Cine Reflect System Pros and Cons

Brian Rose · March 2, 2010

Hello All,

Lately I've been fascinated by Christian Berger's Cine Reflect system, by which his specially modified 1200 HMI par with a parabolic reflector is used in tandem with reflectors of varying qualities to manipulate the light, thus reducing the overall number of lights needed, the amount of clutter on set, and amount of light in the actor's faces and lowering energy usage.

He has used it with high speed color neg, because this method does not yield the intensity necssary for lower speed, but it occurred to me that this process would be well suited to someone shooting digital, be it EX1, Viper or DLSR HD. This process also seems to have potential for the low budget filmmaker, by emphasizing fewer lights and more reflector boards.

I'm interested in trying this for myself. I don't have the budget to rent Berger's system, but the principles by which he operates are all very basic, and seems that with some technical know-how, one could fabricate much of the materials necessary to create a similar system.

Now, I'm sure that is easier said than done.

But what I'm really interested in is if anyone on this board has had the opportunity to experience the Cine Reflect System in action? So far, all I've found are testimonials from it's inventor, Christian Berger, and his collaborators, who of course sing high praise. Since these guys are all in business, they have an obvious bias, and I take what they say with a grain of salt.

Surely there must be some cons to this method. I'd love to hear what the rest of you have to say about this lighting method. And when I've had a chance to do some tests of my own, I'll be sure to post samples!

Best,

BR