High speed shooting hospital - led and overhead flourescents?

[Ed David]

Hi guys - apologize if this has been asked before

 

doing a high speed 240 FPS shooting in an existing hospital -

question - can I switch out the overhead tubes for kino bulbs and not have flicker?

 

and can I use LED lighting like litemats?

 

what can i get away with besides flicker-free HMIs bouncing into ceilings, etc etc?

 

thanks!
Ed

[David Mullen ASC]

Changing out the tubes won't help because it's the ballasts that determine the flicker rate.

 

Your flicker-free ballasted lights should be fine but it wouldn't hurt to test.

[Ed David]

Thanks David!!!

[Nima Khazaei]

Your Litemats should be flicker-free too.

 

http://www.litegear.com/support/faq/how-low-can-i-dim-leds-and-still-be-flicker-free/

 

I've yet to have any flicker issues with any of my LED lights. I suspect most cinema LEDs use either constant-current regulation for dimming, or frequencies high enough to keep them safe for all but the most extreme of frame rates.

 

My inclination would be to make good use of HMIs, just given the 3-4 extra stops needed for 240 fps.

[Phil Rhodes]

I'd be a little (a lot) cautious of HMIs. I've seen tests in which they caused serious problems on high frame rate stuff, even with expensive ballasts switched to flicker-free mode.