Steve London

Boy, can I second this concern. I see it and experience it way too often. What's supposed to end at 2:00 AM winds up wrapping at dawn and that hour on the freeway getting home, pinching yourself and with the AC on max, is mucho muy dangerous. I've heard two credible tales of crew falling asleep at the wheel and waking up at the last second before hitting something.

It's a night exterior, the camera is focused on a couple five feet away, shallow DOF, and in the background, the hundreds of Christmas lights down the street make attractive little out of focus circles of colored light. They are circles of confusion, correct?

I've got one and it works fine. I needed to spray the contacts on the fixture, feeder cable and ballast with oil-free contact cleaner to make all four lamps always light, but that's all. If you have the money you can upgrade the ballast to a brand new one directly from Kino-Flo for something like 40% off.

I'd appreciate some advice on what to start with in acquiring textiles for use with an overhead frame. I have American Grip frame parts and 1" AL tubing in 6' lengths so that I can assemble either a 6'X6' or 12'X12' frame. For starters I'd like to use the 6X mostly indoors for diffusion of one or more 1K tungsten fresnels or a 1200 W HMI through it to create a large soft source, but perhaps for some bounce of these sources too. For starters I'd like to fly the 12X outside in bright sun to both diffuse and cut the light intensity but only enough to soften shadows and get rid of squinting. I don't want to cut so much light that actors look like they're standing in open shade instead of sunshine nor do I want a disagreeable difference between the exposure for the talent and the sunlit scene beyond the overhead. If the rag can also bounce sunlight decently, that is a plus. I can buy grid cloth in 3 weights and silent or with a U.V. stabilizer that causes the fabric to make noise in the wind, and I can get artificial silk since I think China silk is too delicate. At this time I don't think I want muslin for a first go around because it cuts too much transmitted light. Later, I'll get some for bounce. I'm looking at Advantage Gripware overheads because they're aggressively priced but I'll get what works best. Advice on what to start with and maybe an order for future purchases based on usefulness for nets and muslin, etc. would be very much appreciated.

I don't know. I love these guys at $24.50 http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/3581...Grip_Head_.html

I work as gaffer (and often grip) on lots of freebie shorts for the local indie filmmaking community but some paying gigs as well -- commercials and small-budget features. I supply the grip and electric on the freebies so I'm always acquiring stuff at the best price I can and right now I'd like to have frames for 6X6 and 12X12 overheads. I DO NOT want to go all DIY cobbled together in the garage from the hardware store, both for reasons of time, true cost, functionality and professionalism. I'm thinking that it would be best to get corners from Matthews, Avenger or American Grip and buy the tube locally. But there are lots of choices. Should I get 1" square hardware or 1 1/4" square, or 1 1/4" round tube hardware that can be used with aluminum tubing or Speed-Rail? Does anyone know the correct alloy and gauge, especially for the square tubing? I plan to use 6' lengths with a coupler that clamps on over the outside of the tube at the joint for the 12X12, that sound okay? For now, I don't have high-rollers or combos or mombo-combos so will make do with some baby stands or possibly C-stands for some situations. Flown flat, how high does a silk typically need to be with standing talent to diffuse the sun? Nor do I have 4 1/2" grip heads. I'll get whatever I need but if I can nicely use 2 1/2" heads on the stands, that would be good. Furthermore, I have more Mafers than I know what to do with so if I can clamp them on the frame instead of expensive ears that would be good. I'd use a 5/8" stud, of course, between the Mafers and the grip heads. Anyone try this and will it work? All advice and suggestions are much appreciated.

Here is a manufacturer: http://www.warpbros.com/detail.asp?section...&product=24

What kind of screws, size and length, come on the truck or do you prefer to use for anchoring baby plates to pancakes, walls, ceilings, flats, etc? I'm usually stuck with something, (1 1/2" long grabbers) that goes right through the wood and out the other side. Any better suggestions?

Gentlemen, I'm all for saving money and buying at the hardware store but I'm not looking for wire screen that lets air through, I'm looking for cello, the same stuff cello cookies are made of. It's screen that is embedded in a sheet of flexible plastic. It's waterproof and I want to use it for rain hats. Harry Box mentions it and lots of grip packages have it on the truck. with help I've learned it's often called celoflex or celoscreen but you find all the variants: two words and cello not celo, etc.

Thank you. I found it here: http://www.filmtools.com/celoflex48x50.html

I've seen a translucent plastic coated wire mesh or screen used to make a rain tent to protect a light. You can just bend it into an inverted V shape and perch it over the lamp. It's like the cello that some cukes are made of and as a kid I saw it used to make pens for small animals. What is that stuff and where do you get it? TNX

The Honda EU series. They run from 1000 to 6500 Watts use inverters so produce clean sine wave AC for electronics and are quiet - 49 -58 db(A) But putting one a little distance from the set, around the corner of a building and tenting with some furnies and you can do pretty well on noise with any putt putt.

What fun to read David's suggestions. I especially like the last one as I think the space will look lots more interesting than as is, which is terribly bland and a light on the table should do something nice for illuminating the chess game. Remember, you light differently for the master shot than the close ups, where you can move in a light or two for more control over key and fill. And yes, I like backlights on the talent too. David, if he can't ND gel the window, what if he uses Reveal or dimmed blue photofloods to move his practicals toward daylight while still preserving some warmth? I'm guessing he's shooting on video and has control of the camera's white balance.

