Prolycht & dedolight announce Technical Collaboration

[rob norton]

You hit the nail on the head. I've had two people in the last two days tell me that I probably need to sell some gear after showing them pictures of my storage building packed out right now. One a fellow shooter and the other my GF. Lol

I used to operate mostly out of 1650's.

I actually do have kind of a standard/general package that I travel with that covers a lot of bases. 1x 800 watt HMI, 2x 1x1 Gemini's, 2x 2x2 Intellytech panels, 2x Hive 200C's, 2x Hive 100C's, Astera AX3 kit(8 lights), Astera AX5 kit(6 lights) and 1x Aputure 600d. Some of the stuff that rarely gets pulled out are some stands, more specialized boom stands and boom arms and the 2x2's. I'm going to probably pull the Hive 100C's, because they just don't have a lot of punch and the Hive app/lights are so finicky with app control as to be basically unreliable wirelessly(last shoot I used the 200C's on, I had to use the rear controls, because they just stopped responding in the middle of set-up). I could pull the 2x2's, but they really don't take up much space in their packed state. I've also started debating pulling my 800 and just leaving the lone 600d to pull general HMI duties.

You'd probably be taking a huge bath selling all 4 hives, but they may be better relegated to background duties. Then you'd choose the best option for the given shoot between those and the astera ax3/ax5 kits?

Can you add another shelf to your storage unit or organise it better?

 

[Run&Gun]

You'd probably be taking a huge bath selling all 4 hives, but they may be better relegated to background duties. Then you'd choose the best option for the given shoot between those and the astera ax3/ax5 kits?

Can you add another shelf to your storage unit or organise it better?

Oh, I wouldn’t sell them, just pull them from the truck and the “general/standard” package to free up space. One of the problems, like a lot of us run into, I don’t always know the exact situations or environments that I’m going to be walking into, so I want/like/need to be prepared for lots of different scenarios(within reason). Now, one of my shoots last week, I knew 100% what I was doing, walking into and needing to create and I emptied my truck of all lights and packed it with exactly and only what I needed for that shoot(with two spare fixtures in-case of failure). It was kind of nice for the actual shoot day, but the front and back-end was a PITA.

I love my Astera’s. You can do so much with just a kit of those and a key. And I know what you’re thinking… Lol.

Yeah, my storage unit does need a little re-organizing, right now. I actually re-did it last spring during the pandemic. It was just gear sitting all around on the floor and stuff on top of stuff. In the span of about a week I put in six shelving units. It helped bring order to years of chaos in there. I think I can squeeze one more unit in, but once I re-load my truck(even not fully), it will free up a lot of space, again.

 

[Run&Gun]

Mine just came in this afternoon, so I put ‘em in the truck in-case we need them on tomorrow’s shoot. Three take up a lot of space…

 

[Mitch Gross]

Mine just came in this afternoon, so I put ‘em in the truck in-case we need them on tomorrow’s shoot. Three take up a lot of space…

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on them.

 

[rob norton]

That's pretty cool, they could easily stack on top of each other. A small hand truck/two wheel dolly and you can move all three in one trip with room on top.

You could put your whole f55 in there?! They'd make great cases to hold cameras on the move or an assembled gimbal/small camera.

 

[Mitch Gross]

That's pretty cool, they could easily stack on top of each other. A small hand truck/two wheel dolly and you can move all three in one trip with room on top.

You could put your whole f55 in there?! They'd make great cases to hold cameras on the move or an assembled gimbal/small camera.

They're decent sized cases with removable-adjustable padded dividers. Even if you chose not to use them for your lights they're certainly good for plenty of other stuff. Worth around $200-$250 compared to some regular camera bags out there.

 

[Run&Gun]

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on them.

Didn’t really do a super deep dive into them since I was working, but definitely glad I packed them, because we ended up using all three with two Intellytech 2x2’s and about five of six Astera AX3’s. Everybody seemed to like them and commented on how bright they were.

For the first part of the shoot(interview), we used two as edgers on our two talent with Aputure barn doors designed for their 300d’s and the third one I used with the Prolycht pattern projector and shutters to cut a little slice of light across a car hood. The second part of the shoot was with a musician and the prod and DP wanted it dramatic with hard light, so we lit him from one side with one Orion w/barn doors and edged with the second from the opposite side(fixture in one of the shots to play with flair), then they swung the third around to just wash across one of the back walls in part of one of the shots.

