Hywel Phillips
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Hi Everyone,
I need some advice on buying a lighting set-up for motion. I come from a stills background. I've yet to find a lighting rig to compare with my stills strobe set-up (which is basically a couple of Hensel Porty 1200 J power packs, three heads, softboxes, umbrellas, honeycombs and a some supplemental speedlights and mains-powered Hensel units).
I've been using a mix of fixtures with the core being Gekko Kelvin Tiles. I have six of these but all of the buggers have now developed the same fault- they flicker and have sub-panels go dark when the get hot, which they do after running for around an hour. The lights are now off the market, and I presume this is why.
I need to move on and I'm looking to find something to replace them as the core of my lighting rig.
I need it to be compact and portable. Specifically it must run from 13 Amp 240 V UK domestic power (or batteries, obviously). I need to be able to pack my whole rig into a hatchback, and the fixtures themselves should be fairly compact because I often shoot in quite small rooms in historical buildings. I almost always shoot on location in old houses.
My main subject is pretty girls, so the core of my lighting rig needs to be something good for shooting one or two female actors in a relatively small room. Soft light is de-rigeur for making them look at their best, but I'd like there to be some control over the spread and directionality too.
That also means skin tone rendition is paramount- especially the oranges and into the reds. I had fluorescents and cheap LEDs for a while but could never get over the slightly green zombie flesh look, which is why I sold them and got the Gekkos, which have amber and red LEDs in them.
To complicate things further I really need to be able to change colour temperature- at least from 3200 K to 5600 K. This means either full spectrum and filters (which is fine if there's enough oooomph in the light) or tuneable/selectable/replacement phosphor panels/whatever. Ideally with green/magenta shift too.
To cap it all I'd like to be able to dim the lights, too. I don't care overmuch if there's a bit of colour shift when I do (I'm fine dimming Tungsten) but I'd really like to be able to dim it by a stop or two if at all possible, and ideally I'd like the five or six stop range my strobes can provide!
So... what would you go for?
Joker Bug/ Profoto HMI style lights with light formers? I'm thinking a Profoto 800 and 400 might be a good combo... but should I go for more oomph and get a 1600, which is presumably much better for lighting in through windows etc? Are either the Joker or Profoto systems weatherproof? Is there anything similar which might be suitable to light in through windows in the rain?
Arri L7C fresnels, and some way to diffuse for soft key?
Hold out for plasma to go mainstream?
A different variety of LED? Or LED-powered stuff like remote phosphor? Is there anything on the market that really covers the orange and deep reds from LED's?
I don't really want to go the Tungsten route- too hot, causes too many issues in old houses and safety issues for cast and crew, plus the loss of light gelling to daylight was prohibitive. I've got a few Arri 650 and 150 Fresnels around anyway which I use when I want hard light and 3200 K.
Are there any fluorescents which don't suck on skin tones? I must say I've never hated anything as much as the look I got from Osram fluorescent lamps on pale English Rose complexion skin.
I'm prepared to spend a decent chunk of cash, and obviously I'll hire before I buy. But if you had to fit a lighting rig into a hatchback for lighting pretty girls in rooms in ld houses, what would you pick?
Cheers, Hywel Phillips
I need some advice on buying a lighting set-up for motion. I come from a stills background. I've yet to find a lighting rig to compare with my stills strobe set-up (which is basically a couple of Hensel Porty 1200 J power packs, three heads, softboxes, umbrellas, honeycombs and a some supplemental speedlights and mains-powered Hensel units).
I've been using a mix of fixtures with the core being Gekko Kelvin Tiles. I have six of these but all of the buggers have now developed the same fault- they flicker and have sub-panels go dark when the get hot, which they do after running for around an hour. The lights are now off the market, and I presume this is why.
I need to move on and I'm looking to find something to replace them as the core of my lighting rig.
I need it to be compact and portable. Specifically it must run from 13 Amp 240 V UK domestic power (or batteries, obviously). I need to be able to pack my whole rig into a hatchback, and the fixtures themselves should be fairly compact because I often shoot in quite small rooms in historical buildings. I almost always shoot on location in old houses.
My main subject is pretty girls, so the core of my lighting rig needs to be something good for shooting one or two female actors in a relatively small room. Soft light is de-rigeur for making them look at their best, but I'd like there to be some control over the spread and directionality too.
That also means skin tone rendition is paramount- especially the oranges and into the reds. I had fluorescents and cheap LEDs for a while but could never get over the slightly green zombie flesh look, which is why I sold them and got the Gekkos, which have amber and red LEDs in them.
To complicate things further I really need to be able to change colour temperature- at least from 3200 K to 5600 K. This means either full spectrum and filters (which is fine if there's enough oooomph in the light) or tuneable/selectable/replacement phosphor panels/whatever. Ideally with green/magenta shift too.
To cap it all I'd like to be able to dim the lights, too. I don't care overmuch if there's a bit of colour shift when I do (I'm fine dimming Tungsten) but I'd really like to be able to dim it by a stop or two if at all possible, and ideally I'd like the five or six stop range my strobes can provide!
So... what would you go for?
Joker Bug/ Profoto HMI style lights with light formers? I'm thinking a Profoto 800 and 400 might be a good combo... but should I go for more oomph and get a 1600, which is presumably much better for lighting in through windows etc? Are either the Joker or Profoto systems weatherproof? Is there anything similar which might be suitable to light in through windows in the rain?
Arri L7C fresnels, and some way to diffuse for soft key?
Hold out for plasma to go mainstream?
A different variety of LED? Or LED-powered stuff like remote phosphor? Is there anything on the market that really covers the orange and deep reds from LED's?
I don't really want to go the Tungsten route- too hot, causes too many issues in old houses and safety issues for cast and crew, plus the loss of light gelling to daylight was prohibitive. I've got a few Arri 650 and 150 Fresnels around anyway which I use when I want hard light and 3200 K.
Are there any fluorescents which don't suck on skin tones? I must say I've never hated anything as much as the look I got from Osram fluorescent lamps on pale English Rose complexion skin.
I'm prepared to spend a decent chunk of cash, and obviously I'll hire before I buy. But if you had to fit a lighting rig into a hatchback for lighting pretty girls in rooms in ld houses, what would you pick?
Cheers, Hywel Phillips
