Interview Video Lighting Kit $1000

L

lwj033

New member
Greetings, I'm investing on lights and I'm stuck here choosing which.
I'm an HDSLR shooter and my budget is $1000.
I usually need these lights for interviews and multi-purposes.
I'm not too deep into the product's details, so it would be great if you could recommend among the provided links.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/300828-REG/Lowel_401450_Interview_Three_Light_Kit_Soft.html
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...ctor_401450_K77_Interview_Tungsten_Light.html
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/626912-REG/Smith_Victor_401409_SL270_3_Light_Video.html
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...r_401440_K78_Professional_Portrait_Three.html
Thanks
 
Not really a fan of any of those. I'd recommend what many others will also tell you - used Mole lights from eBay or craigslist. Even if they're used, they'll hold up better than those, they'll be easier to service in the event that something does go wrong, and they'll probably give you nicer results.
 
+1 Lowell's are made of toothpicks and bubblegum...they do not hold up well and should be last choice if you cannot find used moles, etc.
 
If I were putting together a low cost interview lighting kit, I would likely go for something along this route.

2 Low cost 4x55w biax fluorescent lights
1 Z96 LED light
1 used 650w Fresnel
4 light stands
1 power strip
2 25 foot stingers
2 sheets of 1/4 minus green gel
1 sheet of opal frost gel
handfull of C47's

DIY grid for the Fluorescent light made from plastic overhead recessed light grid, inexpensive at places like Home Depot & Lowes.


All the Best!

Dave
 
I've had really good luck with the CoolLights CDM hardlights for backlighting. I have the CDM 70 and 150. Both are daylight balanced (I've decided to stop fighting with daylight and embrace it). Then I have a couple of softboxes similar to these

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Westcott-Ph...ultDomain_0&hash=item58845b9095#ht_699wt_1165


with these bulbs, which are 750w equivilent:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/E27-5500K-1...ultDomain_0&hash=item2a108d2a4e#ht_4096wt_952

So there you have a fully daylight balanced kit. Just turn off the room lights and shoot. No WB conflict with any daylight coming in the windows, unless it is nearly sunset.
 
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mainstreetprod said:
I've had really good luck with the CoolLights CDM hardlights for backlighting. I have the CDM 70 and 150. Both are daylight balanced (I've decided to stop fighting with daylight and embrace it). Then I have a couple of softboxes similar to these

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Westcott-Ph...ultDomain_0&hash=item58845b9095#ht_699wt_1165


with these bulbs, which are 750w equivilent:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/E27-5500K-1...ultDomain_0&hash=item2a108d2a4e#ht_4096wt_952

So there you have a fully daylight balanced kit. Just turn off the room lights and shoot. No WB conflict with any daylight coming in the windows, unless it is nearly sunset.
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Thanks for the Advice, but I'm also thinking of getting LEDs instead.
Do you think it will be okay for interview use?
The cheap ones like these.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/140603357...:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1436.l2649#ht_12448wt_1397
 
I'm currently needing a Lighting kit for my features too.
I do a lot of documentaries and Interviews. Most likely I'll be needing a kit for 3 point lighting.
I understand the fact that it is an investment so It would be best to get quality equipment.
However Having 3 arri lights and gels wouldn't fit my budget.
My budget is $1000USD. I've been working with on camera LED and Hot cheap tungsten.
I found that I need to upgrade, and I'm looking for some kit that best suit my needs.
I like different lights either it's soft or harsh. However, I want it in a compact size so that I can travel easily.
If possible, I also want a dimmable light. So, I thought of investing on an ephoto LED light: which has great reviews online.
However, It doesn't ship to my country: Philippines.
I was also thinking of investing on lowel kits found here: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/2 ... LB_30.html
However, I also came upon a great blog by alan(found here): http://www.budgetfilmmaker.co.uk/1/post ... ition.html
So, I also switched back to LEDs. I'm a DSLR shooter therefore I don't need a ton of light.
However I am also in need of shooting in a deep depth of field.
I'm planning to invest on 2 of these 1000 LEDs: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/140603357002? ... 448wt_1397
and 1 500 LED: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/120774204192? ... 432wt_1397
and 3 light stands: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Light-Stand-195 ... 874wt_1397
My concern is, Did anyone have experience with these? Alan claims that it works really great.
I'm sure I'll be investing again on lights in 2-3 years so I just need a kit to start and still have great lighting.
Or is there any kit that you can recommend within my budget?[FONT='Lucida Grande', 'Trebuchet MS', Verdana, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]
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Having been a Tungsten devotee for ever really, I suspect strongly that if I were investing in an interview setup then LEDs would now be in there - certainly for the 'supporting' kit. I really like my 650 and 1K Arri Fresnels for key, and maybe where I want a distinct, hardish beck light, but some LED panels for softlight fills really make sense now. They are now bright enough to do the job if you avoid the really cheap ones, and the light that emerges now starts to look like real light and not some kind of strange torch like product. LED manufacture has settled down and optically they're better. I always felt up to last year that every single LED element had a different shaped light output - as if the place the actual emitter was inside the plastic was a bit 'random'. I still don't think the LED kit designed to mimic the old tungsten keys really works (sorry Arri - but I just didn't like what I saw), but this too will come - meaning if you buy a second hand Arri now, they're quite cheap (or indeed, even buy the Chinese ones - I have one I cannot tell from the real thing apart from a little less accuracy in construction). At some point you could then swap the tungsten for an LED and get the heat savings. At the moment, I really would suggest not spending too much money because everything is evolving so fast. My old redhead kit in the store has been out once this year, the set of fluorescents with umbrellas hasn't been out of the bag at all - but the older, bigger Arris (and clones) have done it for me. I really can't see much current clever kit being around in 15 years - so it needs time to settle. It does seem that anything small still has a price premium which some people can live with for the convenience of physically small kit - but once you add either bounce or diffuser for soft light the size goes back up.

