I need lights! - suggestions

roxics

roxics

Veteran
I really don't know exactly what I'm looking for. Lighting has never been my strongest skill. Many because I've never had a lot of lighting kit to work with and experiment. Mostly a lot of flat looking images where I'm using hard lights bouncing uncontrollably.

I'll be spending the next year roaming around shooting various interviews. Most of it will be on location and some of it will be greenscreen also on location (portable greenscreen).

Right now I have two Lowell tota pros with umbrellas, one 500watt Spyder lite with 24" softbox and a reflector with reflector stand. That's the extent of the companies lighting kit I've been working with for the past three years.

My boss wants better lighting but is kinda cheap. He also refuses to rent lighting as he'd rather the company own it. But he also see's $400 as a lot of money for a light.

Myself and my project manager are trying to get him to buy us some better gear since we have this big year long project with various shoots and a decent paycheck from a client. So we're hoping we can finally get him to spend some money on a decent basic lighting kit.

I could also use other things like stands, flags, apple boxes and more as well. We don't have anything.

I would love to shoot my interviews with soft lights. I'm sick of constantly dealing with my talent sweating, shining up and looking all sick and contrasty on screen. I was thinking something like kinoflo's, but one fixture alone is about $900 and I'm not sure my boss will go for that.

I could also really use some control. None of our three lights right now have any barn doors or ways to attach gels or anything.

I also need good lights for a green screen.

Maybe you guys can give me a few good suggestions. I'm hoping.
 
Look for used Colortran heads on eBay.

The used Lowel stuff on eBay is all overpriced.

Avoid the cheapo no-name crap that seems to litter the "continuous lighting" category on eBay.

.
 
Honestly, we could give you a million opinions, but until you have some idea of a budget, we're just pissin in the wind.
 
PerroneFord said:
Honestly, we could give you a million opinions, but until you have some idea of a budget, we're just pissin in the wind.
Click to expand...

I know what you mean. I wish I could give a budget. At this point we're just trying to come up with something to present the boss. He could laugh at us for asking for a $300 light or drop $5000 on a kit if he's in a good mood and knows we'll get the money back.

For the sake of argument. Lets say I can't spend over $2500 on a kit. That kit has to cover me for everything from shooting location based interviews and indoor scenery shots to talking heads in front of a green screen. He wants the footage to have dimension and not look so flat. I want the footage of people to not look so harsh. Clients want to look good talking to the camera.
 
What PerroneFord said.

Also
roxics said:
My boss wants better lighting but is kinda cheap...
Click to expand...

No offense to your boss, but here's a good analogy about this kind of reasoning (first post):
http://reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=33472

Overall, if your boss wants to deliver quality results and is interested in getting future work, he should seriously think about getting good gear. The old saying "you get what you pay for" exists for a reason.

For lights, you might want to check out: http://www.coollights.biz

Something like this might be a good place to start:
http://www.coollights.biz/cl455-cool-lights-watt-fluorescent-video-soft-light-p-31.html
 
Ok, a couple of quickies.

1. You can turn a hard light into a softlight without too much trouble, but you can never make a soft light into a hard one.

2. C-Stands are your friends. Combine them with clamps, gatorboard/foamboard and you have softlight or flags.

3. Lowel makes decent cheap hard lights. I like their ProLights.

4. Buy one softlight (Rifa, Kino, Cool Light) just for speed. Sometimes all you need is a nice fill or a soft key and you need it quick.

5. You can reflect a hard light off an umbralla, shoot through an umbrella, shoot through a silk, bounce off a white card, bounce off a wall, bounce off a ceiling, bounce off a reflector, etc. and get all kinds of different light quality. 1 light, different grip, lots of uses. Grip is cheaper than lights and uses less power.

6. Buy some decent stands.

7. If your boss is a cheap SOB, find a new boss. You'll never get anywhere working for someone too cheap to make themselves look good.


That's all I got right now.
 
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