Lonely roads with little light.

marko5000

marko5000

Active member
I Have a question which I want you all to go against your better insticts when you answer.

I am hopefully about to take delivery of a shiny new DVX100b. I will use it almost exclusively for Short films and maybe the odd music video.

My problem is I don't know anyone who can light for me and I don't really want to get into hiring professionals. I need a solution I can take with me easily, away from power sources and set up on my own.

I intend to shoot as clean as possible as I really enjoy colouring in Shake or FCP.

So what do I buy? I would really like to go for a few LED options that can run from a battery. Forget about the cost of LitePanels I just want to know if they could be a viable option.

I know next to nothing about lights. As you may have guessed. Just want ot know if this is a complete waste of money. And if it is would appreciate other suggestions.
 
If you're on a tight budget and won't be near power, I'd recommend getting a few of those rechargeable handheld spotlights (you can get them at hardware stores for about $10). Bounce them off of white foamcore to soften them up a bit. It's not perfect, but it'll work in a pinch.
 
Thanks for the suggestion, I'll look into but budget isn't really my concern. It's being able to operate alone and away from power sources.
 
LED lights are nice as a close fill light - but they won't do the job for wide shots.
LED light falls off very very quickly. So while it may give a nice fill to a close up when someone is close to the camera, it won't do anything for your background.

Not sure what to recommend to you - but having a small LED for fill that can run off battery isn't a bad idea - they are incredibly useful and convenient, but they definitely shouldn't be the backbone of your light kit.
 
Sounds like a ocuple of LEDs are going to be a pretty good thing to own anyway. I might go that route and then see what gaps I have in my lighting kit.

That way I can either work my shots round the limitation of the LEDs or buy something to use only when the LEDs won't cut it.

Does that make sense? I just don't know.
 
If you're planning on shooting a dramatic night scene, a couple of LEDs aren't going to cut it. You're going to need a little more punch than what they'll give you. Consider a generator or running lights off of car batteries using an inverter.
 
I think that you should try to use a truck battery with an AC/DC adaptator (in France, we call that a 'transformateur'). With 12v DC input 220v AC output and u can use a quartz 300w or 500w, depends of the A hours of the battery.
 
So you're saying I should stop being such a wimp. Buy some bigger lights and rope a couple of friends into putting them up and carrying them around for me?
 
marko5000 said:
So you're saying I should stop being such a wimp. Buy some bigger lights and rope a couple of friends into putting them up and carrying them around for me?
Click to expand...

Definitely. If you're looking to shoot a good looking outdoor night scene, it'll require some wattage.
 
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