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Request for help with lighting

Mark A. Jaeger

Mark A. Jaeger

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I have three 1000 Watt Arri Tungsten Fresnel lights with Chimerra soft boxes that I use for studio lighting. I most often use the typical 3-point lighting scheme. There are times that I wish I had tightly focused light for just a part of a face or scene. I've considered getting more tunsten fresnel in 300 or 600W power. However, I am thinking that there may be a better alternative with LED or other light sources. So I ask, what is the better way(s)?
 
There are quite a number of ways you can go. If you like the look Arri tungsten sources-- and tungsten always looks great--, then it's hard to beat the matching 300 or 650 fresnels. And you can find them cheap.
If you like tungsten but want to further diversify your kit, I'd recommend picking up a leko-- you can find an ETC Source 4 and various lenses for not much money. Even on shoots that are otherwise entirely LED, gaffers I work with will often make sure we have at least one of these on the truck. (Who am I kidding-- in the back seat of the hatchback.)

There are loads of quality LED sources available at many different price points. Benefits: they generate very little heat and use much less energy at a given light output (vs. tungsten/HMI). There are also many bi-color and full-color RGBW (etc) designs. Cons: while we're getting close with chip-on-board designs from Aputure (like the C120D and C300D) and Nanlite (like the Forza series), there isn't quite an LED that can perfectly replicate the specific qualities of a tungsten/HMI point source. For shooting light into a softbox, this may not matter to you.

There's plenty of reading you can do to explore further. But you might consider something like a bi-color 1x1 panel (Litepanels is always a solid choice, but there are dozens of choices now) that can complement your current kit. You could also look into an RGB panel (Litepanels, Arri, Luxli, Lupo, etc.), if you want to try something that adds multi-color capabilities.
Personally, I love the Aputure C300D mkII with fresnel attachment (though it's daylight balanced), and I'm eyeing the leko attachment. I also love the Litemat products, which are ultralight large bi-color sources-- it's like having a traditional chimera softbox, but it's just the front of the softbox!

Good luck and let us know if you have specific questions once you get into it.
 
I'd definitely recommend looking into the Aputure LED's with Bowen mounts. All the accessories that can be used make them so versatile.
 
Mark A. Jaeger said:
I have three 1000 Watt Arri Tungsten Fresnel lights with Chimerra soft boxes that I use for studio lighting. I most often use the typical 3-point lighting scheme. There are times that I wish I had tightly focused light for just a part of a face or scene. I've considered getting more tunsten fresnel in 300 or 600W power. However, I am thinking that there may be a better alternative with LED or other light sources. So I ask, what is the better way(s)?
Click to expand...

If you want a small hard light source to sculpt just a portion of the face or object, then there’s nothing better than a Dedolight. Either a 150w Classic tungsten or one of the newer LED versions. If you need more punch, then a tungsten Source4 Leko would work too.
 
Look up Jo-Leko. 800w of HMI punching through a SourceFour lenses front. Sculpting for days...
 
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