Which lights will be the best? Konova, ikan, F&V?

S

ScaryHands

Member
Hey guys,

I don't have a big budget for lights. Around $1500. I would want to get as much good quality lights as possible, for corporate work, shorts and documentary style shooting. Renting equipment is too expensive. Lights go like $100-200 per day (this quality I'm showing below) and around $300-500 per week.

So far I am on to purchasing Lowel kit below. But, I am wondering if Konova lights are at least somewhere close to Kino Flo lights. I used Kinos before and they perform extremely well, but the price is to high.

Konova kinoflo x3 = $900, + stands = around $1200, so I would have money for another kit from Konova:
http://konovaphoto.com/continuous-lighting/dsr255.html
http://konovaphoto.com/continuous-lighting/red-head-3-kit.html
However, I am worried about the quality. Not as much build quality, but light itself.

Lowel, $1600:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/285781-REG/Lowel_DVP_94_DV_Pro_44_TO_84Z.html

Ikan (led), $1700:
http://ikancorp.com/productdetail.php?id=218




What do you think guy?
Thanks for help!
 
I have the Ikan kit you mentioned. They're good and sturdy LED lights, and work well as a lightweight interview kit and for tabletop product shots and such. The dimmer and multiple bank switches give you lots of control over their output. But they don't have the "punch" to light a big area, nor the control you'd like to shape light very creatively. I wouldn't recommend them as your only light kit, but they're probably what I'm most likely to grab when going out on an impromptu indoor shoot. The case is kind of annoying -- it's sturdy enough, but the strap makes it hang flat (horizontally) which is uncomfortable and inconvenient when moving it. The stands are surprisingly decent for a lower-end kit.

I have had a Lowel kit somewhat similar to the one you're considering, although I got rid of almost all my hot lights a couple of years ago. I still have a Rifa 55 (bigger than the one in the kit) that I use exclusively with fluorescent bulbs now; I like it (and Lowel products in general) a lot. The Lowel kit probably is the most versatile of the ones you mentioned, but comes with all the issues of tungsten lighting, mainly heat, bulb replacement costs, and power issues if you're trying to run them from "found" circuits on location. If you can deal with all that, they're a good choice.

I don't know anything about the Konovas and cannot comment. I do have a couple of Cool Lights biax flos that are excellent but, again, give you mostly soft light with not as much control as you'd get from the tungsten kit.

- Greg
 
Thanks a lot Greg. Actually before I have read your message, I already purchased Lowel kit I mentioned. I found a great deal on eBay for $700 in the location I live. This week I will go to pick it up. I'm excited about that. Probably in the future I will buy some led lights, possibly the ikan kit you have, just because it is portable and you can power it from cheap sony batteries. I think $700 for a new Lowel DV Pro 44 kit, with a hard case, it is pretty good deal.


I would love to hear from somebody about Konova lights.


Thanks a lot!
 
that lowel kit is a great place to start. you can put little $10 lowesdepot inline dimmers on those prolights and get a little more flexibility.

i have a few individual ikan LEDs that i use a good bit. i like them a lot and they work very well for what i bought them for (very close up head and shoulders interviews). but as mentioned, those (or anyone's) 500 LEDs wont give you anywhere near as much punch as a tungsten light like the lowel V or omni in that kit

if you had to buy ONE kit, i think you chose well with that lowel kit as far as power and flexibility and variety of use.
 
@wgzn, I'm glad to hear that since I still learn about lighting.

Guys, what other lights do you have than those you mentioned?

Thx
 
ScaryHands said:
Guys, what other lights do you have than those you mentioned?
Click to expand...

I love the Cool Lights CDM 150 watt Fresnel -- basically a cool running daylight equivalent of a 6", 650W Arri/Mole/etc. Fresnel light. Lots of punch over a distance, with a wide focusing range. Since it's a hard source, you can use it effectively with barndoors, flags, cookies, etc. and they will have the effect you expect. Bounce it or shoot it through fabric if you need softer light, put filters over the front of it, whatever -- Fresnels are probably the most versatile and controllable lights out there.

As I said, I've tried to eliminate most of my hot lights recently. That's because I often work in a run'n'gun type of environment where I need to set up and break down quickly (no waiting for the lamps to cool off) and almost always have to deal with the existing electrical circuits in a location and am loathe to blow any fuses. But whether HMI, CDM or tungsten, some kind of Fresnel would be a good complement to what's in that Lowel kit; the output is much "smoother" than what you can get from those open-faced tungsten bulbs. Another direction to head would be some kind of big softbox, although that Rifa gets you part of the way there. If you want to experiment with these kinds of lights, old used theatrical lights from the likes of Mole, Strand or Altman sometimes show up fairly cheap. They get hot and may not look the best externally, but unless there's obvious serious damage like a broken lens or a jammed focus knob, they're pretty nearly indestructible and not hard to patch back together with hardware-store components even if they do need a little TLC.

- Greg
 
I have that. I got it for around 200 bucks.
For the price, its really good. It wont replace a proper light but its sooo cheap its workable

test it out first to see if the slight green cast makes you happy. So far in my experience ive been able to minimize it in-camera
 
Last edited:
Hello Everyone,


I wanted to share my experience. I bought an older model of Lowel DV Creator 44 Kit on eBay for only $700. I picked up the unit by myself.
(newer model http://www.lowel.com/kits/DVcreator44.html)

This unit is a great starter kit. It will let you experiment with lighting, using gels, nd's, diffusions and getting your hands on.
Easy to assemble and disassemble. My unit has it's own hard case, which protects the lights easy.
I love that Lowel has multum parts which you can buy. Something brakes, it is easy and cheap to repair. Also, there is used marked for those, which makes it even more cheaper.

Big con for me is that they get really hot. When you shoot a short and air conditioning has to be turned off, this is a real pain, especially in Texas in a hot summer. So depends where you live.
Another con is that bulbs don't last forever, and they are not cheap either. My small Rifa (they don't do the model I have any more, now it is better with Rifa EX) burned already 2 bulbs.
Another con is that those stands are not even close to C-stands. Lamps aren't heavy, but securing them with sand bags doesn't work as well as with C-stand. However, the stands are very sturdy and well designed for those lights.

Overall, I recommend this unit only for starters. If you know what you do, probably you want something better. In comparison to Kino Flo's and the light quality the Lower kit produces, is way behind Kino Flo. But is is way cheaper plus you have 4 lights to work with. I won't sell them in the future. It is a great backup, or if I will upgrade, I see those light working as the background lights. Not so good for skin tones, but again, it is a great choice for somebody who is starting with cinematography and let's you to experiment.

To rent that unit, is around $50-$60 per day in my rental house.
My next purchase will be a set of Kino Flo's.


See here few screen shots from a short I shot. All lighting done with Lowel lights. This is not graded, not post-processed. Those are raw shots straight from the timeline, cinestyle preset in 5D Mark II:
http://imageshack.us/g/1/10192677/
There isn't much, but I didn't want to show the actors.
 
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