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New light kit from scratch - whats the logic

M

Mike Brent

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[Please put your Indie cap on when you read this, not "you need a truck with lights worth $100,000 if you want to make anything decent" etc]

I'm putting together a light kit for 5D and later Scarlet. My question is this

since I will be buying everything from scratch, should I buy all lights in the same temperature? It sounds logical to me... I'm thinking LED - small and lightweight, make no heat, never burn, brighter than tungsten of the same wattage... and then I ask - 3200 or 5600?

3200 would match practical lights in many interior locations, so I can mix it with what's available on location, add cheap practicals as needed....

5600 would match sunlight...

I know I can gel anything but is there a smarter path here?
 
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Mike, what types of projects are you doing? Interviews? Commercials? Music videos? Features? A variety of projects? There are a lot of variables, so unfortunately it's hard to recommend one light kit unless you can give some specific parameters. If you find you are doing a lot of similar projects that all have similar lighting requirements, then it's easier to narrow down what you might need. Style plays into this too. Is there a certain type of lighting you really like and will use often. To try and answer your question directly, a basic light light kit may consist of a couple of Kinos, an Arri Softbank kit, a couple of Dedos, and perhaps a small HMI. Maybe a couple of LED lights as well. Then you'll need some gels, diffusion, stands, reflectors, some grip gear, and a few other goodies to help you control the light. Or, if you are really on a budget, looks around at places like Cool Lights and Britek. Remember, when you stick to one type of lighting, you lock yourself in to a certain extent. LED lights have their own unique characteristics. You may need various types of lights to achieve the goal. Renting is always an option too.
 
You should build your kit starting with the Key Light and add as you go along.

If you want soft lighting, you need to start with something that has a large aperture, such as a Kino Flo Flathead or Image 85 or equivalent, or an HMI with a Chimera soft box.

If you wish to shoot with daylight windows in the shot, you need plenty of punch, otherwise you'll be blowing out all the windows or gelling them. Boy do I hate that; very time consuming and never looks quite right to me.

Typically, I like to key with daylight balanced fixtures so the practical lighting is warmer; if you go with Kino Flo, you can easily change tubes for daylight and tungsten balance.

Add a couple of Kino Flo Divas and a few small fresnels for the background and you should have a versatile small package kit.

Of course there are many ways to go, such as all HMI with 200's, 575's, and a 1200, but this is much more expensive and can't be switched to tungsten balance. Filter gels cut too much light, but can be used in a pinch.

Many ways to skin a cat and as Steve suggested, we need to know what you are filming.

Good shooting and best regards,

Leo
 
Thanks for the help. Well, its basically a feature. Lots of daytime exteriors, and nighttime interiors, and the "look" I'm after is borderline documentary, very voyeuristic and natural. Lots of close-ups and long takes, long glidecam tracking shots. Think "the wrestler".

Don't forget that the 5D is extremely sensitive to light, this is nothing like lighting for film....
 
Mike Brent said:
Don't forget that the 5D is extremely sensitive to light, this is nothing like lighting for film....
Click to expand...

Actually, it's EXACTLY like lighting for film. Same number, kind, and placement of fixtures, just at a lower level.

For example, the softness of a light is directly proportional to the relative size of the aperture of the light (its square area); the intensity has nothing to do with it.

To sell night scenes you need many practical sources, either real or implied in a sea of darkness.

Good shooting and best regards,

Leo
 
If you only have enough funds for a limited number of lights and are thinking of LED fixtures, then I would suggest daylight balanced units. There are more options available and the Daylight units are generally more efficient and offer a higher CRI (color rendition index, or accuracy of the color spectrum). You also lose a lot less brightness when gelling daylight sources to tungsten than the other way around.
 
Also pick up little tricks like the one I read in American Cinematographer the other day where somebody had cut plastic drainage pipes in half, painted the inside white and put a daylight balanced kino flo tubes in. They then daisy chained them to a dimmer. You could do this a lot cheaper and have no dimmer and buy daylight balanced tubes that aren't kinoflo branded. Very cheap, tough and effective corridor lighting or floor continuous walking shot light and so on. I think they used it on 'Green Zone'. So there you have a cheap method on a high grade film.
 
Here is a link to Victor Milts home made nanosoft DIY kit.
http://www.victormilt.com/id54.html
The only thing I would change is to use corrugated plastic instead of foam core. It is much more durable and similar weight. It too is available from Pearl in different colors.
 
Aha.... thanks. Wish it was in stock :-)
 
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