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lighting Buying first film lights

sfoster

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How important is the angle of beam spread for a light?
Would softboxes and lanterns take care of all, or do I need to be specific in what i look for in the beam angle of a light?

GVM is having a christmas sale: https://gvmled.myshopify.com/collections/holiday-sale-2022

There this a BOGO deal and I'm considering these 150W daylight LED, two of them for $350.
The beam spread adjusts from "a tight 60 degrees to a wide 120 degrees"

And they have a 300W BI-COLOR LED for $379

Are there any opinions on this GVM brand of lights?

The other birghter lights I was considering were amaran 200D (250W), or a Godox VL300 or the apurture light storm 300x but the light storm is way more expensive.
This christmas sale from GVM seems pretty great, could get five lights (4x150W) for $1,100 and have a lot of options.

There are lantern attachments and softbox grid attachments for these things that you can buy, it seems pretty versatile.

That concludes my questions.

Since 2013 i've never owned a film light - only ever lit stuff using light bulbs and the sun. yikes.
It seems like first impressions are everything. and the look of your film is all people care about in a first impression.
 
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edit: nm - he was talking about something like this

but i do want to say this dude is awesome, he sounds like Korg from thor
if you jump to 13:24 he talks about how this light is amazing at a tungsten cct and a daylight cct, and its optimized for those two temps. that's great, that's really all i need. a cool light and warm light, i don't need all the shit in between

 
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Looked up some reviews and found this guy using his outside from a pretty decent distance

The bad thing I've read about the light is that the color temperture you select in the app isn't the IRL color temperature it dials into, so you have to adjust manually for the offset to get the CCT youre after
Annoying that the color temp is offset like that. Also annoying that he starts by saying it’s “putting out 300W of light”, as that’s not how this works.

That is a good bit of output. However, it’s an overcast day and he’s shooting in the evening. I’ve been on shoots using a Litepanels Astra 1x1 in the daylight, usually as a bit of fill in closer proximity while the sun does everything else. In broad daylight, I’d much rather use what’s naturally there than have to subsidize. Easier to do for an interview; for narrative, it takes quite a bit of bounce and diffusion. And if you need to soften this light, once you punch It through a silk, you’ll lose a bit.

Not trying to minimize what this GVM may be able to do for exteriors, but that does need to be put in perspective.
 
I might save money for a bit longer for the light storm 300x .. the battery option, alluminum construction, ability to use the apurture soft box 150 and also a projector mount with a gobo.

That's four big advantages over the gvm 300w, and it sells used for around twice the cost
probably a better resell value.

decisions decisions.

I have a few GVM kits. Always been happy with them.

I have two of these:

Great for your first film lights.
Thanks Rik! Appreciate it.

I've been watching youtube reviews for days, trying to make a decision.
 
I tried to order the GVM lights and it said they won't ship to my address :(
All the deliberation!! FML These dickheads advertised to me on facebook and then refused to sell.
 
How important is the angle of beam spread for a light?
Would softboxes and lanterns take care of all, or do I need to be specific in what i look for in the beam angle of a light?

GVM is having a christmas sale: https://gvmled.myshopify.com/collections/holiday-sale-2022

This is from my OP, click that link and it shows everything for sale

I was trying to get around their website but it's like it's from 2005

confusing if you try to go there manually
 
Nope, fuck me, prores raw is not supported in my editor - davinci resolve - and plugging an external monitor into an a7siii disables the face
tracking lol. seems like I'm better off buying the external light meter.

I don't want to be repeatedly plugging/unplugging a monitor to my camera - easier to just whip a meter out of a cargo pocket.
I'll look more professional and competent with a light meter anyway.
 
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I use inexpensive clamp lights from Home Depot. You can put a spot bulb in them if you want, but it depends on the lighting you're looking for. Spot bulbs like I use throw 2 shadows, which a DP probably would not want. I usually just put in regular bulbs to flood an area.
 
I use inexpensive clamp lights from Home Depot. You can put a spot bulb in them if you want, but it depends on the lighting you're looking for. Spot bulbs like I use throw 2 shadows, which a DP probably would not want. I usually just put in regular bulbs to flood an area.
I think the point here is to invest in something beyond household light fixtures.

