Advice on large, soft yet directional light source that is yet easy on to move around

[Joel Arvidsson]

There is alot of great led lights with a soft box on that works great for shooting closeups of people. But sometimes you want the light source to be bigger, have more throw, simulate the sun coming in the window, or light larger areas. Or shoot slowmo. So you need more ”juice”.


What are you favorite way to go about this and is it posslible to get this in a very portable form factor.


Have you stacked 2 or 4 smaller panels into one large and added an softbox? Or would you rather use sharp point lights throw a 4x4 diffusion frame (the diffusion frame on its own stand with wheels.

I guess if you stack smaller lights to make one larger panel, you will want to use a softbox with reflective insides to focus the light throw the diffusion.
And if you have a point light you would not gain so much using a softbox with reflective insides compared to just shooting it throw the diffusion frame.

Do you have any good advice on rigs that works well for you?

If you love stacking smaller panels to make a larger light source what is your setup?

Do you feel that gemini or skypanel s60c is more then enough for this in 9 of 10 cases? How much brighter is the Sc 60c compared to say an area 48?




This autumn will be interesting with all lights that is coming. Those are the four lights that interests me the most.

Aputure RGB

The Super Hornet 575-C

And the two rumored Quasar Science lights,
”Hammer 800” based on four lights at 200w each.
The unit will come with a Spot, Wide and Diffused lens and there will also be an Space light skirt is an add on.*

With wide optic the Hammer 800 is estimated to be four times brighter then an S60 at 10ft.

”Hammer 1800” Nine light 1800watt (each of the nine draws 200watt)

 

[Michael Tiemann]

I think this is what LITEMAT 4 S2 was designed to solve (with appropriate grid attached). Or for really big (5' x 10'), the Chimera F3: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1483687-REG/chimera_1905_f3_5x10_complete_kit.html

 

[Ulf Krentz]

Your requirements sound like a Briese or knock-off parabolic reflector to me, on the heavier side a chimera daylight senior plus is an excellent light also, key is the extra depth that makes the difference.

 

[Tom Gleeson]

One aspect you need to account for is point source lights will require a heavier more lossy diffusion to soften than a series of ganged larger source LED panels. The larger the initial source the lighter diffusion required. Of course historically some of the most powerful sources where point sources such as HMI. This is why I would generally bounce point sources first in a book light configuration.

You are generally diffusing a source simply to make it larger. The larger and more even the source the larger the graduation or transition from light to shadow. With diffusion bigger is better.

 

[Aaron Green]

I would jump on the Gemini group buy.

 

[M Harvey]

I usually use an Aputure C300D with a Chimera collapsible 4x4 frame for this situation-- lightweight, portable, a good bit of power. I like being able to vary the fabric to adjust the amount of beam shape/directionality and punch (typically from 1/4 grid to full grid).

Like Michael, I also use Litemats-- so easy to rig compared to a separate frame, and much easier to control in terms of spill (short of getting a huge egg crate). That said, I turn to the C300D when I need more power or a larger apparent source.

A friend often uses a pair of Astras on something like a Matthews Triple Header, which lets you work with a smaller footprint. He doesn't always use diffusion with it-- when the lights are that close together, they'll more or less behave like a single larger light.