Lighting Kit Away From Outlet Or Powering Lighting Kit Away From Outlet

[Robertofish]

I currently have some lights such as florescent lights and a tota light from lowel, I need to buy lights that will work away from an outlet or a power source for lights, I was thinking of buying some more lowel lights such as the Rifa Ex 44, Pro-Light etc, but in order for these to work outside I would need a power source so rather then investing in those which would be around 1,000 dollars is there some battery powered lights that I could invest in, preferably a 3 point lighting kit? What about using something like NP1s to power regular lights because leds generally have the wrong color temperature, or an inverter with a quiet generator, any other options, so I guess my questions are,

Will NP1s last a long time for filming trips if I use say 4 of them with these lights, computing using ohms law they last only a matter of minutes is this correct, those are pretty high MAH rating batteries?

Which lighting kit that is LED or other low power lighting that is either battery powered or could be used with NP1s that would last hours could I get for filming?

If I was to get a quiet generator which one would I get, wattages shouldnt be that big of a problem just the noise amount.

Are there filters for the low power kits or battery power kits that would allow for color temperature change like gels or something?

Thanks Everyone!

 

[Robertofish]

I apologize to everyone I for some reason posted this in the wrong thread if there is some way to move it that would be great cause I dont want to copy and paste because that would be multiposting.

 

[ggrantly]

If you are going generator, think Honda inverter series. They are relatively quiet and produce clean full wave power. For up to 3000 watts, they are a superior product.

If you are going battery powered lights, you should probably be thinking LED. NP1 batteries, for a decent size LED fixture, like a Cool Lights LED600 aren't going to last long. You should probably be thinking small automotive battery, or one of the power pack products from Duracel and Xantrex. I have been using various Bescor bricks with good success. You can get them with 4pin XLR output and lighter outlets on the same unit so you can have direct plug in to better quality lights. A large Bescor brick is good for at least an hour. My only gripe with Bescor, is their stock chargers are pretty slow.

You need to learn ohms law which will give you math solutions to power use. But keep in mind, it is best to not discharge a conventional lead acid battery more than about 50% (duty cycle) if you expect it to last. Lithium Ion can be fully discharged if you don't mind paying the price.

Grant

 

[Robertofish]

Thanks, a few quick questions, what are the equivalents in led lights for the 3 point lighting system?

Do they use up a lot less power like 80%, 70% I have heard 85% less which is nice.

Are there filters for the cool lights because blue isnt the correct color for what I usually want to do?

Thanks

 

[Moseph]

Thanks, a few quick questions, what are the equivalents in led lights for the 3 point lighting system?

What exactly do you mean? 3 point lighting isn't specific to any particular type of lighting instrument, other than that the fill is usually softer than the key so as to make it not appear as an actual light source.

Do they use up a lot less power like 80%, 70% I have heard 85% less which is nice.

Yes, they use significantly less power than tungsten lights. In addition, they're usually much softer to begin with than tungsten lights, which means you don't have to use dense, light cutting diffusion on them.

Are there filters for the cool lights because blue isnt the correct color for what I usually want to do?
Thanks

CTO is what you'd want to correct the color temperature from daylight to tungsten. With LEDs that have a large green spike, you need something that also has some magenta in it like 108 or 152. But if there are no tungsten sources, you should leave them at daylight balance and set your camera accordingly. Chances are it'll put out a slightly better image.

 

[ggrantly]

Two LED600 fixtures will provide enough light for a simple one person interview. If you wanted a hair light, you could add one of the tiny shoe mount fixtures that run on AA batteries. This is a pretty marginal setup, but would work. A pair of LED1200 (or a 1200 +600) would probably be better for two people.

As I suggested, learn ohms law and you can do your own power comparisons. And it isn't really a straight comparison in watts since tungsten, flow, and LED have very different characteristics.

The Cool Lights LED600 has a kelvin rating a bit higher than daylight 5600. If you white balance on the actual output, that won't be a problem. The issue is that there is a somewhat strong green spike that can be corrected with a minus-green (magenta) filter. The Cool Lights LED600 comes with a nice set of acrylic filters that includes a minus-green, but it does reduce the light level somewhat. I like to diffuse a bit if they are close, so that knocks the power down even more.

If you were intending to correct an LED to 3200k, you'd be better off just lighting a candle. You would lose most of your light in the conversion.

Given the choice, I would choose flos or tungsten over LED fixtures. But for travel, low power or battery powered, cool, small and rugged, they are great. Just keep in mind, they are a compromise.

Grant