Lighting Kit

[HurtinMinorKey]

I'm looking to upgrade my lighting for video for shooting with my 5D. I currently use 3-500watt tungsten lights. Anyone with any bright(apologies for the pun) ideas?

Looking to spend between $1000-2000(US)

 

[DB]

I have 2 umbrella light stands with twin x 625 Watt 5500K bulbs in each and I found that even shooting with both I was restricted to f2.8 to f4 still, so I picked up 3 x 800 Watt 'Red-Heads' with barn doors as well, on eBay for a few hundred bucks, then I purchased some dichroic filters for them (sort of blue/yellow glass filters that cost $28 each) to convert them from 3200k to 5500k. They really make a big difference, plus they come in their own carry-case. The bulbs are not cheap though, but I got half a dozen more (as spares) on-line for another 80 dollars. You don't have to spend a lot on lighting kits. For a thousand bucks you could get half a dozen Red-heads, that are lightweight, portable and most important; they're easily adjustable and the barn doors are great for lighting backgrounds etc. Now I just use the umbrella lights close-in to the subject and use the others for boosting the ambient light.

 

[HurtinMinorKey]

Could you give me a link to them?

 

[DB]

The daylight filters link is as follows:

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/Dichroic-Daylight-Filter-Redhead-3300K-5600K-/110827294307?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19cdd24e63#ht_1900wt_1396

And the link from the same store for the lights is

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/Continuous-Light-Red-Head-800w-extra-free-tube-/140271609673?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20a8d6e749#ht_2005wt_1396

Personally, I bought my Red-Heads from a Chinese manufacturer that shipped out of the UK (see link below):

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/2400w-red-head-Continuous-lighting-light-kit-3m-cable-/150499176035?pt=UK_Photography_StudioEquipment_RL&hash=item230a732e63#ht_2503wt_1139

I got the above set with bag, stands, lights etc. Just as a note, there are suppliers on-line who also supply longer electric cables with individual On/Off switches, cos' these guys get really hot (that's the downside), so it is nice to be able to turn them off individually/separately without having to unplug them (or switching off the wall socket if you're using a multi-socket adapter).

 

[paul13walnut5]

You don't say what kind of shooting you are doing. Reds are great for large perspective lighting with plenty if room, but they are prone to hotspots and can be very uncomfortable to be under fir any length of time.

You also need be ware of overloading power circuits, 3x reds are right at 13a, so if you want to plugin anything else you'll need to be careful.

For interviews dedolights are pretty good, low power but with aspheric projection lens they punch more than their weight. By the time you add scrim or diff then you are vastly reducing their range, and thus forcing a closer perspective.

For my interview stuff my go to lamp is an interfit coolite9. Comes with softbox, i use the 9 bulb version, it's daylight balanced and so needs cc gels to mix with indoor lighting.

Uses much less power than a red, is comfortable to sit under and is relatively cheap. Bulbs are dear though, but should last a long time. Very diffuse and natural looking. I usually combine these with a reflector just begind the subject, or rotolights for shadow lift or rim lighting.

Ritolights can be used on their own for running a gunning, but need to be close to subject with a fast aperture and sometime higher iso.

 

[Axilrod]

Arri Fresnels

 

[DB]

For documentary style interviews I use low-wattage energy efficient photographic bulbs e.g. 115 watt consumption but 625W equivalent output. I use 2 per light stand through a white umbrella - gives great soft diffuse lighting just out of shot (2 or 3 feet away from where interviewees are seated). I usually place I light stand at either side of the person (typically one at 90-degrees and the other at 30-degrees). But when you're in a large conference room in a hotel which is what I use (hire them by the day) you still need more light. This is where the Red-Heads are really useful. Yes they give out tremendous heat if you're 6 to 8 feet away from them, but not so at 25 - 30 feet. Then you can light up backgrounds (so no shadows from main umbrella lights). You can point one of them straight up at the ceiling (if painted white), plus you can bounce them off walls, glass shelves, bookcases etc.

