lighting Buying first film lights

sfoster

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"
gvmled.myshopify.com

GVM LS-150D 150W High Power LED Spotlight Daylight Kit

Employing the familiar, easy-to-use moonlight form factor, the LS-150D LED Daylight Video Light from GVM is a versatile light source with a daylight color temperature of 5600K that blends in seamlessly when shooting outdoors or in situations where daylight-balanced light fixtures are used. The...
gvmled.myshopify.com gvmled.myshopify.com

And they have a 300W BI-COLOR LED for $379
gvmled.myshopify.com

GVM-SD300D 300W Bi-Color LED Video Light High Power Monolight

Versatile Color Temperature Control The GVM SD300D offers a wider range of color temperatures than conventional spotlights, this extensive range gives you greater creative flexibility and allows for precise lighting adjustments to suit any shooting environment. Exceptional Color Accuracy With a...
gvmled.myshopify.com gvmled.myshopify.com

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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sfoster said:
I plugged in the second one and had the 200x and 200d going at the same time and it's so noisy that I laughed out loud.
Literally so noisy that it's funny. These are pieces of shit. I filed for a return.

Looks like the light thread is back on the menu boys!!
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Yikes. I’ve seriously not had that kind of noise issue out of those fixtures before.

Well, if you like the monolight form factor, which is what those Amarans are and what the SmallRig and others you’ve linked are, take a look again at Intellytech and the X-100. Same form factor, same Bowens mount. Direct from intellytechusa.com they’re $599/ea, but with their year-end discount (good through tomorrow) you get 20% off that. It‘s close to the F-165 in output, just a smaller package. Their shop is in Denver, and they do full tech support and repair service. Great people there. I’ve never been disappointed with anything I’ve gotten from them.

Here are a couple videos worth watching:



 
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sfoster said:
Listen to how bad this is. they're safely packed away in the boxes now.
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Sounds like the second one to get powered down was the real culprit. That said, and while it does seem like the fans are loud (and may be in the long run), that video is using an omnidirectional mic on a camera/phone that’s going to amplify anything in the room. It’s also a very reflective room, and you’re basically standing right next to them.

That all makes me take this with a little grain of salt, but when you killed that second light it was very noticeable. In the end, it’s whether or not you’re happy with these lights that matters.
 
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sfoster said:
I'm looking at these COMPLETELY SILENT godox 150W for under $300
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I really can’t speak on experience with those. Never used them.

Video reviews are few, and while the two that seemed to have the best info showed some pretty impressive photometrics, nobody actually showed any practical setups lighting with them. Numbers are what they are. Real-world use cases are where we start to see what they really mean.

That fixture is certainly bulky. I get that they needed to do that to make the chassis an effective heat sink.

sfoster said:
The light cannon seems nice, but a lot more expensive.
I just need some cheaper budget lights to do background objects, etc without ruining my sound
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There’s been a lot of scattered info, so let’s re-assess for a moment. If I recall correctly, you ended up getting:

- LS300X
- 200D
- 200X
- Quasar tube

Correct?
 
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AcousticAl said:
Sounds like the second one to get powered down was the real culprit. That said, and while it does seem like the fans are loud (and may be in the long run), that video is using an omnidirectional mic on a camera/phone that’s going to amplify anything in the room. It’s also a very reflective room, and you’re basically standing right next to them.

That all makes me take this with a little grain of salt, but when you killed that second light it was very noticeable. In the end, it’s whether or not you’re happy with these lights that matters.
Click to expand...
in isolation they sounded equally noisy to me in person, so i suspect if I killed them in reverse order you would have heard the same effect.
as long as one is running you'll hear the hum, when none are running its (as you said) VERY noticable.

It's like a PC fan running at full blast. Crazy stuff.
In the end I had to stand next to them because I was physically flipping the switches but I never moved my hand to place the camera directly next to them or anything like that. it was never placed directly next to the light. in the beginning of the video you can hear them humming from all the way across the room.

