Lighting for Local Television/News

L

lynchfan

Member
First off, as a new member I want to thank all the members, especially the lighting gurus for all the information.

I have a background in film, but I am helping improve a local television station right now.

The problem has a lot to do with the lighting. They have been using homemade lights and it looks awful. Thankfully, they've just obtained some Arri lights.

The studio now has the following fresnel kit:

1 - 1k Arri
1 - 650K Arri
2 - 300K Arri

Is it possible for me to blast the light needed for television with this kit? Do I need a stronger open face light?

Does anyone know where I can see a lighting set up for news television?

Thanks a lot, everyone.
 
It all depends on what your trying to do, how large an area, etc.... Is the studio big (on screen, like a wide shot)? I've been in plenty of news studios and the lighting setups probably don't explaine anything by looking at them other than blasting diffused light all over creation. I have a picture somewhere, I'll post it when I find it, but I don't think it's too helpful.

Can you provide some detailed pictures of the studio? IE: screen grabs from the camera positions, wider angle shots showing the stage, cameras, grid, etc..? That would really help us help you :grin:
 
Just curious, you said they had "DIY" lighting in there before. What were they using for the news studio?

A lot of times when I need some images I turn to "Google Images". Just do a search for things like "news studio images", "television news studios", "television studios", "television lighting", etc. You'd be surprised what can pop up. A wealth of great images across the internet. Here's the results for "television news studio images":


http://images.google.com/images?svn...evision+news+studio+images&btnG=Search+Images
 
>Is it possible for me to blast the light needed for television with this kit?
>Do I need a stronger open face light?

Are you talking studio or field?

In a studio you would almost never use an open faced light. Controllable soft light is the key.
 
Yep just happened to be in a local studio newsdesk area visiting a friend the other day and it was a bunch of kino-flos flooding the place. Looked pretty impressive.
 
Fluorescent is definitely "in" for news studios around the world. Go in any of the major ones and you'll see at least one or two "flos" right up front these days.
 
Thanks for all the advice, gentlemen.

Thankfully, the studio is being overhauled with a new set.

I would have been too embarrassed of posting pictures of the current set.

I'm wondering what kind of kino flos are recommended and if there would be any issues mixing them with the arri lights the studio already has?

I look forward to posting pictures of the final product.
 
As long as you get a pro solution that has a choice of lamps in tungsten (3200K) color there shouldn't be any problem. My company, Cool Lights has such models. The 2x55 (CL-255) and the 4x55 (CL-455) are common ones used in these situations. All these type fixtures naturally offer a very soft and diffused light (fluorescent is always diffused) which is often called for when lighting a news desk. In addition, you're not heating up the news studio as much as with the hot lights.

http://www.coollights.biz/cl255-cool-lights-watt-fluorescent-video-soft-light-p-30.html

http://www.coollights.biz/cl455-cool-lights-watt-fluorescent-video-soft-light-p-31.html

If you have any questions you can PM me or email me at richard@coollights.biz
 
Image 80s seem to the the standard news studio fixture.

As far as mixing kinos with Arris, as long as you have "tungsten" kino bulbs, it should be no problem.
 
I notice on pullbacks that our local yet large network newscast they use cinefoil flags on some of the lights right near the newsdesk. You would think they would put real flags on the lights that get seen as they go to commercial and pull back and show the whole newsdesk.
 
j said:
Image 80s seem to the the standard news studio fixture.

As far as mixing kinos with Arris, as long as you have "tungsten" kino bulbs, it should be no problem.
Click to expand...

I'm having some trouble finding the Image 80s. Could you or someone else put me in the right direction. All I see is a Flathead 80 hybrid.

Is there a price range I should expect with these lights and are news studios flooding a bunch of light with the Image 80s and what are they using with the Image 80s?

Thanks in advance for the help!

Another quick thank you to EVERYONE for all the help.
 
Hi again,

You can get that from Filmtools at the very reasonable price of $2650 (LOL!) based on what I saw in google. There is no image 80 anymore, i think that model was replaced by the Image 85.

Before you pull that credit card out though, let's take a look at a couple of facts about that fixture. I'm pretty well researched on issues relating to fluorescent lighting in studios... ;-)

1). I sincerely doubt that the 75w 4 foot tube is the standard of news studios or television stations in general. That is one of the most uncommon and unavailable replacement type tubes you can find. You can plan to buy all your present and future bulbs from Kino Flo unless you want to use their 40w tube version which is more commonly available but a much weaker tube. 55w PL tubes are very efficient compact fluorescents and more commonly used in the fixtures you see most often in television and film and available in many different color temperatures and CRIs from many private and well-known brand name sources (Osram, GE, Philips, etc.). Just try to find a 40w 3200K tube from somewhere else than Kino. Anyone have a link to one?

2). Every major manufacturer and small ones like my company have put out a 55w PL lamp fixture that offers anything from 1 to 16 bulbs in it. The most common configurations are 2, 4 and 6 bulb ones. The 55w PL lamp has become the most ubiquitous fluorescent tube from the standpoint of studio lighting manufacturers offerings. That's a very easy claim to verify as you can go on Mole, Lowel, Flolights, Arri, Cool Lights, even Kino Flo (and many others) and see the fixtures they offer and what tubes they are all using. Its very hard to find statistics to back up claims like "seems to be the standard news studio fixture" but if you want to try to figure out what everyone is really doing, then go backwards from another angle. For instance, you can surmise that if most manufacturers are offering 55w tube fixtures, and they are selling them (because they are) that most entities (TV stations, independents, studios, etc.) are buying that fixture and not others that are not so common (like the Image 85 which uses the 4 foot, non-standard 75w tube or the 40w tube). Again, you can't find a tungsten colored 40w tube replacement very often...

