Lighting kit for video and photography

HotConductor

HotConductor

Well-known member
Personally I would love to have a small 3 point Arri kit for my video work. My wife wants a few Alien Bees for her still work. Any suggestions as to a lighting kit that would work for both worlds? From what I've read they are entirely different types of light when it comes to needing flash.
 
Still strobes produce incredible watts per $ !

To match a medium studio still strobe you need a $5k HMI

Really your sources are going to differ

Now your modifiers and stands could have some cross over

in terms of modifiers that actually affix to the light fixture (sofboxes/snoots) - you may find brands such as Chimera that offer speed rings for both A-B strobes and some hot lights

AFAIK No brand has actually got it together to produce a full multimedia system to date

Good luck

S
 
Thank you. Since there is not a crossover package designed for both worlds, I think I'm just going to start small and build both kits independently. This makes alot of sense, I was just hoping to consolidate this part of our setup, particularly in regards to travel. Additionally this fits with the separate worlds thing since I prefer Panny cams for all my video work, and she loves Canon for still work.

The one thing I had looked at was using 'modeling light' (I believe is the term) for video light. Unfortunately it just doesn't seem to be a real life solution. In a studio, maybe, but with a bright key light (large window, so forth) it just doesn't work. I am optimistic but not at the cost of results.

Thank you for your feedback.
 
Can't use flash for video.

Flash is usually much brighter than continuous light and will easily overpower most of the lights used in video work.
 
I am familiar with Par cans and typical 'continuous' lights, even some moving lights, but I am NOT up on the whole 'flash'/still-photo world. You are spot on that flash is useless for video, but I was actually trying to ask if there was a light that could be used for BOTH. IE: continuous light for video, and switchable to flash for still photography
 
HotConductor said:
Personally I would love to have a small 3 point Arri kit for my video work. My wife wants a few Alien Bees for her still work. Any suggestions as to a lighting kit that would work for both worlds? From what I've read they are entirely different types of light when it comes to needing flash.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately the ordinary 'strobe' produces far more light per flash, than ordinary mortals can afford in terms of continuous lighting. Here's a blurb on the subject from the supplyer of the Alienbee strobes.

http://www.paulcbuff.com/lightingforstillphotography.php

Theres a discussion that goes over 'what would you need for a continuous light for an ISO 100, f/11, @ 1/60 @ 6 ft, exposure... bottom line, about 8K Watts worth of continuous light. Of course several Allenbees cover this problem... but that's not good for your motion picture needs... (Which explains why filmmakers often use f/2.8 - f/5.6... rather than smaller apertures... at the very least...).

So, other than floor space, and light modifiers, you will be needed two sets of lights. You can however, get softboxes, and other light modifiers, which are 'rated for continuous' lights, and these will 'work' for the strobes as well...
 
Thank you for the link! I bookmarked it and will definitely dig into it tomorrow.. I'm going through Quickbooks tutorials right now and its a blast. Thank you for the confirmation on needing two kits. I am with you all on softboxes/soforth that can be used in both worlds. Makes sense.
 
Now you should slow down a little

Traditional photographers (shooting since 2000 or before) would expect to be able to fill with flash at F8 in the Midday sun with the camera on 100ISO- the equivalent indeed of an HMI of a few K

However photography is changing - digital stills cameras are now good and clean at 800-1200 ISO and photographers are using less light in general

If your video lights can get 1/50 at say 400 ISO then perfectly good stills can be taken at 1/100th 800 ISO - same Fstop

Indoors video lighting can work very well for still images

Outdoors video lighting of the 'cheap three point kit' nature is no good for stills .. or video

I would suggest that a 3point video kit supplemented with a single A-B strobe used intelligently can be a good photographic kit

If your video fixtures are tungsten - a yellow filter could be added to the strobe to match the temperatures - if she is shooting raw stills, temp will be of little worry two her, matching temp of course will be..

S
 
You are speaking my language. I need a 3 point kit for video, hence my preference of the Arri travel kit, and my wife needs a strobe or two. I agree COMPLETELY about the new cameras and ability to handle natural lighting without a supplement. My wife has always been of the mindset that using fast glass at a reasonable iso is much better than using flash at every opportunity. SO YES! We will be getting her some Alien Bees (two to start with since we are doing a larger gig next month where we need two for full coverage), and I will get my 3 point before my next shoot.
 
Hey HotC... I'm caught in the same situation as you guys. It's a tedious task gearing up for both worlds. Being a formal still photographer I started out with buying the studioflashes. Mere 500w in flash, but enough to keep me shooting people at f-stop 8 and below, and enough to keep me shooting packs on even colored backgrounds.
Then I jumped the video train and am now totally caught up wanting to do more video / film work. But the price it comes with is more expenses since I'm the owner kinda guy.

Basically I'm busy trying to get suited for different kind of jobs. The gigs that pay off over here include small promo work, interviews and the occasional music video and viral ad. But I also want to do indie filming so the demands for a variety of gear is staggeringly high :S

So far I've managed to scrape togeher an Arri 650w plus, an Arrilite 800w and a FloLight 330w. It then came to my mind that I could just use my still flashes as open face lamps. The modelling light is only 250w on each, but for a hidden background light I guess it would suffice. I'm looking at another used 650w plus fresnel to compliment this setup.

