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Stuart Allman

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Everything posted by Stuart Allman

  1. Unfortunately I didn't test for flicker when the fixture is tilted up or down. I've faced that issue too with the 250W fixture, but I haven't had that issue in the latest incarnation of their products. I now use the Bee bounced up into poly quite often as a soft key light and haven't had flicker issues over hours of use. The 1k doesn't have a color temperature knob. I use it all the time on the smaller lights to match fluorescents or cool daylight, so that feature will be missed. We didn't test for color temperature shift when dimming. In the past Hive said that their light goes very blue when dimmed, just due to the plasma technology, and that's why they had to use scrims. This is just speculation on my part, but maybe they combined the color temperature control with dimming and compensated for color shift while dimming(?) The light didn't immediately appear to go very blue while dimming, but I don't have any hard data to back that up. The 1k is *way* beyond my budgets and I'm pretty happy with the smaller fixtures, so I'll probably stick to those. However, I worked on a film earlier this year as a gaffer and I really wish we could have had a couple of 1k's. Stuart Allman -------------------------- illuma.blogspot.com
  2. Well...the C-700 said 5500K. I was taken back for a second too, but I measured it three more times to make sure we were getting correlated results. The FilmGear HMI we have in the shop measures 6000-6300K, depending on settings. That's what I initially expected for the Arri as well. Arri must use better bulbs. It's CRI was much, much higher than the FilmGear fixture. I wish the shop had a full time C-700. It's a great marketing BS meter. We had to borrow one for the day to do the video. Stuart Allman --------------------------- illuma.blogspot.com
  3. It appears that Hive offset the mounts for the plastic lenses further from the front lens on this unit, so it might not have the yellowing issue. Melting was mainly a problem if you used a scrim and lens on the 250W units. I imagine if you set a scrim right next to the lens on this 1k unit the lens will melt in the same manner. We didn't do a full day burn in on the light with a lens, so I don't know what to expect long term. The spectrums of the 250W unit and 1k unit are different and I don't have any data about the IR part of the spectrum We had an Arrisun 1200W unit in the shop at the same time. You can see it in the background of the video. The Arri unit put out about 1/2 to 3/4 stop more light. The extended CRI had about the same average on both units with R9 being severely low. Speaking of that, Dom really liked that the unit doesn't melt your face. The Arri felt light a hotter light to stand under. No issue with the Hive. Dom's skin is a pretty good green detector. What I noticed by eye is that his skin went a bit green under the Arri unit, whereas I didn't notice it as much with the Hive light. Seems weird give the large yellow spike in the Hive spectrum, but this was just my non-scientific judgement and I don't have any data to back it up. Of course, the two lights are different color temperatures with Arri being spot on at 5500K (measured) and the Hive at 6000K. That difference was noticeable by eye. We didn't want to highlight the fan noise in the video, but the ballast and fixture were very noisy. Hive is going through a production change to change out the fans to quieter ones so by the time you see a unit that may not be something to be concerned about. the fixture is brand new, so you have to expect a few things to get fixed in the first few months of production. I really love the 250W units, especially now that they're color tunable. I use them all the time, but it took two years for Hive to figure out how to make them reliable in terms of the ballast and bulb flicker. I've pretty much given up on their lenses and bounce or diffuse the light. Sometimes I'll use it as a hard light through a window. I also like that they produce nice, healthy looking skin tones, unlike a lot of LED and HMI units. Stuart Allman -------------------------- illuma.blogspot.com
  4. When I spoke with the Sekonic manager he said that TLCI is still changing and being tweaked, so it didn't make sense to support it yet. TLCI isn't a "standard". It's still an attempt to provide better color rendering information, but the industry has prematurely jumped on the bandwagon. The UI does have a slight learning curve, but I found that there's only a few things I actually use. It's not very difficult to figure those out. Stuart Allman --------------------------- illuma.blogspot.com