3). 4 foot tubes are terribly inefficient in lumens per watt output. The Kino Flo Image 85 will probably most often be chosen with the 75 watt tubes (not sure why they named it an Image 85). Most people will agree that the 4 foot linear tubes are a great "cyc" light for things like green screen work because of the huge surface area eminating light in a 8 tube x 4 foot fixture. It may also be useful in situations where you might use a huge blanket light above a set (like replacements for fisher lights or space lights). Just have tons of these 4 x 8 fixtures up there behind a silk. Why someone would want to blanket an entire news set with a huge 4 x 8 bank is beyond me though unless its a super huge set. Talk about flat lighting. Anyway, the Kino 75w tubes put out about 3300 lumens average each. The 40w tubes put out half that. So the 8 tube 75w fixture is putting out about 26000 lumens. An average 55w PL CFL tube like Cool Lights and most other manufactuers use puts out about 3300 lumens also. Therefore they are more efficient because they put out about the same lumen output but only draw 55 watts to do what the 4 foot tubes are doing for drawing 75 watts. To put it in real terms, two 4 x 55 fixtures draw 440w and put out the same lumen output as the 600w Image 85.

4). One thing I find really misleading about this Kino Image 85 fixture is they claim it is DMX. Yes it is DMX, but NOT DIMMABLE. It is DMX switchable. When you say "DMX" most people will think "dimmable." Better read the fine print! You have off, low output and high output. Very strange idea related to the ballasts used by T12 tubes which are not capable of full range dimming. Most expensive video / film fixtures (like many 55w ones for example) have actual DMX dimming from zero to 10% or 20% to 100% continuous and that's one way they justify their higher price because full and continuous range dimming ballasts and DMX circuitry are more expensive.

I wonder if there are really that many TV stations out there buying a 4 foot DMX "Switchable" fixture for something other than cyc lighting? I would love to see a link to research and statistics on the subject.
 
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>to back up claims like "seems to be the standard news studio fixture"

Not a claim, just what I see when looking up in most local TV studios...

...but then again also see a lot of kliegl lights too! :-)
 
Guys, thanks again for all the input.

I think I am going to go for some kino flos for studio and some arris to start for commercial work.

Any recommendations of the type of kino flo kit I should start with for lighting a news studio?
 
Wouldn't you normally call Kino Flo and ask them what to use if you're dead set on using that company's products? Also, shouldn't you do some research yourself and see what you really need for that studio? It sounds like a small station from what you say so I would imagine your purchase had better be useful or someone will be upset with you if you buy something that ends up in the corner of the studio, not used very much. Especially if its a "expensive" something like a Kino Flo.

If you don't want to take Kino Flo's word on the subject and don't have time for all the research, then hire a lighting professional to consult with and see what you really need there and he'll make the appropriate recommendations. That way you're more likely to get what you can really use there.
 
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Yup. That's what usually happens. Small stations will usually fly in a gaffer (Lighting Director in TV terms) from LA (or other large market) to come in and help set up lighting. Check with one of your sister stations.
 
I suppose this is one cam setup? Med CU?
Key Light - Bounce 1K from one side of Cam (use flags to prevent spill over the background)
Fill Light - Bounce 650 from the other side of Cam
Kicker - 300 Direct from 3/4 Back
Background - 300
 
I wish I could get someone to help, but there aren't the qualified people in Central America and the budget is already being stretched with buying new lights to bring someone in from the US.

I don't have the television background to make the decision myself, so I came to you guys for some guidance. I assumed that there was a wide standard of lighting used for television.

Cool lights,

Perhaps your product is something I should consider to start out to save on costs.
 
Wow, I had no idea you were in another country. I guess I was just assuming you were in the USA as you don't have a location in your information at the left by your name.

In reality, our product would work fine for you as long as you don't need continuous dmx dimming. Our DMX models are coming. In fact, we'll have 4 or 5 lines soon separated widely into "portable" and "studio" types. 1). Our current non-DMX models which manually switch on/off by 2 banks at a time, come in 2, 4 and 6 light versions will be our economy studio softlight series. 2). A manually dimming studio model without DMX that's sort of an economy studio model for people that won't use the light on a grid but on a stand in the studio and want to manually adjust it. Still more expensive than option 1 though because it uses dimming ballasts and those are higher in cost--but it affords continuous manual dimming by a dial for those that need it. 3). A DMX Studio Softlight Series in 2, 4 and 6 light versions those will be the most expensive models as DMX really adds to the cost. 4). A portable, lightweight dimming line in 4 banks only in the beginning and user demand will dictate any other models in this line. I don't foresee a portable DMX solution at this time as I just don't imagine that many customers carrying around a DMX board with them to dim remotely when they're on location. I think DMX is mostly a studio solution so that just adds to the cost of a portable unit--another way we're trying to keep cost down for our market.

All these use now and will continue to use the 55w tube which we feel really is best choice for availability of replacements, etc. as per my previous comments on the subject in this thread.

Which country are you in? We will have a special pre-order sale coming soon that will really serve our growing population of customers outside the USA quite a bit and some of the DMX versions will be included as a special order item too. You might be watching for this as shipping directly from China to you may be a less expensive option than from the USA--believe it or not.

Otherwise, if you need something right now, we can give you a shipping quote to whichever country you're in for the current CL-455 non-dimming model or perhaps even better, a couple of CL-255's from our warehouse and current stock in the USA.

Maybe we should switch to my private email at richard@coollights.biz and we can discuss it further...
 
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