Lighting from Cine Gear 2018

[Bern Caughey]

Went to Cine Gear yesterday, & have some random notes. Be great to hear from others on their takeaways.

-Missed last years Cine Gear & was expecting more innovation, but mostly saw iteration.

-Been hearing good things about the Hudson Spider, & while the design is innovative, the output seemed limited. With all the lighting manufacturers blinding attendees with their lamps the Cine Gear stages can be a tricky location to make judgements about output, but still it didn’t seem the Spider was putting out 400W, especially when mated to it’s 6’ “SoftBox” with diffusion cover. With the 3’ reflector output improved, in part due to it’s parabolic shape, but wasn’t fitted with diffusion so hard to judge. Seemed the 3’ & the even smaller reflector, are primarily designed to be used without diffusion, & I’d like to test it someday, but not sure how often I’d use that mode as it is not focusable, nor does it fill the reflector, like a Briese.

-Still love Mole-Richardson’s Vari LED Fresnels, at least in theory, as I’ve never used them in anger. Love their familiar form factor, glass lens, & lack of external ballast. Build seems robust, especially compared to it’s completion, & well...they’re Moles.

-Ushio’s offering LED replacements for Kino Flo’s Diva-Lite’s fluorescent tubes. The “ColourMax LED Twin Tubes” supposedly slot right in, & use the Diva Lite’s ballast for power, & dimming. Was told the LED Tubes cost about $20-$25, which is comparable to the fluorescent tubes’ pricing, & output is supposed to be increased by 50%. There are daylight & tungsten options. Still have a couple of Diva 400(s) sitting in storage, & if the color is clean I may consider replacing the tubes.

 

[Spartacus]

-Ushio’s offering LED replacements for Kino Flo’s Diva-Lite’s fluorescent tubes. The “ColourMax LED Twin Tubes” supposedly slot right in, & use the Diva Lite’s ballast for power, & dimming. Was told the LED Tubes cost about $20-$25, which is comparable to the fluorescent tubes’s pricing, & output is supposed to be increased by 50%. There are daylight & tungsten options. Still have a couple of Diva 400(s) sitting in storage, & if the color is clean I may consider replacing the tubes.

Same here, they used to be my go-to lights for years, this could make it worth lugging them around again...

 

[markfpv]

Thanks for posting these notes Bern. I too have a Diva 400 & 200 sitting gathering dust... have held onto the hope that someone (Quaser, etc) would eventually come around to making brighter LED replacement tubes... this sounds promising.

 

[Josh Bass]

Yeah that sounds good if it all works out...I think that’s a better deal than doing the retrofit with quasars, which is like $1300 per light (for shell and 4 bulbs). I dont have Divas at all so I’d have to buy the shell and bulbs.

 

[Run&Gun]

I really want my LED's now to be at least bi-color, if not an RGBW type. Going the Ushio "retrofit" route, you're back to having to swap lamps to go from 3200K to 5600K(or mix when you wanna go 4300Kish) just like with the original lamps. But I guess if it's a permanent or semi-permanent installation type set-up and you don't need to swap lamps...

 

[Josh Bass]

I know quite a few guys using Divas who swap lamps (if needed) at the beginning of a shoot and probably not again for the rest of the day. Not a huge deal, I think?

 

[Spartacus]

I really want my LED's now to be at least bi-color, if not an RGBW type. Going the Ushio "retrofit" route, you're back to having to swap lamps to go from 3200K to 5600K(or mix when you wanna go 4300Kish) just like with the original lamps. But I guess if it's a permanent or semi-permanent installation type set-up and you don't need to swap lamps...

99% of my work is in daylight settings. I have Bi-Color LEDs, never used them on tungsten setting, rarely warm them up (rather do it in post since I never shoot baked-in-709...).
As always: It depends on what you're doing.
If those Ushios really deliver better color and 50% higher output, this would also increase the Divas resell value by more than the Ushios' costs or make them attractive for rental, so also a good business decision.
And I like the idea of "up cycling" here, only similar situation I can think of is older cameras getting use again thanks to cheap external recorders.

 

[markfpv]

I too prefer the bi-color option... but 100% agree that if it's better color at 50% more output - I will swamp lamps to put my Divas back into service. (and then hope a bi-color lamp for the Diva's will eventually arrive on the market)

 

[Run&Gun]

I know quite a few guys using Divas who swap lamps (if needed) at the beginning of a shoot and probably not again for the rest of the day. Not a huge deal, I think?

I retired my Diva's and BarFly's about two years ago and the bulk of my LED's that I key with are bi-color, and the bulk of the situations that I'm using them in, I do think it's a big deal. It's one of those things that sounds trivial, but it's a PITA(I say this as someone who has owned a set for a decade and used them all of the time). Maybe I'm in the minority, but I actually use my Astra's in the 4300K-4700K range a lot. Possibly more than straight 3200K or 5600K, because of the environments I find myself shooting in all the time. And sometimes, you just need to tweak one way or the other to make your subject look the best. That's the beauty of the bi-color lights, being able to match(or get very close to) the ambient light when you want to/need to and tweak the tiny little bit that can make a big difference.

99% of my work is in daylight settings. I have Bi-Color LEDs, never used them on tungsten setting, rarely warm them up (rather do it in post since I never shoot baked-in-709...).
As always: It depends on what you're doing.

I'm used to doing it "in-camera". From my background, "fix it in post" was said in jest. 100% of my work is handed off to the client. I have NO hand in post regarding what I shot. Even if I'm shooting log or RAW I still want to hand off the best stuff that I can. If I did my job right, there shouldn't be any need to color correct, adjust exposure, etc. The bulk of my work is network oriented and a lot of it live, so what comes straight out of the camera or is recorded on the card better be ready to go straight to air.

 

[Josh Bass]

Whatever works for you. I believe for me if I could get some used Divas and $25 bulbs that would be awesome.

 

[Eric Coughlin]

What does a Diva does that an Astra 6x does not do?

Diva benefits: Cheaper, particularly on the used market, a bit larger surface area so a bit softer

Astra Benefits: Twice as bright, smaller (packs easier), bi-color, fully dimable without color shift, battery option, phone ap control

I suppose it's mainly to save money.

 

[Run&Gun]

"Saving money"(spending less) up-front doesn't always carry down the road. And if you apply the old saying that time is money, the Astra's are still winning, because they're more versatile and I can be a lot more efficient and move quicker with them.