So my own recommendation at the moment would be to source second hand units from the people who have done the change to keep up with the Jones (do you have that expression in the US, or is it just a UK one?) Decent, sturdy kit with a long lifespan - until LED really beds in for key, and maybe some cheaper Chinese soft panels.

What I have discovered is that the really cheap PAR56/64 LED cans sold for the theatre/disco market are very good value for coloured backgrounds. They have a totally rubbish white, rotten rendition and colour splurges if you mix them onto a wall close in - but for lighting a magnolia painted wall with something interesting, they're great - and really cheap. Most are designed to be run from DMX, but the ones I have have DIP switches that allow you to select solid red, blue, green, yellow, cyan and magenta on the housing. Used as up lights they can be very effective in interview situations where the background is plain, and dotted around hotel bedrooms onto the drapes they can make a standard bedroom look much nicer for interview purposes.
http://www.thomann.de/gb/led_light_led_par56_polished.htm This kind of thing
188398.jpg
 
OP... I enjoyed very much Guy Holts articles on light and even more LED light and why its not really perfect yet. NAB 2012 will hopefully yield new products that have dealt with the unavoidble color spikes that you get from current LEDs.
If you chooe to go LED dont save money..... You'll just end up with nasty looking skin making your clients look awful.
You can minus green or magenta them but you cant rid of it totally.

Id wait and see whats coming, atleast in regards to LED. Until then tunsgten is still nice :-) you can get cheap lights taht pretty much have the same qualiy of light as fx Arri.
 
Id Get two Dedo DL4s (skip the stands and bag)

and a key light that is either

SOme 500-800 watt tungesten (and a reflector board)

or a Fellini panel - which is more portable but les versatile the the tungsten

S
 
Interesting...Does no one uses lowel light here? I thought they were a respectable brand. And I was gonna forge out at least a $1000 too for lowel light.
 
I use Lowel Pro lights, DP lights, and Tota lights. They might not be the most indestructible lights ( I've never had a problem with mine, but then I always pack with proper cases ), but they are very compact, and you can pack a full kit in to a small case.

The only problem with Lowel lights is that they are tungsten, and often you need to balance to daylight sources, which means using daylight filters which eat up 1-1.5 stops of your light output. They also get hot as hell, so you have to allow for cool-down before you can pack up and move to your next location. ( always keep a pair of gloves on hand to avoid burnt fingers )

The alternative for me would be LED lights, but you don't get many lights on a $1,000 budget. ( two 900 LED lights that are one color balance will eat up most of your $1,000 ) But they are dimmable and run cool, so you can pack-up immediately after a shoot.
 
wbrock001 said:
+1 Lowell's are made of toothpicks and bubblegum...they do not hold up well and should be last choice if you cannot find used moles, etc.
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I have 4 Lowel 1k DPs and 3 Totas since 1983 been around the world many times. They are beat to hell but never quit once. I have Arri's and Moles too. All good.
 
Victor Nhat Nguyen said:
Interesting...Does no one uses lowel light here? I thought they were a respectable brand. And I was gonna forge out at least a $1000 too for lowel light.
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They are very good, but difficult to make shots look good without a lot of experience. They are hot hard light. Like trying to train an elephant to do tricks.
If you know how to diffuses them and use flags, gobos, and keep the damn doors closed they can be very good.
For sure Fresnel lamps like Arri's and Moles are pretty light right out of the can, but heavy for traveling. In film days we needed 1000 wattsto get anything done. Especially shooting product shots with a 4x5 view camera.
Now with digital cameras that don't handle contrast as well as film it can simply be more light than you want. I replaced all my bulbs with 500w and still like a sledge hammer.
My lower Rifa 750w is a really nice light. Maybe made of toothpicks and bubblegum but still on the job since 1992 with no problems.

I recently made the switch to LED lamps. I bought some bulbs and made my own cans. They are really nice and put out a lot of power for the watts. Don't laugh but this set of 5 lights are 7watt each. and @6400k very good spectrum. I went looking for some LED lamps for video but most are batt powered and expensive with not a lot of power. I just needed something for small tabletop shooting and got tired of being blinded every time I switched on the Lowels, Arris and Moles.
Don't laugh again but each lamp cost under $15 and they are so small I can carry 5 in a laptop bag. It's sort of hard to believe after collecting every light under the sun for years, my go to kit will be the kit that cost 75 bucks.
I'll post some pictures of them and the results from my shoot.
 