So far, so good, but I haven’t gotten a chance to really play with them, dive deep into the app and settings and evaluate skin tones, yet. Hopefully there is a way to name individual fixtures that stick with them, so that you can quickly and easily ID them when your jumping around between them in the app, instead of just seeing a serial number or whatever string of digits that is that shows up next to each one in the app. The heads feel pretty solid, but the knobs on the ballasts don’t feel like they could take a lot of abuse and they’re a little sensitive. It’s easy to overshoot what you’re aiming for. And I’ve actually seen that mentioned in some other reviews. Playing with the dimming curves may help that some, though. Again, I haven’t been able to really play with them that much, yet. And if y’all are taking gel requests: Tokyo Blue.

 

[Run&Gun]

That's pretty cool, they could easily stack on top of each other. A small hand truck/two wheel dolly and you can move all three in one trip with room on top.

You could put your whole f55 in there?! They'd make great cases to hold cameras on the move or an assembled gimbal/small camera.

Yeah, could easily repurpose those cases to hold a decent sized camera or pack other gear. But there are no wheels or telescopic handle, so you’d have to throw them on a cart if you’re moving them more than just a few feet.

 

[Run&Gun]

Quick screen grab from the musical performance.
Camera: F55, HG8, 5500K preset.
Orion 300FS, 5200K
Backlight: Orion 300FS, 10,000K

 

[Run&Gun]

I was able to get one Prolycht with projector and fresnel attachments into a 1650. The attachments are side by side in the 1650 in their own cases. I found that the attachment cases were pretty economical in their padding and sizing and it wasn't going to help to try put them in their own compartments. The regular Prolycht cases is way too bulky, though.

Had a little bit to play with packing today... I could easily fit two heads and two ballasts in a completely empty 1650, but after I put the padded dividers in, I couldn't quite fit the second ballast. I may see if I can find some slightly smaller padded dividers which my buy me just enough space to squeeze the second ballast in.

And for those that are curious, the size of the heads appear to be about 75%-80% dedicated to cooling. That is a serious cooling system in them that has dual fans on the bottom and the top appears to be heat pipes and a radiator type heatsink.

 

[Mitch Gross]

The heads feel pretty solid, but the knobs on the ballasts don’t feel like they could take a lot of abuse and they’re a little sensitive. It’s easy to overshoot what you’re aiming for. And I’ve actually seen that mentioned in some other reviews. Playing with the dimming curves may help that some, though. Again, I haven’t been able to really play with them that much, yet. And if y’all are taking gel requests: Tokyo Blue.

The knobs and buttons are quite strong but we have heard from some that they're a little imprecise. If it can be addressed in firmware we'll try.

Also, for the "don't be gentle it's a rental" crowd, we're about to introduce a simple guard plate for the ballast. It uses the existing screw holes to mount and we even include the longer screws. It's basically a U-shaped plate of metal that extends up an inch or two around where the control panel is on the ballast. This protectes the controls from accidental taps as well as really protects them from bad packing and gorilla crew members. It'll sell for $25 and I recommend it for anyone who will ever let anyone else near their gear. You mount it on the ballast and never look back. I'll be sending info to our resellers in a few days so they can get it up on their websites but figured I'd mention it here based on your comments.

 

[Run&Gun]

The knobs and buttons are quite strong but we have heard from some that they're a little imprecise. If it can be addressed in firmware we'll try.

Also, for the "don't be gentle it's a rental" crowd, we're about to introduce a simple guard plate for the ballast. It uses the existing screw holes to mount and we even include the longer screws. It's basically a U-shaped plate of metal that extends up an inch or two around where the control panel is on the ballast. This protectes the controls from accidental taps as well as really protects them from bad packing and gorilla crew members. It'll sell for $25 and I recommend it for anyone who will ever let anyone else near their gear. You mount it on the ballast and never look back. I'll be sending info to our resellers in a few days so they can get it up on their websites but figured I'd mention it here based on your comments.

Post a pic if you get a chance. I baby my gear, but you never know when other people start moving your stuff around or packing it. And of course, accidents can happen to anyone.

 

[Mitch Gross]

There it is installed on the ballast. Subtle but effective.

 

[Run&Gun]

Very subtle, indeed. I had to zoom in to really see it. Lol.

 

[cpreston]

Maybe a little too subtle? It's hard to see, but does the lip taller than the knob?

 

[Mitch Gross]

Here you go. Note that we wanted people to still be able to reach the controls easily. The idea was to be low profile, provide a lot of protection yet not interrupt functionality.