Mark Kenfield

Well it's a sorely tempting concept - all the output benefits of an M18 for roughly $4k (once you include a bulb and shipping). But it seems unlikely that the usual issues of clone HMIs (iffy electronics, shoddy build quality) have been overcome.

That said, this unit advertises power factor correction on the ballast - that's kind of a big deal and I've never seen that on a clone HMI before. Perhaps it suggests a level of design quality to this clone that we haven't seen in these cheap, copied fixtures before. Maybe. Maybe not. The only we'll really know is if someone bites the bullet and tries it out.

Personally, I find that although the fixture is incredibly cheap COMPARATIVELY, $4k is still a big gamble to take on an unknown quantity.

Anyone feeling ballsy?

Fascinating technology, and I have no doubt it'll eventually find specific niche use within the broader filmmaking world - but the moment you take intent out of the images you capture and leave it for post, I think you lose the focus and direction that clear storytelling needs. And I fear that could do the craft of filmmaking more harm than good.

Both of those choices are the right ones for you I think Damon - that cage will make rigging the camera up nice and easy (a proper carry handle, rails for mattebox and follow focus). And those Rokinon lenses are a great combo with the BMPC if you pair them with a Speedbooster. You'll want the Tokina 11-16mm as well in order to get wide-angles.

This has been my argument for forever - if you're going to use more bandwidth (or implement more efficient codecs that provide better quality for the bandwidth you already have - put it into higher bit-depths, greater DR and fewer compression artefacts. NOT into resolution increases that are near invisible for most average viewing conditions.

The best things about UHD (to my mind at least) is Rec.2020, not the actual resolution increase.

Get a Blackmagic Pocket, a Nikon-mouint Speedbooster adapter, a Tokina 11-16mm and the basic Rokinon primes (24mm, 35mm, 85mm), a mattebox and follow focus and you'll be able to shoot lovely looking pictures for a pittance. I find it almost scary how close my Pocket Cam comes to my F3 image-wise.

That's going to be your cheapest route to high-quality video files. Which leaves the rest of your funds available for things that matter - like a good tripod, a couple of decent lights, and maybe a slider to allow some interesting camera movement.

I would say lens choice (at least in terms of focus length) is a purely technical decision, but one that's motivated by instinctual feelings as to how a particular shot should be composed. The decisions on composition are what drives the lens choice.

It's definitely an old beater. The wear on the paint is significant, but the seller did send me a video of it, and it looks like it strikes up just fine. Pretty noisy in flicker-free mode, but genuinely quiet in silent mode.

Can you say 'Mmmm....'

273w draw, single-source, 100 degree beam floodlight with 575w HMI equivalent output, 4800-6500k switchable colour temperature, and pretty much full spectrum colour - and all for $2k!

It's not got quite the throw-a-v-mount-on-it-and-run-around versatility of the remote phosphor units I like to get giddy about, but it's compact, solid-state rugged, and there's no damned ballast to drag around.

As far as price/output/colour-quality goes - I think this one could be something of a milestone.

Thanks fellas, good points on all fronts. The ballast is a 2.5/4k Lightmaker Electronic version (I don't have the space, or beefcake besties to deal with the size of a magnetic one most of the time).

The owner is going to take an ammeter to it to get me readings on the draw at startup and regular running - that'll hopefully clear up my options for powering it.

Thanks Guy, the ballast is a Lightmaker 4000 (2500w/4000w) model, I'll ask whether it's a PFC version.

Cheers,

Mark

Hi guys,

I'm looking at possibly picking up an old LTM 2.5kw Cinepar HMI to add to my kit. Was wondering if people could share their thoughts/experiences with them?

I'm keen to know both their strengths, and whether there are any particular weak-points or gotchas to look out for?

Cheers,

Mark

A used Sony F3 or a Sony FS700 paired with an Odyssey 7Q are your cheapest options for matching those criteria, but they'd still sit a fair ways outside your price range.

I'd second the Blackmagic Camera suggestion for the time being. $5k will set you up with a decent kit, and you'll have everything you need except slow motion.

Depends on the size, design and wattage of the fixture as well as the ambient temperature. When packing down HMI fresnels I generally open the lid of the fixture to let the hot air out faster, and when shooting with PARs I'll try and remove the lens if I can to facilitate the same accelerated cooling.

Bug lights like the Profoto HMIs or the Joker Bugs have a very different design and the bodies of those fixtures don't get anywhere near as hot as conventional fixtures (just the reflectors you add on to them).

Haven't used the TruColor yet, but I own and am very familiar with the Area 48 which is basically exactly the same thing, just smaller in size, wattage and output.

They're very different lights.

The Creamsource (well the Doppio at least - I haven't used their other models) is a hard light with a narrow beam spread from its LEDs (I think it's 15 degrees from memory), tonnes of punch, bullet-proof construction and good colour but the power of the LEDs makes the multi-source nature of the Creamsource pretty apparent so it takes a fair bit of diff to smooth that out into a single source. Having the hard source, does make it the more versatile light though.

The remote phosphor lights are very different, they're an inherently soft single-source light (well in the case of the Cineo HS it's a dual source, but the two panels are so close together I hardly think you'd ever see it), light output is tremendous for the power draw and colour rendering is as good as HMI IMO, there are no green spikes to worry about, and it works a treat on skintones. Remote phosphor also has the benefit of being able to change colour temperature quickly and relatively cheaply, whereas the Creamsource (and any diode-based LED) requires you to pick a colour (or bi-colour) from the outset.

Both fixtures have the delightful benefit of dimming without colour shift.

