Narrowed down my first lighting purchases, need advice

H

hatsoff2halford

Well-known member
I have read these forums a lot recently trying to figure out a basic purchase for mostly shorts and interviews.

I'm purchasing this: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/257304-REG/Chimera_8000_Video_Pro_Plus_1.html

Arri 650w Fresnel- http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/173850-REG/Arri_531602_650W_Fresnel_120_240V_AC.html (with barn doors)

And a few 42" reflectors.

A c-stand, an extra light stand, extra arm for c-stand. A few grip teeth, gaffers tape, cinefoil.

I'm completely new to lighting with nice equipment, but from what I've read, this would make a decent starting set up. Most of my free money will be going to improving my lighting kit eventually, but for now, will this be decent?

Thanks in advance!
 
The stuff in your kit is good stuff, but I would question how it will work together. For around the same money, you could buy a 650, 300, 150 fresnels, and a softbox, for a very nice basic interview kit.

A whole different approach would be to buy a couple Cool Light 455 flos. They are great for interviews, run cool, require less power, and can use 3200k or 5600k bulbs so can match up with both tungsten lights or daylight from windows. Flos aren't hard light, but if you are running tungsten bulbs, you can add hard light real easy to supplement.

Arri fresnels are a mainstay, but there are lots of other ways to configure a kit.

Grant
 
thanks for the response! I'm now reading about lighting and just trying to figure out what few things I should buy first, then eventually keep adding. But having a solid set-up to practice with is essential for me to get better.

With the Cool Lights, would they be bright enough for narrative work. The majority of my shooting is short films. So, would the set-ups you mentioned be decent for that as well? I'm assuming they would...but who knows.
 
The flos may not be the right choice, I just wanted to get you out of the box you were in. The flos are great for interviews. If you want hard light and need to light up a bigger area, then not so much. My point was if you are on a budget and had a couple of flos with tungsten bulbs, you could add some worklights or other cheapo alternatives until you can afford more pro gear. Using daylight bulbs, you can use natural window lighting in combo with the flos, making them very versatile.

At your budget level, you will have compromises no matter what choice you make. Cool Lights make fresnels also. I have an Arri kit and they are very good lights and also have some Cool Lights flos and LEDs. They deliver a lot of bang for the buck with good support and Richard A. the owner is a site supporter of DVXuser.

Grant

Grant
 
Ah, I see what you're saying. Yeah, I'm open to any and all suggestions about my price range...but it's hard to really narrow it down. Purchasing my first lights has been the hardest decision I've made hardware wise so far (and I'm re-purchasing everything pretty much: lights, sound, jib, camera, lenses, all of it).

If anyone can give me some more advice I'd appreciate it.
 
You just have to think about what you're going to be doing the most of for now and buy lighting to fit those scenarios. Tungsten or HMI fresnels are good choices where you need the most throw/projection in distance from light to subject. That's because they have a hard light output. Shadows are well-defined from something like a fresnel. You can soften the light from tungsten by adding diffusion like a frame in front of it or softbox. Of course if you do this it limits the throw quite a bit. Fluorescent can be used anywhere you'd use that diffused light because fluorescent is inherently diffused and cannot be made harder. Its therefore not got a long throw. Shadows are undefined with light from diffused sources like softboxes or fluorescent.

LEDs are kind of between the two in terms of soft or hard light. Longer throw but shadows are undefined like with fluorescent. People would mostly choose LED where battery use or compactness was of utmost importance. So LED can throw a bit more than fluorescent but will seem a bit harder than the fluorescent.
 
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Like I said, Richard give all of us good service. Check out the Cool Lights web site for more info than you want.

By the way, I am not affiliated with Cool Lights, only a satisfied customer. I do like to promote companies that have great service. I also like to rip the ones that don't.

Grant
 
Thanks Richard and ggrantly!

I've decided I'm going to keep the Chimera softbox and use a Tungsten 300w Fresnel from Cool lights, as well as a CL-255 soft light.

I'm mostly going to be doing basic indoor scenes with outdoor stuff here and there. I figure I can use reflectors for outdoors, but would another hard light benefit me?

I'm not sure if only having one fresnel (my only hard light) is a bad idea? I know that with the flo I can add tungsten bulbs to match daylight (something I'm sure Ill be doing frequently), but wil it be enough?

I figure I have the fresnel for hard light, then the Chimera for soft light (two fixtures, thought), and the flo as an inbetween. Plus a reflector. I can also throw in some home depot lights and match the flo with it if I need to.
 
The fluorescents wouldn't be all powerful enough to fight any large quantity of daylight coming in through windows and using them outdoors during the day would be pretty useless except up really close for some kind of weak fill. That kind of daylight work is usually reserved for the higher wattage HMIs. Its really tough to find any one fixture to do it all if you are planning for a large number of different scenarios. Really just best to see what you're going to be doing most of in the short term and try to outfit for that. A 300w tungsten would rarely be a good key light. They're mostly used as back, hair and rim or accent lighting. Or to project a cookie on the wall behind someone. A 650w would probably be more versatile in terms of what you can do with it.
 
