Using China Balls

D

David Evans

Well-known member
Hi guys,

Lately I've been thinking of building my own lighting kit that's cheap and easy to travel with. China balls seem incredible but a few questions are on my mind:

1 - What kind of bulbs can you safely put in there? A 1k tungsten gets pretty hot, how would the paper handle it? Maybe LED or HMI is more suited?

2 - Is the paper enough for soft light? Maybe add extra paper / sheet to soften light?

3 - How do you skirt a china ball? I've seen an incredible DIY video with a hula hoop around the China Ball and black cloth hanging out. Seems very smart but is it practical?

What is your experience with this kind of lighting kit? Would you guys recommend it as a generic set? I must say that the hability to boom a china ball seems amazing for a walking shot.

Thanks!
 
Thought about something like a Chimera pancake light?

If you have the budget it will give you more light type options without the need for rigging.
 
A boomed china ball is a pretty standard lighting tool since it solves many problems and costs little.

The best way to do it without spending $800 on a pre-made set is to use a 5M LED light strip wrapped around a plastic bottle as the light source. Good CRI, low heat, 360-degree light, and can be powered by a battery.
I use regular paper china balls as opposed to the nylon fabric type because they are so much cheaper. Both give off perfect light and don't need extra layers of diffusion, but I will often add some white tissue paper over the bottom hole on the paper ones to avoid a bright spot.
For a pole I've been using an $89 LyxPro MPL-10 Lightweight Boom pole.
 
I use high wattage high CRI photo CFL lamps from Alzo. The 85 watter throws a lot of light but runs cooler than a 60w tungsten.
 
Paper China Balls are delicate and somewhat disposable. I advise buying a couple so you have a spare. Getting a tear in one in the heat of production can slow things down. Just beware also that as a DP, China Balls can be a blessing or a curse. Blessing for shooting groups of people or walk and talks, a curse because they are hard to control where the light goes, they are a miniature sun so the light goes everywhere. Trying to skirt one with duvetine, a hula hoop, etc. works but is a total, time consuming PITA to rig IMHO. They are also bulky and you have to have somewhat high ceilings if using on interiors for wider framing. I like David's suggestion of a Chimera Pancake with the skirt kit, much better but much more expensive solution. Infinitely more controllable, durable and useful. I use the 85 watt Alzo fluorescent too, works great. I would not put hot lights in a paper China Ball, although people do it all of the time. LEDs are a great solution, I just have never tried it because I only rarely use a China Ball. I prefer Chimera softboxes, I have half a dozen of them, especially with egg crates, turns a soft light into something controllable and directable, I have used China Balls for a roundtable scene with six people around a poker table and for dinner table scenes. They also work nicely for walk and talks with two or three characters, but they can be big and bulky too depending on which diameter you are using.
 
I wonder if anyone has ever tried making HALF a China ball? With a rigid, flat back side, it would give a mounting surface for the lights and also be more directional than a full China ball. Shouldn't be too hard to put something like that together, I wouldn't think.
 
Spherical space lights are usually for raising ambient light or for 360° lighting...generally.

in such scenarios where I don't have the ceiling height, I've been leaning towards litemats. The litemat 4 can be gaff taped to walls and ceilings (at your own risk), have decent throw and have a slim diffusion and grid attachment. Plus, they are so light that rigging is a breeze.

If if going the spherical route, on you're owning, it might be worth going the rout of a more robust model with Velcro skirts. Time saver on set and will not break as easily. But it will cost more up front.
 
DPStewart said:
A boomed china ball is a pretty standard lighting tool since it solves many problems and costs little.

The best way to do it without spending $800 on a pre-made set is to use a 5M LED light strip wrapped around a plastic bottle as the light source. Good CRI, low heat, 360-degree light, and can be powered by a battery.
I use regular paper china balls as opposed to the nylon fabric type because they are so much cheaper. Both give off perfect light and don't need extra layers of diffusion, but I will often add some white tissue paper over the bottom hole on the paper ones to avoid a bright spot.
For a pole I've been using an $89 LyxPro MPL-10 Lightweight Boom pole.
Click to expand...

Been wondering about how to deploy an LED light ribbon inside a china ball. Plastic bottle, nice!


David W. Jones said:
Thought about something like a Chimera pancake light?

If you have the budget it will give you more light type options without the need for rigging.
Click to expand...

I use a Chimera Pancake, my favorite light in my entire array of of Kinos, ARRIs and other tungstens. It is brilliant for interviews or roundtable discussions. The way the light falls off is amazing. However, the speed ring is a bugger to pack if you are trying to travel light. Second the fixture inside. I use a 200W HMI Joker. Color rendition is mind blowingly good but it is expensive. The standard fixture to use is Chimera's Triolet. This one has their good speed ring included. You are still dealing with a hot tungsten bulb. There is probably an LED fixture for the Pancake or try DPStewart's idea of wrapping an LED strip around a clear plastic pop bottle and jam it inside.
 
Thanks a lot for all your input, guys. The Chimera Pancake seems like a good solution. It would basically work like a fresnel inside a softbox, but with the ability to shoot light everywhere. One thing that I'm a bit tired of are tungsten lights (heresy!). Well, I do love how they show off skin tone colours, but they just get so damn hot and power consuming. Do you get great skin tone results with other kind of light sources?
 
The Chimera pancake light is a wonderful instrument.

A NYC shooter I work with a lot has a great skill in lighting interviews and he often employs the Chimera pancake

The Chimera is a bit pricey but it produces a great look.

(This is a very helpful thread. Yup yup.)

Be well.

Rob
Smalltalk.Productions
 
Hey, hadn't considered chimera pancake. Seems like a versatile and low profile lantern. Will have to try this out some time!
 
I'll throw in support for the Chimera Pancake Lantern, as well. I have one and while I don't use it for everything, it does have it's uses and you can get a nice wrap out of it. The only problem I've really run into with it, is there can be a fine line on some set-ups with getting raccoon eyes.
 
David Evans said:
Thanks a lot for all your input, guys. The Chimera Pancake seems like a good solution. It would basically work like a fresnel inside a softbox, but with the ability to shoot light everywhere. One thing that I'm a bit tired of are tungsten lights (heresy!). Well, I do love how they show off skin tone colours, but they just get so damn hot and power consuming. Do you get great skin tone results with other kind of light sources?
Click to expand...


Off with your head! Lol.

I use LED's(Astra's) a fair amount for certain things, but when I can control everything(and especially when I'm not in a mixed lighting situation), I still prefer tungsten. Just shot a bunch of stuff a few days ago for a network with about 14 college coaches and 25+ athletes and I lit it all tungsten. And I was on a three camera interview shoot a few weeks ago for another network and we had a truck, gaffer and several grips lighting it all for us. Every single instrument was tungsten.
 
Run&Gun said:
Off with your head! Lol.

I use LED's(Astra's) a fair amount for certain things, but when I can control everything(and especially when I'm not in a mixed lighting situation), I still prefer tungsten. Just shot a bunch of stuff a few days ago for a network with about 14 college coaches and 25+ athletes and I lit it all tungsten. And I was on a three camera interview shoot a few weeks ago for another network and we had a truck, gaffer and several grips lighting it all for us. Every single instrument was tungsten.
Click to expand...

Yeah, nothing really gives you the output and throw that a good ol' tungsten head will. Pity.
 
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