Illuminating responses, gentlemen, thank you. Mr. Smith's got me remembering some optical (visual, if you prefer,) illusions that I had seen that used shadows and proximity to other colors to fool the eye/brain about whether two non-adjacent colored squares were the same. So far I can't find them back, but look at this fascinating effect. The marked squares are the same shade of gray! http://web.mit.edu/persci/people/adelson/c...w_illusion.html

So if my eye and brain can immediately adjust to different lighting enough that white looks pretty white and skin tones look right under 3200K or 5600K illumination when I'm there in person viewing the scene, why don't I do this same trick when viewing a photograph or electronic image of it? If I stare for a while at a photograph taken with daylight balance but tungsten illumination, will it eventually stop looking so orange and I'll perceive fairly correct colors? If so why, and why isn't it immediate? (I should do the experiment, I suppose.) You get the idea, and thanks for detailed explanations about this psychobiological phenom.

Check out n:vision

Thank you for all this solid and helpful information. I am very grateful for your knowledge and time.

I use tungsten lights constantly but don't get a chance to use HMI lights enough to be sure how to operate them properly in every respect. I know there are people here who use them daily so a little help please. With these questions I have in mind an LTM Cinepar 1200W, the most common HMI fixture I encounter. Some of my questions are probably generic and not specific to the Cinepar. 1. The system draws 12.5 Amps in operation but I have been told it momentarily pulls twice that when first started. True? Does it make a difference whether the magnetic or electronic ballast is used? 2. Does it matter if the start button (on head or ballast) is held down for a few seconds as opposed to being momentarily pressed? 3. Is the light ever used with the safety glass in place but no additional beam control lens, as a very narrow spot? 4. Is there an easy way to distinguish the medium, large and extra large lenses from one another? What is the typical terminology for these lenses? I hear the extra large beam lens referred to as stippled, for example. 5. On the fixture's ears are several slots. The barndoors go in front, of course, but does the lens go next to the safety glass or next to the barndoors, and why? 6. Is heat absorbing gel ever used to prevent burning a color correction or diffusion gel clipped to the barndoors or on a separate frame close to the light? How close can a gel be? 7. Is there any problem moving a burning light if it is done carefully? 8. Does the beam control lens always have to be removed from the fixture if the fixture is going to be removed from the light stand and moved to a new light stand on the set? 9. Are the lenses always removed using leather gloves and pliers such as a Leatherman? 10. Is the light packed on the lighting cart with or without the barndoors on and vertically or horizontally? I usually place the fixture vertically with the barndoors on and hold it in place with a 15 or 35 lb sand bag leaning against it. 11. How long after being struck before the light is at full brightness and a stable color temperature? 12. How long before the lamp is typically replaced even though still burning? 13. How much does the color temperature shift with lamp life? 14. Why are PAR HMIs more popular than Fresnels? 15. What have I not asked that is important to know? Thanks a million. I'll put your responses to work.

I got As in more than a year of Calculus and you took the words right out of my mouth. :lol: Trivial. I'm a little busy though, so I'll let you post the equations and get the credit. (Hope the humor is obvious, John.)

Besides large sources the inverse square law doesn't apply to collimated sources either, where a reflector and perhaps lenses direct light (more or less) in one direction. So, while our movie lights rarley rigorously obey the law it's a useful first approximation in practical circumstances, though.

I love the look of tungsten lightning and because it's so much less costly than fluorescent softbanks and HMIs I can afford to buy and use great lights for the micro budget indie projects I'm usually involved with. I use four 100W+ tungsten equivalent daylight balanced high CRI CFLs in my China balls by using three regular Y socket adapters. They run cool and don't draw too much current for the supplied power cord and socket. As for the physics, replacing the lost heat is hardly the whole story. For starters, what about all those months where I live when the air conditionijng is trying to deal with all the heat from the incandescents let alone all the other energy costs for bulbs that last a tenth as long and are so comparatively inefficient?" Here is a useful link: http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/energystar/english/...s.cfm#phase-out A quote:

I got mine nearly chewed off on my first day under a pro gaffer when I twisted a light without loosening the tie-down screw first, thus grinding the stud. Haven't done that again and now I tell noobs before they do it to my kit. I make it a policy to try to make only new mistakes. :) Also, because I have many lightweight light stands I hate it when someone just drops a bag on a leg from two feet up instead of placing it on carefully.

It might have been 1/2 CTB. Our shot had the camera on the interior. The room was dimly lit with a bedside practical as the motivation. The talent got out of bed and went to the window and looked out. The lightning flashes looked good. The little Pro light was probably five feet from the window.

Yes, on all the facts and advice regarding household current, thanks David. Advice on lightning effects on the cheap is all over. Photographic strobes are often suggested but those who have tried them point out their extremely short duration is a problem plus it isn't easy to get a bunch of them and to to go off at once for cheap. Haven't tried it but somebody with an electric arc welder is supposed to be able to produce a great effect. I got a satisfactory result in a single window using a small but surprisingly bright 250W Lowel Pro light gelled full CTB. The filament has low enough mass that its rise and decay times looked good on video. To get the stuttering flash effect that looks right you won't be able to use a plug strip and rocker switch. They're too slow and regular. We found that if you just partly plug the light cable into the stinger so that the circuit is not quite completed, you can quickly and irregularly rock the plug in the receptacle and get good looking flashes. Don't try this with heavier lights or several lights because the higher current flow can draw a serious arc between the brass plug spades and receptacle contacts and besides being way too exciting for the crew doing the gag, it can burn and damage them. (I learned the hard way.) As with anything like this, run some tests before the shoot. Tell us how it works out.

One single light? Seriously? Okay, don't laugh. A Lowel Omni with doors on the fill side of the subject aimed across at a white flexfill on the opposite side as a beautiful soft key. Use a bit of difussion across a tiny bit of the beam and steal some spill for fill. Adjust door and diff for right amount. Practicals for background, no backlight. Supremely small, light, only two light stands required and results look amazingly good. Try it. Different bulbs (easy to find) for the voltages, and all indoors, of course.