Diva Lite 400 or DMX 4Bank
 

I'm torn between getting a Diva Lite 400 or a Select DMX 4Bank. My needs are this: interviewing 1 to 2 people at about 3-4 feet distance and sometimes going to a home for a 1 to 2 person interview. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Allen,
I've not used the Select with DMX, but I've used the Diva 400 and 2 foot 4 bank with select ballast. Both will probably work for what you want to do. The biggest difference to me is that the Diva outputs 220W with more punch than a 2 Foot 4 bank, which, with 20W lamps will only get you 80W total. Big difference. You can get the HO lamps for more output, but still not as much as the Diva's. The Diva has a diffuser (flozier) that straps on quickly as well if you want to soften, and still get a lot of light. You can probably use it on the 4bank to.

If you are just going to throw them on a stand, they are equally quick to set up (though the Diva is problably quicker and easier to use once it's up), but the Diva is easily dimmable without DMX control. The 4bank has some advantage because the ballast is separate, the fixture is light and easier to mount on ceilings, walls, etc than the Diva. You can also remove the harness if you need to and place a bare lamp somewhere, so a little more versatile, but probably not needed for straight interview setups.

I'm actually selling a couple of Diva 400's (though this is not ad and somebody may already be buying them) and I just sold a 4 bank (b/c my project is moving into post). I really like the Divas and find that I would pull them out first before a 4 bank for most uses.

Hope that helps.

Why are you selling the Divas? How much? I'm interested!

I'm moving ionto post on my project and need to recoup some funds. I sent you a PM regarding the lights.

PMs are "disabled by the administrator" on my screen for some reason. Can you send me an e-mail? Thanks.

Matthew's got the pros and cons just right. If the great majority of what you are doing is interviews, then the Diva is the right answer. The flexibility of being able to take the 4 bank apart, however, shouldn't be overlooked. The ability to use just the harness with the tubes taped somewhere or another is very helpful in confined situations.