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Lighting Interiors for Video
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Seven grand, stripped down. 5600k is not a color temp, it’s a starting price now:-) This is a great product to build a rental biz around, methinks, because the high buy-in is a natural barrier to competition as well as driving a need to rent.
Anyway, on the pittance typically paid to real estate shooters in the high-volume market, I think he’s going to have to lock down the cam and go the HDRI/ 2-pass exposure route, or start making with the gel, tape, and scissors.
Though I suppose if he shot with flash and shot enough stills, he could afford to make the shot a QTVR or a simulated camera move done in post using his flash-lit stills.
Or only shoot before 8AM or after 5.:-)
You always have to trade one problem for another, tying to solve a situation like this.
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Jumping back up, Michael, I just looked at the link to that Chinese instrument.
Very fishy, I believe they are mis-labeling something, whether intentionally or unintentionally.
Firstly, you’re never going to buy a decent sized HMI for $275, Chinese or otherwise. The Chinese-made HMI knockoffs generally start at about a grand, or $1200 or so.
Secondly, a “1000w HMI” would be VERY uncommon, if it even exists. I’ve certainly never heard of one that was 1000 watts. The nearest common sizes would be 575w and 1200w. There is no 1000w HMI that I know of. Well, there may be 1000w HMI globes for other uses, but they certainly not the norm in the photographic world.
Thirdly and lastly… that’s NOT a picture of an HMI on the listing. That’s one of those knock-off blue head Arri clones, which are TUNGSTEN instruments, not HMIs. That instrument clearly shows a regular household power cord coming out of the back and terminating in a regular plug-it-in-the-wall Edison plug. A real HMI has a much larger header cable coming out of it with a big twist-on connector, and that cable attaches to a ballast which powers the thing (that’ll be an electronic box about the size of a smallish dog). That’s not what this instrument is. It might be a realatively-decent tungsten instrument for the money (or it might be a piece of junk), but it’s not an HMI. It would have less than a fifth of the light output of a 1200w HMI.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Coollights has 1200W HMI’s for $3,699 (sans bulb). Chinese made, but decent quality. https://www.coollights.biz/clmp1200-cool-lights-1200w-p-78.html
Jason Jenkins
Flowmotion Media
Video production… with style!Check out my Mormon.org profile.
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Yep, I have one of the CoolLights 1200w’s and have used it for several years. Mine is a fresnel, though… I think they only sell a PAR version now. Got mine when Richard was just starting to sell them, I don’t think they offered the fresnels in that size for very long. Shame, I greatly prefer fresnels to PARs (although I think I’m the only one).
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Todd, you are far from the only person preferring Fresnels to Pars. Or maybe it’s just you and I…. But it seems to me that much depends on how you are using these lights. Direct and hard, Fresnels. Bounced or through diffusion, the Pars may be more useful as they have more punch/intensity. If you can afford only one, I’d go with the Fresnel since you can use it both directly as a hard light, and also as a soft light through a Chimera/bounce/other diffusion. One lonely 1200 is of course just a start…. So much money, so little time.
Rick Wise
Cinematographer
San Francisco Bay Area
https://www.RickWiseDP.com -
I thought I was the only one, Rick.
I never understood the love affair with PARs if you could use a fresnel instead. If I never have to fumble around and swap out a hot lens again (only usually to decide my first choice is not the one I really needed), it will be far too soon. But I will probably have to before the week is out.
Just turning a focus knob is sooooo much more pleasant.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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I’ve got the 575W Cool Lights fresnel. It uses the same ballast as the 1200W. I wonder if it would work with a 1200W bulb? That would be too simple…
Jason Jenkins
Flowmotion Media
Video production… with style!Check out my Mormon.org profile.
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Yes it’s a dual ballast, Jason (as lots of them are), but making the swap is not QUITE that simple…
The 1200w globe would require a different socket than in is the 575w. Also, you’d need a different head cable and/or connection at the head (while the cables look the same, 7 pins) they are actually a little different. A lot of dual ballasts (not the CoolLights one) actually have two differnt output ports on them, one for the 575w and one for the 1200w. While they seem almost identical if you look closely you’ll see that the little “key” notch at the top of the coupling is in just an ever-so-slightly different position with the two. That’s to keep you from accidently connecting a 1200w head cable to the 575w port, and vice versa.
I’m not sure if the actual ignitors in the head are the same for 575w and 1200w… they could be, I just don’t know.
Then there is the issue of the housing size, which might not be big enough for adequate cooling of a 1200w globe, and since the 1200w globe is a lot bigger than a 575w (a LOT bigger), it likely would not be in the proper position in front of the reflector (I’d think it would be quite a bit too high)… especially since a 1200w socket is mucho bigger/beefier/taller than a 575w socket.
It would probably be much easier to figure out how to put a 575w globe in a 1200w head… but there’s usually not too much point in that.
Sadly, many things that seem like they would be easy are not.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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Thanks for the info, Todd. I don’t think I’ll be messing with it!
Jason Jenkins
Flowmotion Media
Video production… with style!Check out my Mormon.org profile.
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I’m guessing the OP has tuned out on all of these expensive options. Real estate videos probably don’t have the budget even for a one-day rental of an HMI.
I’d suggest EDITING.
If you want to show the view from the windows, shoot the view, properly exposed for the exterior. Then for the rest of the shots, just close the curtains if possible, or choose an angle in which the outside looks as dark as possible (wait for dusk?), and expose for the interior. The windows may be blown out – so what? The customers are going to be focused on the interior anyway. Look at it as a benefit: you won’t have to worry about what the neighborhood looks like.
Or look up Todd’s inexpensive window ND trick, and use a roll of that material to gel the windows. But again, I doubt that there would be time enough in a real estate video budget for that.
Good luck! Don’t sweat the blown-out windows!
Bob C
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