  5. Kugan, If you search my blog you'll find a full review of the C-700. We just used it again on a review video for the Hive Wasp 1k light (see topics below for video link). It works great. They also have a C-7000 now if you want to go for the full blown uber-nerd model. Stuart --------------------------- illuma.blogspot.com
  6. Folks, We got our hands on a Wasp 1k and did a mainly technical review of it this last weekend. https://vimeo.com/182330613 Enjoy. Stuart Allman ---------------------------- illuma.BlogSpot.com
  7. Akpe, It looks like they used a balloon light up near the ceiling for ambient fill and lit via HMI's outside the windows (probably a series of 18k's). If you could stretch ultrabounce across the church ceiling you might be able to light that from the balcony via a series of 4k's and then put another series of 4k's outside the windows through diffusion to give you your window light. As long as you don't look at the side windows you should be OK. It's going to take a considerable amount of power and sizeable fixtures to fill that space, so you're going to need to bring in a large generator or a series of them. Sorry I don't know a cheap way to go about it. Stuart Allman --------------------------- illuma.blogspot.com
  8. Matthew, This is all fun theoretical stuff for uber-nerd discussions, but really all that matters is that you're familiar with which CCT is appropriate for which scene in your project. The ability of a light to have great color rendering is much more important than the underlying physics in my humble opinion. Stuart Allman --------------------------- illuma.blogspot.com
  9. Matthew, Video lights have what's called "Correlated Color Temperature" (i.e. CCT). This often gets abbreviated/simplified by equipment vendors to "Color Temperature." A black body radiator will have a specific spectrum and will appear a certain color to human vision. The idea behind CCT is that it's the closest *visual* match to a black body radiator at a specific color temperature. Even though the spectrum's don't match, the lights CCT and CT will *appear* pretty close when viewed side by side on a neutral surface. The video light has to have color output that visually approximates, to a reasonably close degree, a black body radiator, otherwise CCT doesn't make sense. For instance, trying to rate the CCT of a green LED doesn't make sense. This doesn't mean a video light and black body radiator share a similar spectrum or ability to render colors similarly. It just means that when you shine the light on a neutral surface, like a white piece of paper, they'll appear similar. This is really evident when you look at a cheap LED light. Even though the light has a rated CCT, it might turn a person's skin green, whereas a higher quality LED light with the same CCT won't. Hope that helps, Stuart Allman --------------------------- illuma.blogspot.com
  10. I wonder if it fits on other fixtures with a Chimera speed ring? I'll have to check it out. Thanks for pointing out that product. I thought about it a little more and the characteristics of the light are a beam with a large square area, but focused in direction. I'm curious if a large parabolic softbox, like the ones offered from Chimera, and a reasonably selected grid over the front would give a similar look (80-90%)? It certainly would have square area and the grid would add directionality/fall off. I haven't found a photo yet of just the Breise against a wall to know how the edge falls off. The only characteristic I see missing is the bulb in the center, which *might* create a slight hard shadow. Silver mirror backing can only reflect about 80% of the light hitting it, from what I know. So it's not like the interior of the parabola will ever be as bright as the bulb itself. I just don't know if it's noticeable. Thoughts? Stuart --------------------------- illuma.blogspot.com
  11. I was watching Matt Workman's discussion about a Pantene commercial and saw the use of a Breise forcus 140 as a key light. Is there a poor shooter's semi-version of a Breise that gives a similar look? I work in a market where there aren't many large budget commercials, so a Breise basically doesn't exist here and no one is going to pay to truck one down from L.A. I did like the silver stipple on hair look, so I might try that on a web series sometime soon. Thanks for that Matt. Stuart --------------------------- illuma.blogspot.com
  12. Bledi, My guess is that this is some type of internal reflection. Try moving the matte box such that the ND filter is right up next to your lens, without them touching of course. My first inclination is that you have an internal reflection going on and moving the filter close to the lens should at least change the characteristic, if that's the root cause. I know I have to watch out for things like this on my matte box. As a second suggestion, try a different lens if you have one available and see if there is some type of reflection going on because of the lens geometry and your matte box. Stuart Allman ------------------------------- illuma.BlogSpot.com
