Jump to content

Rupert MacCarthy-Morrogh

Basic Member
  • Posts

    28
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Profile Information

  • Occupation
    Camera Operator
  • Location
    Cork, Ireland
  • Specialties
    light...

Contact Methods

  • Website URL
    http://www.slr.ie

Recent Profile Visitors

1,910 profile views
  1. Hi JD, I was wondering if it was the same as the old Arri fixture, they both use the same crazy expensive Par64 HMI globe, and they are def aux lenses. I found a old brochure for it here and it says the lens set comes with the light (got mine second hand with no lens set) I contacted QuartzColor last month, but no reply ... My next plan is to give these guys a call. Regards Rupert Mac
  2. Hi All, I'm trying to track down a lens set for a Strand Quasar sealed beam Par64 1.2k HMI, any leads would be much appreciated. Cheers Rupert Mac
  3. Thanks JD. It was a fun shoot (Lots of big boys toys to play with )
  4. We did this last year for a commercial, we rigged large black drapes on two sides of the pool extending about 10' under water and about 16' above the water line. We used a strong backlight (4k HMI) and bounced a 2.5k HMI in from behind the camera for the key, and another to side light the rain. The pool is normally used for survival training so has a wave, wind and rain machine built in (nice...) Here is a behind the scenes photo I took of the the action and this is an example of the result. This is a the pool normally looks like. Regards Rupert Mac
  5. Is it just me? but unless that course is been taught by Roger Deakins and Gordon Willis it seams at little odd to basically take their work, add some titles and and use it to advertise a workshop. Just my 2 cents.
  6. Hi Marque What you have speced should work fine, one advantage of would actually be a level of redundancy in two separted rig. And just to echo what Patrick said about DMX cables, make sure they are the real thing not mic cable, people make that mistake all the time and then blame the system or what ever, because it works fine and then starts acting up. Regards Rupert Mac
  7. Hi Marque If your on a small budget, then I would go for stuff designed for small theater installations, Just don't let people drag it off on location. Maybe something like this dimmer and this desk. A 48ch A/B scene desk, is really a 24ch if your not doing much programming and the dimmer would eat up half the channels, leaving you some for kinos. The dimmer will handle all the lights you mentioned, just don't (obviously) hang anything bigger than a 1k off it! Also budget for a patch panel unless you are going to wire it straight to the grid or stage boxes (I'd go with a patch panel either way really, its neater, quicker when your rigging and safer) A 19" rack would also be a good plan on the neatness / safety front. Also make sure you have enough power to comfortably run the dimmer (120a single / 40a 3-phase) plus a nice healthy reserve. With a bit of googling the whole lot should cost you a little over $2k, you could get stuff that is even cheaper, but you know the story about the peanuts and the monkeys. This stuff is no substitute for the fully pro stuff from ETC or ARRI but its more than capable of controlling a small studio set-up Regards Rupert Mac
  8. Hi Marque, (I apologies in advance that the following might be a bit European but the basic are the same) 1st things first when it comes to DMX, you have 5 kinds of fixtures: 1) Dumb fixtures, eg normal tungsten film and theater lights, to control these over DMX you plug them into a DMX controlled dimmer pack 2) DMX aware film fixtures such as some Kino Flo ballasts, Lite panels and some electronic hmi ballasts 3) Intelligent DMX lights, The moving lights that are so beloved of concert goers and game show hosts 4) DMX controlled funky stuff such as smoke machines, colour changers, pan and tilt heads etc. 5) DMX unfriendly fixtures, such as standard fluorescent ballasts, put these on a circuit controlled by a dimmer and they will be very unhappy. That answer to this is to use DMX controlled switchers Starting with the dumb stuff, this one is probably the easiest to sort out: For this you need a desk (console) which can be as simple as this: Mini desk Or something computer controlled and dedicated to the film industry Light by Numbers or any where in-between. Medium desk But be aware that a good easy to use desk is much more useful that a fabulous one that you need a PhD to work, unless your going to have a dedicated operator for it. Next you need dimmers, normally in Europe these are 6x10a 19” rack mounting units (As in they have six circuits and control six lights to a max of 10amp per channel, 60 amp total) So you can hang 6x 2Ks or 12x 1Ks (2 per channel) etc. They run on either single or 3 phase power. 