Red-Heads are the cheapest way to light a hall/room/theater and so on, plus they get the job done on a budget. Yes they are power-hungry, hot, and dangerous to touch when switched on, but for a couple of hundred bucks, they're great. And you can use them outside, in the garden, with an extension lead, they're not heavy (you can pick up with one hand and move very quickly). Finally the barn doors allow you to direct light away from camera tripod, or away from faces of people, basically to where you need it. Plus the bulbs may be moved forwards/backwards within the heads so allow for either a wide-angle effect or a more directed spotlight one.

 

[DB]

Arri Fresnels

Are 9x times more expensive, better quality kit, but less powerful. It is a bit like the difference between a Mustang and a Mercedes, one is brute force (not that refined) and the other is a high priced alternative, both will get you from A to B though. Red Heads are lighter and a lot cheaper than Arri. Really depends if you're going to lug them around with you or not.

 

[HurtinMinorKey]

I'm going to be using this for short films, and studio photography.

I was looking at this. I was hoping for something similar, but a bit lower in price. But I want it to last.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/527159-REG/Arri_571979W_650W_Fresnel_Compact_3_Light.html

 

[DB]

I'm going to be using this for short films, and studio photography.

I was looking at this. I was hoping for something similar, but a bit lower in price. But I want it to last.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/527159-REG/Arri_571979W_650W_Fresnel_Compact_3_Light.html

They are certainly pro quality, but you might want to factor in the additional expense of color correction filters, after all, these lights are rated as 3200K (give an orange glow).

If you are going to shoot short films, then the chances are that you'll be using more than one camera. When I shoot interviews I always use 2 cameras (main with either my 50 f1.4 or 24-70 f2.8, plus a second camera with the 70-200mm on another tripod at a side-angle) then sequence them using multi-cam in Adobe Premiere Pro, but white balance is always a problem, even using Custom WB with my Lastolite 18% Grey collapsible card. Different lenses + cameras will almost never synchronize custom WB, so you're forced to color correct big time.

My advice is to ask at the store if you can also purchase Dichroic Filters or large CTB gels to place in front of the lights. Believe me its much easier in post when you shoot as 'neutral' as possible. I checked out the user manual to confirm the Kelvin Color temperature:

http://www.videotexsystems.com/files/arri_lighting_handbook_english.pdf

 

[paul13walnut5]

@DB

but white balance is always a problem, even using Custom WB with my Lastolite 18% Grey collapsible card. Different lenses + cameras will almost never synchronize custom WB, so you're forced to color correct big time.

My advice is to ask at the store if you can also purchase Dichroic Filters or large CTB gels to place in front of the lights. Believe me its much easier in post when you shoot as 'neutral' as possible.

The colour of coatings and UV filters etc all have an effect on WB, uniform lighting is not enough, a preset if good, as at least you are in the ball park, and you are consistently off (one fix, unlike AWB) manuallyWB off of a unfirom source is even better, I use a greyscale QPCARD in some header roll, which gives me a much better chance of matching the shots when used with either preset, manually input or manually balanced WB.

The bigger problem for me is not WB but expsosure matching. Even a constant f2.8 lens will vary its T-stop accross the focal length, two different constant f2.8 lenses (such as you 24-70 and 70-200) will be even further out. The f2.8 is not actually absolutely constant.

ISO for ISO, light for light, shutter for shutter the cameras should be pretty uniform, aperture is not likely to be exactly f2.8 on any given lens at any given focal length at any given time, and the T-stop is never going to be the same between to optical designs, or even the same lenses of different ages (dust etc)

But as far as WB goes, get both cameras as close as you can, and keep them consistant and you have a fighting chance. Costly filtration is not going to do much more than add more to the mix, cheaper CTB gels are the way I would go.

 

[HurtinMinorKey]

Thanks for all the advice! That Arri-Manual was great. I Plan on shooting with a c300. I have a 5D2, but I wanted to avoid using it as a B-Cam.

I plan on using QPCARDs for some general consistency throughout.