Peter Anderson

Ive wired up a 4ft domestic fluorescent fixture with a high frequency ballast - Whats my best bet for good colour rendition on film - a) Using a Kinoflo tube (My film school has plenty of these) (B) Using a domestic tube with a high CRI and gelling appropriately. Ive been told that kinoflos lose output in domestic fixtures and the colour temperature drops as a result. Im having trouble finding those suggested phillips tubes in the UK, does part of its product code refer to its voltage?

Has anyone ever used these? http://www.backstageshop.co.uk/acatalog/Filter.html Whats the general experience with them?

Thanks a lot David. I am constantly humbled by the time you take to help people out on this forum. Much appreciated

So should a 1.85 chat simply look like two straight lines (and three white sections)? How long should I shoot it and should there be any notation made on the chart for the postprocessing lab?

Im shooting a 16mm shoot next month and the director and I want to shoot on a 1.85 aspect ratio. I understand that I'll need to shoot an initial frame leader. What does this involve and what is the simplest workflow?

Wow. I found an adjustable speedring and those puppies are expensive - twice the price of the standard fixed, non collapsable alternative. I was planning on getting a lantern to fit one of my arrilite 600s but now im worried about their apparent weakness. I like the look of the chimera birdcage but as of yet it only looks like they make them in 120V (I live in the UK).

So what light would you recommend for a cheap but effective chimera softbox/lantern setup? For both compact and medium size setups (650w-1k and 2k+ rigs). Id love to add a tough and versatile lantern setup to my collection, i like the look of the new chimera birdcage but i cant seem to find a 240v 500w tungsten bulb with a mogul base.

Am i being dense? I can only see Arri Lux and Arri LX. Im much more confused now - I hope your chocolate cake was worth it :)

Trying to find solutions for flexible softsources Ive been looking into chimeras. Im a big fan of diffused light by my current diy method is very uncontrolable (216 on homemade 2'x2' frame mounted on lightstand with a magic arm). I get a lot of unwanted spill and am considering getting a chimera. The only confusion is with the speedrings. I own a couple of arrilte 650's but would also like to use the speedring with larger lights (Arri 800s & 1ks). Do i need adpater inserts? If so how do I decide which ones I need? The lights i want to use arent mentioned on this page: http://www.chimeralighting.com/specs_light...p?product=quick PS. Some posts ive read refer to adding a chimera speedring to lights for diffusion, is this DP shothand for adding a chimera softbox or lightbank?

A sincere and gratefull thank you to all the great responses. A great deal has been cleared up for me. My curiousity on the subject stems from the need to have a compact overhead soft source where there is very little headroom available. In my tests shoots Ive been Using a domestic fluorescent fitting secured to a boom arm overhead and then gelling additional fresnels with plus green. Due to budget constraints Ive only been taking photos so far but have a test shoot on an Arriflex SRII next week to try out my various options and check for flicker. Im not a fan of heavy postwork and am particular about colour and tone in my work. This is the main reason why I want to avoid just taking the green out of the telecine. I have considered standard daylight tubes but my only experience using an apparently 5600k balanced bulb still produceds a murky green tinge. I think Ill swot up on the subject and use something similar to this: http://www.alertelectrical.com/Light-Fitti...light-fittings/ Standard-Fluorescent-Light-Fittings/Fitzgerald-4ft-Twin-Fluorescent-Fitting-FZLPT236.asp It obviously wont be great quality but for under £100, a 4ft 2bank DIY kino would be a great solution. Take that, mount it to some MDF and screw on a fire door handle and it would have endless applications.

Thanks David, Wheres the best place to swot up on the subject of flicker? I definately need to have a basic understanding on the subject.

Im not very technically proficient when it comes to light fittings. Do i have to consider flicker problems? If not, when does the issue of flicker apply? Sorry about the garbled tone of this question, the issue of flicker confuses me.

Can put Kino Flo tubes into domestic Fluorescent fittings I can get at my local hardware store?

Thanks for all the advice - I think ill snap up the stock for a another project but not take any unnecesary risks for my graduation film. I can easily manage with what we can afford in the budget but being a first time film shoot I was nervous of not getting enough coverage (currently we're looking at around 8 minutes of coverage to 1 minute of final film). I suppose Ill just have to plan, plan and plan some more. Only 6 weeks till we shoot, wish me luck :)

Thanks Freya, I think ill take your advice and stick to brand new film. The project is a short film and my first attempt as a DoP on 16mm so whilst i would be able to afford a few more cans of old stock in the budget Id rather know that I have some kind of consistency in my results. Its just so damned tempting - 5 400ft factory sealed cans at £30 each! I might just snap them up and save them for a personal project rather than taking the risk on a graduation film.

Im a student cinematographer and im searching out the stock for a student film - Im already getting a 50% discount on brand new stock and the old stock available is at 30% of cost price - Ive been told I should clip test the stock...what does this mean?

My local rental house has some Vision 200T (7274) Going cheap but its around two years old (no older at least). Its been kept in cold storage but they have no short ends from the same batch to test. The film im shooting is low budget and im worried to take a risk on buying up stock that wont produce quality results but then i could snap up a bargain. Whats the general opinion on shooting on old stock?

It will be telecined with and then edited and graded digitally.

Im a student at the Northern Film school and in February we're shooting a short sc-fi thriller. Half the film will be shot in a geometric, clincal location under mixed lighting (daylight & fluorescents) - I plan to shoot on long lenses and high f-stops while overexposing to get a crisp, clean aesthetic similar to that of Primer. The other half of the film is being shot in a dark, grimey bar with a pervading red glow and a smokey atmosphere - To maintain a rough softness most of it will be shot on short-mid lenses on low f-stops. My main problem is the choice of stock, we can only really afford around 8 rolls of 400ft with the final film being around 10-15 minutes in length. I would like to use the same stock to be as economical as possible but im open for suggestions. Id appreiciate as much of advice on this as possible - footage and photos would be much appreciated. Thanks

Ok so my best approach is to... a ) Keep the sun behind the actors b ) block light that peaks out on screen c ) diffuse harsh shadows d ) bounce lots of light on the shadowy side of actors Wish me luck! :)

I also I spotted some 105w 5500k energy bulbs on ebay that will provide around 525w of lighting power but produce less heat. ES Screw mount. I've not tried them but I might... http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...mMakeTrack=true hope that helps Pete Can I use high wattage domestic bulbs or will thy provide too much heat next to paper lanterns?

We dont really have the resources to set up large scrims. What i do have are small frames to attatch diffusion to, bounce boards to add any fill light and flags and scrims to cut out any unwanted light. At the moment im pretty nervous of the exterior shoot and expecting the dismal latitude of digital will be problematic. Has anyone got any advice that could prove usefull based on their own experience of exterior shoots with HD? And thanks for all the help so far.

High definition video using a Sony Z1

Sorry, i often forget to elaborate on what im planning - we have an exterior shoot over the course of a 9.00-3.30 day. Our only light source will be the sun and this will be constantly changing position in the sky. It is also important that there is continuity of character movement within the scene. Ive had a lot of people talk about taking out light rather than adding it but they often fail to mention why - maintainting exposure? softening harsher shadows? or whatever else. Can anyone offer a dummies guide to shooting with dayligh?

Any suggested methods for safely making lanterns to distribute ambient light in a scene?