$10,000 to spend on lights. Need some guidance (Kino Flo).

[Bob Cole]

A tough question to answer. 4-banks are great to light a green screen, but you could use cheap broads for that or your 650’s if you had to. Divas are very convenient for lighting interviews. For features, though, I suspect you’d want a lot more light (HMI) so you could back it off a ways, and allow for more freedom of movement within a set. I hope some other folks chime in to give you some help. I suspect that the best answer is to rent all the candidates and try them out first.

Bob C

[Bill Davis]

I largely agree with Bob above.

The key is to decide what you, individually want to become.

I know its fashionable to think we can all train ourselves to become a modern “do it all myself” kind of pro. But the reality is that while it’s more possible today to do that then in the past – it ignores the question of whether or not that’s the smartest plan.

Trying to be a jack of all trades, is usually connected with being the master of none – as the old saying goes.

Green Screen, interviews, features and pilots. That’s a massively wide target. Heck, “features” of an by itself is a hugely wide target. One scene that takes place in a spaceship corridor for a science fiction feature could easily eat up an entire 10,000 gear package and not get half the job done.

So I’d recommend you do something simple like buy a couple of broad four-bank fluorescents (Kino’s or less costly equivalents) a Tungsten Fresnel kit with a 650, a couple of 300’s and a 150 or two. Add a few LED units (maybe 2 1x1s and something smaller for a backlight) And maybe (if there’s enough left over) a focusable instrument like a small ellipsoidal or Dedo – and concentrate the next couple of years on learning to use all of that really well.

That kind of general kit should let you do a quality job with one or two talent on screen for most small room shoots, work in daylight or tungsten environs, add decent talent pop and scene highlights in larger rooms that are lit OK to begin with – and leave everything else for the rental house.

If you’re really talented and shoot a lot, you should run out of things to learn about that group of gear in practical terms in about 7 to 10 years. And when you need more, hire in HMI’s or bigger stuff shoot by shoot.

I know other guys here would opt for a Joker Bug or other HMI as a great addition, but they’re still so costly that it would cut into the other stuff, and we’re talking flexibility in lots of situations here.

In a couple of years, based at what I saw at NAB, the LEDs and the Fresnels will likely merge. And you’ll have the ability to apply what you’ve learned with both to the new units without braking the bank now.

That’s how I see it, anyway.

“Before speaking out ask yourself whether your words are true, whether they are respectful and whether they are needed in our civil discussions.”-Justice O’Connor

[Jon Frost]

The main advantage of Kino-Flo 4′ 4 Banks are that they are cool… not hot, hot, hot!

I have purchased a 2 x 4′ 4 Bank kit in a road case and a 2x 2′ 4 Bank kit in a road case with bulbs for daylight and tungsten. I also have a car kit as well.

If you are lighting green/blue screen work, Kino-flo makes bulbs for this work as well.

I also carry a variety of Lowel light fixtures and grip by Matthews/Lowel.

You can put together a nice kit for less than $10,000.00. B&H has the best pricing for Kino-Flo and you can find used or new Lowel light kits for less than 2K.

let me know how you make out, or e-mail with questions off forum

Jon Frost
frostgfx@gmail.com