My DIY Kino

[brokenjack]

Just thought I'd start a new thread to show off my homemade kino.

Basically it's built around Coralife aquarium fixtures and a mirrored reflector that came from the same pet shop.

The ballasts velcro to the back and they let me choose between 2 tube and 4 tube

The covering is black corregated plastic. Unit is held closed by 2 elastic velcro straps. Between the reflector and the plastic, is a sheet of aluminum to give stability. I used rivets. I used that black plastic wiring harness stuff you get at the harware or auto part store to hold together the wiring. Had to take out a section of wire to get the cables to match length since all the wires are coming out one side. I had to compensate for the length of one wire going to the far endcap. Hope that made sense.

As you can see, it mounts nicely on a c-stand so it can be positioned easily. It is also lightweight and can be extended on the arm. I used a rod welded to a 6"x 6" piece of sheet metal as a mounting pin that is bolted on with wingnuts, so it can be taken off easily if you need to stack it.

Here is the front. I creased one of the "barn doors"

Here is the light open. I flipped it around to let the bottom barn door fall. I was going to make the barn doors postionable, but it got so over engineered that I just figured I'd use flags on c-stands. The barn door can be clipped back to the stand out of the way.

Tubes are held in place by a strips of velcro strap riveted to the "plastic/aluminum plate/reflector" sandwich. The tubes can all be easily taken out and mounted/taped up individually. The end caps are a great feature to the aquarium rig. They are rugged and if you need to change color temp bulbs, it's fairly fast.

Here is the aluminum plate and mounting plate I used. Basically I went to my neighborhood metal working shop to get the rod welded to the plate, and I also had them round the corners of the aluminum plate.

Sorry for the lousy pictures. This has been a great rig, and we use it all the time. I recently used it on a HD shoot at 24p with the sony cinealta, and did not notice any flickering.

 

[Spartacus]

Looking nice!
Total costs to build...?

 

[brokenjack]

Looking nice!
Total costs to build...?

Funny how you don't keep accurate track of cost when you spend someone elses money.

I think it was around $150-200, but that's with getting the metalshop to do some simple fabrication, which was kind of expensive.

The ballasts are $52 from here, and you need 2 for a 4 tube bank.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produ...&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Np=1&pc=1&N=0&Nty=1

I think the reflector was $15.
Here is a link to one for $28, but I know I didn't pay that much for one.

http://www.petstore.com/ps_viewitem.aspx?idproduct=ES00822

 

[Cool Lights]

Interesting...

The biggest barriers to making a real DIY kino are the edge protection extrusions that also hold the "soft pipe" which is the real secret behind how the barndoors move back and forth and actually stick where you want them too. The extrusions also help make up for the fragility of the corrugated plastic too by protecting the edges and keeping them from fraying down to nothing over time and also keeping the general shape the fixture should keep too.

An affordable lolipop is also somewhat hard to be found, but as can be seen here, you can use a standard rod and grip head to do effectively the same thing.

Until someone comes up with a good way to emulate the extrusions and the features they provide, you're somewhat limited in what you can do; but this is certainly a great effort and is apparently usable if you are still using it in your productions.

 

[brokenjack]

Until someone comes up with a good way to emulate the extrusions and the features they provide, you're somewhat limited in what you can do; but this is certainly a great effort and is apparently usable if you are still using it in your productions.

Don't forget dimable(sp?) ballast, but for $800+ savings per bank, I'll deal with not having the lollipop, which by the way wears out over time, and cutting the light with 24" x 48"'s. The real benefit is weight, and the ability to use the individual tubes removed from the fixture to hide in places where it's hard to get the whole bank. For example lighting a subject standing at a front door shooting from inside a house. Can't light from inside, or the closed door would blow out. Plus the end caps are water proof, so if it starts to drizzle you can still shoot. The problem with shop light fixtures is portability and weight, and blood loss from the sharp sheet metal. I also got so frustrated with the cheapness of the parts and reliability of the "tombstones" I just had to try and make a better mousetrap.

 

[Matt Gottshalk]

Very cool, lets see some pics of a head shot lit using it!