6Ch Dimmer You will also find bigger dimmers for 5k and 10k lights and little portable ones, I have mini 4x 5a units that are really handy for small location shoots. The dimmers will have some way so set the start address. This is the channel number of the 1st channel on the dimmers, eg If you set the start address to 1, then the dimmer will be controlled by desk channels 1,2,3,4,5,6 . If you set the start address to 192, then the dimmer will be controlled by desk channels 192,193,194,195,196,197 (Standard lights desks can address 512 channels, or one Universe, bigger systems can control multiple Universes, each of 512 channels; who says lighting guys don’t have a God complex… B) ) You connect the dimmers to the desk with XLR cables (either 5pin or 3pin, the 5 pins XLRs normally only have 3pin connected) Nearly all DMX controllable kit will have both a DMX IN to receive the signal and a DMX OUT so you can ‘daisy-chain’ (link) to the next unit. The last link in the chain should be terminated with a special terminator XLR . Also there are limits to how many units you can reliable daisy-chain, depending on the quality of the electronic, length of cable, phase of the moon, etc. I normally try to keep it under 10 on any one chain and use an active DMX splitter if I need more 10 units on one universe DMX Splitter / Distro Next the DMX aware fixtures such as those DMX controlled kino and HMI ballasts I mentioned earlier. Like the dimmers, these let you set their start address and hey presto, remote control of your kinos from any lighting desk. On bigger systems these will be run as one universe to make patching easier. Kino DMX Ballast Intelligent lighting fixtures, such as moving heads: These can be loads of fun and are been used more and more in the film industry in quite diverse movies like ‘The Wrestler’ and ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ Basically what happens here is that fixture will use a number of channels to offer control of their different functions such as, Pan, Tilt, Colour, Shutter, Gobo, etc On the simple little guys these can be 4 or 5 channels, while at the top end market it can be 16 – 24 channels. The exact order of what channel controls what function is important and can be stored as a personality for the fixture in more advanced desks. Mac 2000 DMX controlled ‘Funky’ stuff. Because DMX originally came from the theater world it can be used to fire off other stuff on ‘cue’ like smoke machines, strobe lights, colour scrollers, pan and tilt units for conventional fixtures etc. Just like the other kit, you just set the start address on the unit and off you go. Again like the intelligent fixtures, bigger desks will have personality files for what ever it is you want to control. DMX Pan & Tilt Last but by no means least, what I refer to as DMX unfriendly fixtures, I normally put all these together on a DMX controlled switch pack and control them from their own little universe. You can set most DMX controlled dimmers to work as switchers but believe me one day you’ll forget and it will bite you…. Obviously that only scratches the very surface of the subject but it should give you a start. Also check out Blue room a great place for DMX info. Regards Rupert Mac
  9. Hi, I used a butch of these: LED Par 64 To light up muslin 'sails' in a club recently and they worked a treat I controlled them with one of these: Little lighting desk and you'll also need XLR cables to run DMX to each light. Don't let the Par 64 bit fool you, they are nowhere near the output of 1k Par, I would say at a guess somewhere about a 500w Fresnel on flood, (generally I don't need my meter for deco lighting) but the colour of light is very pure & they only need 15w of power each (handy in a small studio) Hope that helps Regards Rupert Mac
  10. They look quite similar to these. I bought a couple on a whim last year and their actually not that bad after I put osram tubes in them. The build quality is fairly low but the light output is a little higher than my 4x4 kinos, but not as soft, or wrappy (is that a word?) Fine for sitting in a grid in a studio but not very road worthy. I mostly use em' for lighting green screens. The dayflos may be better built but I'd guess the quality of light would be pretty much the same. P.S. Calling them 1000w is a little bit of a dodgy, with 4x 55w biax tubes they are 220w, I know their theory is that they are equivalent to a 1k with a softbox but still... Regards Rupert Mac
  11. I got some last month from http://www.kennedywebster.com/ $299 each plus shipping
  12. Hi I bought two of their 150 Watt Tungsten Fresnels (http://www.filmgear.net/tungs150_spec.html) about 2 months ago and their are easily as well made as my Arri's (To the point of I'd be p*$£ed if I was Arri). I then bought one of their of their Flos (With Kino tubes) about two weeks ago (http://www.filmgear.net/fluorescent_box04048_spec.htm) and again I'm extremely happy with it. Over all I'd say amazing value for money Regards Rupert Mac
  13. Hi I bought two of their 150 Watt Tungsten Fresnels (http://www.filmgear.net/tungs150_spec.html) about 2 months ago and their are easily as well made as my Arri's (To the point of I'd be p*$£ed if I was Arri). I then bought one of their of their Flos (With Kino tubes) about two weeks ago (http://www.filmgear.net/fluorescent_box04048_spec.htm) and again I'm extremely happy with it. Over all I'd say amazing value for money Regards Rupert Mac
  14. I think Mr Mullen's point is what really counts considering the name of this thread. When are we going to be able to actually go out a buy a RED system, or rent one and try out the workflow for a production? I'm as excited as the next guy at the promise of affordable 2K let alone 4K, but before I'd commit my hard earned cash I want to get my paws on one and put it through the grinder for couple days, then see how the footage performs in post and filmed out. Just my 2 cents
  15. Hi Prokopi Negative fill (black cloth), take some light away from the scene. Reflectors add some more light, works for me!
×
×
  • Create New...