is this a good lighting kit for 35mm adapter?

J

jdkhanlian

Active member
I am looking to spend up to $700 on a lighting kit that I can use with my hpx170 and letus 35mm adapter. I want the kit to be versatile, since I will be using it for daytime and nightime shooting. One of the main places I will be shooting with the kit is in a studio space, which has a lot of natural light during the day, and a lot of space to cover when lighting at night.

I was looking into getting the MX series lighting kit from tube tape:

http://www.tubetape.net/servlet/the-93/MXLIGHT-TWIN-LAMP-THREE/Detail

When mixing the light with daylight I figured I would cover the barndoors or softbox with CTB gels.

I wanted to get peoples' feedback as to whether this makes sense or if there might be a better option out there for the price.

Thanks.
 
i have thoes, they are basically britek lights. Quality is minimal. but they make light, and the color isnt too bad. i have been using them for four years, and complaining the whole time... but you know what? in the end of the day they work, and have been working for 4 years......

I have to say, they are a good place to start cause you get three softlights, for less than 700$.

They also can be pars, and with some diffusion, can act like standard par units w/ barn doors. make sure they come with them....

If you look though DVXuser history, i've lit practically every film ive shot with thoes lights....
 
Hm, those things looks like halogen worklights that has been fitted with soft boxes; no control at all. For $700 you really won't be able to do a lot on 500w fixtures, especially in a large space. Slapping CTB on the light will cost you significant light output with the softboxes already in front.

Bad idea to get all softboxes fixture anyway, very hard to create shadows and depth. When starting out I would say get a few focusable fixtures so you can learn how to control lights effectively. Look into used Lowel fixtures for this; they certainly offer better resale values when you want to upgrade.
 
Really dude? i use em all the time... on a HPX170 and Letus light loss is minimal... Also if you put proper bulbs in a work light they are now actually 3200k, the fixture doesnt matter its the bulbs....

plus they are 2x 500w bulbs per fixture so they are more like 1k's.....
 
Thank you both for your input. It's good to get different opinions; I am hoping to get some more input.

They do have 2 500w halogen bulbs that fit into each fixture, and burn at 3200k. That seems like a good amount of light. Are there drawbacks to halogen bulbs?

I'll admit, they do look like work lights, but besides not looking as professional, is that a big drawback? I thought the big drawback of worklights was not being able to control the light, but since they do come with barndoors, I would think that they might be ok.

I am sure that a lowel kit that costs a lot more is better, but I am not sure I know the reasons why it's better. Is it durability? Light quality? Something else?

Timur, it sounds like you think they are a good value, but what are the things that have you complaining about them?

Thanks again for the help. I'm just trying to be an educated consumer.
 
go on ebay, find some old Mole's (I found 6 lights all won for under 80$) Rewire old lights if you have to. I got an old 1k Colortran for 11$ shipped on a starting 99cent bid. I rewired it for 30 bucks with a 16ft cord.

Look on ebay for Lowel's, Mole's, or Colortrans
 
Also, I am not looking to do any rewiring. I am not opposed to getting lights and accessories off ebay, but it would be nice to get all the basics at once, which is what the package I am considering seems to offer... three lights for a three point lighting setup, barndoors, soft boxes, boom pole for the hair light, sand bag.

I am sure that the nicer lights have some advantages over the lighting kit that I am considering (http://www.tubetape.net/servlet/the-...P-THREE/Detail)

... but I am just trying to figure out what the advantages are.

All experts out there, please chime in.
 
TimurCivan said:
Really dude? i use em all the time... on a HPX170 and Letus light loss is minimal... Also if you put proper bulbs in a work light they are now actually 3200k, the fixture doesnt matter its the bulbs....

plus they are 2x 500w bulbs per fixture so they are more like 1k's.....
Click to expand...

What? Are we using the same letus? :( :(

I'm using the HVX of course, but either way, I always have to use at LEAST a 2k if I'm shooting it through any sort of diffusion to get an okay exposure. I'm usually still close to being wide open too...a 500 watt light through a softbox wouldn't even begin to make a dent in any sort of room as your key...

Maybe the HPX is a lot better in lowlight than the HVX...I haven't used it too extensively, so I wouldn't know. All I do know though is that shooting with an adapter I want the biggest light that I can safely plug into a household circuit.
 
their build quality isnt perfect.... and things like you need a screw driver and 10 min to change a lamp. where as in a lowel its no tools and takes seconds...
 
Thanks for the responses.

I do know that the HPX170 is better in low light than the HVX200, so maybe that accounts for the difference in light needs you guys see. I think the HPX170 is on par with the HVX200a, which was an improvement over the HVX200. The light kit that I am considering has three 1000 watts lights (2 x 500w halogen bulbs per light).

low-light shooting plan:
Use the barn doors on my 1K key light(no diffusion), and a softbox for my 1K fill light, and a softbox for my 1K hair light.

day-time shooting plan (inside a studio with a lot of natural light):
same setup but with CTB gel. I figure the light loss through the CTB gel will be an acceptable trade-off for getting the right color.


In both situations I imagine my nikon lens will be close to open (1.4 or 2.8 depending on the lens) and my camera iris will be open completely.

Do you think I am still going to be hurting for light?
 
Whether there's enough light or not really depends on the angle. For close up and tigher shots you have the options on moving the light a lot closer so even a smaller fixture would provide adequate light. But for wide shots you're really gonna be hard press to light a large space (i'm assuming the a "studio" would be fairly large) with just 3 lights (really just 2 because 3000w is too much for a standard 20 amps circuit).
 
RyanT said:
What? Are we using the same letus? :( :(

I'm using the HVX of course, but either way, I always have to use at LEAST a 2k if I'm shooting it through any sort of diffusion to get an okay exposure. I'm usually still close to being wide open too...a 500 watt light through a softbox wouldn't even begin to make a dent in any sort of room as your key...

Maybe the HPX is a lot better in lowlight than the HVX...I haven't used it too extensively, so I wouldn't know. All I do know though is that shooting with an adapter I want the biggest light that I can safely plug into a household circuit.
Click to expand...

HPX170 is a stop faster. I use a SGpro rev3, so i have even more lightloss, and i use it with a HVX200 "classic".

The HPX letus combo is surprisingly light sensitive. Used it on ColdCAlls. That thing was about as sensitive as a HVX200 naked lens. maybe a tad bit less....

The 1k softboxes were more than enough.....
 
TimurCivan said:
HPX170 is a stop faster. I use a SGpro rev3, so i have even more lightloss, and i use it with a HVX200 "classic".

The HPX letus combo is surprisingly light sensitive. Used it on ColdCAlls. That thing was about as sensitive as a HVX200 naked lens. maybe a tad bit less....

The 1k softboxes were more than enough.....
Click to expand...

Well then. I'm officially jealous.
 
I was using 500w omni's with difusion and and a 1k with a silk screen and I still had tons of room to play with.

I dont know whats up with your adapter RyanT
 
Thank you everyone for the input. I think I will be going with the mx series light kit that I posted before. I realize it isn't perfect, but it seems like the most affordable 3 light kit that will get the job done.
 
Those are great lights that i used at the beginning of my shooting adventure. The reason why i don't anymore:
-- the 1k bulb melts the bulb's sockets rendering the light useless until you rewire it.
-- the replacement softbox i got was not of the original easy-to-set up softbox.
 
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