kino flo

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DVX100Shooter

Veteran
has anyone used any of the Kino Flo lights with their DVX? If so, did you have good results? I am thinking about getting one at some point. I would make my own but I have no clue and I am not an electrician! You all would be hearing about me on the 6 o clock news! LOL!
 
Re: kino flo

I have a Diva 400 (the one with a dimmer and 4 tubes). It's 220 W of light and you can buy lamps that are tungsten or daylight balanced. It puts out a relatively soft light, has low current draw for the wattage and runs cool compared to other types of fixtures.

I love it and at some point will probably purchase another. ;D
 
Re: kino flo

Excelent results! With anyone of the Kino models!
Another option are the Lowel Caselite4 Kits...
Very maneuverables, more portables, same wattage as the Diva 400, cheaper -include tubes... maybe, better!
I personally recommed the Caselite4 Daylight Kit- reliables!
8)
 
Re: kino flo

I've got a couple of the CaseLite4's.  They're pretty good, not quite as rugged as the Diva's, but much smaller and more portable.  The Kino has a dimmable ballast, whereas the CaseLite doesn't; but you can individually switch tubes on and off, so it's about as controllable.

The CaseLite is great for grab 'n' go stuff... everything fits in the one case, which is also the light, so you have a 4-bank fluorescent, with a stand, barn doors, eggcrate, everything.  Fully configured it's a few hundred less than the Diva 400, but uses the same tubes.

Either light is spectacular.  The CaseLite is a little less expensive, a lot smaller/more portable in its case (but the fixture is about the same size); but the Diva is a Kino, which is the gold standard in film/video fluorescent lighting.

If you want inexpensive fluo's, Walter Graff is going to be offering some for something like $200, which is excellent -- the CaseLite4 is about a grand and the Diva is like $1200 or so once you outfit it with tubes.
 
Re: kino flo

I am using a three light kino flo kit for some time now (one 2ft 4-bank an 2 2ft 2-banks) and since I got them I hardly use anything else. Sometimes when I need a little more "punch" I just add some Dedolights and that's it.
 
Re: kino flo

The nice thing about the regular kino lights is that the tubes work outside of the housings, allowing you a large degree of freedom in placement.

I've taped them up almost everywhere.
 
Re: kino flo

I noticed in my recent B&H book catalog, they have a Mole Richardson 4 Tube Flouro light with dimmer for $744.95. Mole is a good company right?
 
Re: kino flo

Yepp, Mole Richardson is around the block for a long time.
Many of their product names are now standard in gaffers
language (Baby, Tweenie, Junior, Senior, etc.). This doesn't
happen if your products are crap.
 
Re: kino flo

[quote author=CinemaElectronika link=board=lighting;num=1104373285;start=0#2 date=12/29/04 at 21:27:56]Excelent results! With anyone of the Kino models!
Another option are the Lowel Caselite4 Kits...
Very maneuverables, more portables, same wattage as the Diva 400, cheaper -include tubes... maybe, better!
I personally recommed the Caselite4 Daylight Kit- reliables!
8)[/quote]

The Caselite kits also come with stands included.
 
Re: kino flo

So for an interview set up how many Kino's or Caselites would you need? One for the talent and one for the interviewer? Then use other lights for fill and back? I like watching shows like 20/20 they sometimes cut to a super wide shot that you can see the whole set up. I remember seeing them place Kino's all around the room. With flags and whiteboards on C-stands. The shot was long enough for me to notice all that stuff! LOL!
 
Re: kino flo

The stands are included in the CaseLite kit, but the stand is pretty much overtaxed. It's convenient having a stand in the kit, but it'd be nice if the stand was sturdier.

As for "how many", it all depends on the look you want. For a normal talking-head interview one fluo should be all you really need, you can use cheap tungsten fixtures for the background and hairlight, but it's oh so nice for the interview subject, to have an icy cool soft fluo as the keylight rather than a flaming hot 1k in a softbox.
 
Re: kino flo

I'm shooting a short theatrical with 4 actors in a Mix Control Room studio environment with low ceilings and generally tight space. I was thinking of Flo's for soft keys up front, as high as I can. Problem is, they have to be very small because of limited ceiling height and distance from subjects (no drop ceilings).

I was also thinking of using the very small tubes to light faces from below at a distance of 2 feet as soft fills/catch lights, hiding them in the console somehow. Are they strong enough to do this?

In fact, does this scheme make sense at all.
 
Re: kino flo

Flo's are good for small spaces, especially something like the Diva or Caselite because you get a 4' tube's worth of light out of a 2' wide fixture (they use U-shaped tubes, so you get 55 watts of light from one tube, vs. about 40 watts of light out of a conventional 4' tube). The CaseLite is fairly flat, it's maybe about 6" deep. But most Kino's have the ability to actually remove the tubes from the housings so you can tape 'em up just about anywhere -- that's the ultimate for flexibility in light placement. I don't think the Diva's can do that, but the regular 4' or 2' fixtures usually can.
 
