I'm looking for battery powered exterior lights on stands/booms. I will not need them on the camera. I'm using reflectors but sometimes I just can't get the right light where I need it. These lights will be used to reinforce the sunlight and fill in shady areas. Next to HMI's which lights run the coolest? Any suggestions - Thanks
Portable Lights for Exterior Use
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Fred_Plowman
Well-known member
Re: Portable Lights for Exterior Use
flourescents.. Although the juice to power high wattage lighting would require a generator and not a battery realistically.
I mean I suppose you could build a trailer and equip it with a several thousand dollar battery bank. Plug it into your home to charge or build a several thousand dollar solar array to charge on the road.. lol
flourescents.. Although the juice to power high wattage lighting would require a generator and not a battery realistically.
I mean I suppose you could build a trailer and equip it with a several thousand dollar battery bank. Plug it into your home to charge or build a several thousand dollar solar array to charge on the road.. lol
Fred_Plowman
Well-known member
Re: Portable Lights for Exterior Use
I mean I suppose you could build a trailer and equip it with a several thousand dollar battery bank. Plug it into your home to charge or build a several thousand dollar solar array to charge on the road.. lol
Why isnt a generator an option ?? look into the honda whisper quiet ones they got...
I mean I suppose you could build a trailer and equip it with a several thousand dollar battery bank. Plug it into your home to charge or build a several thousand dollar solar array to charge on the road.. lol
Why isnt a generator an option ?? look into the honda whisper quiet ones they got...
Fred_Plowman
Well-known member
Re: Portable Lights for Exterior Use
build a sound box out of plywood to put it in with a 100' extension cord...
An inverter large enough that you can plug into your car would work too.. You would want to add more deep cycle marine batteries into the trunk of the vehicle and you would have to turn the car on and let it run part of the time
build a sound box out of plywood to put it in with a 100' extension cord...
An inverter large enough that you can plug into your car would work too.. You would want to add more deep cycle marine batteries into the trunk of the vehicle and you would have to turn the car on and let it run part of the time
Re: Portable Lights for Exterior Use
The locations I am shooting are off road, and I have too be able to carry everything by hand. I have a 3 person crew, but I can't see lugging a generator all over creation unless they are smaller than I think. I'm sure I'll be the one to carry it - so I sure would like to come up with some other solution.
I understand this is a little unusual but what about a on camera light used off camera such as a Pagelight or someting like that? Thanks
The locations I am shooting are off road, and I have too be able to carry everything by hand. I have a 3 person crew, but I can't see lugging a generator all over creation unless they are smaller than I think. I'm sure I'll be the one to carry it - so I sure would like to come up with some other solution.
I understand this is a little unusual but what about a on camera light used off camera such as a Pagelight or someting like that? Thanks
Fred_Plowman
Well-known member
Re: Portable Lights for Exterior Use
the battery that you need to power those lights will weigh much more than the small generator you would carry... your asking for a whole lotta juice.. why not buy you a 100 watt frezzi and a half dozen nrg belts packs along with the belt?? Ill find you a link to the generator im thinking of.
You better have some money to invest either way
the battery that you need to power those lights will weigh much more than the small generator you would carry... your asking for a whole lotta juice.. why not buy you a 100 watt frezzi and a half dozen nrg belts packs along with the belt?? Ill find you a link to the generator im thinking of.
You better have some money to invest either way
Barry_Green
Moderator
Re: Portable Lights for Exterior Use
You're asking for the impossible. HMI's are about the ONLY light source that can compete with the sun. A little Paglight will have a 20-watt bulb, which provides nearly no light, and then to get it converted to daylight temperature you have to use a dichroic filter, which drops the effective output to maybe 5 watts.
Fluorescents have no "punch" and are basically useless outdoors unless it's night.
The only light that *may* qualify for you, near as I can tell, might be the Frezzi mini-Sungun 24w HMI. Battery-powered, AC/DC ballast, because it's an HMI it's already blue daylight color, and it'll give you about the equivalent of 75 watts worth of light. You might look into the 30V battery-powered sunguns as well...
You're asking for the impossible. HMI's are about the ONLY light source that can compete with the sun. A little Paglight will have a 20-watt bulb, which provides nearly no light, and then to get it converted to daylight temperature you have to use a dichroic filter, which drops the effective output to maybe 5 watts.
Fluorescents have no "punch" and are basically useless outdoors unless it's night.
The only light that *may* qualify for you, near as I can tell, might be the Frezzi mini-Sungun 24w HMI. Battery-powered, AC/DC ballast, because it's an HMI it's already blue daylight color, and it'll give you about the equivalent of 75 watts worth of light. You might look into the 30V battery-powered sunguns as well...