  13. Andrew, I think you're referring to the well known LED array problem where you get banding because of the lines of point sources on the bulb. With remote phosphor fixtures, like the Arri Skypanel, Cineo, and BBS fixtures you won't have that issue. The remote phosphor panel forms a continuous light source. The bare Astra will have the banding issue, but you'll probably be diffusing it for an interview and so it won't be a problem. I also use Fiilex without noticeable color issues. Stuart Allman --------------------------- illuma.blogspot.com
  14. Rob, I'd be very wary of any LED light that cheap. Companies that make products that cheap tend to use whatever's the cheapest LED that week. They know that people shopping by price alone don't understand the pitfalls of a poorly designed light. When I first started out I borrowed lights like these and they always caused color issues. If the company doesn't publish their extended CRI (and TLCI) measurements, that should be sign enough. I have a Cineo Matchbox and it's probably similar in size and output, but has decent color rendering because of the design of the remote phosphor panels. It's definitely more expensive, but you still might want to check it out. Maybe you can find one used on EBay. Stuart Allman --------------------------- illuma.blogspot.com
  15. It has such nice light already. The only issue you may have is the daylight changing and not giving you enough shoot time. If you can constrain your shoot day to mid-day then you might be in luck as-is. Just bring in black fabric or a black solid for negative fill and Bob's you uncle. If you're willing to shoot at night, then you might be able to re-light the space with just tungstens. All I can suggest is my initial approach, which likely would need some tweaking...I would first consider a series of 3 x 2k PARs on one side of the room with an optional small amount of diffusion (Opal or Half Soft Frost - i.e translucent shower curtain). Then maybe a series of 3 x 1 PAR's bounced off poly or Ultrabounce for the other three windows (and *maybe* with a bit of blue to represent sky fill). Then it would be a matter of how close to the windows to place the light to get the depth you need. This assumes you have an hour or two to light and tweak to your liking. The nice thing about the architecture is that you have high angled ceilings that you can bounce off. This should make it easy to shape the light on your subjects with a 1k or 2k. Bring scrims, poly board, and black solids for extra shaping of your talent. I think this might get you pretty close, but the trick is that you need to be able to power all those lights. In an old church power circuits can come at a premium. So make sure your gaffer does a good tech scout and your power cords can handle the load and distance. Stuart Allman --------------------------- illuma.blogspot.com
  16. As I wrote, I had a much, much smaller "warehouse" space (maybe 15'x30'). So I think we used a 2k and something else bounced off the wall. Since it was fully enclosed we could be at ISO 850 on a Canon C100 and it worked fine. The final look was achieved in the color grade by adjusting contrast - that's what really sold it as a hard window light. Without this adjustment it just looked light a light bounced off a wall. What you'll need to use will really depend on the size of your space. To do this same setup with a large cafeteria sized space probably wouldn't be a good idea. It would just be too inefficient and would require some very large lights. At that point you'd be better off just doing it the conventional way with large lights outside and diffusion. I think Roger Deakins did a nice write up of the setup he used for the "hearing" scene in Skyfall. I think he said he had a series of 12k's double diffused into the upper windows for that scene. It had the same look, but higher key. Stuart Allman --------------------------- illume.blogspot.com
  17. I don't have any photos of the setup. I don't think the director has even made the video public yet. Why would it have spill issues? There's no haze in the room. The light is flagged off with bar doors so it only hits the bounce directly. You control the "depth" of the light in the room by how much of the bounce you hit. I didn't have to deal with low ceilings, but that may or may not be a factor for you to deal with. Stuart Allman -------------------------- illuma.blogspot.com