In addition I just ordered 2x 42"x 72" Westcott scrim frames with silver / sunlight, a 1/4 china and a flat black. These are more than useful in both worlds. The silvers are great for skin and textiles (Jill Greenberg), the sunlight fills lovely on outdoor shots and the china along with diffusing on video can act as nice diffusers for flash photography as well, wether you shoot a standard reflector or a softbox through it. The same goes for the flat black... contrast is nice.
Bounce cards can be made from styro plates that can be picked up cheap from your local hardware store. The ones we have at my fulltime job are 220cm x 120cm and cost like 120 dollars each. Less would definitely be ok :) My local store carries 2' x 4' x 1-2" thick. Tape two of those together and you've got a nice bounce card for keylight or fill. Do another one and paint it mat black and you don't have to spent money on the flat black material.

The "ultimate" indie starter kit for me, that would be relative in reach without spending a fortune would be:
- A 1k fresnel or two
- 2x 650w fresnel, capable of lamping down to 300w
- 2x 150w fresnel
- 2x 4ft 4 bank FloLights
- 2k open face
- one or two small LEDs for pools of light if such needed
- Striplight / christmas lighting chains. From what I've read and seen they are most useful indeed.

I wouldn't use video lamps for still, only the other way around. It's too expensive in wattage...
So for still I would exchange my 500w kit with:
- 4-5x 1500w compact flash, with a modelling of 500w (again... open face lighting :p), Bowens have these and are pretty damn good for the price. I'd say they are to Profoto what CoolLights are to Kino Flos.
- and then use the Westcott gear for bouncing and diffusing.

For lighting stands I would probably go C-stands all the way. I love c-stands. Can't stand the cheap black aluminum that feels like it's about the snap just from one small lamp.

In a perfect world everything would be Arri D lamps, Kinos, HMIs of all sizes, Bron Color or Profoto, but I'm still working on becoming a millionaire, and I might spring for that RED Epic before the Arris ;P

Sorry for the rambling and incoherence, I was on some sort of roll hehe
 
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Brother I am with you on everything except for the RED Epic. The only way I'd ever buy a RED would be if someone approached me and said "I love your work but I hate your camera. Get a RED and you'll have a contract for 'this' series.' Only then would I move from an AVCHD workflow! Ha! I love my GH2s way too much.

Most of my work has been in live event production, concerts and promo videos. I like using natural lighting as much as possible so my lighting needs in the past have been fairly minimal. When a corporation hires a local event company to rig a stage, lights and PA, I don't need to supplement that! When high-end interviews/promos were requested, I simply rented a nice 3 point Arri kit. Now that a few more contracts solidified, it has made buying lights a reality as much as a need, which is GREAT.

For me it is a JOY to upgrade equipment. This forum is filled with folks on all spectrums of gear and experience. It is just wonderful for me to come on here, ask a question and get a response in no time. The other day I had an issue with my wife's new cam (5Dmkii). I posted a thread on here before going to bed. She asked why. I said, "I can sleep better knowing that someone is working on the problem through the night." We both had a good laugh, but that is really how this forum works. We all help each other out.
 
I'm in much the same boat - been a commercial still shooter for decades, national clients, product & fashion. Got into video when the DVX came out. Luckily I'd been using cinema gear and tungsten film for much of my fashion, just trying to have a different look when necessary.

For starters, I'd think twice about the Alien Bees and look at used Speedotron gear (unless you need super fast recycle rates or very short flash durations). Speedos are just a much more professional and robust solution and even their dial-down packs are very affordable used. And I have decades-old speedo gear that's never been serviced. Anything with 250 watt model lights is a giant step up from the consumer-ish 100-watt stuff. Low-wattage model lights can be a pain.

These days I use strobes for anything straightforward; but for prettier stuff, it's a mix. I love dual-bank flos for side and back lights on people - just the size/shape of a biax fixture seems just right very often. I often use just the model lights in my speedo's - the 16" reflector with a grid is really yummy, especially on fluffy lady hair.

If I were buying video lights from scratch today, I'd get 90% daylight. Some knockoff kino duals and quads... a couple cool lights HID fresnels (equivalent to about a 650 tungsten but daylight). I really love the Alzo bulb & ballast HID combo and have even converted a 6" fresnel for it. If you need something more than a 1k equivalent (the main reason people flame me for my "go daylight" posts), you're gonna have trouble with power on location. I do use open faced tungsten or fresnels when I want really warm light, but especially for DSLR video, shooting daylight looks much cleaner. If I want the warm tungsten look, I'll throw a quarter or half CTB on a tungsten fixture or use unbleached muslin as a bounce (ala Roger Deakins). Modern daylight gear is much cooler, lighter, and pulls far less amps. I'm not very big on softboxes (unless it's a plain white catalog product shot) but modifiers for tungsten get very pricey due to the heat.

I have a big collection of Westscott Scrim Jim gear - but honestly, those are rarely big enough for really nice soft light, either for stills or video. I hang 9' x 6' diffusion fabric and light through it, sometimes making huge diffusion walls - or bounce off bedsheet-sized muslin. I've used softboxes for interviews, but never when I want the interview to look "real".
 
Fortunately, things like stands, gels, and reflectors work equally well for both flashes and continuous lights, so a lot of the accessories can be shared, even if the fixtures themselves tend to vary.
 
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