Scoops

[JD Hartman]

Have an opportunity to pick up some scoops for next to nothing. Only place I've ever seen them in use was lighting the curved corners on a three wall cyc. I've never had a shoot where the DP called for them and slightly concerned that I'd own fixtures that would be rarely used. Ownership also means I need to stock 1k globes with a mogul screw base. What is the "textbook" application for a 1 or 2k scoop?

[Paul Bruening]

TV fill. 'Tween the big guns. For when the TV engineers are too indecisive and want everything to read the same on the meter.

[Tim O'Connor]

I've seen some good deals on them this past year, good in the sense that several times I've seen used scoops that are

in great condition from having been in one studio for many years and never moved and are selling for not much at all.

 

Ask yourself though would you ever use them on location? They're okay in a studio if you have them and leave them up

on a grid and maybe use them once in a while but I would never want to haul them around or wrestle with them. They're

not heavy of course but they're unwieldy. I use some in a small studio for some greenscreen work because they're there

and they do the trick.

 

If you can pick up some lights that you can offer as part of your kit, that can be a good move. I picked up seven more used

1K fresnels this summer and have used them on jobs.

[JD Hartman]

Tim, yes these are like new, as they lived their entire life in a studio. I was thinking that they might be useful for lighting a temporary cyc. I've also been looking for some cyc. lights as well, but can't find the quantity I want, in good condition, at the price I want to pay. As far as hauling them around, no worse than a 2K skypan.

[Tim O'Connor]

I've learned that when I come across a good deal I have to think when would I really use these items? There

were a couple of lights this past year that I wanted but held off on and I never really did end up having a call

for them, or at least nothing that couldn't be done with something else.

 

If you can put them to use then this might be a good purchase for you. How often do you use a temporary

cyc, or would you if you had these or other lights that could work on that? Scoops take up a bit if space. Will

you have a good place to store them?

[JD Hartman]

I could have used them or regular cyc. lights, when creating a police line-up wall for a music video I worked on. Lit it with what I had at the time, but it would have been easier and looked better if I had some different fixtures. Yes, I've got the room, recently sent a bunch of low-voltage, 1K Tungsten beam projectors to the "retirement home".

[Paul Bruening]

I've found them to produce a serviceable light. It's the shadows that I couldn't get to like. They produce a blend of sharp and soft shadow. I always thought of it as a "junky" kind of shadow. Now, that doesn't matter when you're using a bunch of them for flat, TV style lighting. But, when you try to use them as individual lights, especially on close-ups, you get that junky shadow. I've wondered if hanging a bit of metal directly in front of the lamp as a sort-of dodging tool might get rid of that hard shadow from the lamp leaving the nicer soft shadow from that big scoop. That and some diffusion might make them delightful for gentle mediums and close-ups.

[JD Hartman]

I've found them to produce a serviceable light. It's the shadows that I couldn't get to like. They produce a blend of sharp and soft shadow. I always thought of it as a "junky" kind of shadow. Now, that doesn't matter when you're using a bunch of them for flat, TV style lighting. But, when you try to use them as individual lights, especially on close-ups, you get that junky shadow. I've wondered if hanging a bit of metal directly in front of the lamp as a sort-of dodging tool might get rid of that hard shadow from the lamp leaving the nicer soft shadow from that big scoop. That and some diffusion might make them delightful for gentle mediums and close-ups.

 

 

In that instance, I'd rather whip out a Mole softlight. Sadly, more junior DP's, "just don't get it" and would rather see a chimera instead.

[Tim O'Connor]

In that instance, I'd rather whip out a Mole softlight. Sadly, more junior DP's, "just don't get it" and would rather see a chimera instead.

 

 

Some producers of smaller jobs, particularly corporate, are often like that. In their minds, a softbank can solve everything and

no matter how many other ways you might have of getting soft light, they want to make sure that there's a chimera in your kit

if they're renting lights from you. After you've worked with them maybe they'll be different but first time they're asking that you

have a softbank.

[JD Hartman]

Some producers of smaller jobs, particularly corporate, are often like that. In their minds, a softbank can solve everything and

no matter how many other ways you might have of getting soft light, they want to make sure that there's a chimera in your kit

if they're renting lights from you. After you've worked with them maybe they'll be different but first time they're asking that you

have a softbank.

 

Maybe that's why I don't get as much talking head work as some other people. My reply to buying a Chimera, just to satisfy some Producer or DP with less experience or technical knowledge than mine, is F' that. I don't own a Barger Bag light either. I might build a clone of one someday, but the original suffers from the same frailties as a softbox. A Mole softlight is a better tool. Their loss if they were never introduced to it in film school. How I light the shot is immaterial, the look I achieve is the ultimate goal.