Lighting kit.

my first instinct is to run away. but for the price its not too bad. I'd invest in some gels, diffusion, and blackwrap so you can control the light seeing as how those are just hardware scoops. Now you might be able to save a few bucks and convert some hardware store scoop lights and get some nicer stands along the way. It'd take some work though.

Now if you can up your budget a bit I would definitely suggest doing so. But if you cant you cant and these will definitely make some light. Oooh get a reflector too while your at it. I just got a 5 in 1 on ebay for 99 cents plus the $18 in shipping. Its a pretty sweet little reflector for the price. Had it a week and I've used it twice already for some interview work. Very handy, especially outside where power can be hard to get.
 
Wow, a dollar?

What would be a better alternative, this, or a fun day at Costco/Home Depot?

Thanks,

Robbie
 
yeah, get some home depot lights

also

GET CHINA LANTERNS :)

big time china lanterns. And then get the daylight fluorescent bulbs.
 
Yeah I would opt for china lanterns and fluorescent bulbs. Most people are going daylight and energy efficient now and china balls along with a couple used hard lights and gels you find on the web may be a better value.
 
I have bought several of these 500w softboxes off Ebay for $60-$70 each:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=360005878215


They come with a couple of 500w mogul bulbs (the light head is rated for 1K) In addition, I have ordered from Richard some self ballasted 200w (600w equiv)mogul base fluorescent bulbs to convert them to "cool" softboxes.

They include a 7' stand with lockable casters and storage bags and are reasonably well built. The only thing I would modify is the power cord, it's like that on a PC and easily pulled out. A wire tie takes care of the problem.

If anyone wants to see screen grabs of scenes lit with them I will be glad to post.
 
The main issue I see with a kit like this is its all floodlights. A good kit should be a mixture of floodlights and spotlights because these both have their place in video / film lighting. Fresnels give the ability to have a wide or narrow beam at least which increases versatility of your kit. Softboxes or fluorescent softlights are floodlights but at least put out light from a larger surface area and are more soft. A tungsten floodlight is somewhere in between a fresnel and a softbox. Not as hard as a fresnel but surely not soft.

Something else to think about.
 
Photofloods are very nice and underrated; you can get nice, soft washes of light from them and they come in different strengths (250w/500w) and colors (3200K/4800K). Most importantly, the 500w 4800K is brighter than a 1k fresnel gelled down, so these make great softlights.

That said, you can get those silver cones that clip on at home depot ("budget busters") and they are about $5 each and accept photofloods. But then you need to figure out how to connect them to a light stand. There are adapters, but they are a bit expensive. Still, these are great and I use them all the time. You can also get 70w 20º par spotlights for about $10 and put them in these same cones and they work like uncontrollable inkies. They are insanely bright--they seem brighter than a 1k flood at the same distance but are super spotlights.

You can use photofloods in nylon china lanterns, too, and this is even cheaper and very versitile. I put blackwrap around china lanterns to stop them from hitting the wall on one side and they work like a nice soft box. I also like to buy some compact fluorescents and tape them to things.

The problem is, you still need some lights that are versitile (fresnels, etc.) and these are harder to get cheaply. The lowel open face 500w lights are cheap and okay but they are very bright.

For under $300, I would recommend:

A few real light stands that reach up to 8 feet.
Four budget busters with baby stand adapters. (These adapters are about $13, but you need to jury rig them.)
A few chinese lanterns.
An assortment of photofloods for these lights.
An assortment of par lights from home depot to go in the budget busters as spotlights.
A few compact fluorescents.
A bunch of practicals ranging from 40w to 200w so you can replace the bulbs in your scene as necessary.
Four $10 harbor freight dimmers, so you have a little control.
Black wrap.
Diffusion.
Two sheets each: CTB 1/2, CTB Full
One sheet CTO 1/2.
And I might look in to getting a single focusable flood light or fresnel (500w or 650w) with barn doors if you can find it.
A reflector of some sort. (Even a pie tin.)

Of course, kino flos and fresnels and chimeras are much better because they give you more control, but you can light a very good looking movie without them, it just takes a bit more time and effort. Even the pros are using the stuff above, they just mix it with professional fixtures. The other issue is that the stuff above is useless unless you know how to use it.

Also, do not buy the big spotlights from home depot. Those aren't so good. They are too yellow, their stands are too low, and you have no control over them.
 
You'll get more use out of one good unit than several bad ones.

Bad ones are unreliable, unsturdy, don't control light and lose their value.
Good units do what they're supposed to.