Re: kino flo

Barry, thanks so much for your help.

You seem to have a really good handle on these lights so I was wondering: would I need (4) 2ft/2 Bank or (4) 2 ft/4bank to softly cover these 4 folks sitting/standing just 2 - 3 feet from the lights? What about those tiny Flo's?

The aesthetic problem is that I'm trying for intimate lighting that feels....well, a lot like a Mixing studio - you know, pools of light that fall off to darkness. I have abandoned lighting schemes that might give me that because of space/ceiling limitations.
 
Re: kino flo

If you're in a limited size area, these flo's won't do what you want, they'll blast light just about everywhere. Flo's are mostly uncontrolled soft light, although you can get some eggcrate to give them a little directionality. But if you want actual darkness, pools of light that trail off into the dark -- I don't think the flo's are what you'd want. You'd be better off with a directional hard light, something like a small fresnel with some barn doors or a snoot to corral the light where you want it to go.

A set of small Dedo's or Lowel Pro-Lights might do what you want. You could hang 'em off C-stands, so you could position the C-stand arm up near the roof and position lights off the arm (which is like a ghetto way of making a lighting grid). Then use snoots, doors, or black wrap to shape the light.

I can't really picture exactly what you're doing, so experiment experiment experiment. If you really, really want to do it with fluorescents, you may have to go with low-power fluo's (maybe GraffLights) and get them really close to the subjects, so that there'll be enough lumens to get illumination on the subject but the dropoff will let the rest go to black. You might still need to rig some foam-core barn doors (or black-wrap doors) to keep spill under control. But without knowing truly what you're trying to accomplish, I'd think you'd have an easier time of it with some mini-pars or dedo's or pro-lights.
 
Re: kino flo

"If you really, really want to do it with fluorescents, you may have to go with low-power fluo's (maybe GraffLights) and get them really close to the subjects, so that there'll be enough lumens to get illumination on the subject but the dropoff will let the rest go to black. "


i think you've hit i. Some of these lights are simply too bright. Find yourself a 15 watt flouro with a 90+CRI lamp and you'll have a nice light to light with. I don't even bother with barn doors, rather I black gaff up two sides of the fixture leaving a slit in the direction of the talent. It cuts down stray light.
 
Re: kino flo

http://ug.cynikal.net/nomad.html

There is a part in this video ( I say around 1/3 into the video ) where you see 4 guys rapping and a girl.. there should be kinos in the background.. that is lit w kinos.. and the DVX.. ( my first experience w the DVX Feb 2003 )? i don't remember..

check the lighting yourself..

CLD
 
Re: kino flo

Barry, I know you lean toward Dedo's but I have softness/heat/distance problems. If I take some C stands with arms and and put 15 watt flos on them at ceiling height (about 8ft max (unfortunately) and tape together my own cardboard doors, will there be enough light from these to light subjects that are 3 - 4 ft away? And if I do that, would sneaking some really small flos in from the bottom be enough to offset the shadows cast by such a scheme?

For the background, i was going to take Barry's advice and try to create pools with Dedo's here and there allowing the subjects to move through dark spots. The most difficult issue is really how to light the front of these folks with such tight subject distance for camera or lighting. Incidentally, do flo's really match 3200K dedos and or others? I've readd somewhere here that some dimmible flos change significantly from 2800 to 3400 depending where you set the dimmer.

I'd like to add here, for a moment, that this website has been by far the most helpful resource I have encountered and I really appreciate the community attitude toward helping one another.

Pretty cool.

Steve
 
Re: kino flo

Putting those small 15-watt flo's at 8 feet away will give you something like two footcandles of light on your subject. Even at four feet, you're only going to get maybe 8 footcandles. Compare that with a Lowel Pro-Light, which will deliver about 600 footcandles at 4 feet.

I don't think little flo's on the roof are going to get the job done.

If you want to use little flo's on the subjects to fill in their faces, that can work as long as you can get them CLOSE. Bring a few of 'em (they're awfully cheap). If you can't get them close, then little flo's are not the right tool for the job. A 4' 4-bank would probably give you plenty of light to fill in their faces from 4' away, but it'll also have so much spill light that it'd ruin the look you're going for. Eggcrate and barn doors would help control the spill. A fresnel would be the better bet, I think, directionally controlled light with barn doors and black wrap to flag it off the background and keep "spill light" from contaminating your setup.

But you're not likely to get the job done with tiny low-power flo's at a distance.
 
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