Making A Kino 4x4 flicker on purpose

[Dimitri Luedemann]

Is there a way to safely (without destroying the lamps/unit/ballast) to make your kinos randomly flicker? How would I achieve this effect?

thanks!

Dimitri

 

[Martin Konrad]

what kind of flick do you want? permanent flick like out of sync shutter speed or the flick you get when switching on a fluorescent office light
is this supposed to be a short effect (like a permanent light being interrupted for a second or two) or are you looking for a light that flicks continuously?

there are solutions but I would not use Kinos as you are likely to blow the ballasts...
let us know what exactly you are after

 

[Dimitri Luedemann]

Hi Martin - It could got either way but I think mainly from when you flick a bulb on at the office - but would also love to hear about how to achieve the second option like if you had a lamp that was almost dying out.

thanks in advance!

D

 

[Jon Carr]

Put the kino on a dimmer. It will be all about how little or more you have the knob positioned to get the effect to work. Between takes I would suggest turning it off by the dimmer switch. As the ballast will usually only let it flicker for 10-30 minutes until it stops. But I was able to run some ballests all day flickering from cheap Ikan 1k dimmers. But when it stops you can switch out the ballest or shut it off for a couple of minutes to reset. You won't break your ballest but it shuts off from the dimmer automatically cause there's a safety when the ballest can't get the current it needs.

 

[Martin Konrad]

If you need to go fluorescent because the lights are part of the set you need to experiment with old bulbs and old starters (ask a gaffa or rental house for old bulbs)
Otherwise you can wire a lightswitch for rapid on/off the best are called something like momentary contact switch, its like a lightswitch that returns to off with a spring but you can wire them the other way so they interrupt only as you press the switch, giving you a split second power cut to the lights on press.

If you do not see the lights in frame I would go with tungsten, they are easier to control with a flicker box (rental house) or the same momentary contact switch.
For the same soft light quality you can light indirect via some white reflectors or white perspex (rigged in the same position you would otherwise set the Kinos) and light them with a source that can be well focussed without stray light like the Dedolight DLH 650. Bring more spare bulbs than normal as flicking kills bulbs faster!

Again whatever you try, do not try to flick or do any fast on/off switching on any ballast driven lights (HMI, Kinos or Dedo 436 Tungstens) and do not have any camera, monitors or computer equipment on the same power circuit as the flick!

 

[Dimitri Luedemann]

thank you guys for your input!