Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Register Log in
  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Getting the Look of Flash Photography!

Parras Vs Big Fresnels?

Parras Vs Big Fresnels?

How does the look of Parras compare to really big Fresnels?

From the descriptions given in this thread it sounds like it might be similar?
 
I think everyone is missing the point. The reason flash photography looks like it does, is because of the increase in shutter speed. For instance. One may take a still picture using 1/60 sec,but he flash will fire off in the region of 1/5000th sec, thereby freezing the image, and making the edges extreemly sharp. Translating the equation to motion picture is not so easy.A standard image shot at 24fps is producing an still frame effectivly shot at 1//48th sec.( blured edges ) not so good. We can reduce our shutter angle, thereby gaining shutter speed. We can maybe get into the region of 1/400th sec by reducing shutter angle to 22.5 degs or therabouts. Anything more than this starts to get very very 'stepy' We now also have a huge light loss, which needs to be compensated for by increasing light levels by 3 stops. The producer will not be happy, and everyone will get very hot. The only way to get a similar look is by using Unilux or similar. I have used Unilux on many occasions on film. the unit fires a pulse in the multpile 1000s of a second, that directly sync when the shutter is open. the look is extreemly fashion, and high gloss, and has very sharp edeges when a frame is viewed individually.. Only drawback, the units are very weak. even ciombining 4 units through a frame, make it hard to get anything more than a headshot.
Now the Briese light. This is a piece of very expensive junk. Just beacuse it looks like a flash head, does not mean it behaves like one. the Briese CANNOT give you the capability to shoot motion picture at 5000th second. That is all there is to it. If you want to spend the sort of money required to hire a Bries, then you would be far better off hiring an 18K, bringing your level up 4 - 5 stops more than you need, and then try reducing the shutter angle.
I think a lot of DPs and directors like the look of the Briese. they like it on set, as they think it makes them look important or God knows what. It really is only a silver umbrella with a light bounced into it. to be honest it has limited use if the person in front is moving, as the second the ratio of light camera and actor goes off 1:1, the acor ends up getting hit by the bare bulb. Not good at all. I normally end up with a big circle of black wrap about 12'' across in the middle of the light, to get round this problem.
Please do not waste your money on the Briese. It will not make you a better cinematographer.
 
ha ha nice splosh.. i guess someone forgot to tell you that the Briese lights can also shoot up to 6400 watts of flash based light just like any other strobe out there..

oh btw.. ill give you a few hours to change your username to areal name.
 
And you sync it to the camera how ?
This is the problem. What use is a mere 6.4k if you cannot capture that high intensity output and sync it precisely it to a frame at something more than 1000th of sec at the very least. Please explain how you would go about this.

If you can show me how to sync the REDs shutter output to fire the Briese in high output bursts, I would be very interested.
Shame that this thread started with a very interesting question about flash photography, and sort of became a shrine for how great the Briese is. It is not great. It is a waste of money.
I think the only person who may slightly have a handle on the whole thing, is David Pringle at Luminys. The 3.5 Softsun Par, lLablights, and Mini HIG lights are all contenders to be synced to the RED, if somehow the technology can be worked out.

No problem. How do I change my name ? I forgot my password, and the reset came back with this user name
 
Just one other point. The issue of intensity.
When you fire a burst of light at a level high enough to achieve shutter speeds in the 1000s it' s normally on a very limited time frame. i.e fractions of a second. This is how stills flash works. If you translate this intensity of light to work with motion picture, and you don' t sync it, then the light is 'full on' the whole time. This is the other problem. even if you managed to get to the sort of level you would need to achieve a higher shutter speed, you would fry/ blind. severly injure your actor. Believe me, I' ve been there
 
Splosh...even a 2000 watt Briese is blinding enough thank you very much... and that's not flash watts.

Syncing strobes to video cameras "currently" is very difficult.. you will find that changing very shortly though.
 
This thread has some great info! I have been using still photo modifiers with some Hmi's and it really seems to come down to using the right modifier. Heres a crop from my last test, Red + nikon 50mm, strait out of Redalert:
 

Attachments

  • hdrlook.jpg
    hdrlook.jpg
    49.5 KB · Views: 0
Tim Sutherland said:
Evin, did you ever get that PLM umbrella in to check out?
Click to expand...

Ditto, just dug this thread up. The PLMs arent in stock at Alienbees, but am wondering if they are good.
 
The advantage to the B2Pro units are the myriad of umbrella and bulb options... I have two and love them.

Jim
 
Shawn Nelson said:
Ditto, just dug this thread up. The PLMs arent in stock at Alienbees, but am wondering if they are good.
Click to expand...

Im sure many people love them.. but I wasn't very happy with the 86" we bought. Its not bad.. It just is not fantastic.

I dont know if I really would call the Alienbees a Parabolic even if they technically can make the claim. Its almost identical to a large umbrella. It sure it easy to setup though...

We also tried the Chinese Cowboy 7' Parabolic.. The most difficult light I have ever had to set up, but once it was up the light coming out of it was pretty nice.
 
Jannard said:
The advantage to the B2Pro units are the myriad of umbrella and bulb options... I have two and love them.

Jim
Click to expand...

I can't figure out their costs or where to order, went to www.b2pro.com and cant find prices or an 'add to cart' or 'sales', etc
 
Because of this thread I purchased 2 86'ers and 1 74er from alen bees a few months ago... I've used them with speedotron force10 mono heads and with coolights 8u 200w flo bulb ( really, really awesome by the way ) and love them.

They are not true paras, but the chicks don't know the difference. I think of them more as fill lights and they project a nice soft light.

I've also found them very useful for chromakey wall lighting.

Good find for less than $100 a piece in my opinion. Heck, they are worth that just for props or making the studio look like it's a studio.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top