Rostronics Lights deals for DVXuser members

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Re: Rostronics Lights deals for DVXuser members

The 250s are out of stock, what is everyones suggestion on some decent lights for filmmaking that are not to expensive but not to cheap if you know what I mean, any of the kits off of the site, please help....O yeah it is for mostly indoor shooting but I would also like to use them outdoors if possible
 
Re: Rostronics Lights deals for DVXuser members

Hey guys,

I see that they have a bunch of different options for umbrellas. Any suggestions on which to get and why? White/black vs. Gold/silver etc? I assume that the silver give off more light. Any opinions would be sweet.
 
Re: Rostronics Lights deals for DVXuser members

dont get umbrellas they are retarded. get the softbox.
 
Re: Rostronics Lights deals for DVXuser members

[quote author=Barry_Green link=board=lighting;num=1089668625;start=45#59 date=08/02/04 at 23:15:03]Broke?  This site is making me broke!  If it wasn't for this site I wouldn't have found out about the Britek DayPhotos, and now I've tracked down two of the only ones in existence and mailed off a money order today...  :o  Plus an impending AT4073...

A245S?  What is that... doesn't even show up on Bogenphoto.com's site!  When it says "sliding base", are they talking about a rocky mountain leg, or a detachable turtle base?  I've got enough Rocky Mountain gear, but if that's a removable turtle base for $105, I may have to get some...

I've got the 225's, and the 256's, I'm thinking about some 280's.  Oooh, especially because the black one's are $10 less... just $89.95![/quote]

You know what.. i got the 215's and after being used to MCE grip Cstands for years I was blown away that "bogen" made such a great solid stand. I even love the gay rubber handles.

Now.. for these Daylights. I spend an hour trying to find them and gave up. I betcha we where looking at the same time, your google skills must be better than mine.
 
Re: Rostronics Lights deals for DVXuser members

I googled the living heck out of 'em, and found two, they apparently shipped out yesterday so should be here early next week! :)
 
Re: Rostronics Lights deals for DVXuser members

I got the 1200 kit on thursday and just opened them tonight(sunday). THey seem to be nice. The only thing is the socket for the bulb looks a little flimsy. Just 2 holes in some soft backing. Hope that holds up.
 
Re: Rostronics Lights deals for DVXuser members

Hey Oppressor

IM thinking of picking up the 1200's (w/ softbox) Let me know how they work out and if you have grans let me know! :) :D
 
Re: Rostronics Lights deals for DVXuser members

I'm doing an interview shot in 2 weeks and I'm afraid the 1200 will be too much! It says on the site you can put a 500w bulb in, but I wonder if I can buy and use less with the 1200 setup (with softboxes.)

600w of soft light as fill seems a bit high to me in a small space....

Let me know how it works for you. I guess I'll keep them further away from the talent, but that will be challenging.

-Jerry
 
Re: Rostronics Lights deals for DVXuser members

1200 is not for one light, of course, it's for two 600w units, but I'm sure you knew that...

600w isn't all that much once it's diffused by a softbox. But if you want to lessen the output even more, you can add a sheet of ND gel or a scrim to the light, or get a small 600w dimmer. ND gels and scrims won't change the color temperature of the light, but a dimmer might... but then again, dimmers are oh so more convenient.
 
Re: Rostronics Lights deals for DVXuser members

Thanks, Barry, I'm new to all this, but I did know that the lights are 600 each.

I didn't think about the ND gels. Great idea. I've only used colored gels and diffusion material....

-Jerry
 
Re: Rostronics Lights deals for DVXuser members

Okay, about the Britek DayPhoto HMI lights: this is just to make Jarred a little jealous:

Britek0.JPG

Britek1.JPG

Britek2.JPG


That's two 500w Britek HMI's blasting the living daylights out of my entryway. They work, and they do exist, and they were probably worth hunting down. Still don't really know why Britek discontinued 'em...
 
Re: Rostronics Lights deals for DVXuser members

Everyone should incessantly e-mail/call Britek pestering them to re-release the HMIs, and to offer nice eggcrates fitted for their softboxes.

I mean... asking nicely.
 
Re: Rostronics Lights deals for DVXuser members

That's exactly what I was trying to say...

Congratulations Barry! They are way cool!
 