 

[MattinSTL]

Ram Mounts

Gooseneck

Then I'd use plastic or sheet metal to fold around the ends of the COROPLAST plastic sheet. Be sure to get UV protected Coroplast or let the PLASTICS DISTRIBUTOR know what you intend to do with the material that you're buying. You can buy Coroplast sheet from a SIGN SHOP also... and again, be sure to say that it will be in the sun and weather.

You can buy aluminum CHANNEL EXTRUSIONS for those ends if you like... to hold the gooseneck in place.

 

[brokenjack]

You can buy aluminum CHANNEL EXTRUSIONS for those ends if you like... to hold the gooseneck in place.

The gooseneck/aluminum channel extrusion is an excellent idea! Those ram mounts might be a bit pricey for me though. I wonder how thin they sell that gooseneck material somewhere.

 

[JasonFox]

Very cool. Especially being able to use the bulbs separately. If you're having to pay someone to weld that rod to the base plate, it might be cheaper to just use baby plates.

Love your banner, btw.

 

[brokenjack]

Very cool. Especially being able to use the bulbs separately. If you're having to pay someone to weld that rod to the base plate, it might be cheaper to just use baby plates.

Love your banner, btw.

I considered the baby plates, but for some reason I can't remember why I went with the welded rod setup. I think it was still cheaper, and it was where I bought the aluminum sheet...maybe instant gratification. I also think I wanted a longer rod(who doesn't..insert joke here) and the longer baby plate was a bit bulky. I dunno, it is what it is.

 

[MattinSTL]

I hope you scrolled down and looked AROUND on the Ram Mount site. You can get any position mounting accomplished for about $50 or less. You aren't going to beat that price... and if you ever built a new light or replace that one you can always use the Ram parts on something else.

My advice would be to make a mount out of the 1.5" ball size... and use a VESA plate on the light... then, if you want to in the future, you have a perfect solution to hold an LCD monitor on set.

$50 for any position lighting is about as cheap as it's going to get... at least in the "lollipop" configuration.

 

[Cool Lights]

Don't forget dimable(sp?) ballast, but for $800+ savings per bank, I'll deal with not having the lollipop, which by the way wears out over time, and cutting the light with 24" x 48"'s. The real benefit is weight, and the ability to use the individual tubes removed from the fixture to hide in places where it's hard to get the whole bank. For example lighting a subject standing at a front door shooting from inside a house. Can't light from inside, or the closed door would blow out. Plus the end caps are water proof, so if it starts to drizzle you can still shoot. The problem with shop light fixtures is portability and weight, and blood loss from the sharp sheet metal. I also got so frustrated with the cheapness of the parts and reliability of the "tombstones" I just had to try and make a better mousetrap.

It's definitely much harder to find decent dimming ballasts for the T12 type tubes. If you go with the 55w tube the choices are much more for sure and while still expensive, can be gotten in the $150 range unless you happen to find some on clearance on Ebay which happens from time to time.

 

[brokenjack]

BTW Cool Lights, I noticed you guys sell the metal clips to hold the bulbs in place. I strongly recommend to anyone, to use these instead of what I did. The plastic clips that come with the coralife setup are cheap and will break, gar-on-teed. I might just upgrade my lights with those instead of the velcro route.

 

[brokenjack]

I hope you scrolled down and looked AROUND on the Ram Mount site. You can get any position mounting accomplished for about $50 or less. You aren't going to beat that price... and if you ever built a new light or replace that one you can always use the Ram parts on something else.

My advice would be to make a mount out of the 1.5" ball size... and use a VESA plate on the light... then, if you want to in the future, you have a perfect solution to hold an LCD monitor on set.

$50 for any position lighting is about as cheap as it's going to get... at least in the "lollipop" configuration.

Yep, I was in a hurry. I will look again and check it out. The light would definitely be improved.

 

[Cool Lights]

While we're talking about lolipops and relating to our 10 most wanted parts. I think we're going to get our lolipop for sure and at a pretty low cost. Much less than $50. I've got two sources for an existing one that can be gotten reasonably in quantity. I did get a quote for making one and the tooling fees were out of sight so, for now, its probably easier to buy an existing one. I've enclosed a picture of the sample I have. I'll have the competing sample next week and will evaluate it also. This one certainly is attractive and works well though:

So as you see, I'm busy fulfilling promises made on that thread.

