Home made Kino Part 1

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Re: Home made Kino Part 1

[quote author=Jarred Land link=board=lighting;num=1092848834;start=0#0 date=08/18/04 at 10:07:13]
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Hey Jarred,

Image 8 won't show up, because the smiley-conversion algorithm is turning parenthesis-8 into the sunglass smiley. You might want to rename image 8 or disable the sunglass smiley so your picture will show up...
 
Re: Home made Kino Part 1

Guys i was wondering what is the equivalent of a 40 watt daylight fluorescent bulb speaking in tungsten power.
I will be needing a pretty decent amount of these possibly around 10 i am trying to find out how much power i am messing with here.
I was looking at these bulbs here http://www.greenhome.com/products/institutional_sales/light_bulbs/fsl000007/

Jarred where did you get your bulbs along with the ballast and other features?
Let's not let this thread flood away.
Thanks !
 
Re: Home made Kino Part 1

A 40-watt fluo ostensibly puts out as many lumens as a 150-watt tungsten bulb. However, the light pattern is much different: fluo's are inherently soft, with very quick light falloff. A bare tungsten bulb is extremely hard with very little falloff.

So comparative output is dependent on how far away you are from the light...
 
Re: Home made Kino Part 1

Great design being a designer why didnt i think about it earlir?
Thanks and it really opened up my mind.
 
Re: Home made Kino Part 1

I thought about doing a kit like this but was turned away from the idea when I was told that the frequency of the even the electronic ballast (like the ones found at places like Home Depot) are quite a bit slower than the high frequency electronic ballast that Kinos are using. In other words they might still cause flicker problems at different shutter speeds. Could you to a quick test and run the DVX100 up and down thru its preset shutter speed settings and see if you pick up any flicker problems. Sometimes the flicker will look more like a color shift that is constantly fading in and out. If it passes this test let us all know the make and model of the ballast. Nice, clean build by the way.

Oh yeah another difference is Kinos give out more light/per watt then the consumer flos. How much more Im not sure.
 
Re: Home made Kino Part 1

Another thing to consider is that these electronic ballasts available in hardware stores are VERY noisy...both acousticly (at high frequencies) and electronicly. You need to keep them far away from mic cables, camera cables, audio and video equipment or anything else attached to the same power or electronic network as your recording devices.

I've seen noise in monitors that were plugged into the same circuit as a fluroescent ballast.

Obviously some are noiser then others, and there may be some good ways of filtering the AC noise and shielding the ballast, I'm looking into both of those options for a light I'm building.

Just make sure to carefully check the light with your equipment before you get into the field. It's better to know where the noise happens ahead of time so you can eliminate it on set.

The best way to check for the color shifting you describe is to set up a camera and shoot a whiteish subject under a fluroescent for at least 5 minutes...then dump the footage into an NLE and watch it in fast motion. If there's color shifting, you'll see it in the background and on the white subject.
 
Re: Home made Kino Part 1

Anything electrical to me is far fetched....meaning I don't have no experience making or building anything pertaining to something electrical...I darn blew my car up once trying to hook up some fog lights! With that said, is this process of making a home made Kino easy enough for some one with no electrical background to make?
 
Re: Home made Kino Part 1

Its a easy build but thoughs ballast have enough electrical power to KILL you if you wire it wrong or touch the wrong wires. Sounds like you may be better off skipping this project DVX100Shooter.

Jarred-
Let us know as soon as you do a flicker test. Thanks.
 
Re: Home made Kino Part 1

Thanks Jarred...you do have to tell me once! ;-)

I'm only kidding. Im just overly excited and very interested in what you'll find out because if it works it will be one hell of a great light to have and Im sure to have a few of these things in my bag soon. Thanks.
 
Re: Home made Kino Part 1

I made a couple of these for use in a music video. I wanted the gritty green light w/ flicker. Problem was, the damned things are made too well. The light looked white and I couldn't *get* them to flicker! Even when put through a 650 dimmer. We ended up white balancing through 1/2 nimus green to get the look I wanted.

I also bought a third unit to take apart and wire the bulbs apart from the metal housing, encased in the plastic tubes and connected to the ballast w/ zip line.(like a kino can do) Forget it. Too much wiring. Way too complicated. Thought it would be simple. Gave up at 3am the night before the shoot (7am call).

The video can be seen at:

http://homepage.mac.com/erik_e/theneeds/

BTW, I believe the correct term for these lights are "ghetto-flo" lights.

-J
 
Re: Home made Kino Part 1

I've had frustrating moments trying to get fluorescents to flicker as well. Flo ballasts don't operate at 120v internally, which is why most aren't affected by AC dimmers. Usually if you put a flo on a standard dimmer, it simply won't strike...as it needs the full AC to charge the lamps before lighting.

There are dimmable ballasts with the associated dimmer controllers, but they're not cheap...and they don't flicker.

The only way I've gotten a regular flo to flicker is by screwing with the contact until it started to arc slightly, causing a flicker. There's probably something simple you can do to the ballast to cause the light to flicker, and the only other thing I could think would work is to use old bulbs.

As far as getting a green look or a specific color, the ACM has a great section on commercial fluorescent bulbs. That'd be a good place to start.
 
Re: Home made Kino Part 1

For a ghetto "flicker" look... how 'bout running a box fan in front of the light? Cheeseball idea, I know, but maybe it'd give you the flicker look...
 
Re: Home made Kino Part 1

<<<For a ghetto "flicker" look... how 'bout running a box fan in front of the light? Cheeseball idea, I know, but maybe it'd give you the flicker look... >>>

Yeah, but not if the fluo is a practical, plus you would have to get a fan bigger than 4'.

-J
 
yes 3" is fine.. jesus i lost this thread then just found it again. for all you who didnt know, Zoomforce was my old screen name.
 
If your trying to get a fan/shadow effect it wont work very well. The ghetto-flo light is too soft(diffused). You'd need a fresnel or ellipsoidal light to get those kind of shadows.

This rig would be great for doing interviews and matching daylight. You could work the lights up close, and no heat.

Nice.

Jeff Patnaude
 
Good looking plan... . My question is does this light work well as a key? If I had a Britek key for example, would this replace that?

If not, what is the main use for something like this?
 
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