JB Earl

Sekonic 398a would be perfect for that camera. Use 1/50th- not a big difference unless you want to keep shadow detail or clouds....(it'll be marked on the meter) and no batteries!

IMHO the best way to lower the output of a fixture is to relamp it. For example a Lowel DP will take a 1k, a 750w or a 500w lamp. Otherwise, scrims are very useful and will allow you to vary the illumination across the field, as well as just reducing overall. I wouldn't bother with the dimmers right now. you'll need spare lamps anyway.

that will certainly solve my problem. I'm rough storyboarding something at a drive in. thanks much Info from Tim also put in my mind some ideas with scenes with a small projector outside, like they used to do at summer camps

I hope this is a good place to post this, We're moving into a new studio space, with a shooting area about 28x50. The floors are concrete that have had various treatments in the past so there is a mess of leftover adhesive, spalling, mortar, etc. We've discussed floor tile (like in grocery stores), painting, and bare concrete with some kind of sealer. Does anyone have suggestions on what we should think about? Also anything else we should consider doing while the space is being finished? thanks much

Very true

If you're on a really tight budget you can hang some shower curtains from a background stand- (12' across) and shoot through. This will save you foot-candles over the muslin too.

I never really thought about this in detail, but if you we're shooting an outdoor scene at dusk (after sunset) involving a projected movie in the background, what would you balance for? Small projectors of course are tungsten, but what about big screen? How would you choose to balance between the very cold ambient light and the tungsten projected image (unless big projectors are daylight balanced?) My feeling is to let the ambient be mostly proper, but I'd hate to have a really yellow glowing image in the background.

we use fomecore as gobos a lot, just clamp to a stand. (most still photogs i know call them flags) We have a bunch of paint cans filled with concrete and a pole stuck in them to clamp fomecore and such to. Very small footprint makes it easy to work around the set. The scrims and silks must be rigged properly though.

are you talking flags specifically? or scrims too? Depends on your lighting style. We use 24x36 in front of softboxes, but the 18x24 works fine most of the time with fresnels and open face lights.

picked up a Calumet (made by bowers) light on an open box deal. 8-55w Dulux lamps are putting out over 160 FC at 10'! That's double what my other 6 lamp fixtures are. It looks like the angled reflectors behind the lamps are making the difference.

I did some poking around. Turns out the connectors ARE plastic. I can't imagine them being safe anywhere near 100 lbs. If it sounds too good to be true.....

thanks Phil, I do remember some miniature stands like that from my photoflood days. FWIW they rate these for 100lbs so it sounds good, so I don't imagine the connectors are plastic. That would not be good. I remember when USS was trying to sell speaker stands at VISCOMM years ago. They were big but had plastic hardware.

Anyone see one of these up close? http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...uty_Light.html looks an awful lot like my manfrotto combo stands.( a little shorter) but can't be sure from the photos they're made to hold up small lighting trusses. Any thoughts?

thanks for the info. Guess that explains why you can't buy just the full. I found a detailed plan for building your own nesting set so I'll check those.

Does anyone know if I can buy just a full nesting box (to fit my current boxes inside)? I've only seen complete sets for sale.

I have a bunch of scrims and flags that need repair/recovering. Is it cost effective and if so what's the best place to send them in the east? thanks

thanks for the reply We just need something for when we hit the recording time limit on the 5Ds. We bid on a job requiring taping business speakers at a podium, like 45 min to an hour straight, so things like that. Hoping the camera would be more useful anyway. I hate that the zoom isn't constant aperture.

I have an opportunity to buy a lightly used sony Z7U. Any thoughts on this camera? It's a current model, but been around a long time. Any thoughts what it would be worth? Currently using 5Ds. So this would mainly be for long podium clips or documenting events etc. thanks

Has anyone seen or used the Mole Richardson led BabyLED / TweenieLED etc or anything similar like the Fotodiox DY200? They're very enticing for the obvious reasons (output and light quality) .

Hello, I'm a commercial still photog (27 years) and my studio is moving into commercial video work. We are in a very small market in NE PA. I'm hoping to get some guidance on the business end of things. We have opportunities to produce TV and web commercials for existing clients. I know video is handled very differently in terms of pricing from still. I've been in business long enough to know that I do not wan to undercut anyones pricing. I know (but don't understand why) this is a touchy area. How can I find detailed guidance on this subject? thanks much.