Outdoor lighting question regarding the GH1?

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Filmkid2003

Well-known member
Hey everyone. I'm going to be shooting a scene at night under a concrete bridge in the middle of nowhere with no available power source. The ceiling of the bridge (the underneath part) is approximately 12 feet above the ground. This is where I will be shooting the scene. I plan on duct taping string lights holding 25 light bulbs and each light bulb is 25 watts. The string of lights is 54 feet in length with a light socket spaced apart every 2 feet. I will be hanging the string lights in rows that will form a square over top of where the actors will be standing. So, my total light output will be (25 bulbs x 25 watts each) 625 watts. Will this be enough light to light up the scene for the GH1 with the kit lens to capture with very minimal to no noise? Or will I have to double the amount of bulbs to 50 for a total of 1250 watts? These string lights with bulbs aren't cheap so, I can't really afford to buy a set of two.

I plan on powering the lights with a 3000 watt Honda generator that I will be renting from Home Depot for the night. And as far as the generator noise goes, I wrote it into the script so I don't have to worry about it being in the background.

By the way, the bridge area where we will be shooting is approximately 25 feet long x 20 feet wide with graffiti on the walls, which I would like to be able to light up a bit so it shows up in the scene.


Here is a link to the string lights I will be buying:

http://www.sivallighting.com/commer...oor-string-lights-54ft-24-medium-sockets.aspx
 
A. Grab a faster lens. The Kit Lens is too slow for this sort of application. You'll be better served with faster glass, anyway, for the entirety of your shoot. Even if you got cheap ebay lenses of the 2.8 variety, you'll be better off.

You can also rent lenses or, heck, check craigslist and see if you can borrow some from someone.

B. If you haven't already, check ebay or craigslist for your stringlights. You may be able to save half of what they cost at this website. If you have already checked ebay etc, great.


C. That won't be enough light. However, you're talking about using filament based lighting versus CFL. My suggestion to you would be to find high wattage CFLs instead: the cost isn't much greater than your standard light bulb and the output-to-wattage consumption ratio's much greater.

You could find 25Watt CFLs that output 100Watts if you do a little searching in that area. Your local Hardware store (home depot or Osh, not sure what's around you) will have higher wattages and you may be able to purchase in bulk. This will save you from having to purchase two string lights.

D. If you haven't already thought about it, the Honda Genie will still leave you room to power other lights. I'd take outa cheap shoplight to spot the background if this was a situation I had to shoot in.
 
Also, because you're probably going to mention this, yes CFLs come in a variety of color temps.

You should be able to go as low as 2800K and as high as 6600K. For your purposes, it sounds like you're going to balance @ 3200ish or so. You should be able to locate some 4K CFLs or less.

There are a lot of sources online that sell them dirt cheap.
 
With a 3k generator, why not to get a couple spotlights or at least some worklights?

Is there any specific reason you want to go with string light? Do you want to see them in the shots? What will be seen in the widest shot you have planned?

I would say that it will probably not be enough to shoot at iso 100-400 with an f stop of 4-5. Especially 12 feet overhead. Even with a faster lens I would go with something around f4 for wider shots to get more depth of field and surrounding detail. I only open up to f2 for medium shots or closeups.
 
Buy some Kino bulbs and get some of the cheap 10$ solid state fluorescent fixtures from Lowes or Home Depot and screw them to some cheap stands for fill lighting.

Or buy some cheap worklights and some cheap Ushio colormatched bulbs for fill if you prefer quartz lighting.

There are a lot of ways to do this cheap and easy.
 
If it's appropriate for the scene, you might consider using (renting?) several Coleman propane/liquid/kerosene camping lanterns. These lanterns are fairly bright and very portable. They aren't completely silent, however, although the low hiss sound they make might be less objectionable than the drone of a generator. YMMV. Just be careful not to start an unintentional fire! :-)

And if at all possible, shoot a test beforehand. And getting at least one fast lens is probably a very good idea.
 
