Guy Staley

FYI, I'm the OP, and I actually ended up going with a 24x36 set of flags, nets and silks from these guys: http://www.canvasgrip.com/ Extremely high quality, on par with Matthews or American, at a considerably lower price point. Everything is hand made in the USA, and they are really great people! I couldn't be happier, and I highly recommend them. And NO, I don't work for them! :)

As for the 4x4s: I generally use 4x frames for diffusion, but do you find that to be a useful size for flagging and/or scrimming? I want to build some collapsable 4x frames (ala "scrim jim") to keep in my rig. It should be pretty easy to design; I just need to come up with a solution for mounting the assembled frame to a grip head.

Ooo. Those look uber useful. Great tip. Sort of replaces a whole host of other clamp types. I kinda thought maybe thats what you were talking about. I actually asked about the Westcott "Fast Flags" in another post, but didn't get any real info. I just bought a set of traditional flags, but I'll keep those in mind for my next purchase. Okay, those are damn clever! I'll be getting a few of those asap! So, do you generally just use c-Stands to mount lights, or do you carry C-Stands and light stands? I normally rent Mattews double and triple riser light stands 'cause they're so damn burly, and the triples go really high. And they are so stable I'm never concerned about lights toppling over once I get a sandbag on there. I usually just use C-Stands for grip tasks (generally holding frames and flags), but seems like some gaffers use 'em for lights as well? LOL! I come from an audio background, and I used to have this mic cable bag that I took with me to every gig. And that bag just kept getting heavier and heavier every time I did a show. I have no idea where the extra cables would come from, but I think it was just people trying to be helpful. They would see a big bag full of mic cables and just assume that's where they all must belong. The heavier the bag got, the heavier the bag would get - if you get my meaning. Thanks again for all the useful information. I'm gaffing/DOPing three short films between now and the end of August, so I'm trying to take the opportunity to gear up to minimize future rentals. In most cases, things will pay for themselves pretty quickly. I mean, $4.25 per day for sandbags at the local rental house. I can buy them for not much more. Same with flags, frames, overheads, etc. Even smaller, tungsten lights will pay for themselves pretty quickly. Cheers! -Guy

Awesome, awesome info. Right now, my fixtures consist of: • Four Baby (1k) fresnels (with an additional couple of 500w globes to swap out when power restraints or proximity are an issue) • Two 1k Redheads • Two Mini-Mole (lamped with 250w globes) fresnels. • Basic gels: check! (but need more) • 25' and 50' 12/3 stingers: check! • Cube taps and ground lifts: check! • 20lbs Sand bags: check! • Furniture pads: check! • Clothes pins: check! • 18"x24" nets and flags and a couple 24"x36" silks: One full, and one half. I realize this is more grip gear, but I'm pretty much a one-man band right now! C-Stands and light stands will remain rental items for the time being, as good ones are bloody expensive, and they cost like $5 to rent. I do intend to purchase a few down the road. Can anyone recommend some good but less expensive light stands? Once again, these are for Baby's, Mini's, and Redheads. There are a few things on this list I'm not familiar with: Cartillini clamps, lantern locks, road-rags kits? And I can see a few obvious items I've overlooked and will get right on that! Thanks again for the input!

Hey, thanks for that link Robert. I knew there had to be a less expensive alternative. I need several of these, and I was having a hard time biting the bullet for the Arri switches at $35 per plus shipping. Those switches you linked to are actually rated at 20A@120V (I'm in the states). I'm also curious about the Coollite tungsten and HMI fixtures. Are they good quality units? Anybody know??? Thanks again to everyone for their input.

I'm getting ready to purchase a flag kit, and I came acroos these: http://fjwestcott.com/product-category/westcott/reflectors-and-scrims/fast-flags/ and I'm wondering if anybody has experience with these and their general opinins on them? TIA for any input!

BTW, this is for small, narrative, location shoots.

I am a gaffer/cinematographer starting to build a basic lighting/electrical kit for personal use. What would you consider essential equipment for small, narrative, location shoots if starting from scratch? TIA for any input!

If you could have only one size flag/net set for small location narrative film shoots, what would it be, and how many of each (solid, single, double, etc.) would you have in said kit? TIA for any input!

I am a gaffer/cinematographer starting to build a basic electrical and grip kit for personal use (not a rental kit). What would you consider "essential" equipment if starting from scratch? TIA for any input!

Yes, power cable wasn't the issue. BTW: 25'@#14 AWG=1.1v drop, or a ~1%, so perfectly acceptable for a 1k fixture. In fact, 10'@16 AWG=0.7v drop which is also perfectly acceptable :) Thank you for the link to the switch; spendy little buggers! I actually looked on the Filmtools site but couldn't find anything.

Hi all, First post on this wonderful forum. I am in the process of converting some Strand Fresnelite fixtures for film set use. I got a really great deal on several of these fixtures and they're really, really clean. I almost feel like I took advantage of the seller. At any rate, they came set up for theater grid applications with a short cable, a Bates plug, and no power switch. I want to replace the short Bates terminated cable with a long edison cable with an "inline" power switch like you find on regular Arri and MR fixtures. But I'm having trouble locating feed thru switches rated any higher than 3A. These are 1K fixtures, so I really need something rated at 10A (at least 8.4A). Does anybody know of a source for such a beast? Also, these fixtures come with a prefocus type base (BTR globes) as opposed to a bi-post type base. I'm really not clear on the difference as far as the quality/output of the light (I realize there is a physical difference in base itself). Can anyone elucidate the differences between these two types of bases/globes? Thanks so much for any input. -Guy