BEST portable light for interview setups

[Michael Panfeld]

If your criteria are portability and color rendering, I echo what someone said about small HMIs with Chimeras. That is exactly what ENG crews use. The Kobold Dlf200 Reporter light, for example, can be powered by a battery, and is light enough to be attached to the camera via a hotshoe mount, so you don't even need a stand. It will easily fit in a small carry-on bag, including the ballast and battery. Use a XXS or a XS Chimera Video Pro with the light for a nice soft fill if you don't want a hard light (Chimera makes a dedicated speed ring for it). Run & gun to interviews are covered. I happen to have one, perhaps two, for sale, BTW.

I guess I would note a Joker 125 or 200 as an alternative to the Kobold 200.

The Diva (or a Diva knock-off), give you a choice of color temps, but has trade-offs. E.g., it is soft only, it requires a stand, has some bulk and weight, and has some minor color issues when dimmed. A/C only.

LEP looks to be an interesting technology, and promises better color rendering than HMIs. But its early in its development and needs to work out a few issues such as distribution channels, service, and especially price.

You may also want to look at CDM fixtures, such as the 75 or 150 watt versions offered by Cool Lights. They are a/c only and are not hot restrike.

[James B.]

Thanks for all the great replies!

Going to rent a Kino flo Diva kit for my shoot and see how it goes. Don't want to rent something I might like but can't afford, so the more expensive options are off my radar for the time being...

[Stephen Pruitt]

The Mole versions of the Kino Diva are very nice, as well, and probably cheaper when you can find them. We own their Biax-2 and really like it. We also own a Diva 400. And the big 4x4 Kinos, too. But, you're right. . . it'd be pretty difficult to stuff a 4x4 Kino set down your shorts.

Stephen

[Mark Wilkinson]

My vote: Diva (don't forget the diaper) and a source 4.
But if money is an issue: Rifa and an Arri kit.

[David Battistella]

At 800 iso,

You can do a lot with a window and a Litepanels Mini Kit (two sources the size of a briefcase) 3 stands and 2 reflectors.

Very effective, very compact and nice quality of light.
Great for small spaces.

David

[Erich Roland]

Lighting kits are very personal, hard to call whats best. Everybody has there own style as well which complicates the "best of" answer. Ive lit a lot of interviews over many years and what I carry shifts every few years for one reason or another but the prevailing reason to swap something out is to make a tigher/smaller yet powerful kit, which seems to be the jest of this quirey. These lamps are my choices.

- the Lowel Rifa line for tungstun (just the easiest and fastest by far) the 88 size is a good size
- For daylight, Kino flow (size to taste, but the 4x2 is about perfect for an interview light)
- Dedo's, arri fresnels, or jokers for B-ground work

Havent warmed up to Kino diva's yet. When ever Ive used them Im always pulling out some plus or minus green to fix weird color shifts. Im aware of the dimming issues and off-axis orientation, but they still put out odd G & M colors, when regular kino's are very consistant.

My new favorite Key light is made by Dedo, and can be used with either an hmi or tungstun unit behind the 5 ft "Octodome" soft box. its a bit on the big side for an interview, but it does pack down into a reasonable size bag. Two layers of diffusion in the box, and is still fairly flat depth to it relative to it large size. Its a beauty!

LED's have there place for sure, particularly when battery operation is needed and/or space problems (like inside cars). But other then that requirement I wouldn't use them if I had other lamp choices.

One trick to keep the kit tighter is to carry smaller head units but also a big soft rag that can be stretched across a few stands or a collapsable poll to make a bigger softer source (like a 4x4 or 6x6). Bigger is often better up (to a point) and if you have a 6x6 you can always just use 4 ft of it.

[Nils Ruinet]

Surprisingly I didn't see anyone mentionning the good old Lastolite silver/white reflector ;)
Obviously it won't replace other lights, but it's always useful to have one in your kit, and when shooting an interview outside in the sun, it can be a lifesaver.

Regarding lights, I really like the coollights LED600s I bought a year ago, they're lightweight, easy to set up, modular, quite powerfull and can be battery operated for a long time. Color acuracy is not perfect, as mentionned before, but throw a minus green in front of it and it becomes pretty decent. Also, the new bi-color LED fixtures are suposed to be better in that aspect, but I never got to try these so far.

[James B.]

Thanks
Coollights make respectable products, but given my experience with LED's I'd be more inclined to get one of their fluoresecent options.

With the HUGE CRI and quality control differences in the non tungsten lighting market, what would be valuable is a reliable 3rd party site that focuses only on these lights, sort of a lights only version of dpreview.com

And with regards to gels on LED lights, not sure you can put back whats missing from the light spectrum...at least that has been my experience with one particular LED with a green spike even AFTER a manual custom color balance in camera.

[Steve Sherrick]

James, are you talking about specifically shooting interviews with RED? In my experience, the best results will come from HMI or tungsten lights that have a touch of blue spectrum introduced via gels on the lights or an 80 series filter in front of camera. Tungsten tends to be very nice for skin tones. All of the other options have their place, and can be very effective if used properly. I have noticed some very undesirable color shifts in some of the offbrand Kino style lights. So you have to be careful with those. I'm a big fan of using mother nature too, and using man's tools to shape what she is giving us.

Here's a link to a compact kit. http://www.bluesky-web.com/light-kit.htm

[David Battistella]

Surprisingly I didn't see anyone mentionning the good old Lastolite silver/white reflector ;)

You did not read through my post. :) Reflectors rule.