Two fresnels 300w Sylvannia lit up our shooting mania.
 

I just wanted to post a little blurb about my experiences using my two 650w Moles this past week. I have them BOTH lamped at 300w... I used the barndoors and I got some Lee Gels, including color correction, cosmetic diffusion, straight diffusion, and nd's as well as scrims... basically I got a WHOLE BAG of gels for around $55... 20" x 24" sheets are $5.80 each and you cut 'em into 4.

Anyway, this TWO light kit, along with a reflector... absolutely SAVED this whole project. I couldn't believe how versatile the fresnels proved to be.

We used 'em as soft lights with diffusion... as hard lights with varying color and scrim/nd... as rim lights with color, without color, and with/without diffusion.

We used 'em as effects lights, bounce lights, background lights... basically I've never felt happier with this purchase.

I posted a while back that people shouldn't be so quick to dump too much cash into "pro" lights 'cause of what you can do with cheap lights... I will say that if you can't afford a pro light then any light is better then no light... BUT, it was a pure joy at just how versatile a fresnel has proven to be.

I decided to get softboxes for 'em rather then getting a seperate "soft-rig" because it was so nice having SO much multi-functionality in ONE light. My only reoccuring problem was finding space for an umbrella... hence the softboxes.

That's all I got for now. Peace out brothers.

What a heartwarming story! I have a new Arri 300w fresnel I want to put to good use soon.

It's hard not to absolutely fall in love with good fresnels, eh? I know that my Arri's are the crown jewel in my lighting arsenal (which also includes open-faced and flourescents). When I want to have absolute control of light placement and brightness there's just nothing to beat my fresnels.

My biggest challenge as an amatuer is to get enough experience to learn to really use them to their greatest capabilities.

Good story, Matt.

It's very exciting, yes, to gain expertise in sculpting light in a given setting, striking a balance between inspired theatricality and plausibility--anything to avoid a dead, flat look. Unless of course that's the intention. ;)

Good story, Matt! Care to write an article with some diagrams
and resulting pictures on how you set things up and got a
certain look etc.?

I have a couple of books on lighting. But there almost never
seem to be sections where they have the camera in certain
places and they show what changing the lights does while
also showing you a detailed floor plan on where the lights
were.

Not that I mean to copy things, but it would be nice to see
where cookies, flags, nets and other stuff go and stay out
of the way the camera goes.

Rob, since this project I made several fluorescent fixtures that mount on stands... I'm very happy with them, the combination of the new fluorescents, which use Kino tubes, has cured me of the desire for lights. I think I'm done... and I mean that in a good way.

Each fluorescent fixture cost me about $125 INCLUDING the tubes AND the mounting hardware which allows it to be swivled and locked in any postion... sort of like the Kino "lollypop" but way tougher... I'm using Manfrotto bits.

Anyway, I can't wait to get my homepage setup... I've posted pictures about R1 mods on r1-forum.com... hundreds of 'em... but all I had to do was add picks to the post... hosting video and using a home page will be something new to me, even though I've used the net for years... that other thing is a motorcycle page by the way.

If you want me to send you anything... pictures, article, whatever... I'll do it until I get some stuff posted. I'm actually very eager to share my lighting experiences with you guys. I can't wait to have pictures to back these little stories up. I can show you results from the fluorescents that you won't believe considering the DIRT CHEAP price. I got the Bogen 8' stackers (3 for $200) and now, in addition to the fresnel kit... at about $1500 for two freakin' lights... I have a 3 light fluorescent kit (softlights) with daylight or tungsten... for $575 INLCUDING the Bogen stands!

Rob, my OCD is at it's highest when I feel like I could be of value to the group... so as I get online video and pictures ready, you'll continue to hear a lot from me. I think there are a lot of guys on here that could improve their projects a million percent with some very cheap tools. I want to help them do that.

Speaking of stands, I just got a couple of Bogen/Manfrotto boom stands on a recommendation from Chris Gyoury. At $139, you get a unit that can function as a regular heavy-duty light stand, then by flipping a lever it magically turns into a boom stand, allowing you to hang a small backlight or angle a fluorescent such as Matt has built like one would on a C-stand, but in a much more portable design. Very, very nice. Comes with a fillable counterweight bag also!

That's a very nice attitude Matt and we welcome it much here
at DVi. As you probably know readers can send in reports,
reviews, tutorials, howto's etc. which we will place on the site.

We can also host picture on these servers or if need to be
very fast on my personal server (no bandwidth limits). I'd
love to see:

1. (detailed) photos of your equipment

2. screengrabs from DV streams where you used your equipment

3. articles with lighting diagrams, pictures, whatever.

If you contact me at rob@ladyxfilms.com we can set this up
and talk details. Any information, pictures whatever you have
would be great to see, so please fill up my mailbox.

I can co-ordinate the placement and requirements if you want
to submit an actual article.

Thank you and we'll keep in touch!

I sent an email about this and the nightshot lighting this past week and still no reply? Please let me know what you'd like and I'll supply it...

I'm still trying to get a webpage worked out so I can just post links to this stuff. I'm about an inch from just registering a domain with a server...