Also, for anyone making their own fixtures, extrusions of various kinds are something you definitely need to learn more about. Most professional lighting fixtures are made with combinations of extrusions and regular aluminum or steel stamped end caps. The nice thing about this is that the extrusions come in long pieces and are simply cut to the appropriate size for whatever fixture version being made. This is particularly useful for fluorescent fixtures where you may have different sizes of bulbs. Use the same end caps and just cut the extrusion down to the size necessary for the bulbs. Even an arri fresnel is nothing but a collection of extrusions of different shapes along with a custom cast front and back piece.

Our Cool Lights Studio Softlight units, today, are stamped metal but will soon be aluminum extrusions too to cut down on weight. We would have done that originally but didn't have the time back then. It takes a while to engineer an extrusion and you have huge minimum purchases to buy too ;-)

I drew a picture recently for a supplier of the ideal edge extrusion for something like the portable plastic fixture use:

All channel extrusions are described by a letter of the alphabet to which they are the closest in overall look. While you could use an H channel and U channel combo to do this, I think an A shaped one which seems to be very rare would be the best to use for the ends with the U shaped on the long edges where the soft pipe is not needed.

The other barrier you face is that once you find someone that sells the profile you want, getting them to sell you a small quantity may be quite a challenge too. But if someone has a link to a place that sells suitable ones that'd be great. Please post it!

I think it makes sense to add these kinds of extrusions to the 10 most wanted list too as I think they have other uses along with corrugated plastic. For instance, a matte box could probably be constructed much easier with this kind of material and the edge extrusions and soft pipe as they call it here in China or "gooseneck" as many in the US know it by. I'm sure there are many more uses too. If I sold it, I think it would be best sold in lengths of about 4' 4" or so. The reason being that if, for instance, you're building a 4 foot flo fixture, like the DIY of this thread, you really need a bit longer than 4 feet, so some extra would be nice to have sometimes. If you're building a smaller unit, you would still buy the 4'4" lengths and just cut them down. If these were anodized black it would be best too as standard spray painting never works all that well on metal of any kinds.

 

[Cool Lights]

BTW Cool Lights, I noticed you guys sell the metal clips to hold the bulbs in place. I strongly recommend to anyone, to use these instead of what I did. The plastic clips that come with the coralife setup are cheap and will break, gar-on-teed. I might just upgrade my lights with those instead of the velcro route.

Yes, I hate the plastic ones but the velcro idea isn't too bad for round tubes. I actually saw a plastic one melt on one of my original fixtures so I never used them again.

I was wondering, when you carry it around, do you leave the tubes in or do you take them out. Does the velcro help any with cushioning the bulbs?

 

[brokenjack]

Yes, I hate the plastic ones but the velcro idea isn't too bad for round tubes. I actually saw a plastic one melt on one of my original fixtures so I never used them again.

I was wondering, when you carry it around, do you leave the tubes in or do you take them out. Does the velcro help any with cushioning the bulbs?

I leave them in. They seem to be pretty well protected once everything is strapped up. I guess the velcro helps a little, but I think the box created by the plastic is strong as long as nobody sits on it. We transport them around on a shelf in the grip truck.

 

[MattinSTL]

Go to an aquarium store... such as www.marinedepot.com and check out the waterproof fluorescent sockets. They are on a completely different level then anything else you've ever seen. There are 2 brands, but the type listed as "German 3-Piece" are the ones you want.

Then there is no clip issue OR any potential for play in your bulbs... at that point you have a unified system of light and shell.

I guess I should spell this out in greater detail so I get credit for the information... but whatever... this should tell you everything you need to know...

http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_ViewItem~idProduct~CP5111.html

Also... you don't have to buy these parts from this store. You may be able to save a little cash elsewhere... but the one thing you can do is subtract the cost of clips from your design. I've used these connectors for years now... they are very nice.

 

[Vincent Pascoe]

wow do they have the Water proof end connectors for High out put fluorescents?


you guys brought back a lot of nostalgia my first Home made Vinnie-Flo used a 4ft mirror for a reflector...used it on a feature I shot...worked great for 2 weeks then we finally moved to another location...the light arrived to the new location in many broken pieces...

by the time of ver 3 of the Vinnie flow I had a grip truck with almost every job ...making it not efficant to build my own...

Good luck...

VP

www.vincentpascoe.com

www.myspace.com/vincentpascoe

 

[Cool Lights]

Its for aquarium use.