High wattage, low cost and fast setup

NextWaveG

NextWaveG

Well-known member
There are many scenarios where a 1K or 2K won't cut it but the logistics of using 5Ks are not conducive for many of the shots I do. So I wanted to setup a high-wattage light that could be run off of standard household electrical.

That's where my Par64 array comes in. It is a low-cost (spent $200 for all four lights with bulbs on ebay), high wattage (total of 4000w) and fast setup (simply throw them on the header and point at a silk). For this shoot I still needed a little more punch so I brought in my Mole 2K and that gave me what I needed. So I was running 6000w of light on a single source without having to go 220.

I also had a 1K Arri on a Mini Max stand as a key-side kicker and a 1.2K HMI as an opposing kicker.

All in all, it was a great shoot, I loved the look and we were in and out very quickly.

Par 64 lights.jpgDolly track.jpg
 
Tony, How did you distribute the electrical load? Did you run stingers to individual 20 amp circuits? If so, how did you differentiate the separate circuits?

Is that a DIY Frame? It looks like it is PVC with metal corner braces.

What diffusion material are you using?
 
This is great. I picked up par cans for the same reason. Have you ever considered how to get them to daylight color temp? Excellent rig. I'd love to see some frame grabs from the shoot.
 
David G. Smith said:
Tony, How did you distribute the electrical load? Did you run stingers to individual 20 amp circuits? If so, how did you differentiate the separate circuits?

Is that a DIY Frame? It looks like it is PVC with metal corner braces.

What diffusion material are you using?
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We ran stingers to each light. I had 4x 100' stingers that were rated for 15 amps which allowed us to distribute the wattage pretty evenly. I worked with their maintenance guy to make sure we weren't overloading any circuits. See picture below.

The frame and silk is from Digital Juice: http://www.digitaljuice.com/products/products.asp?pid=2420 I have two of them and love them. When they are on sale for $399, they are a great buy.

IMG_4541.jpg
 
NextWaveG said:
We ran stingers to each light. I had 4x 100' stingers that were rated for 15 amps which allowed us to distribute the wattage pretty evenly. I worked with their maintenance guy to make sure we weren't overloading any circuits. See picture below.

The frame and silk is from Digital Juice: http://www.digitaljuice.com/products/products.asp?pid=2420 I have two of them and love them. When they are on sale for $399, they are a great buy.

View attachment 67067
Click to expand...

Whoa!!! I like that butterfly. Collapsible! That is great. Thanks. I didn't know Digital Juice makes actual stuff!

I am still jealous of that Mini-Max! What a great stand.
 
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What is that multi-mount adapter you have the PAR cans mounted to on the stand?

I have 4 PAR cans just like those. You are right, they are the best bang for the buck when it comes to a lot of light inexpensively. What bulbs to you have in them? I have two with the very narrow spot bulbs and Two with the medium flood bulbs
 
It's nice to see other people using theatrical lights for film/video. I have a theatre lighting background so i've been using theatrical fixtures for video for years simply because it's what I had access to. Been laughed at on more than one set for it actually. I never understood the elitist mentality that only Mole, Arri or Kino's are worth using on set.

As a side note I took a lot of joy (my own personal elitism I suppose) watching film grip/electric types fumbling with Source 4's when they first found their way onto sets. Watching grips rig a flag in some crazy situation when they could just use a shutter on the S4 always makes me laugh.
 
danjenkins said:
It's nice to see other people using theatrical lights for film/video. I have a theatre lighting background so i've been using theatrical fixtures for video for years simply because it's what I had access to. Been laughed at on more than one set for it actually. I never understood the elitist mentality that only Mole, Arri or Kino's are worth using on set.

As a side note I took a lot of joy (my own personal elitism I suppose) watching film grip/electric types fumbling with Source 4's when they first found their way onto sets. Watching grips rig a flag in some crazy situation when they could just use a shutter on the S4 always makes me laugh.
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To me, it was pretty simple math... I bought 4 PAR 64 fixtures a few years back from a theatrical lighting outfit off of eBay for just under $90. Of course bulbs and TVMP adapters are extra, but I don't know of a better "Bang for buck" in pure light output as a 1000 watt PAR 64 fixture. I have done photometric measurements of all of my lights and here are the results of the PAR 64 cans:

With Very Narrow Spot (VNS) bulb:

Par 64 VNS Photometrics.jpg

With a Medium Flood (MFL) bulb:

Par 64 MFL photometrics.jpg
 
I had to use a Mole-elipso(?) once for a shoot. Coming from theatrical lighting background as well I thought that thing was a POS. What I would have given for a simple Source 4 in that situation.
 
NextWaveG said:
We ran stingers to each light. I had 4x 100' stingers that were rated for 15 amps which allowed us to distribute the wattage pretty evenly. I worked with their maintenance guy to make sure we weren't overloading any circuits. See picture below.

The frame and silk is from Digital Juice: http://www.digitaljuice.com/products/products.asp?pid=2420 I have two of them and love them. When they are on sale for $399, they are a great buy.

View attachment 67067
Click to expand...

I bought one of Digital Juice 8' Butterflys a while back. Does yours have a seam down the middle? Does it affect the shot at all? I haven't had the reason to put mine into play.
 
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