvona.com/v7/shop/?page=shop/flypage&view=1&product_id=2445 (happy to say I got it for about 30% - brand new - vs. what I would have paid through their site).

Anyway, would this light of yours be able to work with these lights/temp (3200), and if so, what would be the benefit of using it? Like audio, I'm JUST starting to learn about lights. I know the benefits of the Flou are that it runs VERY cool, but other than that, I'm pretty blank on the subject.

If they're available, I may be interested in picking one up from you (still want to hear more on those XLR's too).

Oh, and why did people not like the SUPER reflective surface of your light(s)?
 
Norm... I just shipped out 350' of cables this past wednesday. I'm doing cables BIG TIME. So far I've kept pretty low key about all this stuff because it turns me off when people stress price over and over. I understand that we all want to save money where we can... and I actually began ALL my projects with one of three motivations:

1) To create something new and cool.
2) To improve upon something already available.
3) To offer an affordable alternative to something prohibitively expensive.

Everything I do falls into a combination of those 3 ideas. I haven't been pushing the cables because they were intended to meet the first 2 criteria at the same prices as current pro shops (not Markertek) charge for cables. Markertek is only a few dollars cheaper on all their cables, but that few dollars is enough that it's not worth it for me to do it... and in fact, I'm doing mine with silver solder... and you've seen the short cables right? They are out of this world! The long cables are made with Musilux, which is soft as a spaghetti noodle (ever coil up Star Quad? Know how you have to constantly flip the coil or twist as you wind? Musilux is TWICE as flexible and soft... so WAY easier to coil)... and on top of that it's also HALF the resistance, HALF the impedence, HALF the capacitance, and 100% shielded instead of 95%! It is CLEARLY the superior cable... and of course it costs me about 30% MORE then StarQuad... so you see how I'm not trying to beat out Markertek's prices?

Okay so the lights... they are to meet criteria 1 and 3... If you can afford a Diva 200 then you should probably get that! If you can afford a Gyoury system then you should probably get that! If you want something really cool, unique, with high-quality light output at less then HALF the price of those other fixtures... then I can probably meet your needs. So far the lights I sell are intended primarily for small to medium sized sets... I developed these as softbox replacements... but with a deep parabolic for more throw. Without restating all my design goals (that are already in this thread)... the gist is a small, punchy flo... which runs WAY cooler then normal lights (but still gets warm, just like a Diva or Gyoury or Caselight)... If somebody sees these and thinks they are going to flood an area like a 4-bank would... then I set them straight right away. These are amazing for the size... but they aren't intended (or expected) to FLOOD a large area!

If I'm able to make subtle improvements and people are willing to pay for the necessary price increases... then you will see a continuous evolution of lighting from me... I have a lot of ideas that I'm working on right now... it's just a question of how close I want to get to the price of Kino, Gyoury, Lowell. I can tell you that I'm really excited about this current batch. You will see some things, such as bulldog clips... that still show the DIY heritage... but when I'm able to afford it I'll look into runs of custom replacements that serve the same purpose.

To answer your other question, some people suggested that the reflective outer surface could cause an unwanted reflection from some other light source. I never had a problem with that in nearly a year, but the brushed finish looks really cool and it's only about as reflective as my Mole Richardson fresnels were... still a "bright" surface, because it's silver... but not exactly reflective.

As for the cables, I plan to set up something official with Jarred... but I figure he's busy with the sci-fest and after it's over we'll probably get something worked out. The pricing is about what you'd see for a cable from Trew... but with silver solder and Musilux construction... unless you want StarQuad (I have that too... but it's a no-contest... trust me). Short cables can be the craziest things you've ever seen... if you like color they will not disappoint you.

I've got a simple little stabilizer thing going too... not much to it... and definitely NOT like steadicam... but pretty darn cool anyway. As soon as I get my grips in I'll bump that thread up. Plus I'm doing the skaters and a crane project. Eventually I want to offer every solution that either a low-budget filmmaker or a fanatical perfectionist... could want. (2 different classes of product... but I'm very passionate about both extremes)

These will be done tomorrow... then I'll edit this post to show the completed light (dig that vent... the tool that does that cost a couple bucks):

brushednew.jpg
 
Matt, thanks for the info. Nope, never seen pic one of your cables, so much of what you said was completely new to me.

Feel free to PM me some pics, links, etc. I've got to wait to get my lights in before I know what else I'll need in that area, but I'm sure I'm game for some cables. Crane my also be of interest, as right now I've been seriously thinking of the Kessler Crane.
 
Still tweaking this simple idea... thought I'd be done today, but I have other things going. It's pretty easy to see what's happening here.

If you bought lights from me and want to add this I'll send you a kit for cost of $15 per light, plus actual shipping. You can easily turn your lights into barndoor adaptable with just a drill. What you see will be on both ends and is easily installed and removed when you want the ends flat... the barndoors can be anything from coroplast to black foam core... I'll supply the coroplast with any new lights bought. The idea behind this is/was that barndoors for flos are NEVER big enough... they can be as big as you want like this... or as small. It's a simple sheet of foamcore... which you probably already use as bounce or dark board now.

Okay so maybe I'll post pics of the totally finished lights tomorrow. I get into a state of overthinking some things and that slows me down... that and I have a busy life outside of all this... sorry for the delay.

barndoors.jpg
 
Still rough on the doors... but I just wanted to show you the idea behind it. I think you can see that I'm trying to solve the most basic problems that frustrate us all on a set (unless you could afford top shelf stuff from the start).
 
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