Hey guys. I was doing some reading in lighting technique books etc. and they usually reference Arri lights and specifically a 1k arri in a softbank. I was seriously considering an Arri D2 softbank kit and was curious how the light output from the 650 in a softbank (D2 kit) would be to a 1k Arri in a softbank (what they reference in the lighting books). Is the 650 in a softbank enough to do wraparound lighting techniques (hit softbank on subject as key and use bounce card to reflect for fill)? Thanks for any input out there. Just as a side note for applications, I plan on shooting music videos, some corporate work (pay the bills) and a couple short films each year. We're shooting with DVX100a and we're all trying to figure out a good quality kit to start with.

The 650 would probably be fine. The 1K is really only giving you about 1/2 of a stop of extra brightness, as compared to a 650.

That would depend on what flavor 1K you are talking about--a 1K open face will give you more punch than a 1K fresnel (and may fill a softbank more fully). I've never measured it, but I would expect a 1K open face to deliver at least twice as much (i.e. one full stop) than a 650 fresnel, when both are built with a softbank.

I'm a bit of a nut for having more wattage than you "think" you need, because it all depends on your camera exposure. If you are starting with a dark interior and intend on shooting wide open, then a 650 will be fine. But if you need to photograph a window in the shot, you might have to stop down to a 5.6 or more; then you certainly will need more out of your lights, especially if you plan to gel them to balance with daylight.

Thanks for the great info guys. The 1k Arri I'm speaking of is the one listed in the Arri lighting hint book that comes with Arri kits. I assume they're talking about an Arri fresnel because in some of their possible setups, they use the 650 fresnel in the background to simulate sunlight streaming into a room. I would figure that an open face would be too bright to make a 650 seem like sunlight in the background, correct? However, it seems in some setups that the 1k softbank is used as the key and then the 650 used as a hair light. Hmmmm, I need to get to the bottom of this. Do you guys think the D2 kit alone will stand suffice for some basic to moderate light needs? Thanks again as always.

Bryan:

I looked at an online version of the handbook; all examples show a 1K Arrilite, which is an open face unit (that's their designation). Note that other units are listed as Fresnels.

My personal pick for DV would be the Softbank IV kit (and I almost bought one last year). 2 150w's, 1 300, 1 650 and 1 Arrilite with the Softbank.

Charles - ah, thank you very much for your knowledge. That's an important distinction to note regarding the Arri terminology. The IV is a bit out of my price range though it shouldn't take many jobs to make that money back and we really want a substantial starting kit. It'll definitely be at the top of my list. Thanks again.