What DIY Flourescents Are You Using? (Post Your Kino Rig)

[Scott Lovejoy]

Hi all,

I've been searching the forums, looking at the DIY Kinos that have been made in the past. Unfortunately, the picture hosts on a lot of the good ones are no longer working, and have long been dead. I was wondering if this could be a post-your-rigs thread for DIY Flourescents to see what people have been using. I'm curious what the general consensus on ballast/frame providers is, and what the "looks professional"/"cost" ratio is.

 

[bruce southerland]

DIY Fluorescents

DIY Fluorescents

Here's some photos of a flo unit I made. these are for 2' bulbs. I used a lightweight piece of white aluminum for the face. The rest of the unit is made with black coroplast and kino flo attachement parts. The fixtures are called tombstone sockets. For each pair of sockets, there is one that has a spring
load, and the bulb is held in place by tension. The bulbs will require an adapter for the end pins to fit these sockets. Kino-Flo sells them. I contacted one of the tech persons at Fulham ballasts, And they told me that their workhorse ballast #7 would run two bulbs very close to the specs provided by kino. I wanted the ballasts to be remote, so I attached two ballasts together with velcro, and attached a strap at the top, so I could hang the ballasts on the stand handle, if needed.
I used XLR 4 prong plugs for connectors.
The ground wire is attached to both ballasts and connected on the other end
to the aluminum face of the fixture. I use the kino bulbs, and I find that the output and the color temp are right on with the kino specs. I don't know what these cost, but I know they were MUCH LESS than the price of a kino would have been. The most costly items were the bulbs and the ballasts.

Bruce

 

[Gary Sconce]

Shocklights

Shocklights

At Aftershock Studios we are all into making the best function for the least money. We decided early on to make loads of simple but effective fluorescents that were:

Easy to build, quick to build, cheap to build, easy to move, easy to transport to set, and easy to service. We wanted them to provide superior lighting in around 6500K or daylight temp. We wanted them to move next to walls out of the movement of actors, be able to be raised high, be able to tilt, be able to lock wheels and be able to be loaned out to friends and be somewhat durable.

What we came up with was our "Shocklights". At a distributor such as Lowes, they sell an approximately $40 4' fluorescent light ceiling box that has modern NO FLASH electronic ballasts and run T8 bulbs. We bought a load of these along with 6500K bulbs. I welded on the backs two 3' sections of 5/8" electrical conduit joining the ends on the sides of the ballast box. I then used the locking plates from bicycle seats, one per light, to use as locks on the sides of the light ballast boxes. I welded two vertical 4' sections of 5/8" tube to a "U" shaped piece for the floor mount with a rear strut welded from the center of the base backwards. I welded locking caster wheels on the three feet. I used small sections of conduit to brace the legs. I then put 5' sections of 1/2" into the two down legs and used locking pins to hold them in place. The light has two 8" 5/8" tubing on each side that slide down onto the 5' 1/2" tubing for adjusting the light up or down from 4' to 8' high. I used butterfly nuts with levers welded onto them to tighten or loosen the sides to allow for adjustability of the light, leaning forwards or back. I put a 25' cord with a switch on the light box that comes out at the base of the light box.

Here are some Shocklights shooting up onto a greenscreen during the VFX shoot for the feature film STRICKEN. These things work GREAT and were $54 a piece, not counting labor. Quite a bargain.

-Gary:engel017:

 

[Gary Sconce]

Here is one on its side adding light to the faces of the band GATJA for a music video. Notice all the other lights on them too.

Here are a bunch of them lighting a three story greenscreen wall.

Here are Shocklights lighting a greenscreen and actress Stephanie French.

Best to you! :happy:

 

[sinapps]

slightly larger pics, please

 

[Gary Sconce]

slightly larger pics, please

Here they are:

Stephanie French being shot in front of a greenscreen. 4 Shocklights

Shocklights lighting a three story greenscreen VFX shoot for STRICKEN.

A Shocklight on its side putting light on the faces of the band GATJA for a music video shoot. (Man, they rock!)

Two Shocklights tipped back and lighting an interior greenscreen wall for close ups of the same shots done outside on the 3 story wire rig.

I hope these closer shots help you see the construction. -Gary

 

[sinapps]

Thanks!

 

[TMerry]

LOL!! I love the 3 story green screen wall! Quite an accomplishment I saw the effect in your demo reel at your website and wondered how you were doing that person hanging off the building, then I saw these photos and died laughing with delight! Bravo!

 

[drapeama]

Here's mine I've built, for a total cost of ~40$. Can accept up to 1200W of CFL lights and run with less than 5A consumption. Only thing that lacks is a fuse (made with only plastics):

 

[marian1202]

hi, can i attach some kind a battery ?

 

[Lucas Adamson]

Drapeama, I love your design. I'd like to make one of those.

Aren't the screw in fluoros a bit more expensive than the tubes? What would you say the advantage of using screw fittings is? I saw a Westcott 6 bulb lamp very like yours, and it pumped out a lot of light (1200w) but they're asking for $800 or more with the bulbs and I just don't get it?!?! What kind of ballast does this need? Does it run straight off the mains, or what? Is the level controllable by using 3 banks of 2 bulbs with 3 switches? And why no fuse?

Many thanks - sorry for so many questions.....

Lucas

 

[DaneCannon]

That's a nice looking unit. I'd love to hear more on how you did the barndoors. What's the wire thing on the edge?

 

[drapeama]

hi, can i attach some kind a battery ?

I don't think as it runs on AC.

Drapeama, I love your design. I'd like to make one of those.
Aren't the screw in fluoros a bit more expensive than the tubes? [..] What kind of ballast does this need? Does it run straight off the mains, or what? Is the level controllable by using 3 banks of 2 bulbs with 3 switches? And why no fuse?

1) Thanks
2) Not much, cost me something like 1-2$ per socket AFAIR.
3) It doesn't need any balast. The wires from the Power Supply connector to the switches and the sockets. Simply.
4) There's only switches to turn on/off 2 bulbs per switch. It's not dimable as it's CFLs bulbs.
5) I didn't put it simply because it doesn't consume enough: I thinks it's 2.25amp with 6x 200w equivalent bulbs. But it would be simple to add though.

 

[DaneCannon]

Do any of your DIY Kinos (either t8 or t12 users) show banding at any shutter speed?