starter light kit in the $2000-$3000 range

[John Cordell]

I will be using this kit to make short films (videos) using a dvx100 camera. I am aiming for a film-like look, by the way.

If you were starting with nothing and had this kind of budget, what would you get? Suggestions welcome. Specific lists of items whose prices add up to my budget even more welcome!

Some specific questions:

1. One option I'm considering is using close to the full budget to get an Arri kit that includes 3 or 4 fresnels plus a soft box. Appears to be nice one-stop shopping that will yeild a usable setup for me. True? Are there particular Arri kits you've liked or disliked? Am I going to find once I start to use it that there's another $1k worth of stuff I'll need to get?

2. What about using fluorescents for my soft lighting? If I go all tungsten, how often will I be hating all the heat and power issues? I expect much of my shooting will be done in locations with standard 20amp circuits at best.

3. One issue I've never seen an expert discuss: using the tungsten and fluorescent fixtures together. Does a starter kit that includes both make sense? If so, what's the most common way to match temp? Use 3200k fluorescent bulbs? Gels? I understand the basics of some of this stuff, but have no idea what actually gets done in practice. I love the posts where people talk about specific setups they've used. But I don't think I've ever seen one that mixed the two types of light.

Thanks in advance for any advice/suggestions.

[Zac Stein]

They may be expensive, but i would look at the DEDO range, they are by far the best lights (anything in their range) i have ever used.


Zac

[John Cordell]

Interesting, I hadn't been considering dedo lights. Thanks for the tip.

In reading about them, they sound great. Their literature claims that a 100 watt dedo fixture compares to a 300 watt fresnel.

Is that true?

[Jeff Patnaude]

Dedo kits are great- for small spaces. Is there another, larger kit I dont know about perhaps?
We have a Dedo kit at work that we use for backdrops and, specials (plants, etc.), and backlights. They are small and plug into a central power unit.

I'd go with an Arri kit with a couple of 650's and a 1k. You can always make a softbox for one and they are flexible lights. You could then pick up some "tweenies" for additional smaller lighting chores.

Good Luck,

Jeff Patnaude

[Kris Carrillo]

"If you were starting with nothing and had this kind of budget, what would you get?"

I would definitely get an ARRI kit. I own a Softbank D2 kit and it was worth every penny. They are built solid and will last for a long time.

"Am I going to find once I start to use it that there's another $1k worth of stuff I'll need to get?"

Yes. And once you get that $1K worth of gear, there'll be another $2K worth of gear to get, and so on and so on. It will never end.

"If I go all tungsten, how often will I be hating all the heat and power issues?"

It all depends. If you're going to be shooting in small rooms with no ventilation, it'll get hot. If you're on a stage with AC, then the heat shouldn't be a factor. I work with tungsten instruments 90% of the time, and I've gotten used to the heat they put out. It's just part of the job. Power is always a concern on location. Just distribute the load between separate circuits. I usually don't run into major problems with instruments under 1K.

If you have the $$$ left in your budget, I would look into a Kino-Flo Diva unit. Don't worry about color temperature too much. You can get 3200K and 5600K bulbs, and you can always use CTO and CTB gels to correct as well.

Also, be sure to leave some cash for C-stands, stingers, scrims and flags, foamcore, a pair of gloves, gaffers tape, C-47's, diffusion, gels, etc.

All this stuff adds up really quick. Good luck,

Kris Carrillo
WCTV 56