  18. Robbie, I know this doesn't allow for "small" fixtures, but one thing I did on a recent production is put the lights on what would be camera right of your first photo and bounce off the high wall at camera left (maybe using Ultrabounce stuck to the wall); where we assume the high windows are. It gave me a similar look, albeit in a much smaller space. Since the camera is pretty much always opposite the key, I didn't have to worry about light stands being in the shot. As far as how to do it in a larger room, such as the one you show...I don't have that level of experience. Stuart Allman ------------------------- illuma.blogspot.com
  19. Joao, I use the FS-7 quite a bit and sometimes have to go handheld. If I'm using it shoulder mount I often use it with a Zeiss still prime or the kit zoom. What I've found is that because the body is so light I often have trouble balancing that camera on my shoulder, even with an Element Technica shoulder mount. It gets to be too difficult to hold steady after 10 minutes. In contrast, the Amira body is very heavy and balances better, even with a larger lens. The Amira shoulder plate also slides pretty far forward. I might recommend that you stick with the Sony kit lens, just for weight purposes. If you add a large battery on the back of the camera that should help balance things out. You'll need a third party shoulder rest to move the shoulder rest much further forward than the one built into the camera body. The other problem you'll have is that the EVF cable may not be long enough given the very long optical "tube" that's required to use the LCD as an EVF. The only solution here is to move to a third party, such as the aforementioned Zacuto product. I don't know anyone making a Sony specific extension cable. For the E-mount to PL conversion, MTF services makes a good product, however you'll need LW 15mm rods to support the adapter since the PL lens is too heavy for the E-mount to handle. Again, you may be better off using the Sony kit lens, even though in my experience the Sony kit lens isn't "perfect" and it's a bit "slow". However the kit lens also has optical image stabilization which may help when you get tired. You'll need more than one day to kit up the camera properly, unless your rental house is very well stocked with the necessary accessories and you do it at their premises. The Amira is ready to operate out of the box, whereas the FS-7 really isn't. Stuart Allman ---------------------- illuma.blogspot.com
  20. Ed, Check out the Arri LC series. There are also smaller brands, like BriteShot. BriteShot is based in NY, so that may be a viable option for you. Both are RGB+W products. Stuart --------------------------- illuma.blogspot.com
  21. I'm not sure there is a non-industry name for Ultrabounce. I've never seen it outside film supply places. Just do a Google search for "Ultrabounce fabric" and you'll find it online. It should be $12-14/yard in 60" wide. The trick might be finding it in the U.K. It's easily obtainable from L.A. At some of the film supply places online you might be able to find grid cloth too. Stuart
  22. Jonathan, I just went to the local fabric store and bought bleached muslin. It's cheap and commonly available. You can buy Ultrabounce fabric and it's very inexpensive. When manufacturers sew and grommet the sheet it suddenly becomes expensive. Stuart --------------------------- illuma.blogspot.com
  23. Michael, They could just shoot it in 6k and crop to match head size in the edit. There's no reason it has to look exactly like the final product during the shoot. The trick was maintaining the push-in speed, which might have been a Technocrane or a really good dolly grip - or they just modified the speed in post to match between shots. Stuart
  24. Robin, I attended John's ASC coffee talk. He said they overexposed by 2 stops and the Alexa could handle it. I believe it was his DIT who did initial tests and developed a look in Lightroom before they recorded a frame. While it didn't look real, I figured it fit the artistic feeling of the film. The whole film was a brave experiment. S. -------------------------- illuma.blogspot.com
  25. The rep explained it to me that when you try to dim plasma lights they shift extremely blue - just like a tungsten light shifts extremely red/orange when you dim it. That's why they provide standard circular single/double wire scrims. I've never dimmed an HMI. I've always had to use them at full blast and just swap out the power of the fixture when I wanted less output. If you want a dimmable light, use LEDs. That's what I do. Although I've only found two brands so far that give me "sufficient" skin tone rendering. I haven't tried the BBS products yet. The reps were very open to demo-ing equipment, at least for us. As seen on this forum, they definitely have new technology trust issues to overcome and are actively trying. Maybe you can get a demo unit sent to you(?) Stuart Allman --------------------------- illuma.blogspot.com
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