LED lights for traveling interview kit. Best option or am I missing something?

traviswears

traviswears

Well-known member
I have a few interviews coming up that I'll need to fly to. My normal interview kit is a Diva 400, Arri 650, Arri 300 and MR 250. I love the quality of the light from the fresnels and the Kino's not bad either.

Not interested in traveling with the Kino, as the case isn't built to check. Also, I doubt the bulbs would make it. I'm a one-man crew for this, so I'd like something as light as possible. I'm thinking one soft key, a reflector for fill and a backlight. I could potentially bring the 300 for a backlight, as it's fairly small but a 150 would probably be better. Should I just snag a chimera for the 650 online or drop the $$$ for one of the F&V LED panels?

I'm concerned about the color-temp of the LED. Should I be using minus green and some opal or other diffusion on something like this to make the color more accurate?
 
Have you looked at Lowel RIFAs but use tungsten bulbs which you can carry on your person.

My standard interview setup is a DIVA, reflector for fill, Barfly for a hairlight and a Dedolight 150w w/ a projector for gobos.

For a travelling scenario I would do something like a RIFA for a Key, round reflector w brace for a stand for fill, a Lowel ProLight with a snoot for a hairlight and/or Dedolight for either hairlight or gobos.

If you want to go really light and small, a few of these small camera top LED units on stands could go a long way if the spill isn't too bad and Manfrotto make great portable stands that can take a light head in the 2 to 3 pound range.
 
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Andrew Stone said:
Have you looked at Lowel RIFAs but use tungsten bulbs which you can carry on your person.

My standard interview setup is a DIVA, reflector for fill, Barfly for a hairlight and a Dedolight 150w w/ a projector for gobos.

For a travelling scenario I would do something like a RIFA for a Key, round reflector w brace for a stand for fill, a Lowel ProLight with a snoot for a hairlight and/or Dedolight for either hairlight or gobos.

If you want to go really like and small, a few of these small camera top LED units on stands could go a long way if the spill isn't too bad and Manfrotto make great portable stands that can take a light head in the 2 to 3 pound range.
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I did consider picking up a Prolight. They're so tiny and cheap. Might be worth it. I love the Dedolight. I haven't used one in awhile. Likewise with the Rifa. I basically wrote off Lowell lights because they're so cheap. Only problem with the Rifa is it's still not quite as portable as an LED, it can't take a battery.

Curious to see what your interviews look like. Link?
 
Something I am in the process of grading. You get the idea. Here a DIVA with a soft gold bounce, BarFly 200 for the hairlight a dedolight doing the gobo. There is also a Barfly 200 on the floor under the camera pointing up at his face, only 1 bulb out of 2 on. The glamour light could have been done with a reflector. The colour treatment is intentionally hyperreal (mask isn't quite there, yet) and is done in Resolve. Shot using an F3.
 
Andrew Stone said:
Something I am in the process of grading. You get the idea. Here a DIVA with a soft gold bounce, BarFly 200 for the hairlight a dedolight doing the gobo. There is also a Barfly 200 on the floor under the camera pointing up at his face, only 1 bulb out of 2 on. The glamour light could have been done with a reflector. The colour treatment is intentionally hyperreal (mask isn't quite there, yet) and is done in Resolve. Shot using an F3.
Click to expand...

That looks really nice, thanks for sharing. I'm mostly self-taught, so I always appreciate opportunities to see how other DPs light interviews!
 
My first choice when traveling is always to rent G&E at the destination.

If you have to travel with lights the Rifas are a fine choice as long as AC is available, & the color temperature isn't a issue.
 
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