You’re also right about multiple shadows being undesirable. And the thing I particularly don’t like about LED panels is microshadows. The included diffusion filters either slide in or snap on, and they don’t do much good. Effective diffusion needs distance between the light and the diffusion surface. You can always punch an LED panel through a silk (more effective than the little soft boxes made for the panels). Essentially, though, you’re left with either soft light or microshadows on hard(ish) light, so that can be limiting depending on your lighting needs.

One thing I do actually like about the GVMs is that they come with barn doors. That’s quite helpful in controlling spill, even if you can’t get a hard cut on panels.

Also worth noting: Modern Studio Equipment is having an end-of-year sale through December 30. All online orders are 30% off. Great source for lighting modifiers, and the discount makes them even better. I’m a fan of their 40”x40” frames. While they do lose 8” width and 8” length (as opposed to getting 4x4 frames), they’re still big enough to be quite useful. Plus, the 40”x40” frames fit nicely in the back of my Transit Connect, where the 4x4 frames are a bit tricky to pack.
 
Thanks AL, going to check out their website tonight.
I'm not a big fan of LED panels for key or fill light, but i'm considering getting one for a hair light.

They're so small and lightweight, easy to put on the end of an arm and aim in any direction.
Also considering getting a tube light for the hair light, those are the two most common sources of backlight that I see.

And yeah using home depot bulbs is so 2013 for me, I'm totally over that shit.
 
I'm not a big fan of LED panels for key or fill light, but i'm considering getting one for a hair light.

They're so small and lightweight, easy to put on the end of an arm and aim in any direction.
Also considering getting a tube light for the hair light, those are the two most common sources of backlight that I see.
If you’re looking for an incredibly handy accent/hair light, check out B&H. They have a Quasar 2’ bicolor tube for $99. It is dimmable, but does not have a built in dimmer. Add a squeezer and the Nanlite barndoor attachment and you’ve got a really handy hair light package. We use Quasar tubes all the time, especially for closeups and interviews. I snagged one of these a couple weeks ago as it’s a pretty good bang for the buck. AC-only, no battery option, and no app control, but it puts out a good quality of light.



 
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Man. .. 25 watts... tubes are nice but that's not gonna be enough power to do a hairlight on a black girl with black hair.
I'm gonna have to go with a bi-color panel instead. all the tubes are so low lumen, relative to panels.
 
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this one seems pretty decent at a huge discount - the reviews say its extra heavy though and to get one of those matthew steel stands for it.

seems like it would work in a pinch for a tight area though like a bathroom or something, but i was thinking more along the lines of something lightweight to put on the end of a grip arm. everyone uses wescott for that and its out of my pricerange.

 
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Man. .. 25 watts... tubes are nice but that's not gonna be enough power to do a hairlight on a black girl with black hair.
I'm gonna have to go with a bi-color panel instead. all the tubes are so low lumen, relative to panels.
Again, wattage with LEDs doesn’t say much other than power draw. Obviously, higher output requires higher power draw, but unlike traditional tungsten or even HMI where we always know what we’re getting when we grab one off the shelf, LEDs behave entirely differently. That Quasar Q25 puts out 2250 lumens, close to what an ARRI 150W tungsten puts out. The 150 is a fantastic hair light.

I do wish that manufacturers would all provide both lumens and lux… it’s really hard to make fair comparisons between one light that only provides lumens and another that only provides lux (the latter being the more crucial spec). Still, I really like the Q25 and find it quite handy.

EDIT: so I looked up the Q25 on the manufacturer’s site and found linear output charts. Rated in FC, but that allows for conversion to lux. So at the daylight end of the spectrum, it hitting about 183 lux at 6’3”. At the tungsten end, about 97 lux at 6’3”.
 
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Again, wattage with LEDs doesn’t say much other than power draw. Obviously, higher output requires higher power draw, but unlike traditional tungsten or even HMI where we always know what we’re getting when we grab one off the shelf, LEDs behave entirely differently. That Quasar Q25 puts out 2250 lumens, close to what an ARRI 150W tungsten puts out. The 150 is a fantastic hair light.

I do wish that manufacturers would all provide both lumens and lux… it’s really hard to make fair comparisons between one light that only provides lumens and another that only provides lux (the latter being the more crucial spec). Still, I really like the Q25 and find it quite handy.
I understand that but it's still a good ballpark figure for comparing modern LED lights, if one led is drawing 4x more power than the other
$99 is a good price though, I'm going to consider it

This is the other panel light i found, half the weight (10 lbs lighter) than the other one - 1000W tungsten equivalent.

what is the mathhews stand you would recommend for that?
 
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