3rd light you see in that video, turned off, is the ls300x and it's dramatically quieter. like an order of magnitude.
If i am 6 feet away i can't even hear if it's turned on or not. I can hear the amaran from all the way across the room.

Yeah it's a noisy room without carpet but STILL unacceptable.
Whats funny about the bulky huge godex is that even with all that they're lighter than these amaran!

Fucking Amaran are heavy as shit and loud as shit.
I got the quasar tube in the mail but I haven't unpacked it yet, and yeah those are the lights - Returning both Amaran.
 
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sfoster said:
Fucking Amaran are heavy as shit and loud as shit.
I got the quasar tube in the mail but I haven't unpacked it yet, and yeah those are the lights - Returning both Amaran.
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Still weird to me only because I’ve been on set with Aputure lights quite a bit and never heard that much fan noise. There’s one DP in town I work with a few times a year, and a local gaffer with grip truck I work with a few times a year, and both have a bit of Aputure in their inventory. But yeah, if that’s what you’re hearing and you’re unhappy with it, that’s what matters here.

When I’m building a compact lighting package, I think of it in terms of the old Arri kits we used to travel with 20 years ago. We could get a LOT done with 4 heads. There was a 1K with soft box, a 650 Fresnel for fill, and a couple of 300 Fresnels (or a 300 and a 150) for everything else. If we were getting really fancy, we’d have a 5-head kit with 1K, 650, 2x300, 150.

I also think back to a YouTube cooking show I used to produce and shoot. It was a zero-budget operation favor for a family member), and I only had so much space to pack in my vehicle at the time. I took a Lowel kit. Not the most respected name in lights, but they had their moments. A 750W soft box, a 500w soft box, a 500W focus flood, and two 200W focus floods. I was able to light a kitchen set - first in a small downtown loft, later in a larger kitchen - with those 5 heads and get a pretty darn good look out of them. But I put that package together on the same principle.

So yeah, one good key, a modest fill, and then 2-3 smaller heads for hair and background accents. You’ve got The LS300X and the Quasar tube, both of those being bi-color. So it’s just a matter of replacing the 200D and 200X. Do you want bi-color all the way through?
 
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AcousticAl said:
Still weird to me only because I’ve been on set with Aputure lights quite a bit and never heard that much fan noise. There’s one DP in town I work with a few times a year, and a local gaffer with grip truck I work with a few times a year, and both have a bit of Aputure in their inventory. But yeah, if that’s what you’re hearing and you’re unhappy with it, that’s what matters here.

When I’m building a compact lighting package, I think of it in terms of the old Arri kits we used to travel with 20 years ago. We could get a LOT done with 4 heads. There was a 1K with soft box, a 650 Fresnel for fill, and a couple of 300 Fresnels (or a 300 and a 150) for everything else. If we were getting really fancy, we’d have a 5-head kit with 1K, 650, 2x300, 150.

I also think back to a YouTube cooking show I used to produce and shoot. It was a zero-budget operation favor for a family member), and I only had so much space to pack in my vehicle at the time. I took a Lowel kit. Not the most respected name in lights, but they had their moments. A 750W soft box, a 500w soft box, a 500W focus flood, and two 200W focus floods. I was able to light a kitchen set - first in a small downtown loft, later in a larger kitchen - with those 5 heads and get a pretty darn good look out of them. But I put that package together on the same principle.

So yeah, one good key, a modest fill, and then 2-3 smaller heads for hair and background accents. You’ve got The LS300X and the Quasar tube, both of those being bi-color. So it’s just a matter of replacing the 200D and 200X. Do you want bi-color all the way through?
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Okay well keep in mind i'm talking about amaran lights, they don't even have the apurture name brand on them - probably for a reason...
Like i said the apurture light storm is an order of magnitude quieter. the actual "apurture" light doesn't seem to have any problems - just amaran.

