Some suggestions on good Lights to buy?

[Jason beaumont]

I have 3 Kino flo 4 x 4 diva lights. I want to start adding my lights to my kit, but not really familiar with any lighting brands. I'm mostly shooting short films, music videos, small commercials, ect. Any suggestions are welcome, and would like brands that are reasonable in price, not like $5,000 per light.

 

[Evin Grant]

Can you be more specific? What types of lights are you looking for, tungsten, HMI, LED, soft, hard?

 

[Louis Maddalena]

Yeah there are a ton of different lights out there for all kinds of lighting situations but I love my Astras for the price, and you also can't go wrong with Jokers.

 

[Chris McKechnie]

http://www.litegear.com is a great place to start!

 

[Jason beaumont]

Well I guess I was looking for reputable brands that's people had good experiences with so as I buy specific lights I can have an idea of whats good . I need some 1k-2k fresnels

 

[Nick Morrison]

Hives?

 

[Satsuki Murashige]

It's difficult to recommend specific lights without knowing what you need out of them. For narrative and commercial, I would think that you are missing high output hard sources to compete with the sun and to create sunlight effects. The trouble is, those all tend to be quite expensive ($4k and above), and above 2000w require generators and power distro, so they make more sense to rent only when you need them and have the budget required to operate them.

For cheap ($50-200) high output lights that can run off of a 20 Amp circuit, a 2K open-face tungsten or a few 1K parcan lights can be quite useful. Though if you have to gel them with Full CTB for daylight then they are less useful since you lose two stops. 150w DLH-4 tungsten Dedolights (~$700) work great as small accent lights. Source4 750w tungsten Lekos also work great on a larger scale.

In the $1k-$4k category, Cineo, Sumolight, Litepanel Astra, and Arri Skypanel make great soft 5600K key lights that can be plugged into house power, though you pretty much have that area covered already with your Kinos.

On the expensive end ($4-10k), Joker 400/800/1600w HMIs are great and can be used as a Par, a Leko, with a fresnel lens, in a soft box, and in a Chimera lantern. The Dedolight 400D HMI is a great alternative if you want a fresnel in a similar wattage, very clean optics and the same awesome zoom range as the tungsten Dedos in a fairly compact size. The Arri M18 1800w HMI is the most powerful light that will still work on a 20 Amp circuit (just barely). If you're looking to rent these lights out to productions, the Jokers will rent the most often.

 

[Ned Wilson]

Sounds like your putting together something small and inexpensive for indies. My advice, never buy gear dhar doesn't pay its rent. So before plunking down thousands for even your smaller HMIs make sure you will have the business to pay its kit rental fee. Many gaffers own pretty comprehensive kits to full blown trucks and at a certain level I find going this route and having production hire them is ideal. Also as their are infinite ways to light, At a certain point Inrecommend customizing your light rentals per job.

But for small or personal projects there are some lights I like to bring. I own a set of Westcott Flex lights 1x1. Big or small I take these lights on the job because the color accuracy is some of the best I've tested, small and have about a stop more output than lite panels. Because you can stick them anywhere I always find a use for them. I stick them in paper lanterns, covered wagons, above car visors, computer screens, tape them to ceilings or just use them conventionally in a soft box. If you scour used gear forums you may be able to score a deal on a 400 watt HMI like a joker. Very handy for small to large shoots. Also based on what you have, it's always good to have a hard source. Anything bigger - rent.

Just remember the bigger the job the more likely you'll only be getting specialty gear that your gaffer or rental house may not have. Best advice I have is find that sweet spot of gear that small productions can afford to rent that'll cover your costs them for when your productions get bigger - rent. But start now cultivating a relationship with a rental house.

 

[Vance Colvig]

Might want to check out Dedolight line of lighting. These are very robust and offer features such as precision lighting not offered elsewhere. If you are in the USofA, many of the lighting instruments are virtually unknown of for reasons that I frankly do not understand. Most think that Dedolight is just a wonderful small fixture. While this is true for the small heads, there is now a complete line of amazing lighting instruments and accessories. Might want to search youtube or go to the Dedolight web site for demos and info. I have many of the Dedolight products due to build, lighting precision and low power consumption and I have never looked back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeQFC989euQ

Just one of many

 

[David Naida]

Dedolights, Mole Richardson Fresnels, ETC Source Four Pars, maybe a Lowel Rifa. Lots of ways you could go, depending what you feel your current kit lacks.

 

[Satsuki Murashige]

It's also important to remember that for a lot of low-budget clients in narrative/music video/event/industrial work, they don't want to pay to rent your gear. They have a certain amount of money for you, a camera, some lights, and whomever else is on the crew, and that is all you will get. You won't necessarily be able to charge more for better gear, or the right gear for the job. So if that's the case, then it doesn't make sense for you to own a lot of expensive gear and give it away for free.* Better to have a small bare-bones kit that will get the job done with the minimum amount of investment on your part. Then just rent better gear for bigger budget jobs when you get a client who recognizes the value of better crew/gear/locations and is willing to pay for it.


*Unless it helps you in some way. For example, if you have a chance to get a great shot for your reel by renting a special light or lens, then maybe it's worth paying for it yourself to get the shot. Or if buying better tripod will help you get more professional footage for your reel even if you can't charge more for it, then go for it. But you'll have to make the cost-benefit analysis on a case-by-case basis.