is flolight a $ alternative to kinoflo?

[Mitch Gross]

It’s metal so will certainly be much heavier than a KinoFlo. I don’t know how well optimized the reflector panels are–doesn’t look like the most efficient unit in the world. It is certainly less expensive, but with that bulky design I wished they had an option on a case of some sort (even a soft bag). And their “tungsten equivalent” numbers are misleading in the least. I would never get the tungsten-balanced bulbs they offer since they are such a low CRI. The daylight ones are acceptable, but just barely. They are supplying cheap bulbs that are brighter but have a significant green spike. I’d rather get the KinoFlo or another brand bulb (Osram makes a good one) with better CRI and a little lower output.

Hey, you get what you pay for and these are certainly cheap. Hope they can stand up to location work without falling apart or breaking your back. They’d be fine in a studio though.

Mitch

[Michael Munkittrick]

I am the owner of the infiniFLO

[Ken Zukin]

Michael,

I’ve tried to find a link for your products on-line w/o any success. Where can one view these lighting fixtures?

Ken

[Michael Munkittrick]

Rob Katz just posted the link to the FloLight line in the post that started this thread. I am not going to be selling them directly anymore due to a pending agreement with a distributor, but they are still very nicely priced and they offer very consistently good lighting solutions.

Enjoy,

Michael Munkittrick
Managing Creative Director
Evolve Media Solutions

Forum COWmunity leader for:
Sony DV
Magic Bullet

[Bob Cole]

Now I’m really confused, Michael. You said the lights weren’t affiliated with PrompterPeople, then you said that the link was in Rob Katz’s post, which is PrompterPeople.

Is there a link at this point?

Can the lamps be switched out for Kino’s?

With interest in cheaper lighting,

— BC

[Michael Munkittrick]

Sorry for the confusion. It

[Mitch Gross]

Wow, Michael! I had no idea that these lights are the same as yours. I never did get that promotional material from you that you were going to send out last Fall. I know one small lighting manufacturer who told me that he has the parts to his lights manufactured by different factories in China and then assembled here in the US because he knows that they’d be completely ripped off otherwise.

I personally can’t use a light with a CRI in the 80s, but that’s my usage. With different bulbs perhaps it would be a different story. My need for a kino would be for daylight balanced to deal with windows anyway, and since daylight balanced bulbs are always much higher in CRI (around 93) then it’s not such an issue. But there still has to be some kind of case to protect the thing. Even a metal sheet to go into the scrim slot to protect the bulbs would be helpful.

Best of luck on your ventures,

Mitch

[Michael Munkittrick]

[Mitch Gross] “I had no idea that these lights are the same as yours.”

You’re not the first to hear it. Truthfully, I’d never had known if I didn’t pick up a copy of DV Magazine and see it for myself. The fact that there are very minor differences between the two are clearly not far enough outside of the original to merit a almost 95% knock-off. Then again, I should have read the on-line info about the builders before I sent over an item that has still not received its offical US Patent information.

[Mitch Gross] “I never did get that promotional material from you that you were going to send out last Fall.”

Yes, unfortunately at the time, I was working with my “series one” system which was a compact fluorescent model that was also blatantly ripped off. That mistake cost me more than a year of research and prototyping not to mention the potential for a fair profit margin. I suppose that the bright side, if there can be one would be that I was successful in negotiating a small residual/royalties check one each unit sold over the next 5 years. That sacrifice was in exchange for the rights to the design. I’d NEVER had done this at the time except I simply had already invested so much that there was very little for promotion and proper marketing. I am putting a news kit together that should be ready for delivery shortly, but I’d prefer not to make any promises considering the delivery of that kit based on pending litigation that will most likely follow suit with the previous ruling.

[Mitch Gross] “I personally can’t use a light with a CRI in the 80s, but that’s my usage.”

Our testing has shown that the CRI is consistently above 90 in approximately 8 out of 10 fixtures. I simply use the “worst case” information so that there is no implied guarantee that every product performs precisely the same with the same photometrics. The overall quality and clarity of the light is pretty high and the overall difference with other like products is simply not that wide of a gulf to consider them unsuitable for all but the lowest end of the production spectrum. I wish that there some way of boosting the CRI artificially with more dense gas in the tubes, thiner tube thicknesses and more closely regulated power consumption and absorbtion, but I’m sitting on the edge of what technology has to offer with consideration for the costs involved with those changes.

[Mitch Gross] “Even a metal sheet to go into the scrim slot to protect the bulbs would be helpful.”

It’s curious that you would say that. The new design comes with a light guage steel “sheath” as it were to do just that. However, the need for a shipping case with these lights is more than protecting the bulbs themselves, but also keeping the unit structurally in tact. As with any light of any design, even a small misalignment with the mounting connections or the ballast getting a whack could potentially lower the life expectancy of the units not to metion impact the specs so the need for a padded case to provide the best protection possible. There’s nothing worse for a new product than meeting the user with problematic performance…so I’m right there with you.

And by the way, if you’re interested in giving these a test drive in return for an honest evaluation, yours is an opinion that I feel confident with as considering honest. Your reputation is well respected on the lighting and DP sets and knowing that you’re a straight shooter, I would be most interested in your personal thoughts. I’m in the process of assembling a demo video for them that will include a pretty good assortment of specs in real world use. I’ve also got a new, actually I should say incredible new dolly that will be like nothing that came before it…and that project is getting a lot of my attention right now because of the nature of competition and getting to market first. Being that the dolly will cause heads to turn in larger numbers, and the lights, while very interesting on their own, will garner more media coverage thereby making the fact that the lights are created under the same banner more of an interesting issue.

[Rich Rosen]

Go gunning for LitePanel next Mike. Seems they have the entire market?

[Michael Munkittrick]

Unless I get a few very intuitive investors involved…my lighting design days will eventually wind down. But I am not omplaining. I am content to have done what was supposed to be nearly impossible…but then most of the guys here at the Creative COW are people pushing the envelope doing what was impossible yesterday. I’m proud to be in their midst most days and humbled by their acheivements the next. I hope that there are other people out there not letting obstacles keep their ideas from reality.

On another note, I am desperately tring to find a product rep for a “track dolly” that I think will make a pretty good splash. Do any of you guys have a name that comes to mind? I keep thinking LA, but more and more the best representation is coming from and going to NYC and even Miami. What’s the chatter about agents?

Michael Munkittrick
Managing Creative Director
Evolve Media Solutions

Forum COWmunity leader for:
Sony DV
Magic Bullet