Help lighting a chroma backdrop

[Dennis Size]

IAN….Thank you so much for sharing your incredible wealth of knowledge on this topic.
Some of us just have no idea what we’re doing, so your invaluable research will be quite a asset.
When one has no experience, and forced to work under tight budget constraints in a tiny studio, you have provided wonderful goals to target, and hopefully try to attain.

For those of us who can’t afford real greenscreen fabric, and can only light our green paper with cheap Impact Fluros, you have shown us a “brass ring” to reach for. Perhaps someday some of us might get to actually use one of those neat Kino Flo lights you know so much about. I’m looking forward to more of your wonderfully informative posts. I find your graphs especially cool (I love all those pretty colors)!
While I’m waiting, I’ll pass the time trying to figure out how high to place my meager Impact fixtures and how to use this complicated diffuser that came with it.
After a few weeks — and with the assistance of your excellent advice — I’ll try to get the courage to attempt that neat trick you described about putting green gel on the fixture. Could you clarify one more thing, instead of using that plastic gel, is it possible to just use green hair gel or even green Jello?
DS

[Ian Maclean]

Michael

Thanks very much for the considered advice. If I’m unable to get my Impact kit to light evenly, I will certainly return them and go with your recommendation. It’ll be more research and work, building a DIY fixture, but gratifying as well. I’m very grateful for your expounding on the capabilities of these newer bulbs as, like most uninformed or inexperienced people, I have a bias against ‘old’ fluorescent technology and the mood it created in film lighting.

I am going to keep doing research on supersaturation as there seem to be two possibilities: Either the physics is sound and one may be able to build a DIY replacement for Kino ParaZip fixture, then put in the specialty Kino bulbs, which come in small 21″ size and are reasonably priced (around $30), or Kino just likes selling expensive bulbs for profit.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/434715-REG/Kino_Flo_55C_K5X_Compact_Lamp_55.html#features

Your statement that my use of such bulbs would “most likely will over light the green” suggests that they are, in fact, a valid and even effective means of lighting a chroma backdrop, so I want to know more about the option to do so. It may well be that supersaturation is only a practical option for those who can afford several $1200 ParaZip fixtures. If so, that’s good information for those doing the same research I have been.

And Curt, I forgot to mention that I am aware of the benefits of a waveform monitor, and had always considered having a laptop with the software that provided such. Sadly, I’m on the mac side, and those options are limited. It was a definite factor in my research for a camera, and I’m very happy that my HPX170 has a built-in WFM which I’ll be able to see on a 24″ monitor in my studio. So I do have that capacity to help me tune my lighting. Thanks again for the excellent advice.

I’m also delighted, Michael, that you have the capability to delete posts that are negative in tone. Please, if you can, carefully read these topics I’ve started, and see whether I am anything but humble and grateful when I get good help. If you can block Dennis Size from further posts that would be great as he’s a definite negative influence on my topic here, which I feel has some interesting and valuable information. Many thanks.