The amaran are also plastic body and not suited to be loaned out to strangers, are you sure your local gaffer has the amaran ones?
If so maybe there is some modification or tinkering they did to fix the fan noise.

I was fine with the 200D not being bi-color, it's just the noise that killed it for me.
A bright COB for distinct hard shadows and emulating the sun is nice, you don't get that with bi-color.
 
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sfoster said:
Okay well keep in mind i'm talking about amaran lights, they don't even have the apurture name brand on them - probably for a reason...
Like i said the apurture light storm is an order of magnitude quieter. the actual "apurture" light doesn't seem to have any problems - just amaran.

The amaran are also plastic body and not suited to be loaned out to strangers, are you sure your local gaffer has the amaran ones?
If so maybe there is some modification or tinkering they did to fix the fan noise.

I was fine with the 200D not being bi-color, it's just the noise that killed it for me.
Click to expand...

It’s entirely possible that there are no Amaran fixtures on that truck or in the DP’s car. Likely, in fact, now that I think about it. All these monolight heads, at some point it all runs together.

So, one more suggestion from Intellytech: a two-head daylight Pocket Cannon kit. Roughly the same output as an Arri 300W tungsten. And the kits come with a few handy accessories. Also, no fan.


https://www.intellytechusa.com/coll...focusable-led-fresnel-2-light-kit-v-mount-npf

With the 20% discount, it’s just under $500 for two with all the extras.

But if you’re wanting more power, why not try the Godox? Again, my only reason for not discussing that one more is that I simply don’t know it.
 
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AcousticAl said:
It’s entirely possible that there are no Amaran fixtures on that truck or in the DP’s car. Likely, in fact, now that I think about it. All these monolight heads, at some point it all runs together.

So, one more suggestion from Intellytech: a two-head daylight Pocket Cannon kit. Roughly the same output as an Arri 300W tungsten. And the kits come with a few handy accessories. Also, no fan.


https://www.intellytechusa.com/coll...focusable-led-fresnel-2-light-kit-v-mount-npf

With the 20% discount, it’s just under $500 for two with all the extras.

But if you’re wanting more power, why not try the Godox? Again, my only reason for not discussing that one more is that I simply don’t know it.
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I'm very intriguied with the no-fan, and I already fumbled my first purchase, so I am seriously considering these lol
Is there a discount code i'm supposed to enter for the extra 20% off, i didn't see that
 
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AcousticAl said:
Also, this is an interesting side-by-side.

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So many youtubers make that dumbface LOL
it's right up there with duckface.

I actually watched that video earlier - sometimes i like to put 1-2 layers of colored gel on top for the background and the extra wattage is nice

If you check out this video below you can hear fans the entire time!! fucking light fans.
Did the older lights, before the days of LED, have noisy fans?


thumbnail hairlight - looks like he's using a cob on a boom pole, thats the kind of setup i am trying to accomplish
 
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sfoster said:
If you check out this video below you can hear fans the entire time!! fucking light fans.
Did the older lights, before the days of LED, have noisy fans?
Click to expand...

No. Hot lights (tungsten, HMI) are a completely different world. The photometrics are different, especially the falloff. It’s also a lot easier to get a truly hard edge cut on tungsten or HMI than on LED. As for heat, all those fixtures used the chassis as a heat sink. They still ran extremely hot. Like, skin-melting hot. We’d always have to let those lights cool a bit before handling them, and even then a lot of us would wear Hot Hands (insulated gloves) to wrap out.

The exception was HMI fixtures that used external ballasts. The ballasts had fans, and the larger ones could pose issues for sound if they were too close on set.

I say all that in past-tense, as if nobody uses hot lights anymore. They’re still the better quality light. They’re just less common except on more professional sets, and the cheaper tungsten lights (such as Lowel) have largely disappeared in the sea of cheap LED fixtures.

sfoster said:
thumbnail hairlight - looks like he's using a cob on a boom pole, thats the kind of setup i am trying to accomplish
Click to expand...