Thanks, guys. I do have a Nikon 50mm 1.8 prime and a Nikon 28mm 2.4 prime but, I need to buy a m4/3 adapter for it yet. What Kholi said about getting CFL bulbs instead of incandescent bulbs sounds like the cheapest and easiest option. The only thing is, I don't think they'll look as pretty in the background as the nice round incandescent bulbs. If I use my 50mm 1.8 prime lens, do you think that would be fast enough to shoot with 625 watts worth of string lights and two 250 watt craftsmen shop lights for fill?
 
You'll also need to think about what is generating the light in the scene - the moon? A streetlight? Headlights?

Apart from cities where you have billboards and headlights and window lights and other ambient lights, most of the lighting at night comes from overhead (the moon or streetlights), is high contrast, and has a blue tint. So it will look completely un-natural if you light your scene using lots of small incandescant lights which will be non-directional and soft, and have an orange tint. Unless you have planned for the string lights to be practicals, then I would use a single floodlight or worklight with a blue gel, raised up as high as you can get it.

Also I'd definitely recommend getting a faster lens - an old prime + adaptor should be less than $100 on ebay and will most likely become your favorite lens.
 
The string lights duct taped to the ceiling of the bridge and being powered by a generator is actually part of the story. A homeless guy living under the bridge, which in the movie will be a train bridge, found a generator that dropped off of the train a half mile back and dragged it to his "home" and got it to work. He found the string lights in a dumpster behind a nearby cafe and brought them back to the bridge. Doing it this way makes the cinematographer (me), who has no real experience with lighting, look good in front of the director (also me). I just bit the bullet and bought the Nikon to m4/3 adapter I can't afford off of ebay. Now, I just need to buy the string lights and bulbs.
 
I forgot to mention that I will also have two 300w incandescent bulbs inside bowl shaped reflective shop lights pointing straight down to look like small street lights which will light up two of the actors standing under the edge of the bridge. The third actor will be in front of the other two, underneath the string lights. The forth actor will be facing him. One of the actors will be letting me use his 5000 watt generator (overkill, I know, but at least its frre except for the gas) to power everything.
 
where is this filming? I would be very interested to know/see how this turns out. sounds like an awesome scene but like others have said, in the middle of the night it almsot doesn't matter how much light you have, the kit lens will not work
 
Thanks, Homunculus. I think you're right about the kit lens so, I ordered a Nikon to m4/3 adapter so I can use my fast Nikon prime lenses. Hopefully with the GH13 set to 320 or 400 ISO I'll have enought light to shoot the scene. I'm shooting the scene in Los Angeles county.
 
Filmkid2003 said:
Thanks, Homunculus. I think you're right about the kit lens so, I ordered a Nikon to m4/3 adapter so I can use my fast Nikon prime lenses. Hopefully with the GH13 set to 320 or 400 ISO I'll have enought light to shoot the scene. I'm shooting the scene in Los Angeles county.
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awesome..I say this from having nothing but the kit lens myself for the time being and testing it extensively in low light and night settings because in my neighborhood there's not much light at all and even when I flood a mock scene I setup with light, the kit lens F/4 just is not enough at all...that's why I've got canon fd 50mm f1.4 and others coming through the mail as we speak along with a m43 adapter and I'm looking to get the 20mm lumix f/1.7 pancake next as well and can't wait to get my hands on a fast lens and try it out. Don't get me wrong kit lens is awesome and I think is worth like 699$ standalone but it's just not a fast lens...
 
I completely agree 100%. Which adapter did you buy? I bought the Metabones adapter for Nikon AF lenses. A lot of people have been comparing it to the Voightlander adapter which costs twice as much. How much was your Canon m4/3 adapter and how much did you pay for the Canon 50mm f1.4 lens? I've seen some really nice videos shot with the G13 and Canon glass.
 
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