Epic and lightning strikes

[Will Turner]

Hey everyone, I'm wanting to see if anyone has experience with the Epic MX or the Epic Dragon in conjunction with lightning strikes lighting units? I'm hoping to use lightning strikes, but would hate for just half the frame to be exposed.

I've used photography strobes (AB 800's) before with poor results in the past due to the refresh rate on the MX sensor. I know that a motion mount would be a solution to using strobes, but I don't think i'll be able to get one of those for this production.

Thanks!

 

[Chris McKechnie]

Have never used actual lightning strike units...but the poor man's version of this is dimmers. Lighting kind of pulsates anyways..so dimming up/down works well. Used this method on a feature and I will def'n use it again.

 

[Will Turner]

I need to cover a small western town with it, so would need to dim somewhere around a 12K or up. I had also considered shutters.

 

[Nick Gardner]

Lighting shutters work great, are cheap, and there is no risk of half frame exposure. They are also easy to setup and I like being able to say to a guy, "Hey, little faster and more frenetic" rather than dick with controls.

Nick

 

[Naim Sutherland]

I used the Atomic Strobe system on a Scarlet, and I wasn't blown away by the result. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buo-ONDtUr8

I can't recommend it.

 

[David Mullen ASC]

I think you'll be fine, I've used Lightning Strikes' Paparazzi strobes before on cameras with rolling shutters and didn't have a problem if you pick a long enough duration time. But I'm not 100% sure, but you'd think the folks at Lightning Strikes could tell you. Or take the camera down to their rental place and shoot a test.

 

[Will Turner]

Good idea David!

 

[Will Turner]

Ok, i went in today to test the 8K paparazzi and the 40K lightning strike and they will both work with any camera just fine. You can manually set off the units like a dimmer, and by doing so set your own duration.