Lowell DV Creator Kits.

D

dsk

Active member
Hello -

I have been intently reading this threads in this forum for the last few days. Like a few others I am at the point where I am in need of lighting. I am very interested in saving money and am leaning towards the work light setup that has been discussed here in detail. However. The lowell DV creator kits have caught my eye and also fits within my budget (unlike the Arri)

Can anyone offer any feedback on these kits? I believe I am most interested in the DV Creator 44 or 50. As a novice with no lighting exeperience it doesn't seem like a bad price. Link Below.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home;jsessionid=AkbALsr3v2!-538159328?ci=1&sb=ps&pn=1&sq=desc&InitialSearch=yes&O=SearchBar&A=search&Q=*&shs=dv+creator


Dave
 
Re: Lowell DV Creator Kits.

Lowel gear is... well, it's small. That's its cheif benefit. Lowel stuff is designed for portability. Not durability, not professional use, not low cost, but portability. If going to locations is your main concern, Lowel is okay for that.

The good thing about Lowel kits is that they typically include enough "stuff" so you can get something accomplished. In those kits you're looking at, you'd have a softlight, a focusable hardlight, and a tota and omni, plus stands for each, plus doors... you could actually learn quite a bit about lighting by using a kit like that. There are better ways to spend $1200, certainly, but you may not end up with quite a variety of equipment like the Lowel kit provides.
 
Re: Lowell DV Creator Kits.

Barry,

Many thanks for your repsonse. So, if I understand what you are saying.... These kits may be good for someone like myself who needs to learn the craft of lighting, and does not have a studio so the portability of such a kit may come in handy.

In looking at the work light setup it may be easier for me to go the route of a light kit so I have everthing I need. I can only imagine that learning lighting is tough enough, let alone trying to figure it out by using work lights... (maybe?)

Now. not to open a can of works but is there a kit out there that you would suggest someone like myself start with instead of the Lowell DV Creator series at a similiar price point (or lower) I film 4 PSA's next month and I will be needing some kind of lighting best I can tell.

Thanks again.


Dave
 
Re: Lowell DV Creator Kits.

If your ultimate goal is portability, and getting a variety of stuff on a budget, Lowel may make sense.  Their stuff is quite small and makes for small, portable kits.  However, it's typically nowhere near as rugged or flexible as real "pro" gear.

I tend to advise anyone and everyone to flee from the worklights concept.  Worklights can put out some light, but they'll be very difficult to learn proper lighting techniques with, because they're uncontrollable open-face units.  I'd take a Lowel pro-light, with it's spot/flood ability and barn doors, over a worklight any day.  Of course, the worklight is less expensive, but there comes a point where you're saving money for the wrong reason.

Any tungsten light, in order to be useful to you, has to be controllable.  You have to be able to control where the light goes and where it doesn't (typically accomplished with barn doors, but can also be done with flags or, on the super-low-budget, with blackwrap foil).  The second degree of control you want is focusability -- spot to flood.  The third degree would be over hardness, hard or soft.  The fourth degree of control would be over intensity, either through swapping bulbs to a lower- or higher-wattage bulb, or through the use of a dimmer.  The final degree of control would be over color (through attaching gels).

You can achieve most of this through a properly-selected Lowel kit (using Pro-lights and DP lights, or maybe Omni's).  Lowel kits will often include barn doors, focusable lights, and gel frames.  If you've got barn doors on your light, you can use clothespins to attach diffusion or gels in order to control the hard/soft properties and the colors.

You'll never see Lowels on a professional set.  There you'll typically see Mole-Richardson, or maybe Arri or Altman or the cost-leader B&M.  But comparatively that gear is huge, vs. a tiny Pro-Light or a medium-small DP or Omni.

Lowel stuff is not bad.  It's not all that inexpensive for what you get, but again, its chief advantage is in its small size and portability.  Lowel stands are not good though -- they're compact, but they're about the worst light stands out there.

If the choice was between worklights with black wrap taped to them, and stands made of a broomstick stuck in a pail of cement (I'm referring to an old DV.com article), versus a small Lowel kit, I'd take the Lowel kit in a heartbeat.  But for $1200, I detailed a kit in another thread that would be the way I'd choose to spend that money (on B&M and JTL lights), although that budget should be augmented a little to include some blackwrap, some gaffer's tape, a variety pack of gels and come clothespins. And a case of some type.
 
Re: Lowell DV Creator Kits.

Thanks Barry - I'll do a search and see if I can find that info you posted previously. Any chance you have a link to it?

Thanks again.


Dave
 
Re: Lowell DV Creator Kits.

Thanks Barry. You beat me to it. I have read this and although I know nothing about lighting, I will take your advice. Thanks for helping me spend $1200
 
Re: Lowell DV Creator Kits.

Last question -

If I were to order the gear you mention, would I need anything else in order to start using these lights. Keeping in mind I have nothing currently. Are these lights ready to be plugged in and fired up? What about lighting accessories? What else is mandatory before I shoot my project? Lets figure after this purchase I have $300-$500 left to spend.

Many thanks.
 
Re: Lowell DV Creator Kits.

