What are some good, minimal lights for DSLR production?

R

RPLace

Carbonite Member
Hey forum, I'm looking to buy a set of lights to of coarse get rolling on my film productions, but truth be told, I've seen some amazing work done with minimal LCD's and such, which goes along with my "gritty" style of production. For example, the famous trailer to Musgo seems to have been lit with merely a few LCD's at a time, and it looks outstanding in the final product.

http://vimeo.com/33456753

Some things I'm thinking of though, is probably that it'd be nice to be able to change the color tempeture of the lights (maybe a color cover, or a button that changes the tempeture?) and beyond the LCD's, I'm also probably looking for lights that can serve other purposes like lighting up an entire dark room, illuminating a subject outside at night, providing more of a sharp highlight on the face, ect ect - I do want a general lighting set that'd cover a lot of stuff for me.

Anyone have any suggestions or ideas? I'm really looking to try to keep the prices low, way under $1,000 for all of this, and if anyone has any homemade suggestions, those work too!
 
there are some nice options now within LEDS, and i bought a pair of the Z96 lights. i've been very happy with them all limitations considered.

i used one of them to run around putting together a pitch piece for kickstarter, ignore the still photos, and also realize we used street lights:

 
there are a lot of fun ways to go on a budget. i keep a set of 3 lowel 250watt "pro" lights around. they are somewhat focusable. lightweight and small. and with the barn doors and c47s, are easily gelled. i picked up my set used for like $125 each with stand and gel frames. you can also use (most people wouldnt recommend it. but ive yet to have any problems) a $10 lowes depot inline dimmer on them. which is extra handy! downside is they get REAL HOT REAL FAST.

here is a typical ebay offering:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lowel-Pro-L...933?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item58844e67c5

i also have a set of ikan LEDs that have served me VERY well in head and shoulders situations. they are designed to be on-camera lights. but i find in close quarters and with a set of 5/8 to cold shoe adapters, they work just fine on stands...
the set consists of two of their iled144s (which are dimmable and variable color temp) and one of their iLED 120s (dimmable and more powerful than the 144s at full daylight temp)

link to ikans led on-camera page:
http://www.ikancorp.com/productListing.php?FamilyID=68#CategoryID=82&FamilyID=68

both of these setups are reasonably low to mid power and only good for fairly close use. say about a 14' area at most.

you can always find a couple used 500-1k arri, altman or lowel heads for a couple hundred here or there. a decent elipsoidal comes in handy as well. you can find those for $200-$400 or so depending on age and maker...

and dont forget gells and diffusers and scrims and flags. the lights themselves are only part of the equation.
 
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The Lowel DP, Pro and Tota lights are all awesome and I recommend them. For kickers you can use any generic homemade fixture that fits on a stand. The most important thing is to make sure you have proper modifiers; soft box, umbrellas, reflectors and stands, gels, things like that.

As for color temperature, that's what gels are for.
 
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