Mark Kenfield

I assume you're looking at the Lastolite Skylite Rapid system? I'm pretty intrigued by it myself, but haven't had a chance to compare the quality of diffusion offered by the two options they have.

However for direct sunlight, I quite often use artificial silk, which has about 1.5 stops of light loss, and I think much less than that could be problematic for direct sun if it doesn't spread the light out enough. So I'd probably go for the 1.25 stop version for that reason.

+1 to what Adrian and Tim have said. If you're just using tungsten fixtures for lighting you'll be fine, however if you bring in fixtures with electronic ballasts (HMI, Fluorescent, LED) you'll want to try and stick to power factor corrected units - otherwise they'll draw more power than expected, and you might overload the gennie.

do you have one of those older 1200 watt him pars that had the bulb in a sealed beam glass housing similar to a par 64 bulb? that type may have had uv protection built in, but i don't think anyone makes that anymore. i haven't seen one in years.

I've got an older Profoto 1200w fixture, it's a buglight style fixture like the Joker Bugs, so the bulb sits in a glass UV cover (and the par reflector slides over the top).

Well actually I seem to be lighting night shoots in woods, mountains and on beaches from puttputts all the time. And I couldn't really call the output of a 2K fresnel 'small' either (at least not for the work I do), alongside Blondies they're the biggest tungsten units I ever get to use (I almost never have tie-ins or gennie trucks to run 5ks, 10ks or those yummy yummy Molebeams) so to get that same output as a 2K, but in daylight, would actually be pretty useful (I find it's the bare minimum amount of light I can punch through a window and still get something for the trouble).

Obviously I'd never be lighting deep backgrounds with them, but I can see them being pretty useful when I go from my dusk-for-night establishing shots into lit mids/CUs.

I'll have to find out some more info about how the quantum-dot panels interact with the lens, though I gather the whole thing's been redesigned for the new array (the retrofit kits come with a new lens).

Well in this case, it's pretty close to an equivalent cost-per-lumen. So it's more a question of which option would be more useful.

Haha, we'll see!

Size wise they basically match a Mole 2k junior (especially that nice big 10" lens).

I'm still strongly considering just going with another 1.2k HMI, but a large part of how I'm trying to structure this kit is about being able to run as much as possible off small portable gennies for location work, and they'd be kinda wonderful for that.

Well that puts paid to that idea.

Andrew, I feel like I never really knew I was an optimist until I met you!

I'm trying to find TLCI data on the MoleLEDs, it seems a much better measure for discontinuous sources than CRI. Hard to find much info on them yet though. I'll ask the guys at Barbizon what they think, they're the only ones I know of who are importing the Moles.

I like the dual-mount idea, but I think the fixtures are something like 12kg each, which might be asking a bit much of the combo stands I'm getting (Matthews Digital Combos), I'll have to look into that in a bit more depth.

Do no HMI fresnels have UV protection at the bulb? My par has protection at the bulb rather than built in to the lenses.

Hi guys,

I don't have any fresnels handy to test this at the moment, so I'm wondering if anyone could comment on the output you get from fresnel fixtures (particularly HMIs) when you remove the lens?

I've heard of people doing this before, but never tried it myself.

Is the ouput comparable to the lensesless ouput you'd get from a par of equivalent wattage?

I'm trying to find ways to get higher ouput for bounced light.

Cheers,

Mark

You can rent a little 3.5kw inverter generator for like $50-60/day, it'll allow you to run a few lights and charge camera/light batteries whilst you're out in the woods - I'd highly recommend that option.

Well my purchasing has begun in earnest :unsure: and grip gear is on the way, I took people's advice and have added four combo stands and two low boys to the package, along with an Avenger a4050cs boom/stand.

Lights are up next, I added two Arrilite 2000s to the kit, but I'm starting to have some second thoughts about what 'big' daylight sources to add to the package. The original plan was to add a second 1.2k HMI, but now I'm debating whether it'd be worth getting two of the new MoleLED Junior 400w LED fresnels instead of the second HMI?

It's pretty much the same money, but the Mole fresnels offer the same output as 2k tungsten fresnels (in 5600k), with the added benefit of on-board dimming without colour shift.

Mole list their CRI for the LED Junior as 90, which puts it on par with the HMI bulbs. But I'm tossing up the benefits of two fixtures with lower output but greater control, versus the single fixture with higher output. Thoughts?

Cheers Sanjay, do you guys use sliders at all on the big shows, or just proper dollies? (really looking forward to seeing The Grand Budapest Hotel btw!)

If you want to go warm, just stick with your lighting plan but balance for 5600k. Your 4300k sources will go warm, and your 3200k sources will go very warm. It's a nice look IMO.

Hi guys,

I'm looking for a heavy-duty 5' slider, it's gotta be solid, smooth and quick to set up. I'd also want to be able to mount my Cinevate Axis Jib (100mm bowl) to it for sliding crane moves.

I've narrowed things down to the 60" Cinevate Atlas 200 (supports up to 200lbs) and the 5' MYT Works Large Slider (supports up to 250lbs). Both are obviously very solid units, the Cinevate is a little simpler (mounts straight onto combo stands), the MYT offers a little more flexibility (removable high-hat). Priced up with cases, the Cinevate comes to around $3000 and the MYT to around $3500.

I'm wondering people's thoughts on the two units, and what they'd recommend and why?

Also if anyone knows of other sliders in a similar price/performance bracket, I'd love to hear about them.

Cheers,

Mark

I'm suggesting sewing your own, there really isn't much to it. However if you want a rigid one, that'd be even easier to fabricated with tin or another thin metal.

Hmm... they could work too. Cheers!

Oh, those snap-lock corners look handy, I'll try and find some of those down here. Thanks Stuart.

Then perhaps build your own with a bit of fabric and some rigid sections for the top/bottom/sides? There's not exactly a lot that goes into a honeycomb.

Seems like such a waste of time and money, no one watching is gonna know or care if you blacked the pool.

We'll be blacking the background, you'd absolutely know the difference between that and pool tiles a couple of meters behind the talent.

Cheers Andrew, know any Melbourne grips who might have them?

Stuart, I think we'll be just fine in that case, thanks.

In which way are they useless?

Magenta, magenta, magenta, magenta...

Perhaps have a look at the dopchoice snap grids? They're fast, light and not outrageously priced. Work a treat with 4'x4' knife blade frames.

Haha, I came here to ask exactly the same question for exactly the same reason! I'd also appreciate any suggestions as to the best material to 'black' a pool with - Tarpaulin? Cotton?

Well the video certainly wasn't art... but James, your reply was! :)

Thanks for the giggle.