Best way to cut down Kino 4x4 Light

[Ronald Gerald Smith]

I don't have a lot of experience cutting down Kino light because usually I don't need to cut any light down, but I'm just asking in case I am stuck in a position where it needs to be cut down.

 

What is your favorite way of cutting these things down?

 

Of course the easy way would be to turn off bulbs but I would prefer not to turn any bulbs off because it shrinks the size of the light source.

 

Floziers might be an option because they come in singles and doubles and if I need to cut it down by two stops then I can just put two double floziers on there. This might be a good option, but if I want a more harsher less diffused light then I will need to think of something else.

 

ND gels? Fabric scrims?

 

I hear ND gels are not so good because they get a color shift over time. But the color shift is mostly due to high temperature correct? And kinos don't get too hot, so ND gels might be a good option.

 

Also fabric scrims are a little too small for the 4ft 4 bank kinos.

[Phil Connolly]

Lots of Kino-Flo's now have built in dimmers - which is even easier.

 

Otherwise ND filter's would work fine - they could fade over time, but I imagine that might take a while to do so. I've never really had call to use ND's on Kinos that much generally options to switch off tubes/dimming and position give enough control for most applications.

 

I've only had to resort to ND's either where the tubes are being used as praticals and I don't want then to clip. Or in cars/night ext's working at low light levels.

[Adrian Sierkowski]

Just throw an ND .6 on there and be done with it, if you can. Else go with fabric scrims. It's no different than bringing down the intensity of a T source (where dimming causes a color shift)

[Ronald Gerald Smith]

As always, you both are very helpful.

 

ND gels it is.

[Kieran Scannell]

You could also just use the egg crate that is supplied with every 4 banks I've ever used or the 4ft-2ft dimmer switch or move the Kino back a bit!

[Jeffrey Carroll]

I like putting diffusion on the INSIDE of the barndoors (against the tubes and clipped to the reflector). I don't like the way bare kino tubes look on skin so I always put something on there. You can cut down the light with heavier diffusion without changing the quality of light too much. I've never tried to cut two stops down, but I bet 216 or grid cloth would do the trick. Possibly even bleached muslin.

[Eric Clark]

A common method I learned from others and use frequently is to place strips of black masking tape over the bulbs. Works well and is very quick.