lighting Building my own lights

M

mad_hatter

I'm in the possibly enviable position (probably the only only time i'll describe my job as enviable!) to build my own lights, from scratch, to any specification I might choose. But, truth be told, I'm a little stumped as to what I might need.

From your experience, if I'm only going to build one set of lights, what would be my best bet for the best picture quality (assuming I'm shooting on a dslr)? I'll definitely be making them dimming, but what else should I go for?

When lighting a scene, am I right in thinking you set your key light first, then set white balance and exposure in camera, then add the back and fill light as desired?
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
Because they use contacts at either end of the bulb and the gas between fluoresces to the charge, it seems to me it would work a bit like a spark gap transmitter, causing an RF pulse every time the current hits the tube... the electronic ballasts use a faster wavelength (higher frequency) than the 60hz/ 50hz that the older ballasts do. This RF throw causes a full spectrum buzzing in the audio.

Test it with a prebuilt light before building one yourself to see if it'll cause the problems we're discussing... that will allow you to get specs to meet going forward confidently with your build.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Yeah, I guess it wouldn't hurt to test it out first. I have an old fluorescent in my garage so I'll take my camcorder in there and see what it picks up.

Fluorescent lights have been known to give high RFI output, which would interfere with picture and audio. They have improved greatly in this area though, so that shouldn't be a concern.

I'm thinking now, I might just bite the bullet and spend some money. The lights I have in my kitchen are 40W tungsten spotlights and I'm sure they only cost me about £10 each! They're pretty bright as well. I might try dismantling one of them and retrofitting it into a custom body.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Keep in mind, that on camera mics are all well and good, but they sound like crap! You'll very shortly be investing in a microphone that will get you right up to the subject with a boom pole or clip on mic... so test the microphone right up next to it or you'll be replacing the lights as soon as you realize the on camera mic won't get you what you want/need for sound.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
mad_hatter said:
I'm thinking now, I might just bite the bullet and spend some money. The lights I have in my kitchen are 40W tungsten spotlights and I'm sure they only cost me about £10 each! They're pretty bright as well. I might try dismantling one of them and retrofitting it into a custom body.
Click to expand...
I have some in my kitchen too, and they are incredibly inefficient - if you want cheap tungsten, have a look at PAR cans. They're often used in stage lighting, from theatre to gigs, and go from the pretty tiny PAR16 up to a 1000W PAR64. Very cheap to buy your own bulb and fixture, and wire it up yourself.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
chilipie said:
I have some in my kitchen too, and they are incredibly inefficient - if you want cheap tungsten, have a look at PAR cans. They're often used in stage lighting, from theatre to gigs, and go from the pretty tiny PAR16 up to a 1000W PAR64. Very cheap to buy your own bulb and fixture, and wire it up yourself.
Click to expand...

Just noticed you are in Shrewsbury Chili. A dear friend of mine Carey Gogh (a yank who married a Brit) lives there as well.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top