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  • 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 :)

Joker-Bug vs. NILA (other)

Athan Merrick said:
Now that IBC has come and gone Phil you have an update on the "secret" lights?
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Jason Comparetto said:
Any updates on "secret" lights?
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I wish I could say more at the moment on this project.

I'll be straight with you guys. I designed a pretty good concept. Did all the work in Solidworks and some R&D. Actually a lot of R&D. Took a lot of time coming up with something worthy of competing with the big guys out there. It turned out unique, and actually being a bit of kit we'd want to use in studio and abroad. The design is solid, rugged, and "unique" enough to warrant it's existence. Industry leading CRI as well, and that's not a hyped number.

However, I'm not the one holding up the design at the moment. It's been frustrating to say the least.

I'm doing my best from my island fortress, but I may need to send a homing pigeon with some napalm to get things moving faster.


I apologize about the delay. If I could do anything to control it I would.

In fact, that might include partnering with "somebody else", but I'll be closed lipped on that for the time being. I at least own the designs :)
 
We appreciate your honesty Phil. Of course, To be honest with you, unless you completely control the manufacturing chain, it could be a *while* before something is ready to sell and ultimately to ship to customers. I don't know about others, but I was kind of hoping at buying something in the next 60 days or so. This sounds like more of a 2014 project, or maybe if it gets rushed to market, perhaps it could be seen at NAB 2014.

I can also be contacted offline privately if you want to exchange ideas/advice on how to proceed with your designs. Although keep in mind that any competent manufacturer could take 60-90 days before they will even begin working on anything you send to them.
 
Jason Comparetto said:
We appreciate your honesty Phil. Of course, To be honest with you, unless you completely control the manufacturing chain, it could be a *while* before something is ready to sell and ultimately to ship to customers. I don't know about others, but I was kind of hoping at buying something in the next 60 days or so. This sounds like more of a 2014 project, or maybe if it gets rushed to market, perhaps it could be seen at NAB 2014.

I can also be contacted offline privately if you want to exchange ideas/advice on how to proceed with your designs. Although keep in mind that any competent manufacturer could take 60-90 days before they will even begin working on anything you send to them.
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Cheers Jason and I may take you up on that. I need to think exactly what my (and our) next move is here. Based on research with different suppliers and scaling we could create somewhere between 75-1250 units assembled, QC'd, boxed, and shipped per week all made and constructed in the USA no less. Just depends on the "team's size". Much of this has already been put in place, some has not. I designed them to be rather simple to assemble actually and repair if chaos happens. However, the design is pretty tough.
 
had a chance to really play and work with a hexolux fixture...pretty much a finished prototype....along with para, fresnel and soft box.....
wonderful, wonderful light....genius softbox design and beautiful light....very powerful for one source LED (not panel) great for indoors and studio...
i need something strong enough to fight the LA sun and still be battery powered....the hexolux (in the version i got to work with) is JUST, BARELY not strong enough for me....1/2 stop more and it would be perfect....
since i have looked into everything now on the market and haven't found the one that covers all my needs, i will probably have to get creative....
i can definitely highly recommend the hexolux....
 
Jason Comparetto said:
I like that hexagonal approach with the hexolux. great for combining light fixtures
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that is definitely one way to get more power.....the possibilties are unlimited....the light is very well made and has afaik the most punch of any battery operated single light source (not panel) fixture....all this at a crazy high CRI....
 
Phil Holland said:
Cheers Jason and I may take you up on that. I need to think exactly what my (and our) next move is here. Based on research with different suppliers and scaling we could create somewhere between 75-1250 units assembled, QC'd, boxed, and shipped per week all made and constructed in the USA no less. Just depends on the "team's size". Much of this has already been put in place, some has not. I designed them to be rather simple to assemble actually and repair if chaos happens. However, the design is pretty tough.
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Hi Phil,
May I suggest you set up a mailing list of some sorts so that guys won't miss anything when there's any update?
 
Billy Jim said:
Phil, any update on your light?
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I'll talk openly about this because I'm a man of my word and this has been difficult.

I've had a good year. A great year. However, this one thing which did take up several months out of the year has been a point of rather large frustration.

The water isn't flowing and not due to anything on my side of the fence. I have since met with two entities recently that might help make this thing a reality.

My personal difficulty is that this was a 2013 project for me and I wanted to be done with much of what should have been done already. Next year I will be shooting a lot more and I need to make some big decisions how to allocate my time.

Humorous if you consider the Instagram I just posted: http://instagram.com/p/h2DxP4k0S7/

Literally at this moment I am deciding exactly what to do here. A part of me wants to complete this design and see it through to market because I think it's something all of us want. The other part of me knows my primary focus needs to be on motion picture work. I'd be a fool to run away from the opportunity I've spent so much time developing.

So at this moment, if you can visualize this, I am in an epic wrestling match between the engineer and filmmaker in me who wants to make lights versus the artist and filmmaker in me who wants to create worlds and tell stories.

There will be blood either way. Time to get some bourbon.
 
Phil Holland said:
I'll talk openly about this because I'm a man of my word and this has been difficult.

I've had a good year. A great year. However, this one thing which did take up several months out of the year has been a point of rather large frustration.

The water isn't flowing and not due to anything on my side of the fence. I have since met with two entities recently that might help make this thing a reality.

My personal difficulty is that this was a 2013 project for me and I wanted to be done with much of what should have been done already. Next year I will be shooting a lot more and I need to make some big decisions how to allocate my time.

Humorous if you consider the Instagram I just posted: http://instagram.com/p/h2DxP4k0S7/

Literally at this moment I am deciding exactly what to do here. A part of me wants to complete this design and see it through to market because I think it's something all of us want. The other part of me knows my primary focus needs to be on motion picture work. I'd be a fool to run away from the opportunity I've spent so much time developing.

So at this moment, if you can visualize this, I am in an epic wrestling match between the engineer and filmmaker in me who wants to make lights versus the artist and filmmaker in me who wants to create worlds and tell stories.

There will be blood either way. Time to get some bourbon.
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Appreciate your candidness,
please update when you've decided how to proceed.
 
Joker is more versatile and is an industry standard.

Nila is more robust, no bulbs to burn out and they require less maintenance.

It would be nice to see a side by side test.
 
I highly suggest renting any lights first before buying them. I bought a couple of Nila Varsa kits and ended up selling them- they are not HMI replacements-yet. LED lights are improving quickly and soon they will have true full spectrum and high output.
 
My 200 ARRI HMI just died in the middle of the shoot, I thought it is bulb and spend $250 for a new one - didn't work, but I can't return the bulb. Money gone. Turns out ballast is dead. Warranty on ARRI ballast ended 10 days ago - good job ARRI, self destruction timer works as it should. Average estimate to fix ballast will be at least $500 + $150 shipping and $200 import tax (AGAIN). In a nutshell: cost of using that brilliant HMI about $350/month roughly. I can't sell it without working ballast it has literally ZERO value. And I don't want to buy new ballast for $1500. I bought ZAILA, cause I tested it - it is almost as bright as 150 watt HMI, measured CRI>93. No fun, no noise, DMX. Small. Interchangeable lenses (pretty funny but I got the idea, it is ok for me). Built like it is meant to stay against machine-gun for quite a while. Small. Can operate hours from single AB. Relatively weather proof. Small, ups I said that already. I like it. I will get more of them. I love features of digital sputnik but single ballast for 3 lights is useless to me personally, and price is too "marketed up" for sure. But it is nice idea overall.
 
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