Joseph Tese

Thanks, Stuart for clarifying. Seems like balloons could work but don’t know if I can swing the fast turnaround and expense. I should mention that for this particular shoot it’s a stripped down bus chassis, so the light should hit the frame fine.. but maybe 12’ would be a better fit to your point.

Just thought of this... how do helium balloons work? Do the lights still need hard rigging? Or can lightweight LEDs actually be lifted inside? perhaps a helium balloon would work, but don’t know much about them or where I could attain one in NC.

360s were original thought for rgb control. We have a ladder light of colt LEDs we could string, which I think would work well too if we bypassed rgb effects. But still need a solid truss style rectangle as there needs to be connection points every few feet. Stringing it on the ends will make it dip in the middle. Putting it on the ceiling would be too high, I believe it is atleast 30’. Id like to increase fall off and less of a general warehouse factory light. In my opinion, lower the better to take advantage of output and make it stylized. still confirming boom flexibility, but I think one is only 10’.

We are lighting a schoolbus in a warehouse. The ceilings are high with standard I-Beams..the I-Beams look standard but they are definitely not ultra beefy. We have a single lift to access the ceiling. We also have two condor/cranes provided by the production facility. We have two s360s and a few other lights. Ideally I would like to create a rectangular softbox (matching more or less the dimensions of the schoolbus) and suspend the 360s up top. My first thought was to make a truss, about 8’x24’, and rest pipe across it to hold the 360s. Then, drop down with aluminum tubing to hold where we would tie diffusion to it (three 8x8 diff). I was thinking 1/2. Then, we would skirt all the sides from the truss down and even past the diff to make sure the light will mostly only hit the bus. Then, suspend the truss with four chain hoists. Concerns: -Weight on the I-Beams. -Height of the I-Beams -The amount of rigging involved vs time The other solution I thought was to use the cranes to boom the 360s.. but then I have nothing to skirt the sides on. Thoughts?

What’s the fixture and how long is the rail?

Additionally, for what it’s worth, don’t forget the subtle art of product demonstration and styling. Granted, there’s not much to do with a plastic bottle other than making sure it’s free from dust, streaks, positioned correctly, etc. But in your shot my eye went straight towards the dark wrinkly baby wipes plastic bag on the left. On a higher level, there’s product stylists who pay attention to these details and smooth out all the wrinkles. An appropriate background is important, too. Johnson’s background color pallet matches the product. Yours is a little less homey and cold. I feel like I’m in an single person’s ambiguous section of their modern apartment rather than stereotypical family suburbia. Not trying to read too deep into your audience though-just 2cents.

Thought I'd share converted Wall-O-Lite (traditional 10Bank Kino Fixture) upgraded with 13 - 50watt Quasar T12 crossfades using their QBlocks Because of the tight concentration of tubes, I'm going to make sure there's airflow in the back of the kino housing, I suppose by drilling multiple holes. I don't think a fan is necessary, but I will monitor on longer shoots. I haven't measured output yet, but seems like it matches or exceeds a 1200W HMI softened through a decent bit of diff. It wasn't that difficult to DIY - But one note on the QBlocks, is that after about the 6th row or so, they don't want to accept anymore tubes (The side pressure from opening up). To work around this, I moved a couple pairs towards the center of the housing, essentially "resetting" the stiffness. When using the Kino honeycomb grid, it knocks down the output considerably. Maybe if I find a fabric grid that fits and also maximizes output. I know it's nothing new under the sun, but we got the wall-o-lite for 50 bucks and I think it's a total cost savings if you can't get a framed array, and have that many tubes to invest in it. Image not attaching? See links below: https://ibb.co/LCBDZrb https://ibb.co/QMtxJfF

After a little bit of research, concerning software, I'm really liking Blackout. It's still fairly new, and only in its App stage. Might only apply to simpler - medium set-ups, though. Concerning what transmitter/receiver system to use, it seems LumenRadio devices are the Go-To. I've only heard great things about the RatPak AKS and Cintennas. The advantage of using LumenRadio is that they are all cross-compatible with no issue, because they all bought into the LumenRadio chip. So far it seems to be the leading standard for WirelessDMX compatibility, unless someone else would correct me. Still wrapping my head around all the different products and routes, and can report back if I have a personal revelation. For what's it's worth, here's sort of a high-level discussion on some of the popular

Kind of like WWII Carbon Arc Search Lights 🤣

Silver cards rigged on window side just outside of frame, with joleko or similar cut into them from across the room can help edge the subjects.

Very cool - will check it out..The WIFI dongle might not be available in the US. The cintennas from ratpak are expensive. is it safe to say that all CRMX components (Transmitters and receivers) are cross-compatible? In other words, If I invest in the AKS transmitter, is CRMX set up so the AKS knows to automatically connect to other CRMX receivers?

I'd like to invest in some Wireless DMX. For a quick and easy set-up, I see a lot of people get a RatPack AKSPlus and its receivers. To my understanding, this allows you to bypass a physical console, and go directly to the software within an APP or Macbook, via WiFi? This seems like a quick and decent solution for quick setups with a few lights. Can anyone confirm its compatibility with a console and other software? Apart from the AKSPlus, what are your go-tos? Looking into RC4 Wireless and CityTheatrical boxes, but I feel like the RatPac designs have a leg up if they are battery powered. Console wise, I'm looking at the ChamSys QuickQ10.. But might invest in this or similar later. The reason for thinking about it now, is I just want to make sure that introducing a console later on won't affect any of the Wireless DMX systems I choose now. I don't see why it would, but want to make sure.

Nevermind - My brain approached it from the wrong angle. 🙂 Anyway, appreciate all the good thoughts here. -Joe

Guy, Appreciate the write up. But as you probably know, the connection pictured is a CS6364, and is indeed a 4-wire setup, so the neutral is there to carry the unbalanced load, which is what most of your write up is about. If I may sum up your post..I gathered the following: 1) Don't split 3-wire 240v receptacles 2) an inspector might not like that style lunchbox, but I don't know why. 3) A transformer provides double the amperage while maintaining 120v. It also helps with long runs and compensates for voltage drop Entertain my considerations.. If I wanted to utilize higher-wattage lights, I can just run straight 240? I suppose an adapter from the 30amp twistlock or the 50amp plug, to a 60AMP or 100AMP bates respectively will work..If utilizing a 4-wire receptacle, the neutral would tie into the ground in the bates plug in this case (Or left capped off?) - but not a problem because everything is staying 240, and the phases are not being split. The only disadvantage would be..well, not having 120v!? Don't know too well how transformers work, but trying to understand how we're able to keep the amp rating you'd expect from 240 after it's stepped-down to 120v..

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