space light and chimera

[mmv]

Hi there! Could somebody tell me what space light is especially good for - for what kind of shots?

 

What about chimera.. I know chimera helps producing soft and diffused light with little shadow, but is it usually used for "portraits" or is it very useful in other sort of shots as well?

[Adam Frisch FSF]

Space lights are particularly good for lighting big spaces with multiple units of soft light. They're basically used in studios for giving a nice toplight or overall ambient light to big sets. For instance, Sleepy Hollow and Lemony Snickett's are films that are basically lit with huge amounts of space lights in the ceiling. Also used frequently when lighting big greenscreens where you need an ambient, shadowless light. They're less suited for outdoor use since they swing from a wire and are easily moved by wind and are not very waterproof either.

 

Chimeras are just simply struts with diffusion at the end. Big softlights. It's a practical way of combining a silk on a frame and a light into one easily moveable unit. And since they're built together they're also easier to hang and rig from above than a frame and a unit would have been. Very practical lights but they do have a tendency to be cumbersome in wind. I also find that some units are ill suited for Chimeras - very often I come across lights that will not fill the whole silk of the Chimera, making the light harder than it should be.

[Dan Salzmann]

One inconvenience with Chimera's is that the diffusing panel is a fixed distance from the front of the lamp offering less possibilities than a frame with diffusion.

[Adam Frisch FSF]

Yeah, I agree. But a gaffer showed me not long ago that they have a little diffusion sheet that you can put between the lamp and the regular silk. This helps spread the source and make it more soft. I never seen it before and I doubt many use it, but it's there.

[Michael Nash]

I never seen it before and I doubt many use it, but it's there.

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It's used all the time to get the light to fill up the front panel if the lamp won't on its own. Often times you'll rent one chimera softbox with multiple adapter rings for different lights on the truck.