Dedo Lights - not powerful enough if both diffused?
 

Hi,

I'm getting to grips with lighting interviews. I have two Dedo lights and from what I've read it seems one light (fill) should be diffused and one light (key) should be left without diffusion. But this undiffused light seems a bit harsh. But if i diffuse both lights I can't expose it bright enough (im using zebras to judge this on a Z1). Am i missing something? Are these lights just not powerful enough to both be diffused?

Thanks

Neil
I'm not an expert on Dedos but here's what I think.
For an interview with two lights I would normally use the Lowell kit I bought from Prokit. Primarily the Rifa as a key and probably the v light bounced off an umbrella, or possibly shining through it, for fill. Both produce soft light.
I rented three Dedo lights recently for a shoot (filming someone playing a double bass - I wanted the instrument to glow with light). Having seen them demonstrated in the showroom. And thinking they would be perfect because they are adjustable. However they produce a hard light. It took me a long time to get the lighting right. Particularly as it was a small crowded bedsit and with very little room for lights. It's just as well I had the Lowell kit or the shoot could have been a mess.
Dedo lights are hard and they are adjustable. It seems that they are very good for picking out a background but they would not be high on my list for filming interviews with two lights

Dedo lights go up to about 600 watts, so it would depend on which ones you have. I'm guessing the original small ones that are 100-150 watt or so. If so, these are designed for small spot accuracy, with a tightly focused beam, and wouldn't be good for what you're trying to do. Although you might try bouncing one off some foamcore. If it's only 100 watts, you probably won't get too much out of it.

the basics of lighting are that the smaller the source ( whether it starts out being small, like a tungsten filament... ot its just so far away that it is small ) the harder and higher contrast the light will be. Just putting a very slight diffusion ( I like Roscolux #101: Light Frost ) on a tungsten filament light will increase it's size quite a bit ( 1/4 inch filament to 3 inches diffused )

want your light even softer? use a larger sheet of diffusion and pull it farther in front of the light source.

if you feel your not getting enough volume of light ( not bright enough ) then move the lights in as close as you can without them getting in the shot.

Dedos are sweet little lights.... mostly used to create a "catch light" or sparkle in the actors eyes on big & small budget narratives.

I personally use a zylight z90 these days for a catch light ( eye lights or Obies )

Also.... the lowel pro lights are fantastic as a 3 or 5 light kit.... they pack up small, are easy to add crap in front of them, and the can be re-bulbed easily.... I'm a big fan.

Im assuming these are the 24v dedos (150watt), the bigger ones i think are MSR based and hugely expensive.

Even though they're 150w they're more effecient than normal tungsten and so appear brighter. However the light is too hard to use direct for a lot of situations. They are great for rim, bouncing, scultping with light.

You need to diffuse them, you can get a flexi-arm and attach a small diffusion to it which can work quite well. You can also bounce off reflectors which would give you an increase in source size but not sure about light output but a bit better than diffusion. I love my dedos because they are so flexible and small, can mount anywhere (car lighter adaptors for example) but in your situation i think i would look to another source as key.

You can get mini chimeras, i've not tried but i would doubt that you could get the beam wide enough to be effective within the soft box.

However dedo do a range of sources especially for putting inside softboxes, same bulbs and transformers (i think...?), perhaps these would be worth looking at?

cheers
paul

Neil:

While I love Dedos and have nothing but good things to say about them, wrong tool for a soft source. They are not designed for this function at all and honestly, it makes no financial or aesthetic sense to try to use Dedos in this way. They are expensive and once you put them in a softbox or put a piece of diffusion in front of them, they are no different than a cheapie Lowel light.

You can buy the Chimera kit with an included Mogul base with a 1k bulb and the Chimera and an egg crate and a stand, the entire kit of around $500.00. Perfect for what you are trying to do.

Then you can sculpt the hair light/rim light and BGs with the killer tools that the Dedo provide.

Use the correct tool for the job and you will be much happier and will have better results.

Dan

Yeah, I'm assuming that you are talking about the 200 Series 24V heads. They are great lights, but you are not using them correctly. They have roughly the equivalent output of a 300W fresnel. Put that through a bag and you loose 2 stops, so you're running out of poop.

Dedo does have a few light heads that are specifically for softboxes. Download the PDF catalog and check them out.

Dedo dedicated softbox heads:

Series 400
DLH400S 400W HMI softbox head. Can take regular, or Octodome/Octobank softboxes.

DLH-1000S Takes a single FEL 1K tungsten globe, mounting ring is integral to the head. G9.5 Socket accepts several voltage and wattage globes.

DLH1000SPLUS Same as above, but with a larger yoke for larger softboxes, has 8 holes to accept an 8 sided softbox, like an Octodome, Octabank.The G9.5 socket will take a 2K globe, but use with a medium, or large softbox and even then, be careful.

DedoPAR HMI 400W PAR has a softbox attachment, or can be bounced, diffused, etc. Can take a ring for Octodome, etc.


Series 200
DLH1x150S Single 12V 100W globe, or 24V 150W globe. Softbox head with integral ring and mount

DLH4x150S Uses 4x 12V 100W, or 4x 24V 150W globes. Softbox head with integral ring and mount. Can take Octodome

DLH1x300S Similar to 1x150, but with a 300W globe

Here's a link to their site.

I don't work for Dedo, but I loves some Dedolights.