Look at an Arri 650 w/ barn doors, scrim + an arri or avenger lightstand.
There's a reason the single unit costs more than this whole kit.

And I'm not being flip, just trying to save you a whole lotta hassle.
 
bill totolo said:
You'll get more use out of one good unit than several bad ones.

Bad ones are unreliable, unsturdy, don't control light and lose their value.
Good units do what they're supposed to.

Look at an Arri 650 w/ barn doors, scrim + an arri or avenger lightstand.
There's a reason the single unit costs more than this whole kit.

And I'm not being flip, just trying to save you a whole lotta hassle.
Click to expand...

QFT.

You will only pay for quality ONCE.
 
mcgeedigital said:
QFT.

You will only pay for quality ONCE.
Click to expand...

Good luck three point lighting with one light.

I agree you should have one good controllable light (and a 650 fresnel or 500w open face is a nice place to start) but if you're bouncing light (and these days 90% of light is soft anyway), it doesn't really matter.

Then again, if you don't know what you're doing, it's safest to use as few lights as possible to avoid too many shadows.

And worklights are TERRIBLE. Get budget busters and photofloods instead.
 
mainstreetprod said:
I have bought several of these 500w softboxes off Ebay for $60-$70 each:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=360005878215


They come with a couple of 500w mogul bulbs (the light head is rated for 1K) In addition, I have ordered from Richard some self ballasted 200w (600w equiv)mogul base fluorescent bulbs to convert them to "cool" softboxes.

They include a 7' stand with lockable casters and storage bags and are reasonably well built. The only thing I would modify is the power cord, it's like that on a PC and easily pulled out. A wire tie takes care of the problem.

If anyone wants to see screen grabs of scenes lit with them I will be glad to post.
Click to expand...

hi,
im also intersted in buying some of those softboxes or a set like this one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/PHOTO-DIGITAL-V...ihZ023QQcategoryZ3860QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem

could u please post some of the screengrabs of scenes u lit with them?

and this daylight bulb fits in those lamps?
http://www.coollights.biz/cl20056-cool-lights-200w-5600k-high-softbox-bulb-p-83.html

regards, julian
 
I'm not totally sure what kind of socket they have in those Amvona units and they didn't really say in their Ebay listing. If its a Mogul socket, it'll work with our Cool Lights 200w bulbs. Better check with Amvona to be sure.
 
anthom said:
hi,
im also intersted in buying some of those softboxes or a set like this one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/PHOTO-DIGITAL-V...ihZ023QQcategoryZ3860QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem

could u please post some of the screengrabs of scenes u lit with them?

and this daylight bulb fits in those lamps?
http://www.coollights.biz/cl20056-cool-lights-200w-5600k-high-softbox-bulb-p-83.html

regards, julian
Click to expand...




Two of the 500w softboxes with stock (mogul base) tungsten bulbs:

1201753552.jpg




Same two lights, plus a 300w hardlight as backlight :
http://www.dvxuser6.com/uploaded/21102/1201105420.jpg


The fixtures are mogul base and will take the Cool Lights bulbs.
I would be shooting with them already, but there seems to be
a shipping (via water from China) delay.
 
Last edited:
Hey Richard,

Those amvona light boxes have a e39 mogal base. I have the 2 1000k and had to rewire my basement to support the wattage. I was looking on your site and noticed to have the flourescent versions that put out way less voltage demand and was interested in trying them out. Can I order on your web page? I'm up in Canada.

Thnx
Steve
 
mainstreetprod said:
The fixtures are mogul base and will take the Cool Lights bulbs.
I would be shooting with them already, but there seems to be
a shipping (via water from China) delay.
Click to expand...

Hi Fred,

Hehe. Not any more! They're on the way after the longest boat shipment in human history. I think they may have been swallowed up into the Bermuda Triangle for a while but we've got them now.
 
Steve2012 said:
Hey Richard,

Those amvona light boxes have a e39 mogal base. I have the 2 1000k and had to rewire my basement to support the wattage. I was looking on your site and noticed to have the flourescent versions that put out way less voltage demand and was interested in trying them out. Can I order on your web page? I'm up in Canada.

Thnx
Steve
Click to expand...

Steve,

That's what I was thinking that all these higher wattage tungsten bulbs pretty much had to be mogul base.

If you like, I can call you or we can communicate via email at richard@coollights.biz. I'm a bit shy about letting even Canadians order online because those online quoting services from different shipping vendors can be somewhat problematic for international shipments. Although I will say that shipping to Canada is not only pretty reasonable but is more accurate as its closer to the USA than other countries.
 
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