Is a good sticky on beginning lighting kits. We get so many similar questions from both new and experienced filmmakers that are turning their attention to lighting and want to get some equipment together and hone their skills, and we give so many similar responses, in my mind, it makes sense to get it all together in one place, so that people can look it over and then ask questions that aren't covered or need amplification.
Before anybody writes one, how about we get an outline together?
Some issues to address, incompletely and in no particular order:
- Budget tiers - what you can get at different price points
- Tungsten and daylight balanced, color correction gels
- White balance
- Tungsten, fluorescent and LED fixtures
- Mains and battery power
- New or used?
- Industry fixtures and hardware store
- Ready made and DIY
- Hard and soft
- Luminaire types such as fresnels, open-face, nooks, etc.
- For fluorescents, tubes and CFLs
- Kinos, softboxes, China balls and diffusion frames
- Power requirements and availability on practical sets
- Light modifiers such as barndoors, flags, scrims, blackwrap, eggcrate, etc.
- Grip, such as stands, clamps, arms, booms, butterflies, bounce, etc.
- Specific recommendations on B&H, eBay and Amazon, etc., kits.
Expand or rewrite the list and suggest what else ought to be in the topic. If we can get some consensus maybe we can collaborate on writing it up. Maybe toss some language around and try to settle on a final statement.
What do you think?