Advice on Lighting....

[andy at handiwork]

No, no, Gi. I thought you'd made a vary valid point, ie if shooting stills with negative film, then be very careful with the lights you use. Probably best to stick to flash. My point, having read yours the way I did was that as most people these days shoot digital, one can always see what the balance is like and adjust accordingly, so fluorescents have their place. Dont stop posting advice.

[SpannerProductions]

Nope, I knew what you meant - my vid camera is a top o the range HD flip, so as I said not speilburg standards but the sound and pic quality is superb, so is the pic 'during the day' but as luck would have it most of my vid work for the 'industry' is being done at night hence the request for help.
!happy!

[SpannerProductions]

Hi Myson,
Thanks mate for the e-bay tips !bow! am particulary interested in the last 2 items on the links you sent me - but cant really decide which one ( i used to be undecisive, but i'm not so sure know.lol) obviously they are both continuous lighting units - which is cool for the film work but might mean a bit of getting used to for stills - but ignoring the price difference - not sure which one is the better option ? am still looking at other tips but might as well start with these !happy!

[SpannerProductions]

Hi Sam mate,

Thanks for that - have tried that approach before - and agree it gets bloody hot very quickly, also they tend to be so powerful the shadows they create are massive - mind you a good quick fix to give the impression of a sunny day outside if you get it right (tip for the year) !grin!

[myson]

Spanner,
You are very welcome !thumbsup!

Both of those lighting sets are tungsten so will run very hot in use. I believe (but stand to be corrected) that the bulbs can blow very easily if they're moved when turned on (or still hot) and the bulbs are very expensive.

Plus, your "performers" could end up sweating their nuts off under those lights !shocked!

Going soley by price, I would presume the 2nd set could be Chinese manufactured although the seller does claim them to be fully CE tested and approved.

Both sets should also be useable for digital stills as well as video, all you would need to do is to set the "white balance" on the camera to match the "colour temperature" of the lights.

Myson
!oldie!

[andy at handiwork]

For filling in shadows outside on a bright sunny day you cant beat having at least a redhead (800watts) or even a blond (2K) as long as you blue gel the lights. Short of that a large reflecter can put light into the shadow areas.

[prophet]

I agree with Andy and Dave.

You don't want to be using tungsten lighting such as redheads and blondes indoors. They get incredibly hot. Dedolights are great, if you want to do artisctic stuff, such as light areas of the set. The light is so precise and controllable.

You really want soft lighting so you don't get too many harsh shadows when you are trying to get the interesting angles. Fluorescent lights are the way to go. Kinoflo Diva lights are the best. You will often get green spikes in the tubes of other manufacturers, but the kino tubes really are the best. Their indoor tubes are 2900k, so adding one daylight tube to three indoor gives a nice balance. However I believe they have recently started selling 3200k tubes.

[andy at handiwork]

The Diva is indeed a lovely light as long as you aren't lighting too big an area. I used one extensively on a CH5 series recently lighting mostly interviews. The Ianiro Ice Light is a slightly heftier unit, has an awful lot of poke, no heat to speak of, produces beautiful soft light, and costs a lot less. It depends on how much you have to spend. ?250 against 2 grand or there abouts. The tubes I buy, though not as expensive as Kino proprietry ones, give me no problems.