The Quasar tube, along with the Nanlight barn door accessory I suggested, will get you in that neighborhood.
 
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AcousticAl said:
No. Hot lights (tungsten, HMI) are a completely different world. The photometrics are different, especially the falloff. It’s also a lot easier to get a truly hard edge cut on tungsten or HMI than on LED. As for heat, all those fixtures used the chassis as a heat sink. They still ran extremely hot. Like, skin-melting hot. We’d always have to let those lights cool a bit before handling them, and even then a lot of us would wear Hot Hands (insulated gloves) to wrap out.

I say that in past-tense, as if nobody uses hot lights anymore. They’re still the better quality light. They’re just less common except on more professional sets, and the cheaper tungsten lights (such as Lowel) have largely disappeared in the sea of cheap LED fixtures.



The Quasar tube, along with the Nanlight barn door accessory I suggested, will get you in that neighborhood.
Click to expand...
Thats what I figured about the older lights, instead of a fan to cool them down they just let it get hot as shit lol - no LED parts to damage.

I plugged the quasar tube in, seems nice, it didn't come with any hardware to mount it to a boom arm though.
idk what sort of clamp or adaptor i would use to hold a scrim jim with a combo stand either.
 
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sfoster said:
Thats what I figured about the older lights, instead of a fan to cool them down they just let it get hot as shit lol - no LED parts to damage.
Click to expand...

Basically. I was editing my post as you replied, but I did add that HMIs run on ballasts, and those have fan noise. We did have to be careful where we put them, for the sake of sound.

sfoster said:
I plugged the quasar tube in, seems nice, it didn't come with any hardware to mount it to a boom arm though.
Click to expand...

I completely forgot to include that with the suggestion earlier. My apologies. $12 will get you what you need.

www.bhphotovideo.com

Nanlite PavoTube Transparent Polycarbonate Clip with 5/8" Baby Pin

Buy Nanlite PavoTube Transparent Polycarbonate Clip with 5/8" Baby Pin featuring For PavoTube 2 and 4 ft RGBW LED Tubes, Transparent yet Durable. Review Nanlite null
www.bhphotovideo.com www.bhphotovideo.com

sfoster said:
idk what sort of clamp or adaptor i would use to hold a scrim jim with a combo stand either.
Click to expand...


Though, this is for use with a grip head (lollipop) instead of a combo.
 
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What are the best tools for mounting and positioning/angling a bounce board?

Small update I see a bit of a flaw in my lighting now.
My brightest light is the only light that can support the large apurture light dome 150

The thing is, I want to use the light dome 150 on the broader, darker side of the face - but only the brightest light can handle it... on the darker side of the face. It's a bit backwards. The godox yolk have a plastic component and aren't strong enough to support the weight of the 150.
 
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sfoster said:
What are the best tools for mounting and positioning/angling a bounce board?
Click to expand...

A C-stand w/ Hollywood arm, and a Quacker (or duckbill) clamp.


www.bhphotovideo.com

Matthews Quacker Clamp

Buy Matthews Quacker Clamp featuring AKA - Duck Bill or Platypus Clamp. Review Matthews null
www.bhphotovideo.com www.bhphotovideo.com

sfoster said:
Small update I see a bit of a flaw in my lighting now.
My brightest light is the only light that can support the large apurture light dome 150

The thing is, I want to use the light dome 150 on the broader, darker side of the face - but only the brightest light can handle it... on the darker side of the face. It's a bit backwards. The godox yolk have a plastic component and aren't strong enough to support the weight of the 150.
Click to expand...

You can always punch it through a 4x4 (or 40”x40”) silk.

modernstudio.com

40" x 40" White China Silk

Stainless steel frame covered with White China Silk. #chinasilk
modernstudio.com modernstudio.com

Or, use a bounce board or Ultrabounce opposite the key, eliminating the need for direct light source there.
 
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