Lighting the HD10u
 

Wondering what people are using for lighting with the HD10u??

Went to Home Depot yesterday and picked up several cheap Halogen work lights. Using the halogen setting and the HD10 they look completely professional (have to remove the grill on the front of the lamps). The small clip-on 250W lamp costs $10. The floor lamps (500W) cost about $20. You can get two of the 500W on an adjustable stand (up to 6') for $40-50. With some of the black aluminum roll stuff (forgot the name), it's possible to direct the light as needed. Planning on putting the whole set-up on an X-10 remote dimmer system for more control.

Any tricks i should know about?

Exteriors of NYC in the snow looked pretty sweet on the cam. Is there a forum to post clips?

I wouldn't use a Lowell Basic 3 light kit, like I have! As my friends say, that's a TV news kit! If you can swing it, go for something where you can focus the lights.

heath

You'll most likely need to diffuse your lights. If you're fairly tight to your subject you can try bouncing the lights off foam core (making sure not to get the foam core too close to the light.) You also might want to get something like tough frost gel or tough spun from a video or theatrical lighting supply company. You'll have to rig a way to hang the gel or spun far enough from the light to avoid warping or burning the material. Unless you've already purchased the dimmer, forget it. You'll be able to control your lights by bouncing or gelling them and you won't have to worry about the color temperature shift caused by dimming your lights.

>>I wouldn't use a Lowell Basic 3 light kit, like I have! As my friends say, that's a TV news kit! If you can swing it, go for something where you can focus the lights.<<

Just get some Black Wrap for that Lowell kit.

You still can't focus though...

i had thought i would need gels, but am surprised how good the image is with the halogen setting in the HD10u. Sure, for different looks, i'll experiment.

the dimmer is sweet. can control the fill, the key, etc. might change color a little but hasn't been a problem.

the cool thing is, these lights are ultra cheap, sturdy (weather proof), and work well our cam. yeah, i can diffuse or bounce, etc. might need a c-stand or something analagous. just trying to keep the cost and size of package/crew to a minimum.