Re: Rostronics Lights deals for DVXuser members

I only have part of the kit right now (FedEx came to my house and dropped off TWO of the FOUR box shipment... how does that make sense?) so hopefully they'll be back tomorrow with the rest.

In the pics above you can see that one is fitted with barn doors and the other is fitted with a Chimera speed ring for a soft box.  Both have doors and rings.

The ballast is absurdly heavy, but seems like it does everything it should.  It's quite compact, so even though it's probably no heavier than a standard 575w ballast, it "seems" like it because it's smaller but just as heavy. The lights are pretty big, a lot bigger than I was expecting.  They're much longer than my 575w Ianiro, but narrower too -- these are like long tubes.

In use, they act just like my other HMI's: a whole lot of daylight-colored light.  They hum, perhaps more than the others, which is not really unexpected but it's not a bonus... I don't know how they'd affect the soundtrack when shooting, but it's something to be aware of.

The lights themselves seem about what you'd expect from Britek: they have the same clever (but seemingly not too sturdy) mounting knuckle, which would fit on a standard 5/8" stand or even on a little 3/8" stand (my other HMI's have big Junior pins, so this does seem a little... well, I didn't expect it to mount to a 3/8" stand, let's put it that way).  They have the nice extended handle that keeps ice-cool during shooting, for easy repositioning without getting burnt -- in fact, the back half of the light unit stays cool to the touch, very surprising.  However, the guy who wrote that review certainly didn't spell out the whole truth when he said "they don't get hot" -- the front half gets flesh-searingly hot, just like all HMI's and tungsten units.  But the back half does stay cool, which is good.

Absolutely no focus control, so they seem like open-face units that would probably be best utilized in the included softboxes (can't comment until the softboxes arrive).  They do include doors so you can have some measure of control, but it would have been a little nicer if they could have offered focusability -- but for the insanely low price, I'm not complaining!

They use a single-ended OSRAM lamp, I haven't seen one like it before, gotta find some spares soon.  I expect the lamps will be $150 to $250 each.

Overall, they're quite likeable.  Definitely not as sturdy as a real "pro" light, but way better than it had to be for the price.  I think the retail on this system is $995 for the light head, ballast, stand, softbox and lamp.  At that price it's about 1/3 to 1/4 the cost of any competing 400w light system (although the others will likely have a silent electronic ballast).

So it's a very good deal for an HMI.  However, it wouldn't be my first choice for your only light system.  The ballast is very heavy, the lights need about 10 minutes to warm up to operating temperature, must be left on for around 15 minutes minimum, and can't be re-struck for another 10 minutes or so after being shut down... so this isn't a grab-it-and-go interview kit.  But if you have the specific need for an HMI, the DayPhoto is a screaming deal.
 
Re: Rostronics Lights deals for DVXuser members

Barry, I managed to track down the Britek Dayphoto 5000. Being that it is a magnetic ballast, will I get flickering with these lights when shooting 24P on the DVX100? Did you do any testing with this?
 
Re: Rostronics Lights deals for DVXuser members

24P is a safe frame rate to shoot at with magnetic ballasts. I haven't spent hardly any time with the DayPhoto's yet, but in testing my other magnetic-ballast HMI's there aren't any flicker problems. You can get flicker problems if you crank up the shutter speed, major flicker with 1/500 for example, but at regular shutter speeds you should have no problem at all at 24P, 30P or 60i.
 
Re: Rostronics Lights deals for DVXuser members

we should all email rostronics and get them to get them to make the new updated version of those HMIs :)
 
Re: Rostronics Lights deals for DVXuser members

Jarred I agree. I've been looking for some low cost HMI's for months. Even the used ones are in the thousands. With these lights, a good reflector kit, and a good DP you can probably eliminate most of the problems associated with shooting outside. Many thanks for the info guys.
 
Re: Rostronics Lights deals for DVXuser members

I sent an email to Rostronics, which said:

"I'd like to purchase a few Dayphoto 5000, but I don't see
them on the web site."


Here is the surprising answer from Rostronics:


I have never carried the Dayphoto lights. I only carry the new model lights
which are very highly rated. Please let me know what you need and maybe I
can be of some help. I have equipment that we have not had time to list on
our site yet.

Thanks,
Tom

So I'm going to ask if they have HMI lights.
 
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