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For 25 years or so, my light kit consisted of four Lowel Omnis, two Totas and two Softlight II's, plus all kinds of stands, gel frames, clamps, umbrellas, diffusion material and all the rest. They went everywhere and did everything. I had to replace a few screws, switches, knobs, lamp sockets and other bits and pieces over the years, but the basic lights never failed me.

But as others have said, these are high-wattage tungsten lights, hot and power hungry, and (except for the Softlights) very harsh sources unless you bounce or diffuse them. When I rebuilt my whole kit from the ground up starting about five years ago, I made a reasoned decision to go with cooler running light sources exclusively. I now have a mix of LEDs, fluorescents and CDM lights, all daylight balanced. I can pack up much quicker after a shoot without waiting for the lights to cool off, there is much less risk of blowing a circuit breaker in the various found locations where I often work, and the performers stay cooler and more comfortable (and therefore, deliver better performances) because I'm not cooking them all the time. I don't spend as much on replacement bulbs, either.

I owe a great debt to Lowel because I really learned to light with their instruments, and they were lightweight, sturdy and professional lights I could actually afford in my early years. I would still use their LED and fluorescent lights (and, in fact, have a Rifa 55 fitted out with flo bulbs that I use all the time), but I'm much happier not having to work with the hot tungsten bulbs anymore.

- Greg
 
Greg Smith said:
25 years or so

high-wattage tungsten lights, hot and power hungry

blowing a circuit breaker

performers stay cooler and I'm not cooking them all the time.

I don't spend as much on replacement bulbs, either.



/QUOTE]

I agree with all the above. Here is a shot of my trusty (now crusty) Lowel travel kit that has been to hell and back.

The other shots are a 7 watt LED spot I picked up for $10 bucks. It is 6400k and a 50,000 hour life. The housing is 4 1/2 inch PVC and the aluminum bracket I bent in my vice in the shop. The complete lamp including hardware and wiring was $12.50 so a set of 5 cost $62.50. They sit right on my Lowel stands

I found 18 watt LEDs and the technology is moving forward every day. So I plan to make some more powerful ones.

Now when I cook meat I just use my grill in the back yard

I will get my light meter out later and see how much power the 7 watt actually generates but for a 5D, 5 of these babies should get the job done in a small space like an interview or tabletop set, plus 6400k is perfect to add to some daylight peaking through the windows from outside.
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Love it! Your old Lowel kit looks almost exactly as ratty as mine did when I finally retired it for good last summer. I mean that as a compliment -- I kind of admire old beat up stuff like rusty trucks and such that looks like it's lived a hard life but can still do the job.

Those LED lights you've built are slick. In fact, except for the open back, they look almost exactly like the track light fixtures I have lighting up my home office/editing room, which I fitted out with 7 watt LEDs just a couple of months ago. 35 total watts of LEDs does the same job as 250 watts worth of the halogen bulbs I used to use. I never thought of using those for photography, but the idea is intriguing now that I've seen yours.

- Greg
 
Greg Smith said:
retired
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Can't actually retire an old team of sled dogs. They took me to the North Poll and back more than once. If they are still willing to run then they can run.

I will definitely keep them on the job for things like filling in a factory shot or large space that needs a little kick. They also work well with half blue gells as a key and back light for a warm sunny effect. What a lot of people don't realize about tungsten 3200k color temperature is that it's the quality of light we all wait around till sunset for that perfect warm glow. Half or quarter blue gells can get the effect in full sunlight. That is where 4 open face 1000 watt hammers come in handy.

The LEDs will just get carried along as emergency lights for small shots I used 3 of them yesterday for a food shot. They are really great and so far I haven't gone over $100 and I have 6 brand spank'in new LED lights.
 
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I lit my first paid job in 1976 and over the years have discovered that quality of light is far more important than quantity. Everyone talks about the nasty yellow Home Depot lights as if they are special - but have you ever used them to light a large plain wall - there are strange edges, dark lines from the grills and they just blast, they don't light. Many of the new cheap LED fixtures are the same - light comes out, but the quality of light is pretty unpleasant. Spend a few thousand on something properly designed and the light is so much better. In all my time lighting with tungsten, I've found many dire branded items, and some really nice ones. Lighting is more complex than brightness. Take these cheap fixtures and use two and try to make them blend together. Or don't, because they just don't work that way. Take just one of the LEDs in these units, stick gaffer tape on the rest and shine it on the wall. Look at the result, then tyry a different LED. They probably don't have a circular beam, and they perhaps don't even have the leds aligned the same way. Some of the LEDs may be smooth, others very peaky. Some might have come from a different batch and could even be a different colour. They light up. That's the only feature you can depend on. If all you want is illumination - no problems, but as a tool they are a blunt knife!
 
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