Recommendations on Interview Lighting Kit (beginner)

J

jrod81

Veteran
Hey guys
We bought 3x 500W LED lights and they are just not working well for us. I do quick interviews for a law firm and clients/attorneys hate how bright they are. I turn them down with the knob on the back and then it gets too dark. I have had 3 other guys come and mess with it too and in the limited office space we have as our studio, we just can't get these lights to work the way we want. I went to BH and typed in "interview lighting."
Could someone make a recommendation for a budget ($1000-$1250) light kit. I saw these, but really would like to get something that doesn't get so hot to handle:
1. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/626912-REG/Smith_Victor_401409_SL270_3_Light_Video.html
2. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/300828-REG/Lowel_401450_Interview_Three_Light_Kit_Soft.html
3. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...ctor_401450_K77_Interview_Tungsten_Light.html
Should I try to talk the firm into a Kino Flo kit?
thanks
jared
 
How about putting some ND on the LEDs? Comes in all the flavors you need: .15 ND takes off 1/2 stop, .3 reduces 1 stop and .6 reduces 2 stops, etc. I'd use a bit of diffusion as well, maybe some 250 half white.

You only need at most two of the lights as the backlight is mostly for good looks - separating the subject from the background by providing an edge light, which is not needed for your purpose. You can also use just one fixture for key and a reflector such as a show card, 2'X2' beadboard or flexible white disc for fill. Looks great.

I'd go with one or two 2' Kinos otherwise. You can turn on from one to four tubes and you have a high and low position with the 2'/4' toggle.
 
It would help to know exactly what lights you have right now. If dimming didn't help solve your problem it could be due to at least a couple other reasons. Have you tried putting a layer of diffusion material on the lights? The LEDs might be too harsh to the eyes, which the diffusion would solve by softening the light. And you might have the lights too low on their stands, pointed directly into the interviewees' eyes. If so, try raising them up as high as you can and moved to the side by a couple feet. I agree that for your needs, in a lit office, you should probably only need one, maybe two of those lights for one person.

As for your B&H shopping, I wouldn't advise anyone in your situation to buy tungston fixtures anymore. The Smith Victors I bought for a flight kit a few years ago were just horribly designed and made. And very hot. The Lowell Tota is also evil unless you need a whole lot of nearly uncontrollable light outdoors or bounced off a wall.
 
I gotta second the skipping tungsten. Between LEDs and Flo's, there's too much daylight stuff (that pulls 1/10th the amps and adds 1/10th the heat) that's affordable now.

If all you're doing is seated interviews, look into something with an equivalent output of 500-650 watts and a big softbox - like 24 x 36. I'm not a fan of softboxes, but if I was an interview guy I'd grab some in a heartbeat. But big ones, with fabric grids. Test one with one of your LEDS - with LEDs or flos, you should be able to ditch the internal baffle for a little more output, too.
 
Cheap LEDs are well cheap.

How about two Cool Lights 4x55 flos. You can use either daylight or tungsten bulbs and shut off a couple of bulbs on one fixture, so one key, one fill. Maybe add one more small light for a kicker and your golden. That should be all you need for a basic talking head unless you are doing something complicated with the background. This setup would be easily within your budget.

Grant
 
Grant's on the case - I love the biax flos, I'm even using them for product stills where I used to use Speedotron Blackline. Why unpack all that stuff?

For single-guy interviews, you could likely get by with one 4 and one 2 tube, save a few bucks - the two-tube 55 biax models have a lot of punch to 'em and the 4's may be overkill.

The only problem with those would be spill - they're not really softbox lights. If you've got a semi-permanent install, you might rig something up that works.

Also - I've come to loooove... did I say love? LOVE??? The twin-tubes for hair/backlight. Far far more than a gridded fresnel. I have ALWAYS wanted a rectangle up there, not a circle. I got one of those under-$200 FloLight twins, with the plastic housing. They're so lightweight you can hang 'em from a ceiling with a grid clamp. They're awesome for that 3/4-side/behind light that gives you a hard cheekbone line. You can wrap 'em in black mesh fabric if they don't have dimmers. The 55w biax tube has really changed my life, work-wise. They won't replace a 650 or 1k fresnel in your kit, but for me, gone are they days of diffusing 300, 500, 750 or 1k open faced stuff for my basic soft key. Way less diffusion is needed, you get way more light, less heat, less amps. Good stuff.
 
this is great... thanks for the help...
i think step one is to see if i can make the LEDs work with some diffusion and lifting the stands out of the eyes of the interviewee... maybe ditch one of the LEDs altogether... it is giving very even light across the face and not any interesting shadows or even the "triangle" under the eye but i am sure that is an issue of how i have it set up.
they are very blue and even when i white balanced with my t2i the footage is still very blue... once again, i know its something i did wrong- i have no doubt...
so grab some diffusion, lift the stands, and then maybe pick up a softbox... got it... thanks
 
Are you using any diffusion on those LED lights? Diffuse them more and they probably will be less annoying as the light will look (and feel) softer. Otherwise, as said above, ND them if to bright. You can also gel them to tungsten as some people find 5600K lighting to feel harsh. (Assuming your LED lights are in 5500k-5600K range, most are).
 
You will loose a lot of light gelling them to Tungsten. I would suggest starting with a 1/8 minus green and a 1/4 CTO to get them close to 5600k.
Then add maybe something like an Opal Frost to diffuse them a little.
 
You are going about it in a wrong way. LED sometimes have this high frequency phase that annoys people. What you need to do is diffuse the light by placing a large sheet of diffusion in front of the light, thus the LED light will hit the diffusion and your lighting surface will be defacto the diffusion sheet and as the sheet is much larger than the lighting fixture it will be less annoying.
 
holymexicobatman said:
How are you guys attaching gels to the fixtures(i.e. the ephoto led 500's)? Also, where are you buying them from?

BTW, here's a great clip cheesycam did using 3 ephoto's cheap led 500's for a talking head shot: http://cheesycam.com/bts-sample-with-cheap-500-led-video-light-panels/
Click to expand...

those are the exact lights i got... they are murder in a small space right now... i have turned them almost completely off and still killing my subjects eyes... i will go with diffusion
 
Since they are not hot lights you can even use tracing or parchment paper for cheap diffusion. If you have not been using diffusion then I would say that it's 99.99% likely that the irritation is from using undiffused led light.
 
and what about how "blue" everything looks? i white balanced so I am a bit confused on that as well... skin tones were super blue...
 
If all your lighting comes from the LEDs, and they are all emitting the same color, and you white balance to that color, then things should be ok. If you are mixing light, or if you have LEDs with dimmers, you might be getting things pretty wonky. You can do some testing by shooting with a set WB and turning different lights up or down, and using different combos to find the offender(s).

Just because your light says "daylight balanced" doesn't mean you can use a 5200k cam preset. Are you doing a true WB to the existing light?

Grant
 
yeah i did a true white balance... i will admit that i used a white piece of tape on the backdrop but it should've got closer than it did...
 
If your getting shadow under the eyes, there's only one thing that can cause it, above lighting. I would kill all the practicles in the room, and start with your own lights, bounce them off walls and ceiling if you have to. In a pinch, you can buy parchment paper from any grocery store and use it for diffusion. Not wax paper. The softbox idea is the way to go. Im not a fan of leds or kino's, I have always liked the color balance of tungston, with diffusion. Yeah they get hot, but overall, it comes down to what you perceive as pleasing to the eye.

I wouldn't throw in the towel so quick with what you have. Practice at home, this way when you show up, your gonna be quick and effecient.
 
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