Re: Portable Lights for Exterior Use
Yep, I was afraid that HMI's were going to be the answer. I know there expensive but they are the best I guess I'll have to postpone my purchase of a high res monitor. One more question - the 30V battery-powered sunguns - is that a brand or a type of HMI? Thanks again Guys (Barry - Panasonic should use your Anamorphic Guide book as an owners manual)
Yep, I was afraid that HMI's were going to be the answer. I know there expensive but they are the best I guess I'll have to postpone my purchase of a high res monitor. One more question - the 30V battery-powered sunguns - is that a brand or a type of HMI? Thanks again Guys (Barry - Panasonic should use your Anamorphic Guide book as an owners manual)
Fred_Plowman
Well-known member
Re: Portable Lights for Exterior Use
Barrys a sharper light guy than I. I suggested Flourescents due to the low wattage of the useable light. I naturally assumed night.. lol I didnt even think that you would need them in the day.. silly me..
Barrys a sharper light guy than I. I suggested Flourescents due to the low wattage of the useable light. I naturally assumed night.. lol I didnt even think that you would need them in the day.. silly me..
Barry_Green
Moderator
Re: Portable Lights for Exterior Use
Yeah he specifically said day usage, so that rules out flo's, although they're excellent for night.
For an affordable HMI, the 24W Frezzi is under $1000 I think. If you're not worried about affordability, you can get AC/DC Joker kits or Arri Pocket PARs or Pocket Lites, which can be 200w or 400w in strength. That's enough to make a noticeable difference even in sunlight, at least to fill in shadows and such. 'Course, you're talking about $3000-$7000 or so for one complete light kit... A 125w HMI might be enough, those are a *little* less expensive, but might not be enough to make enough of a difference.
That's why reflectors are king for outdoors -- cheap, and extremely powerful (as compared to actual lights). Use white reflectors for weak soft fill, silver reflectors for stronger hard fill, and a mirror for 100% sunlight.
Yeah he specifically said day usage, so that rules out flo's, although they're excellent for night.
For an affordable HMI, the 24W Frezzi is under $1000 I think. If you're not worried about affordability, you can get AC/DC Joker kits or Arri Pocket PARs or Pocket Lites, which can be 200w or 400w in strength. That's enough to make a noticeable difference even in sunlight, at least to fill in shadows and such. 'Course, you're talking about $3000-$7000 or so for one complete light kit... A 125w HMI might be enough, those are a *little* less expensive, but might not be enough to make enough of a difference.
That's why reflectors are king for outdoors -- cheap, and extremely powerful (as compared to actual lights). Use white reflectors for weak soft fill, silver reflectors for stronger hard fill, and a mirror for 100% sunlight.
hemophilia
Well-known member
Re: Portable Lights for Exterior Use
Reflectors!
But if you really really want to spend lots of money for something that doesn't work as well as a reflector... you could check out the LTM daycam. Mini HMIs small enough to be camera mounted if need be.
http://www.ltmlighting.com/merchant.ihtml?pid=82&lastcatid=36&step=4
B&H sells them under $700. Never used them though so I don't know how much light they actually put out/how focused that beam is.
Reflectors!
But if you really really want to spend lots of money for something that doesn't work as well as a reflector... you could check out the LTM daycam. Mini HMIs small enough to be camera mounted if need be.
http://www.ltmlighting.com/merchant.ihtml?pid=82&lastcatid=36&step=4
B&H sells them under $700. Never used them though so I don't know how much light they actually put out/how focused that beam is.
FlacaProductions
Well-known member
Re: Portable Lights for Exterior Use
in open daylight the 125 will NOT cut it. a 200 would be the bottom end that you should consider. check the 200 digi-mole by mole-richardson - their digi-mole series is about the cheapest AC/DC (or ac or dc only) HMI options out there. they are NOT weather-proof (like the Brons) but if you're not out doing bad weather live-shots, it may not matter to you.
if you do go with the smaller lights, be prepared to use the sun to your advantage and/or bring some other light control - silks, big reflectors, etc.
in open daylight the 125 will NOT cut it. a 200 would be the bottom end that you should consider. check the 200 digi-mole by mole-richardson - their digi-mole series is about the cheapest AC/DC (or ac or dc only) HMI options out there. they are NOT weather-proof (like the Brons) but if you're not out doing bad weather live-shots, it may not matter to you.
if you do go with the smaller lights, be prepared to use the sun to your advantage and/or bring some other light control - silks, big reflectors, etc.
THiNSPiRiT
Well-known member
Re: Portable Lights for Exterior Use
Yeah... reflectors are the way to go. I know of a group of people who filmed a documentary/movie in a provincial park. They were unable to bring in any lights or have any access to batteries or generators or anything of the like that could potentially harm the environment. They simply came in with a ridiculous amount of gels, silks, screens, reflectors, and flags. They were able to light their scenes perfectly using only the power of the sun. A tough task, but still very cool and we able to get footage in a location that would normally be unavailable to a conventional film crew setup.
