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Portable light for balancing practicals

Christoffer Glans

Christoffer Glans

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Is there any good portable light rigs that can be used to balance practical lights like either daylight (outside or through windows) or interior lamps?
I was thinking of filming as they did on Dallas Buyers Club where they didn't light at all, but I would like some kind of portable light to balance just a little so there is some control.
 
I'm actually not a huge fan of panel lights, but recently I've been able to use the Sumolight100 and it's pretty darn ideal for location work. Tungsten to Daylight plus dimmable with a plethora of accessories. Real smart gear with nice carrying cases.

Hive has their Bees that now have color temperature control and are pretty compact with a fair bit of punch. I'm looking at those more closely soon.

I use filtration on set so the color and dimming isn't totally a big deal, but it's certainly nice to have additional control on location. There's more options now than ever, thus is stuff I'm just looking at this moment.
 
Cineo or area 48 might be worth looking into.
 
Jim Hoffman said:
Cineo or area 48 might be worth looking into.
Click to expand...

True that. One thing the Sumolights have is a panel of microlenses that produce a harder light, which I tend to prefer to work with. Similar to what I like about the NiLA lights, but in a different form factor. I don't like soft light "all the time" which is why I mostly use fresnels and work from there.

Everybody is different though. Seems like about 4 times a year I'm on some adventure to find new crazy lighting gear. Luckily everybody keeps making new things.
 
Phil Holland said:
True that. One thing the Sumolights have is a panel of microlenses that produce a harder light, which I tend to prefer to work with. Similar to what I like about the NiLA lights, but in a different form factor. I don't like soft light "all the time" which is why I mostly use fresnels and work from there.

Everybody is different though. Seems like about 4 times a year I'm on some adventure to find new crazy lighting gear. Luckily everybody keeps making new things.
Click to expand...

Right? Lighting hasn't changed for such a long time and now there are so many options. That coupled with camera changes, budgets and the 'smaller crew can do a lot more' paradigm. It's a very interesting time to be an artist and in a lot of ways a tough time to be an owner.

I would love to find lights that do it all but the reality is you want to customize each setup and achieve the look you want not just the look that the lights you have can provide. But living in that reality means adding to the lighting collection to increase the palette.

The Cineo Trucolor HS and some Dedos I've found to be a good small flexible kit. Add a few 650's.

Battery powered lights are becoming so much more interesting to me now too.

I'll look into the sumolights.

How do you like the color?
 
The only light I have right now that's left from the old days of me shooting on 3CCD cameras is my red head 800w with softbox. It might work in some cases, but it's too hot and only works with the power cord. The area 48 seems nice, like the battery solution for a light that's still brighter than the red head.
 
This is a bit in the other direction, but I keep a collection of edison lamps in my kit. Having some really bright and really dim ones to swap with practicals helps with balancing a lot. I find I put a lot of 25w lamps in frame and 100w+ lamps in practicals that are out of frame.
I keep mine in a Christmas ornament holder to keep them from getting crushed on the truck.
 
What is the maximum watt you could attach to a regular socket as a practical? Where can I buy such lamps?
 
They are getting harder to find as the world moves to CFLs. I have bought them up to 300 watts. Some fixtures will have the limit printed on them, but you also have to use common sense. The heat is the issue, not the wattage, so be aware of what's around the bulb and try to avoid melting lampshades, etc.
 
Jim Hoffman said:
Right? Lighting hasn't changed for such a long time and now there are so many options. That coupled with camera changes, budgets and the 'smaller crew can do a lot more' paradigm. It's a very interesting time to be an artist and in a lot of ways a tough time to be an owner.

How do you like the color?
Click to expand...

Heh. Most know me around here for all the camera and tech talk, but in reality I spend much more time experimenting with light in my free time. Even as a just me or two man crew I'm often bringing 3 fresnels with me, but that's just the way I am and they are certainly a bit more of a swiss army knife because they can do so much.


Color of the Sumolights was alarmingly nice for an LED panel. I have older various other brand LEDs that have gone wicked green and a few that have stayed normal-ish. Sumolight seems to be using decent stuff.


I have been working a lot more with CFLs too. The quality of the light out of the bulbs has jumped in the last couple years. Not always the perfect solution, but they are certainly a cost effective tool.
 
I have recently used the Cineroid LED LM400 http://www.cineroid.com/ panels and was just blown away...unfortunately also by the price....but totally worth it.
they are extremely small but crazy sturdy and well built LED panels with an INSANE output considering their size. The panel I have tried was about the size of a DVD hardcase, it comes with a V-Lock battery adaptor so you can run them for hours and it is built with 1100 LED's per panel. They even come with a remote dimmer. They have enough output to create some decent fill even during midday sun outside...maybe not for a wide shot but certainly a MCU and are really handy for indoor lighting because of their compact size.
I will try and borrow the panel again next week and do a review...I really want to buy two of these to have in a backpack with me all the time.
 
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