Light kits

[George Stratford]

Hey Everybody

I`m new to this forum but I have read many posts, very informative. I have one question mabey you guys could help me out with. I live in Japan and here lights are extremely expensive to buy and because of the location I live in renting is not a very good option either. I`m interested in purchasing a light kit , I know many say this is not the way to go but I feel this may be my best option. I am thinking about an ARRI soft bank kit. (one 1k, 2 650 fresnes, one 350 ) I will be using an FX1 with a 35mm adapter. The location where we will be filming is an abandent dormatory with working electricity. We are going for a dark kind of mood. This is getting a little long so I`ll sum this up. What do guys think about this kit and do you think that this may work for what we are trying to do. Thanks a lot

 

 

Coady Marshall

[Paul Bruening]

What's your voltage and hertz there in Japan?

[Evan Phan]

A dormitory doesn't sound too large, so I think you can get away with 3 of those lights mentioned. As long as your ratios are good, it won't look too "lit."

 

Use the 1000w as key, and be resourceful by using large bounce cards for fill. If you're lucky, the fill will be enough for parts of the room you want. Experiment with intensity and angle.

 

You have the 650watt and the 350watt left. You could use one of those as backlight/kicker (or key for extra talent). The third light can also be used for talent, but more likely, you will want to use it for the background. Possibly a slash of light or cookies to put design and depth into the background. It's important in dark scenes to flag off as much light off the walls so as to not mess with your contrast ratios.

[Michael Collier]

If your going for the contrasty noirish look you should also load up on cheap 100w pars. I think lowel has some for 70bucks in the US.

[Bob Hayes]

I own an Arri Soft bank kit and love it. The lights are durable and flexible. They are very easy to scrim down. I use the 1 k when I need to balance to daylight and gel it. Often I will use the 650 for interviews and grip clip the chimera ring onto it.

[Chris Keth]

I own an Arri Soft bank kit and love it. The lights are durable and flexible. They are very easy to scrim down. I use the 1 k when I need to balance to daylight and gel it. Often I will use the 650 for interviews and grip clip the chimera ring onto it.

 

I second the opinion on the softbank kit. My school has two that are bolstered with 2 150W fresnels, additions that I *highly* recommend for video work. It's absolutely my favorite kit available to me. I find that the 650 is very useful to bounce straight up into the ceiling (or card if the ceiling isn't white) to get a sourceless base exposure, or room-tone as Conrad Hall called the technique.

 

 

I'm shooting a short with the FX1 right now and I've found it to be a very sensitive camera, which is quite nice. I've even shot with a bit of gain before and I often (some situations show it more than others) can't tell the difference between no gain and 3dB.

[Ry Kawanaka]

It's 100v and 50/60 herts in Japan. Usually you cannot find ground wire in any electric outlets in Japan. So you should be careful if you are importing the light kit.

In addition to 1k plus a couple of fresnels, I would have a few small fresnels (maybe 200-300w) with a bunch of scrims, nets, and flags if it's dark interior scenes. I like using small fresnels very much.

I don't know if you are in the Japanese production, but Japanese producers tend to dislike spending much time in lighting set ups. Good luck.

 

Ry K

Edited December 13, 2005 by Ry K

[Michael Collier]

I often (some situations show it more than others) can't tell the difference between no gain and 3dB.

 

Is it that you are watching on a SD tv? or the LCD, or the veiwfinder? I think if your not watching on a HD screen you are getting more grain than you are seeing. if its for SD production then the 4 (or so) pixels that super sample down to 1 pixel may balance eachother out, giving the impression that noise is not present, or not very bad. When you get to HD though it will be very apparent.

 

Just a thought.

 

(3db isnt very much and it depends on your method of distrabution. I regularly use +6db on my UVW-100 (sony betacam) and what noise is there is made less after the signal gets transmitted.)

[Chris Keth]

Is it that you are watching on a SD tv? or the LCD, or the veiwfinder? I think if your not watching on a HD screen you are getting more grain than you are seeing. if its for SD production then the 4 (or so) pixels that super sample down to 1 pixel may balance eachother out, giving the impression that noise is not present, or not very bad. When you get to HD though it will be very apparent.

 

Just a thought.

 

(3db isnt very much and it depends on your method of distrabution. I regularly use +6db on my UVW-100 (sony betacam) and what noise is there is made less after the signal gets transmitted.)

 

 

Admittedly, yes, the "can't tell the difference" is for watching it on a letterboxed SDTV or seeing it projected from a projector I know won't do HD resulution either. I have seen it on an HDTV, though, and the difference is rather minute, but noticeable. I should have qualified. Thank you for tugging it out of me. :P ;)

 

It's 100v and 50/60 herts in Japan. Usually you cannot find ground wire in any electric outlets in Japan. So you should be careful if you are importing the light kit.

In addition to 1k plus a couple of fresnels, I would have a few small fresnels (maybe 200-300w) with a bunch of scrims, nets, and flags if it's dark interior scenes. I like using small fresnels very much.

I don't know if you are in the Japanese production, but Japanese producers tend to dislike spending much time in lighting set ups. Good luck.

 

Ry K

 

It shouldn't be a problem importing kits as long as they're tungsten fixtures like these. They'll just need properly rewired with the appropriate plugs.

[George Stratford]

Hey Everybody

Great advice thanks , ok where to start. Ｔｈｅ ｄｏｒｍａｔｏｒｙ　ｉｓ　ａｃｔｕａｌｌy quite big, 4 floors. So We will be very selective on the shots we decide on and try to control it the best we can , there are some large windows so we will also be using some reflectors and bounce cards too,

and hope we can make do. I think I will go with the softbank kit, But yes Japan is 100v but I was thinking of using a couple 120v- 100v 3000watt downconverters because I dont know where or how to rewire the fixtures. I`m not in the Japanese production buisness but I think you`re right on about it being a little shotty when it comes to lighting. I will also pick up a few 100w at the home depot( in japanese they call this DIK stores) Thanks again for the advice guys.

 

 

Coady Marshall