Yeah... reflectors are the way to go. I know of a group of people who filmed a documentary/movie in a provincial park. They were unable to bring in any lights or have any access to batteries or generators or anything of the like that could potentially harm the environment. They simply came in with a ridiculous amount of gels, silks, screens, reflectors, and flags. They were able to light their scenes perfectly using only the power of the sun. A tough task, but still very cool and we able to get footage in a location that would normally be unavailable to a conventional film crew setup.
Re: Portable Lights for Exterior Use
Used reflectors for years before HMI's came along. They can work great. You can have color issues if you aren't careful. Some times the light is too red from a reflector compared to what the bg looks like. A bit of 1/4 or 1/2 blue can fix that. Also, softness is the biggest thing to deal with. 2 4X4 foot hard side boards through a 6 X 6 2 stop silk will look pretty good but it is a lot more to rig. Have plenty of shot bags to hold all that down.
Flexfills for run and gun works ok.
Used reflectors for years before HMI's came along. They can work great. You can have color issues if you aren't careful. Some times the light is too red from a reflector compared to what the bg looks like. A bit of 1/4 or 1/2 blue can fix that. Also, softness is the biggest thing to deal with. 2 4X4 foot hard side boards through a 6 X 6 2 stop silk will look pretty good but it is a lot more to rig. Have plenty of shot bags to hold all that down.
Flexfills for run and gun works ok.
G
Guest
Guest
Re: Portable Lights for Exterior Use
You mentioned that you aren't able to use soft reflectors in some situations because of angles of light. Sounds like your in the shade sometimes. Use a mirror out in the sun to redirect the light to your bounce board. Sounds crazy, I know, but considering all of the various limitations with using a powered light source it may be the only senseable option. Mirrors aren't too portable but most HMI's kits are worse. The pocket par and sungun are the workable exceptions to the rule. But usually the best thing to do is reblock the shot, cheat the close ups or plan to location scout ahead of time. The flexfills are alright but they dont quite have either the punch or softness of either foam core or a sturdy reflector. The best and least expensive reflector that will give you light that is both soft and powerful can be found at ....(say it with me) Home Depot. Its insulation board that has one side that is white and one side that is a soft silver. In the middle supporting these sides is about a inch thick layer of hard foam. They come in 4ft by 8ft sheets and are about $10. Extremely light wieght and easily cut down to size if need be. I've cut them into smaller panels and then reattach them with gaffers tape to make a foldable reflector thats very portable. Its at least as good and often beats most anything commercially available and much much less expensive. On a side note Im working on a great AC/DC light that would be perfect for indoor or outdoor (night) shoots. Its a huge array of LED's that are tungsten balanced and run off DVX100 batteries. They are only about a inch thick, bright, run forever on even batteries, create soft light like a chimera and are either mountable on a light stand or on top of a DVX100. If your doing alot of portable work and need everything to fit in one or two bags it might be useful. I'll be posting pics soon.
-Brett Erskine
You mentioned that you aren't able to use soft reflectors in some situations because of angles of light. Sounds like your in the shade sometimes. Use a mirror out in the sun to redirect the light to your bounce board. Sounds crazy, I know, but considering all of the various limitations with using a powered light source it may be the only senseable option. Mirrors aren't too portable but most HMI's kits are worse. The pocket par and sungun are the workable exceptions to the rule. But usually the best thing to do is reblock the shot, cheat the close ups or plan to location scout ahead of time. The flexfills are alright but they dont quite have either the punch or softness of either foam core or a sturdy reflector. The best and least expensive reflector that will give you light that is both soft and powerful can be found at ....(say it with me) Home Depot. Its insulation board that has one side that is white and one side that is a soft silver. In the middle supporting these sides is about a inch thick layer of hard foam. They come in 4ft by 8ft sheets and are about $10. Extremely light wieght and easily cut down to size if need be. I've cut them into smaller panels and then reattach them with gaffers tape to make a foldable reflector thats very portable. Its at least as good and often beats most anything commercially available and much much less expensive. On a side note Im working on a great AC/DC light that would be perfect for indoor or outdoor (night) shoots. Its a huge array of LED's that are tungsten balanced and run off DVX100 batteries. They are only about a inch thick, bright, run forever on even batteries, create soft light like a chimera and are either mountable on a light stand or on top of a DVX100. If your doing alot of portable work and need everything to fit in one or two bags it might be useful. I'll be posting pics soon.
-Brett Erskine
THiNSPiRiT
Well-known member
Re: Portable Lights for Exterior Use
Those both sound like awesome ideas. I'm really interested to see how that LED light looks...
Those both sound like awesome ideas. I'm really interested to see how that LED light looks...
G
Guest
Guest
Re: Portable Lights for Exterior Use
Interesting idea Dabong. ;-)
Interesting idea Dabong. ;-)