my low budget light kit

L

LloydC

Veteran
I'm shooting a short in a few weeks and want get some work lights

Waht I'm thinking of at the moment is:

2 500w halogen worklight
1 200w halogen worklight
1 foamcore for bounce
1 shower curtain for diffusion

the lights come with stands as well

do I need anything else? change anything? you suggest I just rent lights? $15 a light for lowel's if I rent
 
China balls are great & candles too. Use higher wattage bulbs in the praticals in the shot. Balance window light with blue CTB if you can find some for free.

Diffusion is the key to shaping the light. Yes on the foam core, bed sheets, the silver construction board from HQ. (great for outside) Look into china ball, they really look great for next to no money.

Steve
 
I am worried the shower curtain might melt!

Try and get some proper diffusion gels, it is worth it.

Some black Flags or equivalent will also be handy to block light because I doubt that your lights have barn doors.

Also you will be surprised how little light and how much heat those worklights kick out! You will only really be able to light interiors.
 
Don't forget to pick up some 3200K bulbs at your nearest photography store. The ones that come with the fixtures are yellow, not white. You can white balance to them, but then you'll have problems if you try to use lamps from another (pro) light kit.
 
All worklights are not created equal. I bought some at Sears that were dual watts (250/500 each) so two of them on a stand gives me 250/500/750/1000 watts. Also, they have a long enough cord (some are short) and are tall enough. SO even if you are committed to shop lights, shop and ocmpare. I think teh Sears lights were even cheaper than most alternatives.

Also, you should know about something called black wrap, which is black-anodized aliminum foil. This is great for makeshift barndoors on a shop light. But unless you arer really pressed for $$$, eventually you will wish you had spent more for some Britek lights with real barndoors, softboxes, better control, and other niceties.
 
I agree with galt about the work lights. 1 or 2 of those Britek 600s with softboxes are great. I started my light kit with 2 Britek 600 watt open faced lights with softboxes and a 500 watt work light (with a color correct tota bulb.)

If you do decide to get some pro lights here are some good ones.

http://www.rostronics.com/products.asp?cat=27

My work light came from Sears as well. It was a single 500 watt light on a 4 foot stand. I liked the fact that unlike the double 500 lights the light isn't connected to the stand permanently by the cord/switch assembly. For stuff where I needed the light higher than 4 feet (often) you can get one of those big metal spring clips at home depot (the ones with the rubber slip on/off covers on the handle) take the rubber cover off one side and there is a hole in the clip that you can fasten the light to with a nut, bolt and some washers. Clips great to cabinets and bookshelves or even light stands. Since you are going to probably use the light mostly as a bounce light it’s great to get it up high and bounce it off the ceiling.

I’d also recommend getting some type of light stand, even if it’s just a cheap 20 dollar one. Even if you don’t have any professional lights you can clip the work light to one like I describes above or gaffer tape your foam core bounce boards to it. Oh speaking of which, get some gaffers tape, but remember even though it doesn’t leave residue it still can take paint off of walls.


You can get some professional gels and filters in packs for a good price.


http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=WishList.jsp&A=details&Q=&sku=218769&is=REG

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=WishList.jsp&A=details&Q=&sku=218772&is=REG

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=WishList.jsp&A=details&Q=&sku=218771&is=REG
 
I have been fooling around for the past couple of weeks trying to make a couple of nice low-cost fluorescents, as Walter Graff and many others have written about. I've had some good success and spent minimal $$ on the supplies. At some point I was planning to post a screen grab or two and pics of my setup, once I shoot some quality test footage.

I will admit, though, after about 20 trips to home depot, $2 - $5 here and there on the wrong size screws, one sliced thumb, blah blah blah, etc., it's pretty tough to beat just forking over some cash for a couple of britek lites. I guess it depends on how much you value your time, and how much you like fooling around with the project. Personally, I've kind of been having fun trying to put it together myself, even though my result is probably not going to be quite as good as it could be if I just spent the cash.

FYI -- when I was looking at worklights at Home Depot, the stands were quite big and heavy. You can get some pretty decent budget stands on B&H for dirt cheap -- Impact makes several models:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?A=search&Q=&b=866&a=0&shs=&ci=5800&ac=&Submit.x=8&Submit.y=15&Submit=Go

I bought a couple of 8' air-cushioned stands for $35 each. I think there is a six footer for $20. They aren't the sturdiest things in the world, but they are very light, very compact, and seem like they will get the job done just fine. I think it's tough to justify $125 per stand for a C-stand if you're on a budget...
 
Being from the rock'n'roll world, I just use four nice, big, shiny 500w PAR64's with a dimmer pack. I have white diffusion gels on the PARs, which work just fine. I use one for main, another for fill, one for backlighting the subject, and the fourth for lighting the background. Works for 90% of the things I've ever had to do.

Dimming incandscents makes them "redder" the more you pull back on the power, but as long as you know that and compensate for it (or just burn them up full and use proximity to control the amount of light), the results are fine.
 
A few other little odds and ends that you might like to get.

A porcelain socket adapter that screws into regular light sockets and allows you to put higher wattage bulbs into them.

Some clip lights, very useful for putting anywhere and they are cheap so you can get several.

A bag of wooden cloths pins, for clipping gels to anything. Make sure you get wood, plastic can melt.

Several 25' and 50' extension cords and some splitters because you will always need more outlets and whatever room you try to shoot in is always sharing a circut breaker with half of the rest of the house. I'd say get at least 14 gauge cord, personally I like 12 gauge myself so that I know if I have to put several together (100') I won't have to worry about voltage drop.

If you are going to be setting up any lightstands outside I'd get some rope and tent stakes. I had to replace a $100 lens on a 650 because I turned my back and the wind blew over my light.
 
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