Also, for a few bucks more than a CL-255 you can get the 455 which is well....double the light. But the light is switched, so you can use only 2 bulbs when you want.

Grant
 
hatsoff2halford said:
Thanks Richard and ggrantly!

I've decided I'm going to keep the Chimera softbox and use a Tungsten 300w Fresnel from Cool lights, as well as a CL-255 soft light.

This isn't enough light to do much of anything. These are fill lights.

I'm mostly going to be doing basic indoor scenes with outdoor stuff here and there. I figure I can use reflectors for outdoors, but would another hard light benefit me?

Outdoors, tungsten lights won't balance with daylight unless gelled which doesn't work well at all.

I'm not sure if only having one fresnel (my only hard light) is a bad idea? I know that with the flo I can add tungsten bulbs to match daylight (something I'm sure Ill be doing frequently), but wil it be enough?

Daylight bulbs are 5600k and tungsten bulbs are 3200k. The flos will suck outside and the tungstens are the wrong temp. Outside in daylight, lighting gets very expensive indeed; think HMI and $$$$

I figure I have the fresnel for hard light, then the Chimera for soft light (two fixtures, thought), and the flo as an inbetween. Plus a reflector. I can also throw in some home depot lights and match the flo with it if I need to.
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Yes, just remember that you will still be pretty limited. Recommend you get a 650 instead of the 300, and a 455 instead of a 255.

Grant
 
I've decided on

1. CL255
2. 5600k Softbox
3. 650k Fresnel
4. 150k Fresnel
5. (2) 32" reflectors
6. two lighting stands
7. One C-stand with extra 40" arm


I think that's going to be decent at least for a start. I should be fine with indoor narrative lighting as well as interviews.

I would get the CL455 as you reccomend, but then I wouldn't be able to get one of the other items- so it's a trade off. Another Fresnel, or a higher powered flo?
 
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hi i basically want to buy so lighting setup too, but u don't understand a thing about lighting and winch one to get, i want them mainly to shoot music videos...
will the set up be a lot different from the one that hatsoff2halford buying???cause he said he wanted a setup for interviews , or the same setup is good to go with music videos?
 
Depends upon the effects you want. Dramatic shadows call for fresnels (tungsten or HMI). Flat and even calls for softlights like diffused tungsten, HMI or fluorescent. Someone sent me a link recently to a music video and they wanted my opinion on what to use to duplicate the effect. The shadows in the video where very well defined and quite dramatic vs. a light and airy type look which could be flat and even. They asked if LEDs would do it and I told them LEDs are great for a lot of things but perfect shadows isn't one of them (nor would fluorescent be good for this either) so they should look at fresnels of various kinds. So decide on the overall look you may want for most of the music videos and go forward from there. You can send us an email to info@coollights.biz and I can help further as well. Hope this helps.
 
Cool Lights said:
You just have to think about what you're going to be doing the most of for now and buy lighting to fit those scenarios. Tungsten or HMI fresnels are good choices where you need the most throw/projection in distance from light to subject. That's because they have a hard light output. Shadows are well-defined from something like a fresnel. You can soften the light from tungsten by adding diffusion like a frame in front of it or softbox. Of course if you do this it limits the throw quite a bit. Fluorescent can be used anywhere you'd use that diffused light because fluorescent is inherently diffused and cannot be made harder. Its therefore not got a long throw. Shadows are undefined with light from diffused sources like softboxes or fluorescent.

LEDs are kind of between the two in terms of soft or hard light. Longer throw but shadows are undefined like with fluorescent. People would mostly choose LED where battery use or compactness was of utmost importance. So LED can throw a bit more than fluorescent but will seem a bit harder than the fluorescent.
Click to expand...

Richard when do you expect to have the 600 LED series available?
 
They are in the warehouse now having arrived on Monday. Now its a question of putting things on shelves and into the inventory system which takes a day or two because our inbound shipments are always very big and include lots of products of various kinds. I would say we'll definitely be opening up online ordering by Thursday of this week.
 
I love my coollight fresnels. Wouldn't trade them for anything. Easy to soften with diffusion, and even paper (yes regular paper won't burst into flames)... you could even build a softbox out of cardboard without worry.

For interviews, they run cool, which depending on who you're interviewing means less sweaty subjects (best plus) and less concern on blowing circuits. Swapping bulbs to match for inside/outside light without gels is also nice.

Not affiliated. Happy customer with 3 lights. Richard does great service too!
 
Cool Lights said:
They are in the warehouse now having arrived on Monday. Now its a question of putting things on shelves and into the inventory system which takes a day or two because our inbound shipments are always very big and include lots of products of various kinds. I would say we'll definitely be opening up online ordering by Thursday of this week.
Click to expand...
you guys do international shipping???
 
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