IN-HOUSE LIGHT KIT - $5K BUDGET

[Nick Morrison]

Hey guys, I would love your communal advice on what lights to get for $5k. These are to be our in-house package, to cover interviews, small narrative scenes, and quick spec shoots.

I have several thoughts, but would love your sage advice:

1) TUNGSTEN:

Arri Softbank Kit. (650, 300, 150, 150, Chimera) Approx $2,400. <Plus a 2K?>


2) DAYLIGHT: too many options...

A) Kino Interview Kit (Two 4x2s) - $2,360 <leaning towards this, love their versatility. I'd get it with Daylight and Tungsten bulbs>
B) Riffa Triple Soft Kit (Rifa 88, 66, 55) - $2,059 <with Daylight/Tungsten bulbs>
C) Litepanels LED Flypak (1 Spot, 1 Flood LED) - $3,500 <expensive...>
D) LED's by Coolights - $2,000 (for 1200, 600, 256) <realiable?>
E) A joker of some kind...


I'm basically looking for a mixture of hard/soft light, and daylight/tungsten. But you guys are in the field much more than I am. Waddya think?

[Christopher Mills]

I have used all these, and have a few of them

get the Arri softbank kit first! It is a very versatile kit, that you can get $100-$175/day in rental on it.

don't get a 2k... rent as needed.. they are very hot, as well
for your other kit purchase..

think about the Rosco Gaffer Kit litepanels kit..

or a Diva 400 2 light kit. You can get $200/day in rent out of it..

don't bother with the Diva 200 kino.. you'll always wish you had the other 2 bulbs.. and rental demand will be low...

I own the Cool Lights LEDs , and like them for myself.. but they are not tough enough to rent out.

[david_winters]

My current small doc, interview, travel kit as follows.

(2) Coollights CDM-150 daylight
(1) Coolights softbox for CDM150
(2) Coolights LED600 wide daylight
(5) Lowel Uni stands (I use one to mount a boom mic for interviews).

Several years of steady use and constant mending.

I have access to a full grip and light inventory, trucks, Kinos, HMI, big tungsten, distro, genies and still go out with above for doc / travel jobs. One complaint with Coolights is all the thumbscrews are flimsy plastic glued to metal. The plastic breaks off after a few "rental" jobs. I travel with pliers to deal with the broken hardware.

[Nick Morrison]

Thanks guys. Appreciate all the feedback.

[Trey Chace]

I've used all these, and have a lot of them. My go-too's for tungsten are always the arrilite 750 plus (pretty powerful little guy) the 300 fresnel, the 150 kickers, and a nook light of some sort. They are all just easy and you can take them anywhere and still use the typical wall outlets. I usually carry a few mini litepannels which are great for hiding behind plants, bars, dashboards, etc. For the HMI's I love the jokers, but they're super pricey like all daylights. I have a few Kino's but they pretty much collect dust unless im shooting interviews or greenscreening...they're just so friggin big, I tend to just leave them. keep in mind too the kino's have practically no throw. if you can afford it, I'd dich the kinos and get a couple jokers with a chimera. just my 2 cents good luck,
trey

[Craig Chartier]

I would buy the Kino Celebs at this point in time. they travel soooo much better than other kino fixtures due to tubes breaking. I always have to delamp my Diva 400 when I travel. Correct advice to pass on the diva 200's

[Nick Morrison]

Interesting about the Kino Celebs, they look amazing. If I were togo on a budget, how about the Cool Lights 600 Leds? At $450 a pop they seem pretty hard to beat, for an in-house kit that won't be rented.

For a small, portable kit that we can shoot in-house in our small studio or travel around NYC with, I was thinking of this:

Cool Lights LED 600 - Spot w/ Softbox - $450
Cool Lights LED 600 - Flood - $450
Cool Lights LED 250 - Spot - $250

And then I could expand that out with an extra 600 flood and 250 spot, and eventually a 1200 bi-color panel. For a total package that looks like this:

Cool Lights LED 600 - Spot w/ Softbox - $450
Cool Lights LED 600 - Flood - $450
Cool Lights LED 600 - Flood - $450
Cool Lights LED 250 - Spot - $250
Cool Lights LED 250 - Spot - $250
Cool Lights LED 1200 Bi-Color - $1,200

All combined for about the price of one Kino Celeb.

Thoughts? Am I putting too much faith in LED and Cool Lights? Or am I onto something? We have a small Arri Kit already, so to me portability, low heat, and creative options are most important.

Feedback deeply appreciated.

Thanks guys for all your comments so far. Been very helpful.

[david_winters]

Light quality from a CDM150 with softbox is much nicer than the LCD600, for keying the typical interview. Weight is about the same. I think your best off with a mix of CDM150 and LED. I'm about to depart to Monterey and Alaska to shoot interviews with the coolights setup I listed above.

[Sam Edwards]

I saw the arri kit at NAB and fell in love. If you really don't mind spending $5k you can squeeze in the ac/dc kit and a couple of stands. If you don't need battery option you can get the same lights without the batteries for around $2800. The variable temperature is really great.

Arri LoCaster LED Panel AC/DC Double Kit 553958 B&H Photo Video

Arri Locaster LED Panel AC Double Kit (100-240VAC) 553952 B&H

[Nick Gardner]

These are all good things. I would add say, 4 source four pars to the mix. They are dirt cheap, and Have tremendous punch. They do the job of a 1k par 64, but they aren't as hot, you don't need bulbs ( you change lenses instead of globes), they are smaller, and you can plug them into a dimmer. If you get a 6x6 with a silk, and 4 source 4 pars, you have a nice big source with a ton of punch. That's the one thing that's missing from the line up.

Nick

Edit - as far as daylight, if you are renting it out, get name brand, but if it's for you, get a bunch of the chinese light panel knock offs. A little minus green and they look fantastic, and you can get waaaaaay more bang for your buck.