What you think of this lighting gear, plus a couple questions.

Jimmy Moss

Jimmy Moss

Well-known member
Hello all, just want to get some feed back on a couple items. and see if their are anythings I am missing or haven't considered yet. This is for micro budget films and maybe some music video's.

I will have:

2 250 work lights with barn doors and 8 foot stands
1 500 work light w. barn doors and 8 foot stand
2 250 work lights for bounce
2 24 inch china balls with 600 watt tungsten and replaceable 200w (600w) florescent bulbs (5600k) + one c stand
Gels - diffusion, CTO, CTB, Plus minus green, colors.
CL-455 Cool Lights 4 X 55 watt Fluorescent Video Soft light:
http://www.coollights.biz/cl455-cool-lights-watt-fluorescent-video-soft-light-p-31.html
with both 5600k bulbs and 3200k.
Random 5600k florescent bulbs for practicals. (60w-100w equivalent).

So here is my thought process: I'm thinking that having at least two or 3 sources of 5600k light is important for day interiors while avoiding CTB. Hence the CL-455 and two china balls. I can always CTB the work lights for a hair light although it will cut the output. For night interiors I can use the work-lights with diffusion and either gel the cool lights or swap bulbs. Same with the china balls. I have plus green for any location shoots with standard florescent bulbs.

My questions are:

Would it be smart to have another CL-455 or the smaller CL-255 http://www.coollights.biz/cl255-cool-lights-watt-fluorescent-video-soft-light-p-30.html for daylight interiors as a diffused source (although thats going over my budget).

Does plus or minus green cut light output at all or significantly?

Can you put any Kino bulbs in home depot light fixtures ( I heard you can't but I think its bull based on what I've read).

Would I be better off building fluorescent from home-depot with Kino bulbs and barn doors? Are their any good plans out their?

Am I dumb for thinking I can do this for under $1000? (which is what it will cost me without the second cool light).

Edit: by the way the level of cinematography I'm going for is like in the Following (christopher Nolan's first film). VERY low budget. He barely used any lights. Mostly daylight.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilYnB9u72yg
I'm doing color thought, not black and white.

Thanks for taking a look. I love this site.
 
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Here are a bunch of links if you want to take a look or build the same kit for under $1000.

Impact stands: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/335283-REG/Impact_2212ABH_Air_Cushioned_Black_Stand.html

5/8 stand adaptor for worklights: http://www.coollights.biz/clb2y1-baby-stand-yoke-adapter-p-54.html

Barn doors for work light (build them, a pain in the ass by the way, $60 for 4): http://www.coollights.biz/wordpress/archives/21

Rosco Gels: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...sp&A=search&Q=*&bhs=t&Go.x=0&Go.y=0&Go=submit

Cool lights: http://www.coollights.biz/cl455-cool-lights-watt-fluorescent-video-soft-light-p-31.html

China balls: http://www.filmtools.com/lindcraft-24inch-faux-silk-chinese-lantern-l24s.html

http://www.filmtools.com/chinlansocas.html

http://www.filmtools.com/rps-studio...en-bulb-e-27-socket-adapter-034447041494.html

http://www.coollights.biz/cl20056-cool-lights-200w-5600k-high-softbox-bulb-p-83.html

http://www.lightbulbdepot.com/product.asp?sub=109&prod=03472A

Practicals: http://www.elightbulbs.com/Eiko-05622-SP50-955K-Twist-Screw-Base-Compact-Fluorescent-Light-Bulb
 
Yes plus or minus green cuts a bit of light. How much depends upon the grade you use from 1/8 to full.

As to whether you can use Kino bulbs in a home depot fixture it all depends upon which ones you want to use. If you use the T12 75w you can only drive it at 40w with the average T12 fixture. Kino is about the only one I know of that uses a 4 foot T12 tube that drives at 75w. Home Depot doesn't have any 55w fixtures so their 55w bulb is out. The only other one would be a T8 type tube and perhaps those might be fine if they have 32w types because thats the prevalent one used in HD type fixtures.

Whether you do DIY or not is all according to your inclination and how much time you have to spend on it because you are trading your time and however long it takes for less dollars spent on a pre-made solution.
 
If I recall correctly Home Depot only had the 32 w ones....or maybe 37w? Not sure the kind of bulb.

What the ability of your lights to expose 18% grey at 10ft. My HVX red-rock combo is iso 250 with most of my lenses widest aperture at f2.0.

Now that I think about it I think that info is on your site.
 
Don't even bother with the worklight, at that price might as well go with the Britek fresnels. At least those are designed for video work and is stand mountable. You can probably put together the same kit with stands for less than $400. In addition to the CL and the china ball you should be set.
 
I agree with you on the worklights, however I already had those I'm just adding barn doors for $60 (for all 4) and buy stands..... which are kinda pricey when you add them up. There costing me $81 per light and I like the fact that a couple are only 250 watts is nice.
 
Yeah, forget the work light and the wattage for the china ball size you mentioned is not allowed, I believe they max out at 150 for that size.
 
Hummm ... so everyone thinks the work lights are a bad idea. I'm getting ok results with them (they have barn-doors) but have not bought proper stands for them yet.

I just ordered the china balls... and really plan on using fluorescence in them most of the time (5600k). These are "silk" china lanterns, and I've heard of people using 1k bulbs in them... although I'm sure you have to keep an eye out for fire hazards.

I'm going to test them outside first.......... over concrete.
 
Here is a frame grab of me using the work lights I set up in 10 min. Nothing fancy. (No, I didn't resize because I'm lazy).

WorkLightsTestFreezeFrame1.jpg


Picture2.png


No color correction shot b-press standard settings.

Couldn't quite get it exposed enough ... but I'm thinking the china balls will help when I get them. I can use that as my fill or key light. Thats lit with a 500 watt as the key, a bounce card as the fill, a 250 work light as a hair light, and a 250 as a background light. Camera was wide open with nikon 50mm at f1.4, shutter at 1/24 (for extra exposure).

Key metered at F1.4, Hair light f2.0 (couldn't get it to the standard 2 stop over without getting the light too close to her head), and background at f1.0. Although the waveform doesn't look like that.

What do ya think?

Here is a quick color correction with the cc 3 way.

Picture1.png
 
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