If you could only have one light, the Creamsource would be the way to go - simply for the versatility of having a hard light. But for me personally, remote phosphor has replaced fluorescents as my go to softlight, and mine come out with me on every single job. The remote phosphor setup is much easier to grid and control spill from, and there's no issues with magenta colour shift when dimming them (unlike Kino Divas).

Hope that helps.

You could try suspending a slider vertically over your subject and using a rope/pulley system to draw the camera upwards.

Is it just that one camera angle? Or is the camera at least coming primarily from that angle? I'd probably rig a softlight, like a kino up high and behind the actors for a back light, then bounce a small source into bounce board or lame on the ground in front of the camera to provide a little fill (then light the set/background as needed).

A couple of powerful still camera strobes 1200w/s units, will also go quite a long way, and you can run them off their own portable generator (so they're a lot smaller and cheaper than film options). A couple of quick flashes will give you a basic effect and a lot of light output - though you'll get little of the decay and randomness of actual lightning.

It's probably the best budget option after getting venetian blinds for your 5K.

Andy, I think Sean's post basically boils down to: "dual-focus is a pain in the arse".

Well given that you seem unsure of the output you need, that you're thinking of flicking your 5kw light on and off, and the fact that the only common 5kw fixtures I'm aware of are all Tungsten lights - I assumed that perhaps you were actually talking about a 5kw tungsten fixture rather than an HMI, in which case 2.5k HMI equivalence would do you just fine.

You'd have to ask aadyntech, but the lights have full DMX so I wouldn't be surprised if they could be linked for the lightning effect.

I'm not sure if it'd have enough output for your needs, but if you can access a rental Aadyntech Eco Punch LED, they're equivalent to a 2.5k HMI and have a built-in lightning effect, only draws 600w or something daft like that too, so could potentially lighten your gennie requirements.

What kind of halogen lights do you have? Are they 500w worklights? You might be able to achieve that look with 3 of those, though you'd have very little control over the beam. You'll need to rent a haze machine first of all - liberal use of haze will allow you to see the 'beam' as the light from the fixtures hits and reflects off the particles of the haze.

Ideally, you'd want a larger fresnel light to offer a more controlled beam to fire through the window.

Well as the world turns, so to do equipment lists… my kit upgrades are continuing, and so it’s with a heavy heart I’m putting my beloved, pimped-out Sony F3 kit up for sale. She’s been customised with the complete Element Technica body armour and shoulder-pad/baseplate kit, and so is solid as a rock (well… solid as 1/2” thick solid aluminium at least), and can go from sticks to shoulder-mounting in seconds.

The camera is in excellent condition (336 hours usage - only about 10 of which is actual internal recording) and comes paired with the wicked Sound Devices PIX240 (and my near-genius lightweight mounting system that slides directly into the Element Technica top handle and gives you full adjustment on three different axes). She’ll give you 13.5 stops of dynamic range, an 800 ISO base sensitivity (with stupidly clean high ISOs), and 10-bit 4:2:2 1080p at up to 60fps via dual-link SDI (though you’ll need a Gemini or Odyssey 7Q for 1080p60 - the PIX only supports 60fps at 720p, 30fps at 1080p).

The kit is ready-to-shoot, and includes everything you need to start shooting: camera, recorder, media, power, and all of the necessary cables.

Kit includes:
- Sony PMW-F3
- F3 Manual, Software Disc, XLR Microphone
- Element Technica F3 Body Armour Kit
- Element Technica F3 Baseplate/Shoulder-mount
- 32GB SxS Card for internal recording
- 3x GMP 96Whr Batteries with DTAP
- 1x Sony BP-U60 Battery
- Sony Battery Charger
- Sound Devices PIX240 4:4:4 Recorder (records 10-bit ProRes and DNxHD)
- 2x PIX Caddies
- PIX Screen Protector
- DTAP to Hirose Power Cable for PIX
- 2x 256GB Sandisk Extreme SSDs
- Berkey Systems PIX Mounting Rod
- 2x 6” Handle Rods for mounting PIX to F3
- 1x HD-SDI Cable

I’m looking for $9200 + shipping for the complete kit. Or $7200 + shipping for the camera bits by themselves (I’ll quite happily hold on to the PIX). EFT preferred, or PayPal fees split 50/50.

Please feel free to PM me with any questions.

She really does make beautiful, beautiful images - about 95% of my showreel here was shot on this camera:

[video=vimeo;83572515]https://vimeo.com/83572515

Cheers Sanjay!

Andrew, since I'm booked solid for the next few months with just DP work, I'm in the fortunate position that the only wanker I have to impress for the moment is myself. And although I'm a bit of a knob, at least I can sleep well at night knowing I'm not a hipster!

Back on topic though, I'm really, really, not too fond of the Wally Dolly (probably because every time that's the only dolly production's budget can stretch to - I won't have a real grip on hand to help me, at which point any kind of camera movement becomes a hassle). So my preference lies pretty strongly with sliders (or, luxury-of-luxuries, an actual dolly and dolly grip when production actually has a budget).

I certainly won't be spending three grand on a Dana Dolly type skateboard-wheel setup - though I did have a (potentially stupid) idea of getting (or building) something like the Dana Dolly, but having the ability to attach a larger wood or metal platform on top of it, so that I can plonk the thing on the ground and mount a tripod on top for Wally Dolly-esque moves without the levelling issues the Wally Dolly often presents. Though I fear the rails may simply be too close together for stable moves when a camera is mounted significantly higher than it would usually be.

I really do like the idea of just being able to plonk the MYT Works or Cinevate directly on top of two Low Boys, screw in the fluid head and be off and running - it's just so much faster than any other option.

Decisions, decisions...

Maybe the issue is your weird umbrella fetish. Get a proper bounce and youd get more out of the lamp.

Don't you talk smack about my umbrellas.

Got an email?

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