Well, you'll want to make sure you have lamps for each fixture. I think the JTL's include lamps, I don't think the B&M's do, but Dave at Pyramid has great prices on lamps. Get some spares, or a variety of sizes -- like, get a 300 and a 650 for each 650 head, etc.

As for additional stuff, I refer you to the great low-budget lighting article by Scott Spears. You can find it here:
http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?s=&threadid=19944

While he details how to put a lighting kit together using worklights, and I despise worklights, I will say that the rest of his article is just brilliant. I understand the reference to worklights, but I think "real" lights, while more expensive, will go a long way towards you doing better work and looking more like a pro.

The minimum additional stuff you need would include a pair of gloves, some black wrap foil, a couple of rolls of gaffer's tape, some gels (I'd get ND, CTB, and maybe some 216 diffusion), some extension cords, and a power strip or cube tap or two. Oh, and some reflectors/flags: for budget, go with a couple of sheets of black foam core and a couple of sheets of white foam core. With that setup, you'd have the tools to do some really amazing lighting. But you're going to have to practice, practice, practice. Get Ross Lowel's book "Matters of Light and Depth" or John Jackman's "Lighting for film and dv" or whatever it's called. Or the tape series from Bill Holshevnikoff.

Good luck!
 
Re: Lowell DV Creator Kits.

Howdy dsk,

Don't know if I'm coming in too late, but...

I own a DV Creator 55 kit. I bought it from B&H with the nicer case/stand & without bulbs, then I bought the bulbs from somewhere cheaper. If you look at B&H you'll see a few different prices for the same kits, the difference is in the case, one of the stands, and whether or not it has bulbs.

The reason I went with this kit, is b/c I didn't know the first damn thing about lighting. It seemed like a reasonable price point, with a decent amount of goodies thrown in. And the fact that it came with 4 different types of lighting instruments is really nice. I get to familiarize myself with different types of lights. The alternative kit I was looking at was an Arri softbox kit, but it was SIGNIFICANTLY more expensive, only had 3 lights, and they were all of the same type. So I went with the Lowell...

I'm glad I got the 55. The bigger softbox is a must. The 'softness' of light is all about size of light relative to size of subject, and their smallest softbox is so damn small I'd hardly call it soft. Even the 55 is a wee smaller than I'd like it. The Lowell stuff all has really nice barn-doors. Yeah the stands are crappola, but then again the lights are on the very compact side (as everyone has pointed out) so generally the stands are more than enough (until someone trips over the cord... but we'll get to that). The Pro light is the most useful... it has good barn doors and is fairly focusable and can take gels or umbrella. The Tota I find the least useful. It's right there with a shop light-- just kinda blasts away. Nonetheless I have used it a fair amount, but in general with DV it's more about quality over quantity. 2000W is more than enough for 90% of the situations I find myself in, it's getting that 2000W controlled in the right manner that is the real trick.

An actor tripped over a cord and took down my Pro light rather violently. The bulb popped (of course) and one barndoor was pretty bent out of shape, but after a fresh bulb the light fired up just fine. i.e. I have no complaints about the durability despite the abuse.

The only other thing I picked up with the kit is a Lowell "big foot scissor mount":

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=31773&is=REG

They're cheap, and can be gaff-taped onto a wall or ceiling or wedged into a drop ceiling and are generally just much more pleasant to work with than big bulky stands. That and a serious extention cord.

If I had to do it all over again (buy a lighting kit today) I would probably go with the same thing. It's damn convenient how it all fits in that case, and having such a variety of things to choose from. Yes, I long for a future that has much bigger softboxes, and better focusable fresnel-style instruments that give me a new world of control. But at least at the time I bought this I didn't find anything else to better fit my needs. Maybe some of those JTL instruments that Barry recommended are the ticket... but I would talk to someone with personal experience with them first...alas... I only have first hand experience with the DV Creator 55.

blah blah blah ramble ramble ramble...
 
Re: Lowell DV Creator Kits.

Hemo -

Thanks for the response. I decided to follow Barry Greens advice. I ordered the JTL softbox kit he mentioned in another thread. I am in the process of tracking down the rest of his "kit" as we speak. My first shoot is April 17th and I need to have my lights in order. I was darn close to buying that DV Creator 55. Like you, I know nothing about lightning other than what i am learning by reading John Jackman's book and what I learn here. I fear buyers blues and although I'm sure that I would have been thrilled with the complete Lowell kit when it arrived, I did not want to find myself wanting something better 6 months to a year from now that I couldn't afford. (money is always an issue)

Thanks again for the feedback.
 
Re: Lowell DV Creator Kits.

I am hardly impartial, as I configured the DV Creator kits!

But I can tell you we have used these kits in almost 1000 training events and hundreds of shoots over the last 5 years, in every conceivable situation, and the kits have always performed beautifully. That's why we let Lowel put our name on them. I'd be happy to answer any questions.

The kits are also available from:

http://www.dvcreators.net/products/dvck.html

and (although the website doesn't reflect this yet!) come with our new lighting course on DVD, "DV Enlightenment".
 
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