Lighting interiors for mini35
 

Hi all,

We're now looking at buying a Micro35 adaptor, but I have to admit to being slightly unsure as to whether we're going to need a whole new lighting kit to go with it!

Currently I'm using a range of fresnels from 650w - 2Kw, plus the odd redhead and a couple of inkie-dinks (150w).

My thinking is that I'm going to lose 2 stops of light through the adaptor, plus however many stops the "taking" lens is giving us - so on our Z1 we're talking a minimum effective f-stop of about 2 (the Z1's stop zoomed in) - 2 stops (the adaptors loss on the ground glass) - 1-3 stops (the taking lenses maximum aperture) = about f5.6 - f11!!!

Given that, on an average interior lighting setup, I'm at about f4 now, that's put me something like 1 to 3 stops short of an exposure, so I've got the option of (a) adding a load of gain, which I'd obviously like to avoid or (b) putting something like 4 to 8 times the light into the scene...

Has anyone got any experience of shooting with these kinds of adaptors in interiors (we've shot with a mini35, but largely for the reason that the entire shoot was exteriors!) - is it simply a case of going back to what you might call "old-school" lighting practices - i.e. 5k Brutes everywhere, etc??

Dominic, I'm a little confused by your post.

Your thread title says "Mini35" but the first sentence of your post refers to "Micro35." These are two completely different tools. I've reserved this forum specifically for P+S Technik Mini35 and Pro35 discussions.

Please direct all "Micro35" questions to their off-site message board at http://www.redrockmicro.com/forum.

As this is first and foremost a lighting question, I may move it to our Photon Management forum, but the main thing I want to stress is that this particular board is specific only to P+S Technik image converters and nothing else.

Well, may I turn this board around in the right direction then? =)

Same question, but for the "Mini35". I'm interested in purchasing one in the future and I would like to know if lighting changes will be required. I'm currently planning to use some Home Depot and Lowes work lights for my lighting, should I change to professional movie lights (ie. Arri light kits)?

Well, I was a little unsure as to whether to post here or in the Photon Management section, as it's a specific question about lighting re: the use of 35mm adaptors, and of course I didn't want to cross-post so I flipped a coin for the best area - perhaps it landed on the wrong side, and if so my apologies.

As for their differences, none are relevant to this question, which is specifically about light loss through the adaptors, which is common to all designs - so I don't think drawing a distinction between different makes and models is an issue... The same discussion could be had, identically, as regards the Pro35, Mini35, Micro35 and even - although it loses slightly less light, I believe - the Guerilla35. They're not different tools, they are different makes and models of the same tool, after all - let's be sensible, the question is equally valid for the Mini35.

Feel free to move the post if you feel it should be a part of the Photon Management board, that's not a problem at all...

Ha ha, well - there ya go - concurrent typing rules!

Let's see if the same exact discussion *can* be had, shall we? ;)

Dominic,
although not as actively promoted as the above image converters, I have developed a "version of the same idea" that does not seem to have any light loss. I have extensive tests of various GG on my site (including brightness comparison) including some night shots to support the claim. As I am also not sure if this is the right thread for the question, I will invite you to check it out and direct your future questions (if any) on the "new GG moving mechanism" under alternative imaging methods.

Added latter: Thank you Chris.

Thread moved from our P+S Technik board to our Photon Management board.

Thanks Dan, that's interesting stuff - I'll pop over to alt img.. and have a chat!